Il Bosco del Vaj. Biodiversità e problematiche delle popolazioni relitte di faggio.

Biodiversity and problems of relic populations of European beech of Torino hilly: the stand of Vay European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) grows in the Alpine region from about 1,000 to 1,500 m a.s.l. Some relic populations still survive in hilly areas of Piedmont (north-western Italy) at an altitude of 300-600 m a.s.l., as a consequence of the diffusion during the glacial periods. Due to the unfavourable climatic conditions as well as human activity, European beech diffusion in hilly areas is decreasing and most trees are at present grown as coppice. Moreover, the regeneration of the tree is hampered by unfavourable sylvicultural management of the stands, difficult cross-pollination between isolated plants and low quality of seed, possibly as a consequence of inbreeding. The paper presents the results of an interdisciplinary study, aimed at evaluating genetic variability and structure as well as amount and quality of seedlings of an European beech populations growing at “Bosco del Vaj”, province of Turin. The results show that European beech populations from hilly areas present peculiar genetic characteristics, although the genetic differentiation with alpine populations is low. On the whole, seed quality proved to be correlated with a low amount of leaf coverage as well as with a high density of adult plants. Therefore, regeneration appears to be mainly linked with sylvicultural aspects rather than genetic ones. Some proposals to implement the regeneration of European beech in hilly areas of Piedmont are discussed.