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Forest ecosystems are fundamental for the terrestrial biosphere as they deliver multiple essential ecosystem services (ES). In environmental management, understanding ES distribution and interactions and assessing the economic value of forest ES represent future challenges. In this study, we developed a spatially explicit method based on a multi-scale approach (MiMoSe-Multiscale Mapping of ecoSystem services) to assess the current and future potential of a given forest area to provide ES. To do this we modified and improved the InVEST model in order to adapt input data and simulations to the context of Mediterranean forest ecosystems. Specifically, we integrated a GIS-based model, scenario model, and economic valuation to investigate two ES (wood production and carbon sequestration) and their trade-offs in a test area located in Molise region (Central Italy). Spatial information and trade-off analyses were used to assess the influence of alternative forest management scenarios on investigated services. Scenario A was designed to describe the current Business as Usual approach. Two alternative scenarios were designed to describe management approaches oriented towards nature protection (scenario B) or wood production (scenario C) and compared to scenario A. Management scenarios were simulated at the scale of forest management units over a 20-year time period. Our results show that forest management influenced ES provision and associated benefits at the regional scale. In the test area, the Total Ecosystem Services Value of the investigated ES increases 85% in scenario B and decreases 82% in scenario C, when compared to scenario A. Our study contributes to the ongoing debate about trade-offs and synergies between carbon sequestration and wood production benefits associated with socio-ecological systems. The MiMoSe approach can be replicated in other contexts with similar characteristics, thus providing a useful basis for the projection of benefits from forest ecosystems over the future.

Soil physical quality (SPQ) can be assessed by different experimental methodologies\ud and criteria and the optimal/critical values or ranges for SPQ\ud indicators are still approximate. Sampling soils with minimal anthropic pressures\ud should allow improvements in SPQ assessment. Different experimental\ud methodologies and criteria were applied to sample a Mediterranean oak forest\ud (Quercus ilex L.) and pasture land, in Sicily, with a varying degree of\ud anthropic disturbance. Soil water retention was determined in the laboratory\ud and the field, using the BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters)\ud procedure of soil hydraulic characterization. Capacity-based indicators, the\ud S index, and location and shape parameters of the pore volume distribution\ud function were calculated for assessing SPQ. With the laboratory data,\ud only the criterion using the capacity-based indicators suggested that SPQ\ud increased as external pressures decreased. Therefore, this criterion appeared\ud to be more reliable than the other tested criteria in the sampled environment.\ud The field method was more prone to suggest good conditions and less able\ud to signal differences between plots as compared with the laboratory method.\ud A forest soil with a good SPQ has an ability to store and provide water to\ud plant roots similar to, but it is more aerated than, a good agricultural soil.\ud Developing BEST for SPQ assessment is advisable since parameters descriptive\ud of the soil water transport properties can be collected with a single\ud experiment. Simultaneous characterization of dendrometric and soil parameters\ud at other sites is recommended to explore the relationships between SPQ\ud indicators and characteristics of the forest cover

EU policy for the conservation of cultural landscapes is of particular importance for\ud a region such as Sicily (Italy) which is the site of many Mediterranean traditional cultural\ud landscapes as well as new landscapes created by contemporary agriculture. Such variety of\ud landscape, however, is not supported or confirmed by specialised inventories that identify and\ud classify the typical Main Traditional Landscape (MTL). On the basis of these considerations,\ud the objective of the present paper is to draw up a preliminary inventory and present a brief\ud characterisation of MTLs in Sicily, in line with the multidisciplinary experiences and approaches\ud implemented at European and national levels. In defining the typological units, the terminology\ud used to identify Sicilian MTLs was modified by experiences developed on the mainland, with\ud entries such as: bocage/semi-bocage, coltura promiscua, Mediterranean open field, mountain\ud landscape, huerta and terrace landscape. Using different spatialised data layers, including those\ud concerned with the main historical processes of land use and land use change, a total of eight\ud MTLs have been detected, mapped, and concisely described. The distribution and importance of\ud terracing systems within the different MTLs is highlighted as one of the most relevant traditional\ud elements in the rural scenario

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