European Conservation Research Articles

Landscape degradation affects red fox (Vulpes vulpes) diet and its ecosystem services in the threatened Ziziphus lotus scrubland habitats of semiarid Spain

Habitat loss and landscape degradation affect carnivorous mammal populations and the ecosystem services they provide, but these services are poorly assessed in semi-arid ecosystems. In the Ziziphus semiarid scrublands, a priority habitat for conservation in Europe, we investigated how red fox diet relates to habitat loss and landscape alteration. We further evaluated potential top-down effects of foxes on vegetation through seed dispersal and the control of rabbit herbivory (fruit depulpation interfering seed dispersal). By sampling fox scats, we evaluated the variation in fox diet and its relationship to landscape features and rabbit abundance and activity in 17 habitat remnants distributed throughout the Ziziphus habitat range. Fox diet varied, with diet diversity peaking at intermediate land-use diversity, likely as a consequence of fox's ability to use natural foods and human-derived resources. We confirmed that red fox acts as seed disperser for many species and that it might contribute to control rabbit population and its impact on Ziziphus lotus regeneration by interference on seed dispersal, though this needs experimental corroboration. However, these services were affected by landscape degradation. Our results show that red fox is fundamental for Ziziphus semiarid ecosystem providing key ecosystem services which are presently jeopardized by strong landscape degradation.

Bryophytes of Kosovo

The first list of bryophytes recorded in the region of Kosovo is presented. Published literature data were used to compile a list of mosses and liverworts. In total, 331 taxa (303 mosses and 28 liverworts) were documented, out of which even 87 are of regional or European conservation interest. It is expected that further research is going to bring new species records.

Pluralism in grassland management promotes butterfly diversity in a large Central European conservation area

Extensively harvested grassland ecosystems contribute substantially to European biodiversity, but different kinds of grassland usage may selectively foster individual taxa. A combination of management options may offer a promising way to maximize biodiversity at the landscape scale. Here, we test this hypothesis based on 91 butterfly samples taken in the years 2013–2015 in differently managed areas within a large conservation area, the National Park Neusiedler See/Seewinkel in eastern-most Austria. Altogether, we recorded 4713 butterfly individuals of 35 species. Based on these records, we show that the parallelism of three management options, i.e. pasturing by mobile cattle herds, annual hay cut in early summer, and fallow land mulched in late summer, increase species diversity of butterflies and burnet moths in the regional meta-community. Even though spatial distances between our sample sites were small compared to the activity ranges of adult butterflies, we found that species composition of butterfly and burnet assemblages significantly differed between the three management options, indicating that assemblages were shaped by factors at the site level. Differences in species composition were stable across three consecutive years, even though there was annual variation in butterfly assemblages. Other tested co-variables (soil moisture, soil nitrogen, abundance of nectar flowers and local plant species richness) did not additionally contribute to explaining species composition of butterfly communities. We conclude that maintaining a combination of three complementary management options is indeed a relevant strategy for biodiversity preservation in this internationally renowned conservation area.

Using beta diversity to inform agricultural policies and conservation actions on Mediterranean farmland

Summary Spatial variation in species composition (β‐diversity) is an important component of farmland biodiversity, which together with local richness (α‐diversity) drives the number of species in a region (γ‐diversity). However, β‐diversity is seldom used to inform conservation, due to limited understanding of its responses to agricultural management, and lack of clear links between β‐diversity changes and conservation outcomes. We explored the value of β‐diversity to guide conservation on farmland, by quantifying the contribution of bird α‐ and β‐diversity to γ‐diversity variation in low‐ and high‐intensity Mediterranean farmland, before (1995–1997) and after (2010–2012) the Common Agricultural Policy reform of 2003. We further related β‐diversity to landscape heterogeneity, and assessed the conservation significance of β‐diversity changes. In 1995–1997, bird diversity was highest in low‐intensity farmland, where it further increased in 2010–2012 due to a strong positive contribution of α‐diversity to γ‐diversity. In high‐intensity farmland, diversity converged over time to much the same values of low‐intensity farmland, with strong positive contributions of both α‐ and β‐diversity. These patterns were largely consistent for total, farmland and species of European conservation concern assemblages, and less so for steppe birds. Beta diversity increased with landscape heterogeneity, particularly related to spatial gradients from agricultural to natural habitats in low‐intensity farmland, and from annual to permanent crops (olive groves) in high‐intensity farmland. The first gradient was associated with the replacement of steppe birds of high conservation concern by more generalist species, while the second was associated with the replacement between species with lower or higher affinity for woodland and shrubland habitats. Synthesis and applications. In low‐intensity farmland, spatial variation in species composition (β‐diversity) was largely stable over time, reflecting a positive conservation outcome related to persistence of landscape heterogeneity patterns required by endangered steppe bird species. In contrast, β‐diversity in high‐intensity farmland was favoured by increases in landscape heterogeneity driven by olive grove expansion, contributing to enhancement of total bird diversity. Overall, our results stress the value of β‐diversity to understand impacts of agricultural policies and conservation actions, but also highlight the need to evaluate β‐diversity changes against specific conservation goals.

