Biocultural diversity and naturalness of rural landscape in Sicily

Abstract

Rural landscapes are a relevant palimpsest of biocultural diversity, as a tangible example of the symbiosis between natural processes and human activities. Sicilian rural landscape, due to the history of the territory and the resulting social and economic context, are configured in a heterogeneous mosaic rich in residual naturalness, which enhance connectivity of ecological network and support a high diversity of species. The present-day natural traits and biological diversity of Sicilian environment are the legacy of the historical land uses, which has generated a variegated mosaic of rural landscapes. They play an important role in the conservation of endemic, rare and threatened plant species. Scattered semi-natural elements are the expression of a mosaic of sustainable land uses that connects natural areas through the landscape hence keystones of the structural and functional heterogeneity of the ecological network. Three case studies (Monti di Trapani, Monti Sicani and Madonie) are presented to evaluate the relationship between rural landscape, naturalness degree and biodiversity, in the context of biocultural diversity. Sicilian rural landscape is in fact a complex socio-ecological system whose physiognomy and dynamics are defined by the interrelation between cultural and biological diversity.