Ornithological communities as indicators of recent transformations on a regional scale: the case of the Sicily island.

A study on the Sicilian avifauna changes and its existing connections with the land use variations has been carried out from the 80s till today. We compared the Sicilian ornithological data acquired from the atlas maps with the regional land use maps data. We examined the land use variations and the distribution changes of some bird species on a regional level. To this aim, we analyzed the spatial distribution data of the birds in the period from 1984-1992 and 1993-2006. Moreover we examined the land use data of the period going from 1987-1988 and 1993-2000. After a preliminary analysis, we selected target species linked to different environments. Forest: Great spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopo…