The project Multi-scale observations to predict Forest response to pollution and climate change (MULTIFOR) is a research project funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (PRIN2020 cod 2020E52THS).
Five research units are involved in MULTIFOR:
National Research Council, coordinated by Silvano Fares, PI of MULTIFOR
University of Tuscia, coordinated by Dario Papale
University of Florence, coordinated by Gherardo Chirici
University of Macerata, coordinated by Luca Salvati
University of Molise, coordinated by Vittorio Garfì
MULTIFOR in brief
A team of scientists involved in different ecological monitoring networks and experts in assessment of forest resources converge into a multi-objective project where state of the art methodologies and new proposed
methodologies will be adopted in order to better understand and disentangle the specific effects of pollution and climate-changes on Forest growth and productivity.
We will achieve our goals by interconnecting four work
packages (WPs): Project management and dissemination (WP1); Ecosystem response to environmental stress(es) (WP2) with valorization of the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) research infrastructure and
high quality data obtained in the measurement sites; Precision Forestry applications for forest stand characterization and advanced statistical evaluation of the Eddy Covariance footprint areas (WP 3); Big-data assimilation
to predict forest response to environmental disturbances and climate changes by merging a multivariate dataset of observations at the single site level to regional level – proposing innovative statistical sampling designs
and application of advanced process-based forest models to predict growth and impacts in future scenarios (WP4).
MULTIFOR will (i) advance current knowledge on mechanisms governing exchanges of trace gases, (ii)
generate a novel informative system of Forest resources at regional/national level, (iii) inform on forest responses to future scenarios of climate changes and pollution with respect to selected sites under Mediterranean and
temperate conditions.