Catalogo dei Corsi di studio

https://web.uniroma1.it/dip_dba302/utenti_profili_det/460?iris=marcello....

Scientific Research is carried out on specific features as:
a) Measuring and Modelling approaches on primary productivity and water use assessment;
b) Climate change effect on ecosystems and plant distribution;
c) Atmospheric pollutants (nitrogen oxides, ozone, Volatile Organic compounds) and their effects on structural and physiological characteristics of plants;
d) Carbon cycle assessment for forest plant communities at different climate scenarios, in order to discriminate assimilation and respiration rates (litter decomposition and soil respiration rates);
e) Land Use and Land Use Change assessment for implementing Spatial decision Support Systems in order to manage and mitigate the effects caused by desertification in semi-arid Arabian/African areas:
f) Statistical approaches for predictive modelling of non-linear dynamic processes (plant distribution, intra-specific competition, resource consumption, canopy structural and/or functional damages induced by air pollutants).

Primary research interests lie in the combined effects of tropospheric ozone and environmental stress factors on plants (semi-natural and crops) and forest Mediterranean ecosystems. I investigated plant physiological processes, symptom expression of ozone visible injury and I used these data to assess the risk of tropospheric ozone on forest vegetation by means of ozone flux modelling. Following the first approaches to modelling, my particular interest lies in finding new non-linear methodological approaches based on mathematics-statistical basis for the assessment of functional rules of some physiological processes such as stomatal conductance behaviour as referred as a key-parameter for controlling atmosphere-plant interactions. Efforts have been done for applying several non-linear techniques, such as Path analysis, Neural Net Analysis, non-linear regression models, to different physiological variables of plants responding to the variation of the independent climatic variables and air pollutants.
Different deterministic models have been developed to respond to several necessities as: assessment of net primary productivity of a Mediterranean forest by simulation of physiological processes responding to an increase of air temperature; hydro-geological models taking into account soil properties and environmental variables at aiming to assess the water availability either in the water table level or superficial level (root level) for determining potential plant production in limiting environments (savannah, semi-arid and arid lands), also considering the grazing pressure in time.
Different scale factors have been used in the modelling practices to up-scale or down-scale several functional variables by using allometric theory of West, Brown and Enquist, leaf area index (LAI) as calculated in function of plant productivity, some remote sensed products as NDVI or phenology product coming from MODIS satellite data and implemented in deterministic models as time-based functions. The acquisition of modelling techniques (quick basic, visual basic and object-oriented programs as Stella 9 and Simile), following the implementation of a deterministic model based on the big-leaf approach for calculating net primary production, canopy transpiration and stomatal conductance to water vapour, and applying the spatial Analyst module of ArcGIS software, allowed the spatial representation of these physiological variables. This approach opened potential applications when deterministic models (temporal trends but not spatial representations) were relieved with Cellular Automata (CA) models and the more useful Geographical Automata System (GAS).

Peer reviewed papers
1. Manes F., Astorino G., Vitale M., Loreto F. (1997) - Morpho-functional studies on Quercus ilex leaves during different seasons. Plant Biosystems 131(2): 149-158.
2. Manes F., Seufert G., Vitale M. (1997) - Ecophysiological studies of Mediterranean plant species at the Castelporziano estate. Atmospheric Environment 31: 51 SI - 60 SI.
3. Manes F., Vitale M., Feoli E., Scimone M., Canfora E. (1998) - Gas exchange measurements and an indirect estimate of primary production in a holm-oak ecosystem. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 7:71-78.
4. Manes F., Vitale M., Donato E., Paoletti E. (1998) - O3 and O3+CO2 effects on a Mediterranean evergreen broadleaf tree holm oak (Quercus ilex L.). Chemosphere 36(4-5): 801-806.
5. Manes F., Seufert G., Vitale M., Donato E., Csiky O., Silli V. (1999) Ecophysiological characterization of Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck and relationships with type and amount of biogenic emissions. Physics and chemistry of the Earth (B) 24(6): 699-703.
