Biodiversity Data Journal :
Data Paper (Biosciences)
|
Corresponding author: Valeria Specchia (valeria.specchia@unisalento.it), Maurizio Pinna (maurizio.pinna@unisalento.it)
Academic editor: Quentin Groom
Received: 09 Apr 2021 | Accepted: 17 May 2021 | Published: 27 May 2021
© 2021 Francesco Zangaro, Gabriele Marini, Valeria Specchia, Matteo De Luca, Francesca Visintin, Giovanna Bullo, Jacopo Richard, Nataša Šalaja, Bia Rakar, Bojana Lipej, Jelena Kurtović Mrčelić, Gvido Piasevoli, Ante Žuljević, Nada Zaimi, Djana Bejko, Abdulla Diku, Aliki Karousou, Eleni Hatziyanni, Massimiliano Pinat, Maurizio Pinna
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Zangaro F, Marini G, Specchia V, De Luca M, Visintin F, Bullo G, Richard J, Šalaja N, Rakar B, Lipej B, Kurtović Mrčelić J, Piasevoli G, Žuljević A, Zaimi N, Bejko D, Diku A, Karousou A, Hatziyanni E, Pinat M, Pinna M (2021) Building a transnational biodiversity geo-database of the protected areas in the Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region: approaches and results from the IMPRECO Project. Biodiversity Data Journal 9: e67169. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.9.e67169
|
|
The main objective of the project Common strategies and best practices to IMprove the transnational PRotection of ECOsystem integrity and services - IMPRECO is to enhance the safeguarding of ecosystems and ecosystem services. Additionally, the aim of this project is to tackle their environmental vulnerability by strengthening the potential of the Protected Areas in biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services conservation. This is expected to be addressed by maintaining it through their transnational networking located in the European Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region.
The aim of this research is: 1) to characterise the habitats and ecosystems involved in the coastal-marine protected areas considered; 2) to set a biodiversity baseline; 3) to understand what current ecosystems’ conditions are; 4) to build up a transnational biomonitoring programme of target species and habitats and 5) to assess their response to pilot actions. To do so, a transnational inventory of species, habitats, ecosystems and ecosystem services was established, starting with the seven coastal-marine protected areas involved in the project. Data collection was carried out using different sources of information: scientific literature, officially available data from NATURA 2000 Standard Data Forms, checklists from local biomonitoring programmes, personal observations and citizen science, historical maps and data from new in-field analyses. Data were filled in the transnational biodiversity geo-databases according to the NATURA 2000 standards about habitat features, species protection level and species features. The presence of alien species (non-indigenous species, NIS) was also acknowledged and references about data collection were provided in the databases according to the Darwin Core standards.
Coastal-Marine Protected Areas, European Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region, EUSAIR, NATURA 2000, non-indigenous species, protected species and habitats, traditional and innovative biomonitoring tools, transnational biodiversity geo-database.
Since the 2000s, a globally-shared challenge is to maintain the supply of ecosystem services - commonly defined as the benefits to humans deriving from the ecosystems’ dynamics - without impacting the biodiversity, processes and quality of an ecosystem (
Common strategies and best practices to IMprove the transnational PRotection of ECOsystem integrity and services – IMPRECO is a territorial cooperation project, funded by the first call of the INTERREG VB ADRION 2014-2020 Programme, Priority Axis 2 “Sustainable Region” (
The IMPRECO project involves seven project partners, including the Municipality of Staranzano, Veneto Agricoltura, University of Salento, DOPPS–BirdLife Slovenia, “Sea and Karts”, Albanian Development Fund and the Region of Crete. The seven project partners presented seven protected areas including Foce dell’Isonzo Nature Reserve, Bosco Nordio Integral Reserve, Aquatina di Frigole, Škocjanski zatok Nature Reserve, Pakleni Islands, Shkodra Lake and Buna Delta, North-eastern Peninsula of Crete (
The seven protected areas are highly heterogeneous in terms of habitat types (
Foce dell’Isonzo – Isola della Cona Protected Area (IT3330005; Fig.
