Point of contact at UniTrento
prof. Marco Ciolli (coordinator)
dr. Stefania Volani 
dr. Simona Capelli 

Phd student:
Kyle Jewell

Point of contact at FEM
dr. Nicola La Porta, Linda Lugli

The study of the variation of historical forest cover over time is carried out in both qualitative and quantitative terms using heterogeneous data sources and advanced GIS modeling with open source software and preferably using open data. Particular attention is paid to socio-economic changes including, for example, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and to the mapping of quantitative and qualitative variations of ecosystem services to improve a holistic knowledge of the problems relevant to the sustainable management of forest and natural environments in general.
The research topics include the development of models of forest evolution, the critical analysis of ecological indices of landscape and ecosystem fragmentation, the monitoring of forest study areas subject to catastrophic events, the study of the history, evolution and modeling of forest ecosystems and trophic chains, the modeling of forest productivity, and the identification of carbon sequestration by forests, also from the perspective of quantifying carbon
The methodologies include forest and environmental surveys, acquisition and processing of multitemporal data from remote sensing, recovery and digitization of historical maps of ecological interest and GIS analysis and modeling with Open Source software.
The results provide practical information and updated keys for interpretation on the management of forests and ecosystems also in function of the challenges related to changes in society, environmental pollution, climate warming, and ecosystem fragility.

Research Lines

• Study of historical forest change and evolution through the digitization, processing and analysis of historical cartography and documentation, historical aerial photos, remote sensing, GIS modelling, AI.
• Development of models of forest changes to support forest management, land planning, biodiversity conservation and forest productive resources.
• Study of metrics of forest landscape fragmentation.
• Study of the effects of extreme events on forest ecosystems, on regeneration and on wood production in Alpine study sites.
• Study of the effects of forest cover variation on biotic communities, trophic chains and on forest vegetation types.
• Eco-sociological analyses on the perception of the forest and wildlife by the population at provincial, national and international scales.