6. Manes F., Donato E., Vitale M., 2001. Physiological response of Pinus halepensis needles under ozone and water stress conditions. Physiologia Plantarum 113(2): 249-257.
7. Vitale M., Scimone M., Feoli E., Manes F., 2003. Modelling leaf gas exchanges as a function of temperature increase to predict trends of functional processes in Mediterranean Quercus ilex forest under climatic changes. Ecological Modelling 166: 123-134.
8. Gerosa G., Vitale M., Finco A., Manes F., Ballarin Denti A., Cieslik S., 2005. Ozone uptake by an evergreen Mediterranean forest (Quercus ilex L.) in Italy. Part I: micrometeorological flux measurements and flux partitioning. Atmospheric Environment 39: 3255-3266.
9. Vitale M., Gerosa G., Ballarin-Denti A., Manes F., 2005. Ozone uptake by an evergreen Mediterranean forest (Quercus ilex L.) in Italy. Part II: Flux modelling. Upscaling leaf to canopy ozone uptake by a process-based model. Atmospheric Environment 39: 3267-3278.
10. Vitale M., Manes F., 2005. The role of changing environmental parameters on physiological behaviour of Arbutus unedo L. assessed by field and laboratory measurements. Photosynthetica 43(1): 99-106.
11. Manes F., Vitale M., Donato E., Giannini M., Puppi G., 2006. Different ability of three Mediterranean oak species to tolerate progressive dehydration stress. Photosynthetica 44 (3), 387-393.
12. Manes F., Vitale M., Di Traglia M., 2005. Monitoring tropospheric ozone impact on plants in natural and urban areas with a Mediterranean climate. Plant Biosystems 139(3), 265-278.
13. Vitale M., Anselmi S., Salvatori E., Manes F., 2007. New approaches to study the relationship between stomatal conductance and environmental factors under Mediterranean climatic conditions. Atmospheric Environment, 41: 5385-5397.
14. Vitale M., Capogna F., Manes F., 2007. Resilience assessment on Phillyrea angustifolia L. maquis undergone to experimental fire through a big-leaf modelling approach. Ecological Modelling 203: 387-394.
15. Manes F., Vitale M., Fabi M. A., De Santis F., Zona D., 2007. Estimates of potential ozone stomatal uptake in mature trees of Quercus ilex in a Mediterranean climate. Environmental and Experimental Botany 59(2): 235-241.
16. Ferretti M., Fagnano M., Amoriello T., Badiani M., Ballarin-Denti A., Buffoni A., Bussotti F., Castagna A., Cieslik S., Costantini A., De Marco A., Gerosa G., Lorenzini G., Manes F., Merola G., Nali C., Paoletti E., Petriccione B., Racalbuto S., Rana G., Ranieri A., Tagliaferri A. Vialetto G., Vitale M., 2007. Measuring, modelling and testing ozone exposure, flux and effects on vegetation in southern European conditions - what does not work. A review from Italy. Environmental Pollution 146(3): 648-658.
17. Vitale M., Salvatori E., Loreto F., Fares S., Manes F., 2008. Physiological responses of Quercus ilex leaves to water stress and acute ozone exposure under controlled conditions. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 189:113-125 .
18. Manes F., Salvatori E., La Torre G., Villari P., Vitale M., Biscontini D., Incerti G., 2008. Urban green and its relation to air pollution: ecological studies in the Metropolitan area of Rome. Italian Journal of Public Health, 5(4): 278-283.
19. Gerosa G., Finco A., Mereu S., Vitale M., Manes F., Ballarin-Denti A., 2009. Comparison of seasonal variations of ozone exposure and fluxes in a Mediterranean Holm oak forest between the exceptionally dry 2003 and the following year. Environmental Pollution, 157: 1737-1744.
