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Towards a ‘polycentric’ landscape? Reconnecting fragments into an integrated network of coastal forests in Rome

  • Coastal Forest Ecosystem near Rome
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Abstract

Preserving relict coastal forests from urbanization is a priority target for sustainable land management. Monitoring forests through remote-sensing diachronic approaches is an important tool to identify networks of natural areas and to inform conservation policies for high-quality wood patches. The present study applies the monitoring approach proposed by Hansen et al. (Science 342(6160):850–853, 2013) to the forest landscape in coastal Rome, central Italy, providing indicators assessing forest cover and short-term wood loss and gain. Forest land (with 1 to 100 % cover) extends through 16.9 % of the total area with prevailing classes at 21–40 % and 71–100 % density. These classes indicate distinct forest types: the largest remnants of mixed coastal forests and the sparse woods embedded in the rural matrix and characterized by structural fragmentation. Dense forest classes (71–100 %) prevail in two urban districts (Castelporziano and Lido di Castelfusano). Percent forest loss (2000–2012) increases more than proportionally with percent forest cover. Forest gain-to-loss ratio decreases for moderately dense classes (31–70 %) and increases for both sparse (≤30 %) and very dense (>70 %) forest classes. Multivariate analysis identifies a land cover gradient from strictly forest districts to agricultural and peri-urban districts. Spatial planning is increasingly required to preserve and reconnect mesophilous forest patches, pinewoods and isolated woodlots into a green network embedded in the agricultural matrix.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Science e Tecnologie per l’Agricoltura, le Foreste, la Natura e l’Energia, Università degli studi di Viterbo, Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc, 01100, Viterbo, Italy

    Andrea Colantoni

  2. Institute of Urban Environment and Human Resources, Department of Economic and Regional Development, Panteion University, 136 Syngrou Avenue, 17671, Athens, Greece

    Anastasios Mavrakis

  3. Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (CRA), Via della Navicella 2-4, 00184, Rome, Italy

    Tiziano Sorgi & Luca Salvati

Authors
  1. Andrea Colantoni
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  2. Anastasios Mavrakis
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  3. Tiziano Sorgi
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  4. Luca Salvati
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tiziano Sorgi.

Additional information

This peer-reviewed article is a result of the multidisciplinary project coordinated by the “Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL”, Rome, Italy, in the area of the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano near Rome.

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Colantoni, A., Mavrakis, A., Sorgi, T. et al. Towards a ‘polycentric’ landscape? Reconnecting fragments into an integrated network of coastal forests in Rome. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 26 (Suppl 3), 615–624 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-015-0394-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-015-0394-5

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