Applying red lists to the evaluation of agricultural habitat: regular occurrence of threatened birds, vascular plants, and bryophytes in field margins of Poland

Andrzej Wuczyński,Zygmunt Dajdok,Sylwia Wierzcholska,Krzysztof Kujawa

doi:10.1007/s10531-014-0649-y

Abstract

Using the assessments of conservation status of flora and fauna, we discuss declining species in semi-natural field margins and stress the importance of these vanishing habitats. Seventy field margins in the diverse farmland of SW Poland were investigated with regard to their vascular plants, bryophytes and breeding birds. We checked the occurrence of threatened and conservation concern species, i.e. those listed in local, national or European threatened species lists, and birds with an unfavorable conservation status in Europe. Of a total of 673 species, 18 classified as threatened were recorded: 12 vascular plants (2.2 % of the total number of species), five bryophytes (5.6 %), and one bird species (2.0 %). Threatened plants occurred in 18.6 % of study plots, bryophytes in 20.0 % and birds in 12.9 %. Eleven bird species, noted in 95.7 % of study plots, had an unfavorable conservation status in Europe. Increasing volumes of trees and shrubs significantly increased the overall richness in each taxa. In percentage terms the occurrence of focal species in all three taxa tended to be higher in shrubby than in herbaceous and tree-lined margins. Our data demonstrate that field margins in Central European arable farmland regularly support rare and threatened species, and therefore deserve greater conservation efforts. Red lists along with alternative listing approaches can be employed to evaluate the biodiversity of fine-scale habitats, but their applicability depends on the taxonomic group and geographical scale of the lists, reflecting different conservation priorities.

Highlights

The presence of rare and threatened species is a measure of habitat quality and an indicator when setting conservation priorities
For vascular plants and bryophytes we found a higher number of species classified as threatened at the local and national level than at the European level (Table 1)
We have demonstrated that field margins in Poland regularly support plants and animals recognized as conservation targets

Summary

Introduction

The presence of rare and threatened species is a measure of habitat quality and an indicator when setting conservation priorities. Developed primarily to assess the extinction risk to species, red lists are being applied far beyond this initial goal: in conservation planning, policy and management, prioritizing sites for conservation, biodiversity evaluation, and monitoring (Rodrigues et al 2006; Hoffmann et al 2008). As a conservation tool, red list data are recommended to be used at various scales, including site level evaluations and national resource management and legislation (Rodrıguez 2008; IUCN 2011). The presence of species recognized as threatened by an authoritative system can be accurate pointers for prioritizing key habitats and their conservation (Niemelaand Baur 1998; Meynell 2005; Batary et al 2007). Multi-taxa evaluations are desirable, since habitat characteristics and management prescriptions based on one taxonomic group may be insufficient (Larsen et al 2007)

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