Structure and stand development of secondary forests in Eastern Prealps (Italy)

The composition and temporal variations in species recruitment were examined by means of annual dendrochronological data, to determine the historical development and successional history of ash and sycamore mixed stands in five secondary forests on the Eastern Prealps. The first step of the investigation was to describe species composition and age structure. In accordance with data derived from land register and time series of orthophoto images, differences in time of colonization among the five stands were detected. The second step was to describe spatial colonization patterns: only in one case a frontal pattern was found while in others the colonization started from some old alder or ash trees preserved by farmers in the meadows.