Scenarios to reduce forest fragmentation and improve landscape multifunctionality: a study from northern Italy

Fragmentation has negative effects on ecosystems and can cause loss of habitats, increase of edges and isolation. Forests in northern Italy have strongly declined, because of the development of urban land, infrastructures and crops. In suburban areas forest patches often perform a variety of functions. This study used scenarios integrating both ecological and social principles to improve landscape multifunctionality in a suburban area of Northern Italy, with a special focus on the role of woody patches. We evaluated how improving some functions of woody patches (suitability for forest species, mitigation for road impact and recreation) can help creating a multifunctional landscape. We combined the scenario visualisation through GIS, the maximization of functions based on ecological principles, and the use of fuzzy logic. The scenarios obtained show that improving existing woods can help to maximize multiple functions. The scenario improving recreation is the most suitable to increase biodiversity, and it can also help to mitigate road impact. The scenario approach can help decision-makers during the planning process, because it is user-friendly. Comparing multiple scenarios can allow assessing if managing the landscape for one function may also accomplish other function(s).