Nell'ambito di un caso di studio nel Canton Ticino (Svizzera) si mettono a confronto, all'interno del ceduo castanile invecchiato, situazioni di crollo di ceppaie con parti di popolamento intatto, al fine di individuare i fattori di rischio e di suggerire possibili misure selvicolturali preventive.

Overage and abandoned chestnut coppice stands show an increasing frequency of uprooting events. The present study shows that these events mainly regard single tall stools located on steep slopes along depressions. This situation increases the risk for dam-break and debris-flow. Uprooting seems primarily caused by precarious stool static whereby the exaggerated above-ground mass cannot be counteracted by a too small and overage root apparatus. Coppicing or thinning before an age or 30 years and diversification of the chestnut coppice structures would strongly contribute to reduce the risk of uprooting.