An important set of ecosystem services (ESs) delivered by green infrastructure (GI) is based on habitats and species protection and enhancement, that is on maintaining and improving biodiversity. Indeed, the second objective of the EU Biodiversity Strategy recommends that ecosystems and their services are maintained and enhanced by establishing GI and restoring at least a 15% of the ecosystems which show up significant decay. From this perspective, habitat fragmentation can be considered one the most outstanding causes of a decreasing attitude of GI towards the delivery of habitat-based ESs, since it weakens the capacity to deliver such services by undermining the networking potential of habitats. In this paper, we propose a study concerning Sardinia, one of the two insular regions of Italy. 130 Natura 2000 sites (N2Ss) are located in the region (93 Sites of community interest and 37 Special protection areas), which amount to about 14.5% of the regional land. We propose a methodological approach to identify ecological corridors (ECs) connecting N2Ss, based on the prioritization of functional land patches related to their suitability to ESs delivery, paying particular attention to biodiversity maintenance and enhancement. The methodology consists of two steps: i. identifying the most suitable patches to be included in ECs on the basis of their accessibility, that is, on their negative attitude towards contributing to landscape fragmentation; ii. assessing, through a discrete-choice-model, the ECs identified through point i in terms of their suitability to be included in a regional GI, starting from the territorial taxonomy based on biodiversity characteristics related to N2Ss, habitat suitability, and recreational and landscape potentials.

The integration of ecological corridors and green infrastructure: a study concerning Sardinia

Cannas Ignazio;Zoppi Corrado
2017-01-01

Abstract

An important set of ecosystem services (ESs) delivered by green infrastructure (GI) is based on habitats and species protection and enhancement, that is on maintaining and improving biodiversity. Indeed, the second objective of the EU Biodiversity Strategy recommends that ecosystems and their services are maintained and enhanced by establishing GI and restoring at least a 15% of the ecosystems which show up significant decay. From this perspective, habitat fragmentation can be considered one the most outstanding causes of a decreasing attitude of GI towards the delivery of habitat-based ESs, since it weakens the capacity to deliver such services by undermining the networking potential of habitats. In this paper, we propose a study concerning Sardinia, one of the two insular regions of Italy. 130 Natura 2000 sites (N2Ss) are located in the region (93 Sites of community interest and 37 Special protection areas), which amount to about 14.5% of the regional land. We propose a methodological approach to identify ecological corridors (ECs) connecting N2Ss, based on the prioritization of functional land patches related to their suitability to ESs delivery, paying particular attention to biodiversity maintenance and enhancement. The methodology consists of two steps: i. identifying the most suitable patches to be included in ECs on the basis of their accessibility, that is, on their negative attitude towards contributing to landscape fragmentation; ii. assessing, through a discrete-choice-model, the ECs identified through point i in terms of their suitability to be included in a regional GI, starting from the territorial taxonomy based on biodiversity characteristics related to N2Ss, habitat suitability, and recreational and landscape potentials.
2017
Ecosystem services; Green infrastructure; Ecological corridors; Regional planning
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11584/232289
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