20. Vitale M., Matteucci G., Fares S., Davison B. (2009) A process-based model to estimate gas exchange and monoterpene emission rates in the Mediterranean maquis comparisons between modelled and measured fluxes at different scales. Biogeosciences Discussions, 6, 1747 1776.
21. Attorre F., Francesconi F., La Posta A., Tomasetto F., Valenti R., Vitale M., Bruno F, 2009. Effects of climate change on tree species distribution to support the elaboration of adaptive management strategies in natural protected areas. IOP Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 6: 312-316.
22. Fares S., Mereu S., Scarascia Mugnozza G., Vitale M., Manes F., Frattoni M., Ciccioli P., Gerosa G., Loreto F., 2009. The ACCENT-VOCBAS field campaign on biosphere-atmosphere interactions in a Mediterranean ecosystem of Castelporziano (Rome): site characteristics, climatic and meteorological conditions, and eco-physiology of vegetation. Biogeosciences, 6: 1043-1058.
23. Attorre F., Alfò M., De Sanctis M, Francesconi F., Valenti R., Vitale M., Bruno F., 2011. Evaluating the effects of climate change on tree species abundance and distribution in the Italian peninsula. Applied vegetation Science, 14(2):242-255.
24. Di Traglia M., Attorre F., Francesconi F., Valenti R., Vitale M., 2011. Is cellular automata algorithm able to predict the future dynamical shifts of tree species in Italy under climate change scenarios? A methodological approach. Ecological Modelling, 222(4): 925-934. [doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.12.009]
25. Attorre F., Taleb N., De Sanctis M., Farcomeni A., Guillet A., Vitale M., 2011. Developing conservation strategies for endemic tree species when faced with time and data constraints: Boswellia spp. on Socotra (Yemen). Biodiversity and Conservation, 20(7):1483-1499.
26. Manes F., Incerti G., Salvatori E., Vitale M., Ricotta C., Costanza R., 2011. Urban ecosystem services: tree diversity and stability of tropospheric ozone removal. Ecological Applications 22 (1): 349-360 https://doi.org/10.1890/11-0561.1
27. Vitale M., Mancini M., Matteucci G., Francesconi F., Valenti R., Attorre F. 2012. Model-based assessment of ecological adaptations of three forest tree species growing in Italy and impact on carbon and water balance at national scale under current and future climate scenarios. iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry 5 (5): 235-246 https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor0634-005
28. Attorre, F., De Sanctis, M., Farcomeni, A., Guillet, A., Scepi, E., Vitale, M., Pella, F., Fasola, M. 2013. The use of spatial ecological modelling as a tool for improving the assessment of geographic range size of threatened species. Journal for Nature Conservation 21(1): 48 55 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2012.10.001
29. De Marco A., Screpanti A., Attorre F., Proietti C., Vitale M. 2013. Assessing ozone and nitrogen impact on net primary productivity with a Generalised non-Linear Model. Environmental Pollution, 172: 250-263 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2012.08.015
30. Fares, S., Vargas, R., Detto, M., Goldstein, A. H., Karlik, J., Paoletti, E., Vitale, M. (2013). Tropospheric ozone reduces carbon assimilation in trees: estimates from analysis of continuous flux measurements. Global Change Biology, 19(8), 2427-2443. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12222
31. Attorre F., Maggini A., Di Traglia M., De Sanctis M., Vitale M. 2013. A methodological approach for assessing the effects of disturbance factors on the conservation status of Mediterranean coastal dune systems. Applied Vegetation Science. 16: 333-342 https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12002
32. Malatesta, L., Attorre, F., Altobelli, A., Adeeb, A., De Sanctis, M., Taleb, N., Scholte, P., Vitale, M. 2013. Vegetation mapping from high-resolution satellite images in the heterogeneous arid environments of Socotra Island (Yemen). Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 7 (1): 073527 https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JRS.7.073527
