Stand origin
69.2% of the Italian Forest has a seminatural origin, this meaning that it has been conditioned by silvicultural activities. 15.4% of Forest has a natural origin, including forest area derived by natural colonization of abandoned areas. Only 6.3% of Forest has been planted. Noticeably, no data are available for 9.1 % of the Forest, concerning the origin. The Forest area established since 1990, completely or partially by human activities (semi-natural and planted stands), covers about 250.000 ha, while Other Wooded Land established completely or partially by human activities covers about 28.000 ha.
Health condition and disturbances
Most of the Italian Forest (68.3%) does not present evidence of disturbances or damages. 22.6% of the area does, while health condition has not been assessed for 9.1% of Forest. The most common disturbance is pest attacks, affecting 9% of the Forest, followed by damages provoked by intense climatic events (5.6%) and those from browsing and grazing (3.2%).
Forest edges
19.2% of the national Forest area is located close to edges; this is true also for Other Wooded Land, though notably a significant part of the latter has not been classified (23.4%). These edges are mostly due to proximity to agricultural areas (44.4%), but many edges also border areas less anthropized, like “pastures and ranges” (28.0%), “open areas without vegetation” (8.7%) and “water” (4.7%).
Texture
In Forest, the prevailing canopy distribution is “irregular uniform,” both at the national level (78.5%) and in each administrative region. The “irregular uniform” texture also prevails in the Other Wooded Land, but here the predominance is less distinctive (46.2%) while other textures are also widespread, specifically “texture with gaps” (14.6%).
Elevation
Most of the Italian forests (71.5%) are located in the lower elevation bands, below 1000 m a.s.l., 19.7% is located between1.000 e1.500 m a.s.l. Above1.500 m Forest is significant only in Alpine regions and in the mountainous Apennine ones. Other Wooded Land distribution according to elevation bands is similar, but a bigger percentage is located above 2000 m a.s.l. .
Slope
A noticeable part of the Forest area (44.6%) is characterized by slope values higher than 40%. This situation is particularly relevant in some specific administrative regions.
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