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

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.