• The Project
  • Project Abstract
  • Objectives
  • Work Programme
  • WP Leaders
  • Attended results
• Research Units
• Research Products
  • Activity Reports
  • Contributions To Conferences
  • Scientific articles
  • Thesis
• Training
  • Workshops
  • School conferences
• Dissemination
  • Oral presentations and posters
  • Conferences Organizations
  • Television
• Contacts

WP6

Project management

This WP concerns the scientific coordination and management of the project, ensuring an effective coordination and decision structure that addresses the scientific needs of the project. It ensures that all project contributors have adequate participation in decision-making and the projects is run efficiently on a day-to-day basis. It also maintains quality assurance on all procedures run by the consortium. Progress reports will be produced on a of half-yearly basis, to be discussed by all the RUs. This WP is under the responsibility of RU-PI.

WP5

Dissemination

This WP identifies opportunities to spread the achievements and results developed during the project. Special attention will be devoted to assure that all the stakeholders will be involved, also from an operational point of view. A final national/international conference will be organised, which will be the preparatory step of a future applicative project directly involving the forest nursery community. All the RUs are involved in this WP.

WP4

Integrated modelling

Provisional models and territorial analyses will be performed on the basis of experimental data captured in WP1 and WP2. Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT) models as well as stomatal conductance and assimilation models will be developed by the following RUs: RU-UNICATT, RU-TUS; RU-ROMA will contribute by providing input data for pollutant deposition modelling on vegetation in Rome. Models will be aimed at assessing and quantifying the ecosystem services offered by the urban and periurban plants to the city. The following tasks are involved:

T4a: Modelling gas exchange and physiological performances of urban plants; simulations in future horizon 2050 scenario(s) (RU-UNICATT); characterization of gas (CO₂, NO_x, O₃, methane, VOCs, particulate) and particulates absorption capacity of urban trees and urban forests; characterization of VOCs and methane emissions from urban trees and urban forests via eddy covariance methods that computes high-precision estimates (RU-TUS).

T4b: Modelling air pollutant removal and simulation in future scenarios (RU UNICATT, RU-TUS). T4c: Assessment of ecosystem services for novel urban planning (RU-ROMA).

T4d: Validation of functioning models of urban forests. For this purpose, an Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) model will be studied in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service-Urban Forestry Research Group of New York. The model will ultimately be applied in the city of Rome for urban greening planning program (RU-TUS).

T4e: Improving the urban environment. The green city planning ensures the improvement of air quality through reduction of CO₂ emissions and helps to increase the adaptation of the urban ecosystem to climate change (RU-TUS).

Expected results include the provisional modelling and indication on the best choice for tree species selection for urban greening as well as the quantification of beneficial role of trees in urban environments and the simulation of deleterious effects of removing green canopies in selected study areas. The valorisation of these services will serve as a basis for a novel urban planning.

WP3

Combined stress induction in controlled environments to simulate a 2050 scenario

Well defined climatic scenarios for urban and rural environments set at 2050 as inferred from measuring and modelling exercises (temperature, relative humidity, ozone, soil water availability, CO₂, nitrogen deposition) will be realised under controlled environmental conditions. The objective is to manipulate, in a combined way, key environmental factors to simulate realistic future scenarios in ad-hoc facilities (including Open-Top Chambers). This will allow to investigate the role of tree species for urban greening and the knowledge of the impact of environmental stresses on the functionality of plant ecosystems in urban environments.

The following tasks are involved:

T3a: Setting of facilities for environmental simulations (RU-PI, RU-FI, RU-CNR-FI, RU-UNICATT);

T3b: Molecular analyses: functional genomics, molecular bases of resistance and adaptation mechanisms in trees (RU-FI, UR-CNRFI) and lichens (RU-TS, RU-PI);

T3c: Biochemical analyses: primary and secondary metabolism (e.g. antioxidants, phenylpropanoid and isoprenoid metabolism, photosynthetic pigments, signalling and priming molecules) in trees and lichens (RU-FI, RU-CNRFI, RU-PI, RU-TS);

T3d: Ecophysiological analyses: photosynthetic gas exchange, exchange of trace gases, chlorophyll-a fluorescence and other in vivo markers of primary and secondary metabolism of trees (RU-FI, RU-CNRFI, RU-PI, RU-ROMA, RU-UNICATT) and lichens (RU-PI, RU-TS);

T3e: Histopathology (optical microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, SEM, TEM): 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, RU-TUS). Expected results include the knowledge of the bases for planning the most suitable urban trees in connection to future environmental scenarios.

WP2

Contribution of city plant ecosystems to quality of life

The study of fluxes of greenhouse gases and trace gases at urban ecosystem level will allow the evaluation of contribution of green urban/periurban areas to the mitigation of global change driving forces. Inside WP2, two micrometeorological towers will be installed at a urban park and a periurban wood estate in the city of Rome and the following task is foreseen:

T2a: Micrometeorology of matter and energy fluxes at ecosystem level: (ozone, CO₂, water and heat exchanges) at ecosystem levels (vertical gradients, eddy covariance), stomatal and non-stomatal actual doses of air pollutants; estimating the potential removal of air pollutants by urban vegetation; CO₂ fluxes from soil and carbon cycling; seasonal trends; influence of trees on urban microclimates, and of urban microclimates on lichens. The following RUs are involved: (RU-TS, RU-UNICATT, RU-TUS, RU-ROMA).

T2b: Soil respiration (roots, microorganisms) will be measured with a gas analyser and a respiration chamber, together with ecophysiological parameters (RU-PA).

T2c: Determination of biogenic and anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other reactive trace gases (NOx) in the above reported selected sites (RU-CNRFI, RU-TS, RU-TUS).

T2d: Histopathology of stress damage (RU-TUS): TEM of selected samples from the experimental sites will be processed in order to characterise the cellular damage at the ultrastructural level.

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.