Assessing vulnerability of two Mediterranean conifers to support genetic conservation management in the face of climate change

AbstractAimTo integrate two major components of vulnerability to climate change: adaptive capacity (approached by genetic groups) and exposure (approached by risk of habitat loss) illustrated with the maritime (Pinus pinaster Ait.) and Aleppo (Pinus halepensis Mill.) pines. To integrate such information in the selection of conservation strategies (ex situ vs. in situ) and to evaluate current European efforts in the conservation of forest genetic resources.LocationMediterranean Basin and European Atlantic coast.MethodsWith the objective of preserving the overall genetic diversity of our two target species, we individually assess each of their genetic groups. We fit a species distribution model and project it to current climate and 42 different future climatic predictions. We create future suitability maps to assess risk of habitat loss based on the number of future climate projections that predict suitability. According to this assessment on the risk of habitat loss, we propose suitable conservation strategies.ResultsWe found areas suitable for in situ conservation for most of the genetic groups, the exception being the central–eastern–southern Iberian genetic groups of maritime pine and the Moroccan genetic group of Aleppo pine which required ex situ conservation. In the current European conservation network, three genetic groups for maritime pine and two for Aleppo pine remain unrepresented, and the representation of the rest is unbalanced.Main conclusionsWe provide a tool to support conservation management of forest trees, an increasingly important task given the negative impact of climate change on forest ecosystems. We also provide a framework to increase the efficiency of the European conservation network: (i) exposure assessment should be considered as a requirement for a population to become a dynamic conservation unit (DCU); and (ii) as illustrated with our two target species, the selection of DCUs should represent all existing genetic groups.

Conservation genetics in the European Union – Biases, gaps and future directions

The importance of genetic diversity for the assessment and maintenance of biodiversity is widely recognised, although not yet explicitly incorporated into conservation decision making in many European Union Member States. A detailed assessment of 4311 genetic studies relevant for the conservation and management of European species revealed that research is extensive and, therefore, could be more effectively implemented in existing conservation programs. However, research was overly biased towards the study of species with an economic value or iconic status, with research on threatened species or species with undetermined conservation status being scarce. The largest volume of research focused on species identification and relationships, population subdivision and dispersal; with microsatellite and mtDNA sequences as the most widely used markers. These results emphasize the need for further collaboration between researchers and conservation stakeholders to devise genetics research programs that can provide effective solutions for species conservation in Europe.

Importance of Roadless Areas for the European Conservation Network

Protected Areas are a main conservation tool to halt biodiversity loss. However, their performance has been often questioned and the need to improve their effectiveness is now more apparent than ever. Here, we propose Roadless Areas as a conservation target to increase the cover and effectiveness of Protected Areas. Roadless Areas represent natural and semi-natural areas of high conservation value that have no or little traffic and provide multiple ecosystem services. Here, we develop a methodological framework to identify Roadless Areas in Europe and assess their spatial properties and conservation status. We examine how the European Union’s conservation network, Natura 2000, would expand if Roadless Areas that are already partially included in Natura 2000 terrestrial sites or are adjacent to them would be added to the existing conservation network. We find that European lands are highly fragmented. Roadless Areas are unevenly distributed, and cover more than 30% of the European Union territory, with large Roadless Areas (≥100 km2) occupying about 18% of that surface. At the national level, there is a large variation in the percentage of overlap between Natura 2000 sites and Roadless Areas, with the Natura 2000 network currently encompassing between 19% and 89% of the Roadless Areas surface, depending on the member state. Our results demonstrate that Roadless Areas adjacent to Natura 2000 sites cover > 65% of the total Natura 2000 surface. As Roadless Areas have limited human access, we suggest integrating Roadless Areas into biodiversity conservation networks as a timely solution to minimize conflicts over expanding Protected Areas in the European Union and to achieve the goals of the European Union’s 2020 Biodiversity Strategy.

