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Spatial Features of a Regional Green Infrastructure and Identification of Ecological Corridors: A Study Related to Sardinia

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Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2022 Workshops (ICCSA 2022)

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Abstract

This study aims at assessing the relationship between the spatial framework of the characteristics of a regional green infrastructure (RGI) and the ecological corridors of a regional network of protected areas. The spatial layout of the regional infrastructure is identified based on the potential supply of seven ecosystem services (intrinsic value of biodiversity, habitat quality, nature-based recreation potential, agricultural and forestry value, regulation of land surface temperature, and carbon storage and sequestration), whereas ecological corridors are detected through a methodological approach which builds on resistance-based models. The maps of the RGI characteristics and of the ecological corridors are overlaid and their correlations are assessed through a regression model. Such methodological approach is applied into the spatial context of the Sardinia Region. Finally, relevant planning implications concerning the implementation of planning policies to improve the effectiveness of the regional network of protected areas through the enhancement of the features related to the RGI are proposed and discussed, as well as the exportability of the methodological approach.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    InVEST is a suite of tools that allows for developing spatially explicit assessments of various ecosystem services. Developed by the Natural Capital Project, it is freely available from https://naturalcapitalproject.stanford.edu/software/invest, last accessed 2022/03/21.

  2. 2.

    A detailed description of the procedure for the identification of ECs can be retrieved from Chapter 3 by Lai et al. [13].

  3. 3.

    GeoDa is an open-source software program developed by L. Anselin and his team; it is freely available from https://geodacenter.github.io/ [last accessed: 2022/03/21].

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Acknowledgments

The study was implemented within the Research Program “Paesaggi rurali della Sardegna: pianificazione di infrastrutture verdi e blu e di reti territoriali complesse” [Rural landscapes of Sardinia: Planning policies for green and blue infrastructure and spatial complex networks], funded by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia under the 2017 call for “Projects related to fundamental or basic research” of the year 2017. Federica Isola, Sabrina Lai, Federica Leone, and Corrado Zoppi collaboratively designed this study, and jointly written the Introduction. Individual contributions are as follows: S.L.: 2.1, 2.2, “The Sardinian RGI” in 2.3, and 3.1. F.I. and F.L.: “The identification of the ECs” in 2.3, 3.2 and 4; C.Z.: “The regression model to detect the correlations between the RGI and the ECs” in 2.3 and 3.3; S.L. and C.Z.: 4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e Architettura (DICAAR), University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Federica Isola, Sabrina Lai, Federica Leone & Corrado Zoppi

Authors
  1. Federica Isola
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  2. Sabrina Lai
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  3. Federica Leone
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  4. Corrado Zoppi
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Correspondence to Sabrina Lai .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Osvaldo Gervasi

  2. University of Basilicata, Potenza, Potenza, Italy

    Beniamino Murgante

  3. Østfold University College, Halden, Norway

    Sanjay Misra

  4. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Ana Maria A. C. Rocha

  5. University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Chiara Garau

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Isola, F., Lai, S., Leone, F., Zoppi, C. (2022). Spatial Features of a Regional Green Infrastructure and Identification of Ecological Corridors: A Study Related to Sardinia. In: Gervasi, O., Murgante, B., Misra, S., Rocha, A.M.A.C., Garau, C. (eds) Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2022 Workshops. ICCSA 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13380. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10542-5_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10542-5_20

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