The "Cloise" forest reserve (Veneto Region, North East Italy)

The forest reserve at “Cloise” (Asiago plateau, mesalpic region) was established in 1996, including two compartments of the local forest management plan, where harvesting had been suspended from some decades. The area is covered by an uneven-aged stand with fir (Abies alba Mill.), spruce (Picea abies Karst) and beech (Fagus sylvatica L.); it is classified as “abieteto mesalpico montano” according to Veneto Region forest typology. At the present time, the stand has developed without significant anthropogenic disturbance for about 60 years. Two 50x50 m plots in the forest have been surveyed to analyze stand structure, composition and dynamics.The living biomass accounted for 430 m3 ha-1 for plot A1 and 620 m3 ha-1 for plot A2. Standing deadwood accounted for 25 and 7 m3 ha-1 respectively. The two plots are furthermore partially different in composition and structure, also showing a variability inside the forest at close proximity. Interesting results were obtained regarding the shape of the trees in the different social layers and about spatial relationships among the species. Both the sampled areas show a good level of naturalness with regard to composition, diameter distribution, vertical stratification and snags presence.