Bosco Nordio Protected Area (IT3250032; Fig.
Aquatina di Frigole Protected Area (IT9150003; Fig.
Škocjanski zatok Protected Area (SI3000252; Fig.
Pakleni Otoci Islands Protected Area (HR3000095; Fig.
Shkodra Lake, the largest lake on the Balkan Peninsula (Fig.
The Buna River Protected Area (Fig.
North-eastern Edge of Crete Protected Area (GR4320006; Fig.
The aim of this research is: 1) to obtain a clear characterisation of the habitats and ecosystems involved in the project; 2) to set a biodiversity baseline; 3) to understand what the current ecosystem conditions are; 4) to build up a transnational biomonitoring programme of target species and habitats; and 5) to assess their response to pilot actions. To do so, a transnational inventory of species, habitats, ecosystems and ecosystem services has been established, starting with the seven Protected Areas that are involved in the project. Species and ecosystems inventories were established at a local level by each project partner, then merged into one large inventory. Data collection was carried out using different sources of information: scientific literature, official available data from NATURA 2000 Standard Data Forms, checklists from local biomonitoring programmes, personal observations and citizen science, historical maps and data from new in-field analyses. Data were filled in the transnational biodiversity geo-databases according to the NATURA 2000 standards about habitat features, species protection level and species features. The presence of alien species, which are rapidly increasing in the Mediterranean Sea (
The following data package represents the output of the data described in the Deliverable T1.1.2 - "Transnational biodiversity geo-database" of the IMPRECO project. The geo-database was approved by the project consortium and is, therefore, shared in the framework of this publication as an open access source in accordance with the requests of the European Union on the open availability of data from the projects.
The pilot protected areas were selected by the project partners to be involved in the collection of biodiversity data and to compare biodiversity data amongst them on a transnational Adriatic-Ionian spatial pattern, from the northern Adriatic Sea to the north-eastern edge of the Island of Crete. The main bulk of data collection was conducted using the most recent NATURA 2000 Standard Data Forms. Nevertheless, because biodiversity is not limited only to protected species and habitats, data collection was improved by incorporating data from species checklists of local biomonitoring programmes; scientific literature retrieved from multiple databases related to cross-disciplinary research, which allow an in-depth exploration of specialised sub-fields within certain academic or scientific disciplines, such as Web of Science (http://www.webofknowledge.com), Science Direct (http://www.sciencedirect.com) and Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com;
The resulting data were organised into two datasets (Suppl. materials
Species were listed, based on the principal taxonomic groups: Plants, Invertebrates, Birds, Fish, Algae, Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians and Lichens and matched with the most commonly used habitats. At the same time, the presence of invasive alien species with reference to the European Alien Species Information Network – EASIN Web Site (
Data for each country and pilot project area was divided according to NATURE 2000 Directives’ species included in the Standard Data Form, listed under Birds Directive and Habitats Directive; NATURE 2000 Directives’ species included in the Standard Data Form listed under Other Interesting Species; species listed in NATURA 2000 Directives, but missing in the Standard Data Forms; and species that are not protected. Shkodra Lake and Buna Delta species, in contrast to the other Protected Areas’ species, are protected on a national level through the institution of a protection plan named "Emerald Network". Pakleni Otoci Islands species were also considered protected according tothe Croatian Regulation on strictly protected species (OJ 80/2013, 73/2016), a national level protection plan for Croatian species.
The biodiversity data were initially compiled by counting the species of the NATURE 2000 Directives by taxonomic group and habitat for each protected area. Subsequently, the observed species protected by the Habitats Directive, but missing in the standard data forms, were considered. Eventually, unprotected species observed through personal observations or found in previous checklists were included.
In the same manner, all habitat types, present in the NATURA 2000 Standard Data Forms for each Protected Area were listed with their coverage in hectares in each of the Protected Areas. The total number of habitats was reported for each Protected Area.
European Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region (EUSAIR)
40°7'43.78" N; 18°56'52.89" E.
Suppl. material
Column label | Column description |
---|---|
taxonID | An identifier for the set of taxon information. |
scientificName | The full scientific name, with authorship and date of information. |
kingdom | The full scientific name of the kingdom in which the taxon is classified. |
class | The full scientific name of the class in which the taxon is classified. |
order | The full scientific name of the order in which the taxon is classified. |
family | The full scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified. |
genus | The full scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified. |
taxonRank | The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName. |
country | The name of the country or major administrative unit in which the observation occurred. |
locality | The specific description of the protected area (NATURA 2000/Emerald Network) in which the observation occurred. |
verbatimLatitude | The verbatim original latitude of the Location. |
verbatimLongitude | The verbatim original longitude of the Location. |
habitat | A description of the habitat in which the observation occurred. |
organismRemarks | A description of the protection level for the observed species. |
establishmentMeans | Statement about whether or not an organism has been introduced to a given locality through the direct or indirect activity of modern humans. |
bibliographicCitation | A bibliographic reference for the resource. |
occurrenceID | An identifier for the Occurrence. |
phylum | The full scientific name of the phylum. |
countryCode | The standard code for the country in which the Location occurs. |
verbatimCoordinateSystem | The name of the system in which the verbatim geographic coordinates were recorded. |
basisOfRecord | The specific nature of the data record. |
Suppl. material
Column label | Column description |
---|---|
Habitat code N2k | Code for the habitat protected by NATURA 2000. |
Habitat N2k denomination | Name of the habitat protected by NATURA 2000. |
Foce dell'Isonzo - Isola della Cona (ha) | Hectares covered by the habitat in the protected area. |
Bosco Nordio (ha) | Hectares covered by the habitat in the protected area. |
Aquatina di Frigole (ha) | Hectares covered by the habitat in the protected area. |
Škocjanski zatok (ha) | Hectares covered by the habitat in the protected area. |
Pakleni otoci (ha) | Hectares covered by the habitat in the protected area. |
Voreioanatoliko akro kritis: dionysades, elasa kai chersonisos sidero (akra mavro mouri – vai – akra plakas) kai thalassia zoni (ha) | Hectares covered by the habitat in the protected area. |
Reference | A bibliographic reference for the resource. |
The resulting data led the Project Partners to identify, as a subject for the monitoring programmes, different target species, such as Aphanius fasciatus, Testudo hermanni, Pinna nobilis, Lutra lutra, Himantopus himantopus and Anacamptis pyramidalis (
At the same time, it was possible to identify, for the monitoring programmes, different target habitats, such as Posidonia oceanica beds, Cymodocea and Zostera beds, Palm groves of Phoenix and Grey dunes (
Furthermore, the analysis of the biodiversity in the Protected Areas underlined a large gap in knowledge about the species biodiversity at a transnational Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region spatial scale. In fact, as it is highlighted by the analysis of species protected by the NATURA 2000 Network, but not included in the Standard Data Forms, 486 species protected by the NATURA 2000 Network are present in the Protected Areas, but are not included in the Standard Data Forms. For instance, species like Pinna nobilis (
Additionally, the problem of alien invasive species has been evidenced. In fact, according to the analysis of alien species in the Protected Areas, 380 species have been identified, including highly invasive species, such as Trachemys scripta, Phragmites australis, Callinectes sapidus and Myocastor coypus (
Different achievements have been reached during the monitoring programme. For instance, new monitoring tools, such as the use of environmental DNA (eDNA;
In conclusion, due to the results achieved by this transnational programme, it can be assumed that the network represented a pilot action for implementing future transnational monitoring programmes in the European Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region.
The authors are grateful to the IMPRECO Project “Common strategies and best practices to IMprove the transnational PRotection of ECOsystem integrity and services” funded by Interreg ADRION Programme 2014-2020, first call; project codes are: CIG Z6C22E8C51; CUP C69H1800025000720.