Remotely sensed observations of seasonal greenness dynamics represent a valuable tool for studying vegetation phenology at regional and ecosystem-level scales. We investigated the seasonal variability of forests in Italy, examining the different mechanisms of phenological response to biophysical drivers. For each point of the Italian National Forests Inventory, we processed a multitemporal profile of the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index. Then we applied a multivariate approach for the purpose of (i) classifying the Italian forests into phenological clusters (i.e. pheno-clusters), (ii) identifying the main phenological characteristics and the forest compositions of each pheno-cluster and (iii) exploring the role of climate and physiographic variables in the phenological timing of each cluster. Results identified four pheno-clusters, following a clear elevation gradient and a distinct separation along the Mediterranean-to-temperate climatic transition of Italy. The “High-elevation coniferous” and the “High elevation deciduous” resulted mainly affected by elevation, with the former characterized by low annual productivity and the latter by high seasonality. To the contrary, the “Low elevation deciduous” showed to be mostly associated to moderate climate conditions and a prolonged growing season. Finally, summer drought was the main driving variable for the “Mediterranean evergreen”, characterized by low seasonality. The discrimination of vegetation phenology types can provide valuable information useful as a baseline framework for further studies on forests ecosystem and for management strategies.

对季节性绿色动态的遥感观测代表了一种在区域和生态系统水平上研究植被物候的有价值的工具。我们调查了意大利森林的季节性变化，研究了对生物物理驱动程序的物候响应的不同机制。对于意大利国家森林清单的每个点，我们处理了MODIS增强植被指数的多时相特征。然后，我们出于以下目的应用了多元方法：（i）将意大利森林分类为物候群（即物候群），（ii）识别每种物候群的主要物候特征和森林组成，以及（iii）探索气候和生理变量在每个聚类物候期中的作用。结果确定了四个现象簇，沿意大利从地中海到温带气候过渡的明显海拔梯度和明显分离。“高海拔针叶林”和“高海拔落叶林”主要受海拔的影响，前者的特点是年生产力低，而后者的特点是季节性高。相反，“低海拔落叶”显示出与中等气候条件和延长的生长季节有关。最后，夏季干旱是“地中海常绿”的主要驱动变量，其特点是季节性低。植被物候类型的区分可以提供有价值的信息，可作为进一步研究森林生态系统和管理策略的基准框架。