Habitat Degradation: A Comparative Study Between Tomar (PT) and Potenza (IT)

Abstract

The increasing impacts of climate and land use change directly impact habitat quality and biodiversity. Monitoring the habitats quality can be a valuable tool for the conservation of biodiversity, as it is an indicator of biodiversity. This research work aims to ap-ply the InVEST Habitat Quality model to compare two different cases study from Portugal (Tomar) and Southern Italy (Potenza). Threats to biodiversity were considered taking into account the substantial territorial differences of the two areas considered: Tomar, an area particularly affected by forest fires-driven degradation phenomena; Potenza is, instead, an area particularly affected by the installation of wind farms. Results highlight how these tools can be considered a valuable support tool for spatial planning decisions for biodiversity conservation.