Methodological approaches to outline control strategies of cork oak decline in Sardinia (Italy).

The need to define suitable measures in order to overcome the increasing spread of cork oak decline in Sardinia has become of primary importance. To date, 60 declining areas all over the region have been found. However, it is very difficult to outline common control strategies because of the complex etiology of this disease and the remarkable variability of environmental and sylvo-cultural conditions of the different cork oak stands. Therefore, a research programme with the following objectives has been set up to : 1) characterize the vegetational typologies of declining cork oak stands; 2) create a net of stations, representative for each typology, useful for monitoring the phenomenon; 3) carry out integrated and exhaustive studies of climatic, edaphic, vegetational and sylvo-cultural characteristics in each station; 4) compare the results on the basis of disease evolution. In this paper, the methodology adopted and results of surveys carried out over a four-year period in one station located in North Sardinia are reported.