BIO

In 2008, I began my B.Sc. in Forestry and Environmental Sciences at the Polytechnic University of Ancona in Italy. For my M.Sc. I spent a year at the Georg-August Universität, Göttingen and a year at Bangor University, Wales under the SUFONAMA Erasmus Mundus project in "Sustainable Forestry and Nature Management".

In 2017, I completed my Ph.D. “Drought tolerance of Douglas-fir, Norway spruce and Silver fir in the Black Forest” at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg, and spent 2018 in Montreal, Canada as a Postdoc.

My research has been focusing on the effect of climate change and disturbances on forest growth, using dendrochronological and modeling methods. Now I am a Postdoc here at WSL on the development of a diagnostic triple-isotope tool to elucidate the effects of droughts on tree physiology.

 

Projects

We want to explore a stable isotope tree-ring approach for analyzing physiological drought responses of trees. The results are expected to provide a novel diagnostic tool for understanding causes of tree decline.

Detect a "defoliation fingerprint" in stable isotopes in tree rings.

Publications

Rissanen K., Vitali V., Kneeshaw D., Paquette A. (2025) Vessel anatomy of urban Celtis occidentalis trees varies to favour safety or efficiency depending on site conditions. Trees Struct. Funct. 39(1), 29 (15 pp.). doi:10.1007/s00468-025-02603-3 Institutional Repository DORA

Schuler P., Rehmann O., Vitali V., Saurer M., Oettli M., Cernusak L.A., … Lehmann M.M. (2024) Hydrogen isotope fractionation in plants with C3, C4, and CAM CO2 fixation. New Phytol. 244(2), 477-495. doi:10.1111/nph.20057 Institutional Repository DORA

Vitali V., Schuler P., Holloway‐Phillips M., D'Odorico P., Guidi C., Klesse S., … Saurer M. (2024) Finding balance: tree‐ring isotopes differentiate between acclimation and stress‐induced imbalance in a long‐term irrigation experiment. Glob. Chang. Biol. 30(3), e17237 (20 pp.). doi:10.1111/gcb.17237 Institutional Repository DORA

Guidi C., Lehmann M.M., Meusburger K., Saurer M., Vitali V., Peter M., … Hagedorn F. (2023) Tracing sources and turnover of soil organic matter in a long-term irrigated dry forest using a novel hydrogen isotope approach. Soil Biol. Biochem. 184, 109113 (10 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109113 Institutional Repository DORA

Ouyang S., Tie L., Rao X., Cai X.’an, Liu S., Vitali V., … Shen W. (2023) Mixed-species Acacia plantation decreases soil organic carbon and total nitrogen concentrations but favors species regeneration and tree growth over monoculture: a thirty-three-year field experiment in southern China. Forests. 14(5), 968 (17 pp.). doi:10.3390/f14050968 Institutional Repository DORA

Schuler P., Vitali V., Saurer M., Gessler A., Buchmann N., Lehmann M.M. (2023) Hydrogen isotope fractionation in carbohydrates of leaves and xylem tissues follows distinct phylogenetic patterns: a common garden experiment with 73 tree and shrub species. New Phytol. 239(2), 547-561. doi:10.1111/nph.18976 Institutional Repository DORA

Vitali V., Peters R.L., Lehmann M.M., Leuenberger M., Treydte K., Büntgen U., … Saurer M. (2023) Tree-ring isotopes from the Swiss Alps reveal non-climatic fingerprints of cyclic insect population outbreaks over the past 700 years. Tree Physiol. 43(5), 706-721. doi:10.1093/treephys/tpad014 Institutional Repository DORA

Schuler P., Cormier M.‐A., Werner R.A., Buchmann N., Gessler A., Vitali V., … Lehmann M.M. (2022) A high temperature water vapor equilibration method to determine non‐exchangeable hydrogen isotope ratios of sugar, starch, and cellulose. Plant Cell Environ. 45(1), 12-22. doi:10.1111/pce.14193 Institutional Repository DORA

Vitali V., Martínez-Sancho E., Treydte K., Andreu-Hayles L., Dorado-Liñán I., Gutierrez E., … Lehmann M.M. (2022) The unknown third - hydrogen isotopes in tree-ring cellulose across Europe. Sci. Total Environ. 813, 152281 (15 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152281 Institutional Repository DORA

Belluau M., Vitali V., Parker W.C., Paquette A., Messier C. (2021) Overyielding in young tree communities does not support the stress‐gradient hypothesis and is favoured by functional diversity and higher water availability. J. Ecol. 109(4), 1790-1803. doi:10.1111/1365-2745.13602 Institutional Repository DORA

D'Odorico P., Schönbeck L., Vitali V., Meusburger K., Schaub M., Ginzler C., … Ensminger I. (2021) Drone‐based physiological index reveals long‐term acclimation and drought stress responses in trees. Plant Cell Environ. 44(11), 3552-3570. doi:10.1111/pce.14177 Institutional Repository DORA

Lehmann M.M., Vitali V., Schuler P., Leuenberger M., Saurer M. (2021) More than climate: Hydrogen isotope ratios in tree rings as novel plant physiological indicator for stress conditions. Dendrochronologia. 65, 125788 (5 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.dendro.2020.125788 Institutional Repository DORA

Ramirez J.A., Vitali V., Martínez-Vilalta J., Handa I.T., Messier C. (2021) Reserve accumulation is prioritized over growth following single or combined injuries in three common North American urban tree species. Front. Plant Sci. 12, 715399 (10 pp.). doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.715399 Institutional Repository DORA

Vitali V., Klesse S., Weigt R., Treydte K., Frank D., Saurer M., Siegwolf R.T.W. (2021) High-frequency stable isotope signals in uneven-aged forests as proxy for physiological responses to climate in Central Europe. Tree Physiol. 41(11), 2046-2062. doi:10.1093/treephys/tpab062 Institutional Repository DORA

Schwarz J., Skiadaresis G., Kohler M., Kunz J., Schnabel F., Vitali V., Bauhus J. (2020) Quantifying growth responses of trees to drought - a critique of commonly used resilience indices and recommendations for future studies. Curr. Forestry Rep. 6, 185-200. doi:10.1007/s40725-020-00119-2 Institutional Repository DORA

Nikolova P., Vitali V., Cherubini P., Zingg A., Brang P. (2016) Radialzuwachs von Fichten im Randbereich großer Verjüngungsöffnungen: ein Beispiel aus den Schweizerischen Alpen. In U. Kohnle & J. Klädtke (Eds.), Sektion Ertragskunde: Berichte zur Jahrestagung 2016. Deutscher Verband Forstlicher Forschungsanstalten. Sektion Ertragskunde. Freiburg i.Br.: DVFFA. 150-157. Institutional Repository DORA

Vitali V., Brang P., Cherubini P., Zingg A., Simeonova Nikolova P. (2016) Radial growth changes in Norway spruce montane and subalpine forests after strip cutting in the Swiss Alps. For. Ecol. Manag. 364, 145-153. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2016.01.015 Institutional Repository DORA

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