Critical catchments for freshwater biodiversity conservation in Europe: identification, prioritisation and gap analysis

SummaryThe conservation of freshwater ecosystems has lagged behind that of marine and terrestrial ecosystems and often requires the integration of large‐scale approaches and transboundary considerations. This study aims to set the foundations of a spatial conservation strategy by identifying the most important catchments for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity in Europe.Using data on 1296 species of fish, mollusc, odonate and aquatic plant, and the key biodiversity area criteria (species Red List status, range restriction and uniqueness of species assemblages), we identified a network of Critical Catchments for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity. Applying spatial prioritisation, we show how the prioritised network differs from the ideal case of protecting all Critical Catchments and how it changes when protected areas are included, and we also identify gaps between the prioritised network and existing protected areas.Critical Catchments (n = 8423) covered 45% of the area of Europe, with 766 qualifying (‘trigger’) species located primarily in southern Europe. The prioritised network, limited to 17% of the area of Europe, comprised 3492 catchments mostly in southern and eastern Europe and species targets were met for at least 96% of the trigger species.We found the majority of Critical Catchments to be inadequately covered by protected areas. However, our prioritised network presents a possible solution to augment protected areas to meet policy targets while also achieving good species coverage.Policy implications. While Critical Catchments cover almost half of Europe, priority catchments are mostly in southern and eastern Europe where the current level of protection is not sufficient. This study presents a foundation for a Europe‐wide systematic conservation plan to ensure the persistence of freshwater biodiversity. Our study provides a powerful new tool for optimising investment on the conservation of freshwater biodiversity and for meeting targets set forth in international biodiversity policies, conventions and strategies.

On habitat characteristics driving meadow passerine densities in lowland hay-meadow systems in France

For meadow bird conservation in Europe, promoting specific farming models in their remaining strongholds could be a necessary complement to the ongoing agri-environmental policy. This study aims at understanding the main drivers of meadow passerine density in the objective of guiding conservation policies. The data were collected in 56 lowland hay-meadow regions important for grassland bird breeding in France. The objective was to explain, using GLMMs, the variation in meadow passerine density, measured annually in 490 12-ha plots during the period 2006–2010 by the count point method. Explanatory variables enabled us to describe farming management, sward structure and habitat size. Passerine density (all species except the skylark Alauda arvensis) depended on the extent of habitat available and on the percentage of meadow already mown on June 20. More specifically, the skylark was attracted to low, floristically rich and early mown swards, the whinchat Saxicola rubetra and the yellow wagtail Motacilla flava to large areas of favourable habitat, and the corn bunting Emberiza calandra to floristically rich meadows mown later than June 20. Extensive farming models based on late mowing in the largest habitat units should therefore be a target for meadow passerine conservation. The skylark was an exception. Because of its apparent tendency to use early mown grasslands, we recommend to rather invest on alternative habitats for sustaining the demography of this species.

Mismatch between Habitat Science and Habitat Directive: Lessons from the French (Counter) Example

AbstractThe European Habitat Directive encompasses a conservation policy devoted to conserve habitats rather than single species. This ambition has strong ecological justifications, and inspires other initiatives such as the IUCN red list of ecosystems. Evaluating this policy is therefore pivotal to identify and reproduce best practices. However, the habitat aspect of this policy has so far not been systematically assessed. To make up for this lacuna, we take advantage of decision‐aiding methodologies to introduce a new normative framework. According to this framework, a conservation policy is positively evaluated if it contributes to conservation, is science‐based, operational, and legitimate. Based on an exploration of the published literature and unpublished reports and databases, we identify knowledge gaps plaguing the European habitat conservation policy. We argue that, due to these knowledge gaps, the contribution of this policy to the conservation of habitats is unproven, it is not science‐based, not operational and not legitimate. Our study draws heavily on the French implementation. Analyzing this example, we highlight knowledge gaps that carry lessons for European conservation policies as a whole, but also for conservation initiatives focused on habitats in a broader geographical and political context. We then identify concrete means to strengthen habitats conservation policies.

