Landscape Assessment Through Carta Natura Habitats

The Carta Natura information system is provided for by Law 394/1991, with the aim of identifying the state of the environment in Italy, which is useful for the assessment of biodiversity; it assesses the conservation status of ecosystems, estimates the ecological value of environmental units, and identifies regional criticalities and ecologically connected areas. These data are fundamental for effective planning of the regional ecological network. The methodology proposed by Ispra was taken into account for the realisation of Carta Natura. In the preliminary phase the habitats were mapped starting from the “Land use map” provided by the Calabria Region (map scale 1:5000). During the analysis of the cards created with Google Hearth Pro, each polygon was marked with placeholders, the habitat code of the Nature Map 2019, and any mosaics or subdivisions of the polygon were highlighted. Subsequently, on the shp file with the polygons arranged according to the Legend of the Nature Map, QGIS was used to correct any errors in the assignment of the biotopes mapped thanks to the orthophotos, and to highlight the habitat types according to the preliminary phase or in the previously prepared maps. Subsequently, the 53 habitats belonging to different macro-categories were identified. The work focused on the evaluation of the ecological integrity of the habitats that characterize the environmental units of the Amendolea Basin, thanks to the comparison of the following data: phytosociological analyses, phytosociological surveys of the vegetation, evaluation of the index of biological forms. This research has led to a real representation of the vegetation and environmental state of the entire area of one of the most important rivers in Calabria, allowing an overall assessment of the naturalness and anthropological pressure to be carried out. The study of all the floristic, vegetation and ecological components, linked to the evaluation of biodiversity and environmental quality, are important for evaluating development dynamics, useful for predicting future scenarios on climate change and land use, and for strengthening management activities.