Alla scoperta delle abetine dell'Appennino Tosco-Emiliano

Until a few millennia ago, silver fir was the dominant forest species in the northern Apennines, and it still maintains the genetic vestiges of this ancient splendor. The current condition of high fragmentation in the local distribution of silver fir has been strongly influenced by human activities, from the Neolithic to the present day, but this species still represents the best option to diversify a montane ecosystem that the anthropic action has transformed almost exclusively into a monospecific, even-aged and monoplane beech forest. Considering their genetic peculiarities, silver fir populations within the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park and surrounding areas represent a genetic resource of fundamental importance for the conservation of the species in its entire distribution. For these reasons, the status of silver fir forests still present in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines requires both an analysis of the genetic diversity aimed at understanding the stands which are most genetically impoverished, and a thorough knowledge of the origin of the material used for plantations. This paper summarizes the structure and the first results of a series of projects carried out by the CNR Institute of Biosciences and BioResources of Sesto Fiorentino, funded by the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park. These projects are aimed at developing effective conservation actions to preserve the genetic resources mainteined in the few, small silver fir populations still present in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines.