Measuring fragmentation in rural landscapes: the case of Sardinia, Italy

Maintaining continuity of the ecosystem is becoming a central element in spatial planning policies. Several authors acknowledge the environmental fragmentation due to human action as one of the main causes which has negative effects on biodiversity. The environmental fragmentation is assimilated to the landscape fragmentation: the transformation of larger patches of habitat in smaller ones, or fragments, which tend to be more isolated than the original condition. Landscape fragmentation is extremely evident in urban areas, including settlements and various transport and mobility infrastructures. The main ecological effects due to the presence of a road network include loss of habitat, increased mortality of plants, and isolation of animal and vegetal species. In this paper, we measure landscape fragmentation through two indices - the Infrastructural Fragmentation Index (IFI) and the Urban Fragmentation Index (UFI)- to assess the evolution of three landscape units of the island of Sardinia, Italy, in the time period 2003-2008. We find that the indices present coherent values confirming that in the three landscape units urban areas and transport and mobility infrastructure induce a similar level of fragmentation.