The Role of Farm Management Characteristics in Understanding the Spatial Distribution of Landscape Elements: A Case Study in the Netherlands

In Western Europe the fate of biodiversity is intimately linked to agricultural land use. A driving force behind biodiversity decline is the gradual conversion of Europe’s traditional integrated rural landscapes of nature and agriculture into monofunctional units of production. With these developments, semi-natural landscape elements have increasingly disappeared from agricultural landscapes. A growing body of research, however, underlines the importance of semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes for biodiversity conservation, habitat connectivity, and ecosystem services. On the local scale, considerable variation between the relative area of landscape elements on individual farms can be observed. Farm management decisions are presumed to be important determinants for the composition of agricultural landscapes and the services provided to society. By bringing together data from farmer interviews and aerial photographic imagery, this paper analyzes the predictive validity of farm management characteristics to understand the distribution of landscape elements on farmland parcels. The farm management parameters included in the study are relevant to current dominant trends in the Dutch agricultural sector; intensification, scale enlargement, diversification, and gradual termination of farming activities. Scale enlargement and migratory processes are found to be important predictors. The results of the Dutch case study provide insights in the threats and opportunities for the conservation of semi-natural habitat in agricultural landscapes. The findings present an empirical contribution to the debate on sustainable management of agriculture’s green infrastructure and, in broader perspective, the objective to reconcile agricultural production with the urging need of biodiversity conservation in Europe’s spatially contested countryside.

Conserving plant diversity in Europe: outcomes, criticisms and perspectives of the Habitats Directive application in Italy

Habitat Directive is the core strategy of nature conservation in Europe aiming at halting biodiversity loss. In this study the results of the third Italian assessment regarding the conservation status (CS) of plants listed in the Habitat Directive (Flora of community interest—FCI) was presented. Data was collected from several sources related to plant distribution, population data, habitats and pressures. Following the official European procedure, all parameters were evaluated and combined to give the CS of each taxon in each biogeographical region of presence. A comparison between the recent Italian IUCN and Reporting assessments was performed in order to evaluate the consistency between these two assessments. The official EU checklist comprises 113 Italian plant taxa, 107 of which were examined in this study. Our results showed a critical situation with only 34% of favourable CS, while 50% were unfavourable (40% inadequate plus 10% bad) and 16% unknown, in particular in the Mediterranean bioregion, where the unfavourable assessments reach the 65%. The results of the Report were consistent with those of the IUCN assessment, in which 41.9% of plants were threatened with extinction. This report highlighted some benefits and criticisms at national level, but it may have a wider significance. Although a general advance of knowledge, a great effort is needed to reach the Habitats Directive goals. Despite the limited resources, monitoring activities needs to be improved in order to close information gaps for several plants. A positive outcome was the development of a specific national project funded by the Italian Ministry of Environment, with the ambitious target to set future monitoring activities for FCI and optimize monitoring efforts.

Meadow bird conservation in Europe: Towards a continental action plan including European Russia

Since the negative trends in bird populations breeding in intensified farming systems of western Europe could be difficult to reverse, this article highlights the importance of also considering conservation measures in key-sites for grassland birds in European Russia where farming abandonment is the prevailing threat. Non-passerine bird species frequency was studied in the period 2007–2009, within 193 count points in diversely managed meadows of 36 key-regions in Russia and compared to the outcomes of 492 count points in hay meadows of 25 key-regions in France. In Russia, five species were recorded in at least 35% of the plots, among which the Corncrake Crex crex in 75% of total sample. Pair density was defined in two hay meadow systems in Russia with the Territory Mapping method. Bird biomass density was not different when compared to the most favourable conditions recorded in France, but with a Corncrake density of 2.1 calling males per 10ha vs.1.0 in the major French stronghold. Experimental results of alternative management showed the limits of mowing postponement programmes in French grassland ecosystems and enabled us to explore the effects of rotational mowing for limiting habitat loss due to farming abandonment in Russia.

Climate change fosters the decline of epiphytic Lobaria species in Italy

Similarly to other Mediterranean regions, Italy is expected to experience dramatic climatic changes in the coming decades. Do to their poikilohydric nature, lichens are among the most sensitive organisms to climate change and species requiring temperate-humid conditions may rapidly decline in Italy, such in the case of the epiphytic Lobaria species that are confined to humid forests. Our study, based on ecological niche modelling of occurrence data of three Lobaria species, revealed that in the next decades climate change will impact their distribution range across Italy, predicting a steep gradient of increasing range loss across time slices. Lobaria species are therefore facing a high extinction risk associated with reduction of their range. The current patterns indicate that only L. pulmonaria still has a continuous distribution across Italy, with potential contact between Apennine and Alpine populations. This situation is consistent with the wider climatic niche of this species, still offering a major opportunity for its successful long-term conservation. Results (a) support the inclusion of the three Lobaria species in European conservation policies, such as the Habitat Directive, and (b) warn against an over-estimation of the indicator power of single flagship species to establish conservation priorities for lichens, indicating that even lichens with peculiar and similar climatic envelopes may fail to co-occur within a given forest stand. A multiple indicator approach could provide more useful tools for a community-based conservation strategy for epiphytes.

