The recent National Strategic Plan 2007-2013 has introduced landscape as a strategic objective of the rural sector. This represents a minor revolution in the way of visualizing the role of the landscape, together with that of agriculture and the rural territory as a whole, and demonstrates the importance of treating the landscape with a systematic point of view. As part of the Efficond project, three sample areas have been identified, each of about 800-1000 hectares, in zones with important historical -cultural landscapes that are included in the National Catalogue of Historical Rural Landscapes. For each sample area a methodology has been applied, defined Historical Cultural Evaluation Approach, developed as part of a project for the monitoring of the Tuscan landscape that we have simplified and adapted. This methodology is based on the consideration that the landscape is the result of the centuries-old interaction between man and the environment, and so to define an element of the landscape as characteristic it is necessary to evaluate the land use dynamics and landscape changes that took place in the past, identifying those that have persisted for a long time, are slowly evolving or stabilized. The study of the historical landscape, which in the proposed methodology refers to the 50's, has been done through the interpretation and analysis of aerial photographs taken on the GAI flight in 1954, and has allowed the characteristic, traditional and historical elements of that landscape to be identified and an insight to be gained into the cultural identity of the area. Through the creation of specific indices of density and intensity of the terracing obtained by photo-interpretation, field surveys and GIS elaborations, it was possible to classify the sample areas for this specific and important landscape element, compare the results in two periods and evaluate their frequency in the territory. Multi-temporal comparative analysis is being used increasingly often, especially for the study of territories of value, and in our case has been accompanied both by mapping of the landscape dynamics, which identifies the areas subject to transformations in the considered period, and by tables and figures that allow the evolution of a unit of land use to be followed, observing how this has evolved over time. The evaluation of these evolutionary dynamics has then been integrated with a set of indices, in part borrowed from landscape ecology, and in part specifically developed for areas historically shaped by man, which demonstrate that the landscape has become less fragmented and that the layout of fields has been adapted to a different agricultural model that has profoundly changed the structure of the traditional landscape. The efficacy of the laws protecting the characteristic elements of the landscape is strictly linked to the maintenance of its diversity and typicality and conservation of the complexity of the landscape mosaic. Its evaluation necessitates a historical analysis of the evolutionary dynamics conducte...

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Simulating the effects of possible environmental changes on the forest carbon budget requires the use of calibrated and tested models of ecosystem processes. A recently proposed simulation approach based on the use of the BIOME-BGC model was applied to yield estimates of present carbon fluxes and pools in Tuscany forests (central Italy). After the validation of these estimates against existing ground data, the simulation approach was used to assess the impact of plausible climate changes (+2 °C and increased CO2 concentration) on forest carbon dynamics (gross primary production (GPP), net primary production (NPP), and relevant allocations). The results indicate that the temperature change tends to inhibit all production and allocation processes, which are instead enhanced by the CO2 concentration rise. The combination of the two factors leads to a general increase in both GPP and NPP that is higher for deciduous oaks and chestnut (+30% and 24% for GPP and +42% and 31% for NPP, respectively). Additionally, vegetation carbon is slightly increased, while total soil carbon remains almost unchanged with respect to the present conditions. These findings are analyzed with reference to the Tuscany forest situation and previous studies on the subject.