*2.3. Spatial Analysis*

Spatial analyses of species distributional data were performed in order to investigate the potential overlapping areas of NIFS against fish species that are designated under a CR status. The geographical range of each CR fish species was projected within grid cells of 1 × 1 km in a geographical information system (ESRI—ArcGIS v. 10.4; Figure 2), and the final matrix generated by the total number of CR species in each cell. The predictive distributional patterns of NIFS richness was generated by using presence/absence NIFS data through the Kriging interpolation analysis in ArcGIS, initially separately for lotic and lentic ecosystems to identify possible differences or limitations attributed to the ecosystems investigated. The overlapping "conflict areas" were spatially delimited by the produced NIFS distributional patterns within the geographical range of CR fish species. Finally, we compared the distribution of CR fish species richness of the overlapping areas for protected areas (i.e., Greece's Natura 2000 network) versus areas outside protected regions.

**Figure 2.** Geographical ranges of CR fish species in Greece projected in 1 x 1 km grid cells. Background colored areas show terrestrial (green) and marine (blue) EU Natura 2000 protected areas. Codes: (**a**) *A. naccarii;* (**b**) *A. stellatus*; (**c**) *A. sturio*; (**d**) *A. macedonicus*; (**e**) *A. vistonicus*; (**f**) *A.vistonica*; (**g**) *A.almiriensis*; (**h**) *B. euboicus*; (**i**) *B. pergamonensis*; (**j**) *C. graecus*; (**k**) *C. hellenicus*; (**l**) *C. stephanidisi*; (m) *Eudontomyzon* sp. *Almopaios*; (**n**) *H. huso*; (**o**) *K. goerneri*; (**p**) *K. milleri*; (**q**) *O. theophilii*; (**r**) *P. epiroticus*; (**s**) *P. laconicus*; (**t**) *P. hellenicus*; (**u**) *S. economidisi*; (**v**) *S. graecus*; (**w**) *Squalius.* sp. *Evia*; (**x**) *V. letourneuxi*; (**y**) *V. robertae*.
