Sesto Fiorentino Unit

Aims of the project: The project includes monitoring activities throughout the Tuscan territory of some alien pathogenic organisms that are subject to quarantine measures and the development of precise, rapid and effective diagnostic systems. Project leader: Alberto Santini IPSP personnel: Nicola Luchi, Duccio Migliorini, Emanuele Nigrone, Francesco Pecori, Alessia L. Pepori. Start: 28/12/2017 End: 30/11/2021

Aims of the project: Adopting a holistic and multi-actor approach, HOMED aims to develop a full panel of scientific knowledge and practical solutions for the management of emerging native and non-native PnPs threatening European forests. Within HOMED, forest health will be considered broadly, including trees not only in forests, but also in nurseries, urban and rural areas owing to the key epidemiological role of these components. Innovation will be central, as the new tools for PnPs management will benefit from cutting-edge technology in biology, electronics, mathematics and physics. Project leader:…

Aims of the project: push companies to adopt autonomous control criteria to avoid the introduction of alien and / or emerging pathogens and insects. To do this, we intend to draw up a list of those potentially associated with the ornamental species cultivated in the Pistoia district which, with the import nursery activities, could unknowingly be introduced into the territory. At the same time, it intends to establish the technical-scientific criteria and the methodologies to be adopted in the nursery, especially when introducing plant material from non-European countries, such as…

Set up of sentinel plantations to prevent the introduction of alien invasive pests and pathogens. Project leader: Alberto Santini IPSP personnel: Nicola Luchi, Duccio Migliorini, Emanuele Nigrone, Francesco Pecori, Alessia L. Pepori. Start: 01/09/2019 End: 30/09/2022

In collaboration with “Consorzio di Bonifica 3 Medio Valdarno”, the public authority in charge of rivers maintenance and flood management, we started in 2020 a pilot study to identify suitable means of invasive alien speciesRoberto DantiSe containment without the use of herbicides, with the aim of providing management protocols applicable in the regional and supra-regional context. The study will focus in particular on Ailanthus altissima and on the so-called “Japanese knotweed”, a group of exotic species of the genus Reynoutria = Fallopia. For A. altissima, the possibility of applying bio-control…