33. Attorre F., Francesconi F., De Sanctis M., Alfò M., Martella F., Valenti R., Vitale M. 2014. Classifying and mapping potential distribution of forest types using a finite mixture model. Folia Geobotanica, 49(3): 313-335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-012-9139-8
34. Attorre F., Vitale M. 2014. Plant ecology and conservation in International Cooperation: approaches and methodologies. Plant Biosystems, 148(3): 517-518 https://doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2014.900132
35. Attorre F., Issa A., Malatesta L., Adeeb A., De Sanctis M., Vitale M., Farcomeni A. 2014. Analyzing the relationship between land units and plant communities: the case of Socotra Island (Yemen). Plant Biosystems, 148(3): 529-539 https://doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2014.900127
36. De Marco A., Velardi M., Camporeale C., Screpanti A., Vitale M. 2014. The adherence of the diet to Mediterranean principle and its impacts on human and environmental health. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Environmental Health, 2(2): 64-75 https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14
37. Mannina L., Cesa S., Antiochia R., Vista S., Sobolev A.P., Vitale M., Di Cocco M.E., Santini A., Casini A. 2014. Quality of Commercial Flavoured Oils and Seed Oils Using a Widespread Analytical Protocol. Journal of Food Research, 3(4): 78-92.
38. Vitale M., Proietti C., Cionni I., Fischer R., De Marco A. 2014. Random Forest Analysis: a useful tool for defining cause-effect pathway between crown defoliation and environmental conditions. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 225(6): 1992 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-1992-z
39. De Marco A., Vitale M., Kilic U., Serengil Y., Paoletti E. 2014. New functions for estimating AOT40 from ozone passive sampling. Atmospheric Environment, 95: 82-88 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.06.021
40. De Marco A., Proietti C., Cionni I., Fischer R., Screpanti A., Vitale M. 2014. Future impacts of nitrogen deposition and climate change scenarios on forest crown defoliation. Environmental Pollution 194: 171-180.
41. Vitale, M., Savi, F., Baldantoni, D., & Attorre, F. 2014. Modelling of early-stage litter decomposition in Mediterranean mixed forests: functional aspects affected by local climate. iForest-Biogeosciences and Forestry, 8(4): 517-525. https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor1202-007
42. De Marco, A., Vitale, M., Kilic, U., Serengil, Y., Paoletti, E. 2014. Discussion on the new functions for estimating AOT40 from passive sampling, Atmospheric Environment, 98: 704 706 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.09.027
43. Attorre A., Govender N., Hausmann A., Farcomeni A., Guillet A., Scepi E., Smit I.P.J., Vitale M. 2015. Assessing the effect of management changes and environmental features on the spatiotemporal pattern of fire in an African Savannah. Journal for Nature Conservation, 28: 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2015.07.001
44. De Marco A., Sicard P., Vitale M., Carriero G., Renou C., Paoletti E. 2015. Metrics of ozone risk assessment for Southern European forests: testing the potential of canopy moisture content as plant response indicator. Atmospheric Environment, 120: 182-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.08.071
45. Varone, L., Vitale, M., Catoni, R. and Gratani, L. (2016), Physiological differences of five Holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) ecotypes growing under common growth conditions were related to native local climate. Plant Species Biology, 31: 196 210. https://doi.org/10.1111/1442-1984.12103
46. Anav, A., De Marco, A., Proietti, C., Alessandri, A., Dell'Aquila, A., Cionni, I., Friedlingstein, P., Khvorostyanov, D., Menut, L., Paoletti, E., Sicard, P., Sitch, S., Vitale, M. (2016), Comparing concentration-based (AOT40) and stomatal uptake (PODY) metrics for ozone risk assessment to European forests. Global Change Biology, 22(4): 1608 1627. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13138
47. Proietti C., Anav A., De Marco A., Sicard P., Vitale M. 2016. A multi-sites analysis on the effects of ozone on Gross Primary Production of European forests. Science of the Total Environment, 556: 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.187
