Root reinforcement is a mechanism through which forests contribute to the prevention and mitigation of shallow instabilities in soils, one of the main hazards in mountain areas. This study aims to assess how spatial tree distribution and whether thinning operations affect root reinforcement in the most common forest types of the European Southern Alps. We measured size and position of the trees of 119 stands, belonging to sweet chestnut, European beech, Norway spruce, and spruce-beech-silver fir forest types. We developed, calibrated and validated a model for estimating root reinforcement at the stand level, using the spatial distribution of tree diameter as the input variable. Finally, we simulated a thinning of 18% stand basal area, selecting removal trees from smaller diameter classes (low thinning) or from random clusters (random cluster thinning), and assessed its effect on root reinforcement. Root reinforcement statistically differed among forest types and the lowest values were found in the sweet chestnut forest type. Irrespective of the forest type, low thinning did not significantly modify root reinforcement, while random cluster thinning reduced it five-fold.

根系强化是一种机制，森林可通过该机制来预防和减轻土壤中的浅层不稳定性，这是山区的主要危害之一。这项研究旨在评估在欧洲南部阿尔卑斯山最常见的森林类型中，空间树木的分布方式以及间伐活动是否会影响根系加固。我们测量了119个林分的树的大小和位置，这些树属于欧洲栗木，欧洲山毛榉，挪威云杉和云杉-山毛榉-银杉林类型。我们使用树木直径的空间分布作为输入变量，开发，校准和验证了用于评估林分水平根系加固的模型。最后，我们模拟了林分基础面积减少18％，从较小直径类别（低间伐）或从随机丛集（随机丛集间伐）中选择清除树，并评估其对根系增强的影响。根系强化在统计上因森林类型而异，而在欧洲栗木类型中最低。不论森林类型如何，低间伐均不会显着改变根系加固，而随机丛生间伐会使其减少五倍。