## 4 Conclusions  
Identifying degraded ecosystems is a key element of the ecological reconstruction strategy. In this sense, their analysis contributes to a better understanding of the mechanisms that have led to changes in the structure and functioning of ecosystems, with a direct impact on ecosystem services. The conceptual approach based on the mapping and assessment of ecosystem services contributes significantly to the development of an integrated vision of ecological reconstruction. Represented by the variety of ecosystems, species and genes, the biodiversity in Romania is the national natural capital, being an integral part of sustainable development, by providing goods and services such as food, carbon sequestration and redistribution of marine and terrestrial water, which underlie prosperity, economic development, social welfare and quality of life. Human activities are assessed in terms of direct or indirect impact on the components of biological diversity in order to apply appropriate measures to minimize adverse effects, reconstruction, rehabilitation and remediation of affected ecosystems. Considering the fact that for all 6 types of ecosystems a group of 35 environmental professionals performed field studies and identified the state of the ecosystems with an emphasis on their degradation, we consider that the database used reaches the degree of detail necessary to draw general conclusions in terms of the concentration of degraded areas in Romania. Following the hotspot analysis, it was identified that the largest degraded surfaces are the coastal ones (49.80%), followed by the grassland ecosystems (38.59%) and the cave ecosystems (2.66%), while the degraded rivers ecosystems are degraded by a proportion of 27.64%, degraded forest ecosystems by 8.52%, and degraded lakes ecosystems  
Figure 11: Relative operating characteristics (ROC) curve and AUROC value for degraded ecosystems. (**a**) Forest ecosystems; (**b**) grassland ecosystems; (**c**) cave ecosystems; (**d**) river ecosystems; (**e**) lake ecosystems; (**f**) coastal ecosystems. by 14.05%. Relative operating characteristics (ROC) analysis highlights that the models that have a high degree of representativeness are the grassland ecosystems (characterized by a value of the area of under the ROC curve of 0.916) and lake ecosystems (with ROC cure value of 0.918). Ecosystems characterized by a great diversity of the causes of degradation as well as their uneven distribution at the national level such as the ecosystems of forests, caves and rivers with a ROC value above the limit of 0.800. The degradation of a particular ecosystem must be assessed by the characteristics of the ecosystem to be restored. The methodology for assessing the degree of degradation of ecosystems is based on a series of activities, criteria, methods and procedures for estimating the values of the parameters that indicate the state of these ecosystems. Therefore, it is important to discover the natural processes that take place in the system and to analyze the changes produced by the impact of anthropogenic activities. Conservation status assessment and monitoring consists of identifying direct or indirect risks and assessing the degree of habitat threat. The study carried out on the changes that occurred in the natural environment on the Romanian territory shows how the deterioration and pollution of the areas is directly related both to the industrial activities in the area and to the inevitable climatic changes and other natural phenomena. In conclusion, the highest density of degraded ecosystems in Romania is located in the central part, in the Transylvanian Depression and south of the Carpathian Mountains, in the Sub-Carpathians. The main factors that led to the degradation of ecosystems in Romania were anthropogenic but also natural. This comprehensive study is an important step in the field of ecological reconstruction in Romania, as the starting point for future studies and supplementary rehabilitation actions.