OPUNTIA SP. ADAPTABILITY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN ENVIRONMENT

The relationships between Opuntia sp. and the Mediterranean environment of the island of Sardinia were studied based on the identification of the limiting ecological factors, using statistical techniques and GIS software. In 100 test-sites, representative of the area variability, Opuntia sp. populations were morphologically and genetically characterized. GIS application was implemented to analyze, update and encode all collected data, thus enabling thematic maps to be drawn. FloraMap, a specific GIS application, was successfully used to predict the Opuntia sp. distribution in Sardinia.