Spatial analysis of natural and seminatural habitats of Natura 2000 network in the Sicani Mountains (W Sicily – Italy)

Abstract

Currently, at the European level, interest in environmental problems is well expressed by the Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC) that proposes the constitution of the European Natura 2000 Network. According to this directive, a high number of particularly important ecological sites have been detected at the European scale. The aim of this work is to analyse the spatial distribution of some natural and semi-natural habitats within the Sicani Mountains Natura 2000 Network, in order to determine their fragmentation level. Furthermore, this work has allowed to verify the presence of the habitats listed within the Directive and to find out some new ones within the test areas. A habitat inventory has been carried out through orthophotos interpretation and habitats classified according to the Corine Land Cover classification system, and following the standard classification of the forest and pre-forest types of Sicily. Moreover, forest and pre-forest communities have been analysed at a landscape level using spatial indices (connectivity, fragmentation, diversity) for each patch of the Natura 2000 sites and between different sites of the network. The most represented habitats within the studied sites are the perennial grasslands among the pre-forest vegetation units, while holm oak woods are the most widespread forest units. The semi-natural vegetation communities present within the examined territory show a high level of heterogeneity, which seem to enhance biodiversity.