Plant biodiversity of beech forests in central-northern Italy: a methodological approach for conservation purposes

Forests are reckoned essentials as biodiversity reservoirs and carbon sinks. Current threats to forest ecosystems (e.g., climate changes, habitat loss and fragmentation, management changes) call for monitoring their biodiversity and preserving their ecological functions. In this study, we characterized plants diversity of five beech forests located in central and north Apennines mountain chain, using results by a probabilistic sampling. In order to achieve our goals, we have considered species richness and abundance, taxonomic distinctness and species composition, using both old and new analytical approaches. Results have shown how: (1) the forest type dominated by Fagus sylvatica is characterized by high complexity, with marked compositional, structural and biodiversity differences; (2) beech forests of Pigelleto di Piancastagnaio and Valle della Corte show the highest plants diversity values. The ecological characteristics of these areas, which sustain high diversity values, are unique and of great conservation interest; (3) the use of species richness as the only diversity measure have not allowed an efficient differentiation between studied areas. Indeed, the use of different indexes and analytical methods is required to detect multiple characteristics of biological diversity, as well as to carry out efficient biodiversity surveys aimed to develop optimal conservation strategies. In the future, we plan to apply the sampling methodology and the analytical approach used in this paper to characterize plants diversity of similar forest types.