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WP1

City plant systems as an open lab to evaluate urban quality and stress conditions.

The topic dealt with is monitoring of functions and performances of plants in key sites of model cities and analogous rural/periurban locations, provided that climatic conditions are similar and plant material is sufficiently homogeneous in terms of genetic background. This WP concerns the field investigations related to the characterisation of the response of trees and lichens to today major environmental parameters. Whole adult trees will be studied in order to evaluate their health conditions in the different environments (Rome urban/periurban; Palermo periurban), in the view of amelioration of urban air quality and human wellbeing. Moreover, lichens and lichen transplants are chosen as model systems to investigate the response of a sensitive component of the urban environment to different today climatic scenarios (e.g. Trieste vs Udine). Inside WP1, the following tasks are foreseen:

T1a: Physiological plant performances and stress indicators: photosynthetic rate by gas exchange and photosynthetic performances by chlorophyll-a fluorescence, a sensitive indicator of stress in plants. These parameters will be investigated in the above described sites on tree leaves (UR-PI, UR-FI, UR-CNRFI, UR-UNICATT, UR-UNIROMA), lichens/lichen transplants (UR-TS, UR-PI) and in container grown plants (RU-PA). In addition, leaf level spectral reflectance will be measured in broadleaved species and derived indexes will be used as stress indicators (UR-ROMA).

T1b: Histopathology (optical microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, SEM, TEM), phytochemistry and molecular analyses: selected samples from the experimental sites will be processed in order to characterise the cellular damage at structural and ultrastructural level (RU-FI, RU-CNRFI, RU-TS) as well as stress-induced production of secondary metabolites (RU-ROMA for trees; RU-PI for lichens). Molecular analyses will be conducted on the lichen photobiont Trebouxia (RU-TS).

T1c: Remote sensing and GIS: multitemporal satellite data will be used to define the main structural vegetation types in urban and periurban areas of Rome. Urban vegetation maps in GIS environment will be also produced (RU-ROMA). This WP has the following major expected results: adult trees will show their ability to adapt to the present environmental conditions; lichens will be the indicators of stress conditions.