Vol. 32 – 2006 - Ecologia Mediterranea

Priority Zones
for Mediterranean protected
agro sylvo pastoral landscapes
Les zones prioritaires
pour les paysages agro-sylvo-pastoraux méditerranéens
Abstract
The conservation of Mediterranean protected
agro sylvo pastoral landscapes very often has to
reconcile conflicting forces related to socio-economic
interests on the one hand and the needs
of biodiversity protection on the other. These
latter can be relevant in defining the environmental
ranges and the biological constraints on
which a sustainable use of protected landscapes
should be developed. In this regard, the design
of protected areas and their zoning play a pivotal
role determining where and which activities
should or should not be carried out. This
paper considers two neighbouring parks in
southern Italy, both characterized by large
expanses of Mediterranean steppe grasslands
and inhabited by the largest Italian population
of the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni). In the
study area, the lesser kestrels nest mainly in the
historical centres of the towns surrounding the
parks and feed in large open areas occupied
mainly by cereal crops and steppe grasslands.
Given the ecological role and the high conservation
value of the lesser kestrel, the design of
the two parks should encompass those areas
needed to preserve the local population. In
order to determine whether steppe variables
(amount and types, at different distances from
nest sites) were significant predictors of the
colony sizes (dependent variables) of the lesser
kestrel, a multiple linear regression analysis was
conducted. The analysis showed colony size to
be correlated significantly with the amount of
steppe within a radius of 7.5 km of the nesting
site. On the basis of these results, we identified
Keywords: conservation, lesser kestrel, park,
zoning.
ecologia mediterranea – Vol. 32 – 2006
and delimited in each park the so-called “Priority
Zones”, that is the zones that should be the
major focus of conservation efforts. We then
compared the boundaries of these “Priority
Zones” with those of the parks, as they were
already defined, highlighting the implications
for biodiversity conservation.
Résumé
La conservation des paysages agro-sylvopastoraux
protégés en Méditerranée doit très
souvent concilier, d’une part, les conflits relatifs
aux intérêts socio-économiques et, d’autre part,
les besoins de protection de la biodiversité. Ces
derniers peuvent constituer des éléments pertinents
dans la définition des mesures environnementales
et des contraintes biologiques à partir
desquelles un usage approprié des territoires
protégés peut être développé.
Dans ce cadre, les projets d’espaces naturels protégés
et la détermination de leurs superficies
jouent un rôle fondamental en déterminant où
et quelles activités devraient ou ne devraient
pas être effectuées. Ce travail considère deux
parcs proches, dans l’Italie méridionale, tous les
deux caractérisés par de grandes surfaces de
steppes méditerranéennes et habitées par les
Massimo TERZI 1 , Marco MARVULLI 2
1. Institute of Plant Genetics, CNR, via Amendola 165/a Bari, Italy
2. Dept. Plant Production Science, University of Bari, via Orabona, 4 Bari, Italy
Address for correspondence: Terzi Massimo, Institute of Plant Genetics,
CNR, via Amendola 165/a Bari, Italy
phone: +39 0805583400 (ext: 242)
fax: +39 0805587566
e-mail: massimo.terzi@igv.cnr.it
Mots clés : conservation, faucon crécerellette,
Méditerranée, parc naturel, zonation.
29