## 2 Materials and Methods  
### Description of Study Areas  
Two different test areas were considered, each with specific characteristics. The first study area considered the coastal area between the city Ostuni and Fasano (Municipality of Brindisi). In the coastal area, there are various types of characteristic habitats (Figure 1a). In this area, coastal dunes prevail with a prevalence of the species _Juniperus_ spp. They are heterogeneous habitats represented by woody vegetation dominated by junipers and other Mediterranean sclerophylls, present along the sandy coasts of the Mediterranean. The representative species are _Juniperus macrocarpa_, _J. phoneica_ subsp. _turbinate_ and _J. communuis_[30]. The vulnerability of these areas is due to tourist exploitation, involving alterations of the dune micro-morphology, and to the urbanisation of the sandy coasts. Other threat factors that can cause further fragmentation and/or degradation of coastal juniper stands are represented by fires, overgrazing, and expansion of agricultural areas. In addition to this main habitat, those with sclerophyllous vegetation dunes belonging to the _Cisto-lavanduletalia_, formations of sclerophyllous maquis and garrigue settled on the innermost dune codons, where there is a consistent stabilisation of the substrate. The habitats of coastal lagoons are also partially affected, which are coastal aquatic environments with lenti, salty, or brackish, shallow waters, characterised by significant seasonal variations in salinity and depth. These habitats can be in direct or indirect contact with the sea, from which they are generally separated by sand or pebble strips and less frequently by low rocky coasts. In these environments, the excessive presence of tourism causes an excessive accumulation of organic matter and nutrients in the water and sediments and the triggering of fermentation processes which determine the establishment of chemical-physical conditions favourable to the proliferation of algal species. The latter condition the presence of indicator species such as phanerogams, whose survival is incompatible if we also consider an excessive mechanical disturbance of the seabIn summary, all the habitats considered are coded as 1150, 1210, 1240, 1310, 1410, 1420, 2110, 2120, 2230, 2250, and 2260 as reported in the Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, so-called Habitats Directive. This Directive identifies a series of habitats of Community interest that are concretely protected in the Special Areas of Conservation (S.A.C.), which in turn derive from an initial designation of Sites of Community Importance (S.C.I.). These form the network of Natura 2000 sites [31].  
The second study area is an area with the presence of quarries and construction site activities (Figure 1b). These activities are often active for many years also to serve other interventions, in particular, quarries tend to consolidate themselves as extraction sites even after the conclusion of the construction work, often later becoming landfills. Creating a quarry alters the morphology of the territory, due to excavations, embankments, and tunnels for the procurement of building materials. These activities produce profound changes and interference with the quality and quantity of surface and groundwater, as well as erosion, compaction, and sealing of the soil, changes in solid transport and hydrological regimes, leaching of mineral salts, increased risk of landslides, with the direct degradation and destruction of habitats and ecosystem services [7; 32].