Building a transnational biodiversity geo-database of the protected areas in the Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region: approaches and results from the IMPRECO Project

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 ecosystem services and tackle their environmental vulnerability strengthening the potential of the protected areas in biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services conservation and maintaining through their transnational networking located in the Adriatic-Ionian Macroregion.The aim of this research is to characterize the habitats and ecosystems involved in the coastal-marine protected areas considered, to set a biodiversity baseline, to understand what current ecosystems' conditions are, to build up a transnational biomonitoring program of target species and habitats, and to assess their response to pilot actions. For doing that, a transnational inventory of species, habitats, ecosystems, and ecosystem services has been realized starting from the seven coastal-marine protected areas involved in the project. Data collection has been carried out by using different sources of information: scientific literature, officially available data from NATURA 2000 Standard Data Forms, checklists from local biomonitoring programs, personal observations and citizen science, historical maps, and data from new in-field analyses. Data were filled in the 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 recognized, and references about data collection were provided in the databases