COASTAL FOREST ECOSYSTEM NEAR ROME Variations in land-use/land-cover changes (LULCCs) in a peri-urban Mediterranean nature reserve: the estate of Castelporziano (Central Italy) Fabio Recanatesi Received: 23 July 2014 / Accepted: 8 November 2014 / Published online: 26 November 2014 Ó Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 2014 Abstract This study was aimed at analyzing land-use/ land-cover changes (LULCCs) in a protected area, the Presidential estate of Castelporziano, a nature reserve located 20 km southwest of Rome in a peri-urban area. In this territory, there are two SCIs (sites of community importance) and several environments of naturalistic value. This research can be seen as a study case in landscape planning and transformative processes in terms of gover- nance, in consideration of the natural and cultural heritage of the area and its location. In fact, Castelporziano, located in the proximity of two urban centers, Rome and Ostia, is a peri-urban territory that has undergone a significant trans- formation in recent decades as a result of anthropic pres- sure in terms of land-use change. Photo-interpretation of aerial photographs taken in 1930 and 2010 was carried out to perform an LULCCs and land-use change detection analysis. To this aim Patch Analyst 3.1 software was also used to calculate landscape indices in order to characterize the landscape structure. Keywords Land-use/land-cover change Á GIS Á Mediterranean area Á Protected area 1 Introduction In recent decades land degradation has increasingly become one of the major environmental issues all over the world, affecting developed regions, such as Europe and North America, as well as emerging countries, such as China and India. In this scenario the Mediterranean basin, one of the world’s richest places in terms of animal and plant diversity, is one of the most significantly altered biodiversity hotspots on Earth (Lozano et al. 2013; Salvati 2014). In fact, it has been intensively affected by human populations for thousands of years, significantly longer than any other biodiversity hotspot, especially along the coasts. As a result, in Mediterranean area, just 4.5 % of its primary vegetation remains, the agricultural lands, ever- green woodlands and maquis habitats that dominate the hotspot today are the result of anthropogenic disturbances over several millennia. Significant impacts on human and physical environments arise from the transformation observed in the land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) of the terrain which occurs at different spatial scales. This process has relevant effects on biodiversity, hydrology, climate and ecosystems services (L} ofman and Kouki 2003; Sluiter and de Jong 2007; Abdullah and Nakagoshi 2007; Pelorosso et al. 2009). In the Mediterranean area, in fact, with particular reference to rural areas, urbanization is a complicated process that causes profound changes in rural landscapes especially in the surrounds of towns and vil- lages. In this scenario, landscapes are increasingly threa- tened both by an intensification of forestry and agricultural activities, and by urban development, tourism, and uncontrolled recreational usage. Several studies, in fact, have been performed demonstrating that during recent decades the Mediterranean region has undergone major LULCCs as a result of the relocation of people to the 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. F. Recanatesi (&) Department of Agriculture, Forests, Nature and Energy (D.A.F.N.E.), Tuscia University, Via San Camillo de Lellis, 01100 Viterbo, Italy e-mail: fabio.rec@unitus.it F. Recanatesi Department of Environment and Forests Engineering Group, Tuscia University, Via San Camillo de Lellis, Viterbo, Italy 123 Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei (2015) 26 (Suppl 3):S517–S526 DOI 10.1007/s12210-014-0358-1