48. Ortolani O., Vitale M. 2016. The importance of local-scale for assessing, monitoring and predicting of air quality in urban areas. Sustainable Cities and Society, 26: 150-160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2016.06.001
49. Anav, A., De Marco, A., Sicard, P., Vitale, M. and Paoletti, E. 2017. Response on comparing concentration based (AOT40) and stomatal uptake (PODY) metrics for ozone risk assessment to European forests . Global change biology, 23(2): e3-e4. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13511
50. De Marco A., Vitale M., Popa I., Anav A. Badea O., Silaghi D., Leca S., Screpanti A., Paoletti E. 2017. Ozone exposure affects tree defoliation in a continental climate. Science of the Total Environment, 596: 396-404. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.135
51. Vitale M., Lorenzetti S., Francesconi F., Attorre F., Di Traglia M. 2017. The importance of interspecific competition in the actual and future distributions of plant species assessed by a 2-D grid agent modelling. Ecological Modelling, 360: 399-409. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.07.027
52. Messina M., Cunliffe R., Farcomeni A., Malatesta L., Smit I.P.J., Testolin R., Ribeiro N.S., Nhancale B., Vitale M., Attorre F. 2018. An innovative approach to disentangling the effect of management and environment on tree cover and density of protected areas in African savanna. Forest Ecology and Management, 419-420: 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.03.019
53. Miranda, E.D., Attorre, F., Azevedo, J., Belen, I., Alcalde, E.E., Freitas, H., Garavaglia, V., Hódar, J.A., Iritas, Ö., Karaaslan, Y., Khater, C., Koutsias, N., Lahlou, M., Malkinson, D., Mansour, S., Pettenella, D., Picard, N., Pino, J., Vieira, J., Vitale, M. (2018). Drivers of degradation and other threats. In: State of Mediterranean Forests Marseille, FAO. Chapter 5, p. 72-89. ISBN 978-92-5-131047-2. https://bibliotecadigital.ipb.pt/handle/10198/18280
54. Attorre, F., Sciubba, E., Vitale, M. (2019). A thermodynamic model for plant growth validated with Pinus sylvestris data. Ecological Modelling, 391, 53-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2018.10.022
55. Agathokleous E., Anav A., Araminiene V., De Marco A., Domingos M., Kitao M., Koike T., Manning W., Paoletti E., Saitanis C., Sicard P., Vitale M., Wang W., Calabrese E. (2019). Commentary: EPA's proposed expansion of dose-response analysis is a positive step towards improving its ecological risk assessment. Environmental Pollution, 246: 566-570 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.12.046
56. De Marco A., Proietti C., Anav A., Ciancarella L., D'Elia I., Fares S., Fornasier M. F., Fusaro L., Gualtieri M., Manes F., Marchetto A., Mircea M., Paoletti E., Piersanti A., Rogora M., Salvati L., Salvatori E., Screpanti A., Vialetto G., Vitale M., Leonardi C. (2019). Impacts of air pollution on human and ecosystem health, and implications for the National Emission Ceilings Directive: Insights from Italy. Environment International, 125: 320-333 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.01.064
57. Anav A., De Marco A., Friedlingstein P., Savi F., Sicard P., Sitch S., Vitale M., Paoletti E. (2019) Growing season extension affects ozone uptake by European forests. Science of the Total Environment, 669: 1043-1052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.020
58. Proietti, C., Anav, A., Vitale, M., Fares, S., Fornasier, M.F., Screpanti, A., Salvati, L., Paoletti, E., Sicard, P., De Marco, A. (2019) A New Wetness Index to Evaluate the Soil Water Availability Influence on Gross Primary Production of European Forests. Climate, 7(3): 42. https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/7/3/42
59. Vitale M., Amitrano W., Yoshida Y., Paoletti E. (2019). Plant species-specific litter decomposition rates are directly affected by tropospheric ozone: analysis of trends and modelling. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 230: 311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-019-4339-y