In recent decades, both the number and severity of fires have significantly increased in Mediterranean forests thus affecting trees productivity, growth and vitality. Comparing tree growth before and after a fire event can be used as a proxy of tree resilience and resistance. Resilience can be defined as the capacity to return to pre-disturbance functioning and growth levels. However, resilience per se does not consider the impact of the disturbance; therefore, resistance, which is the reversal of the reduction in ecological performance during a disturbance can be included in the resilience analysis to avoid underestimating the resilience.

This research aims to analyze the impact of a 2023 anthropogenic fire on two ecologically and economically important species, Fagus sylvatica L and Pinus nigra J.F.Arnold, growing in the Maiella Natural Park, in Abruzzi Region, Italy. We compared burned populations with unburned control trees to investigate the different responses of the two species to fire in terms of growth and ecophysiological performance. To achieve this goal, a multidisciplinary approach was adopted integrating satellite analyses to map the area affected by the fire with field investigations, including dendrochronological analyses and carbon stable isotope ratio measurements to gain information concerning changes in tree performance in response to environmental conditions. Our findings afford new insights into post-fire survival strategies of those species in an environment where fires are predicted to increase in frequency during the twenty-first century. Funded by project “BIOdiversita' Specifica e Funzionale per la Resistenza, Resilienza e Recupero ai disturbi ed al cambiamento climatico [BIOSFeR³a]”, in the framework of PNRR SPOKE 4 NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY FUTURE CENTER (NBFC)” CUP F83C24000360006.