In European mountain regions, forests play an important role in the mitigation of risk due to natural hazards such as landslides, rockfalls, floods and avalanches.\ud \ud Conifer species usually provide a protective effect at higher altitude, while at lower altitudes broadleaf species are dominant. These forests are or were often managed as coppice systems.\ud \ud The high stem density of coppice stands, their rapid growth and the permanence of root systems in the soil can be considered as assets in terms of protective function. However, these considerations are poorly researched and there is generally a lack of studies investigating the suitability of coppice as protection forests. The issue is relevant, considering that many coppice stands in mountain regions have become uneconomic and are now abandoned and overaged. Whether and how to manage these forests stands is a key question for practitioners.\ud \ud In this contribution we analyze the implications of coppice management for slope stability and in particular to mitigate shallow landslides, focusing on root reinforcement, the main mechanism by which vegetation can reinforce slopes.\ud \ud We review available studies concerning root distribution and dynamics in coppice stands to formulate hypotheses about their contribution in terms of root reinforcement. Finally we highlight the lacks of knowledge and the further steps needed to properly evaluate the effectiveness of the coppices in protecting against shallow landslides

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Questions: Do woodland field layer communities reassemble effectively after being translocated from a donor to a receptor site? Does the method of soil handling (turfing or loose-tipping) or the season of transfer determine the outcome?Location: A deciduous ancient coppice woodland in Kent, southeast England.Methods: Two methods of soil translocation were compared: loose-tipping, involving stripping a layer of topsoil and re-spreading it at a receptor site; and soil placement, in which soil turves were cut and laid intact. The operation also provided an opportunity to observe the effects of seasonal translocation, respectively, in autumn and spring. Soil compaction, texture and chemistry were assessed after translocation, while vegetation cover changes were followed over a 10-yr period.

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Fire is an ecological and disturbance factor with a significant historical role in shaping the landscape of fire-prone environments. Despite the large amount of literature regarding post-fire vegetation dynamics, the north-east Mediterranean region is rather underrepresented in the literature. Studies that refer to the early post fire years and long term research are rather scarce. The current study is conducted in the socially and geographically isolated peninsula of Mount Athos (Holly Mountain) in northern Greece, and it studies vegetation dynamics over a period of 30 years since the last fire. Field data were collected 11 years since the event and were used to identify the present plant communities in the area, using TWINSPAN, and the factors affecting their distribution using CART. Four Landsat (TM, ETM, OLI) images are employed for the calculation of NDVI, which was found effective in detecting the intercommunity variation in the study area, and it is used for long term monitoring. The study includes four communities, from maquis to forest which are common in the Mediterranean region covering a wide altitudinal range. The results suggest that fire affects the various communities in a different way and their recovery differs significantly. While forest communities recover quickly after fire, maintaining their composition and structure, the maquis communities may need several years before reaching the pre-fire characteristics. The dry climatic conditions of the study area are probably the reason for the slow recovery of the most fire prone communities. Given that climate change is expected to make the conditions even drier in the region, studies like this emphasize the need to adopt measures for controlling wildfires and preventing ecosystem degradation.