Long‐term influence of sod cutting depth on the restoration of degraded wet heaths

AbstractTemperate heaths have an unfavorable conservation status in most European biogeographical regions. Increasing nitrogen levels promote competitive grass species such asMolinia caerulea, which is a main threat to heathland conservation in Europe. This article investigates the long‐term influence of sod cutting and the resulting changes in soil properties on the heath composition, integrity, and structure. In 15 nature reserves across the northern half of Belgium, we used (1) a large number of plots (203); (2) a broad range of sod cut depths (2–40 cm), and (3) a temporal dimension that describes how long the effects of sod cutting persist (census up to 19 years after sod cutting). Multivariate analyses were used in order to explore the influence of sod cut depth and time after sod cutting on the soil and vegetation properties. There was a positive relationship between sod cut depth and soilpHand water level, and a negative relationship with Al3+,NH4+, and total organic matter (TOM). However, only a limited number of typical (target) species appeared after sod cutting, and then only weakly. Most of the time they remained a minor component of the restored vegetation. Moreover,M. caeruleareappeared and its cover significantly increased during the years following sod cutting. Although we were able to show that sod cut depth has a differential effect on soil properties and vegetation recovery, it also appeared that sod cutting does not restore wet heaths in the long term when applied in regions with high nitrogen deposition.

Environmental Compensation for Port Extension: The Case of Rotterdam Harbor and Nature Compensation, Policy and Practice

The port of Rotterdam (the Netherlands) recently built a large extension, Maasvlakte 2. It was built in an area with valuable coastal ecosystems belonging to the EU Natura 2000 network of European conservation areas. The construction and use of Maasvlakte 2 causes considerable damage to existing Natura 2000 sites. According to EU regulations this damage should be compensated by creating new nature. In the case of Rotterdam, the compensation was twofold: a marine and a terrestrial part. The paper describes the design and the actual lay-out of the compensation works. It also reports on the monitoring that is ongoing to assess the damage to existing nature and the quality of the new (compensated) nature.

Future Non-Analogue Climates for Scotland’s Temperate Rainforest

ABSTRACTTemperate rainforest is restricted to a globally rare set of climatic conditions. Scotland has among the best remaining examples of intact temperate rainforest in Europe, characterised ecologically by a unique assemblage of epiphytic bryophytes and lichens. Given climatic control on rainforest distribution and ecology, climate change is a probable risk to Scotland’s rainforest. This study investigated climate change impacts for 20 target sites, classified based on (i) bioclimatic conditions, and (ii) epiphytic diversity, into contrasting rainforest and more continental (non-rainforest) examples. Space-for-time matching identified climate analogues within the European conservation forest network, which at present have a climate similar to that expected of the target sites during the 2080s (WorldClim datasets). The results show that 2080s analogues for sites in more continental north-eastern Scotland occur in Wales and southern England. However, Scottish rainforest sites were their own ‘best analogues’ through to the 2080s, despite the fact that their climate is projected to change significantly; they had no suitable future analogue within Europe’s conservation forest network. These contrasting regional patterns highlight the need for a flexible approach to species conservation during climate change, including a strategy to cope with ecological uncertainty in Scotland’s zone of oceanic rainforest.

Misleading interpretation of shifting baseline syndrome in the conservation of European mink

The European mink is a critically endangered mustelid with only three declining and isolated populations. Based on particular interpretation of genetic studies, the origin of SW population (France and Spain) and its conservation measures were recently questioned, and considered an example of managed relocation. The four published genetic studies show similar results, revealing a bottleneck structure. The SW population was probably established by very few individuals, which can be explained by dispersal of some-long distance migrants or by human introduction. The historical records evidence a long-distance dispersal capacity of the species and the temporal trend expansion in SW Europe is spatially collated with the idea of an expanding population. On contrast, most support for the introduction hypothesis comes from critics to other hypotheses, while it lacks of structure to stand on its own as hypothesis: no ecological barrier preventing natural expansion identified, no reports or reasons for captivity breeding or translocation programs, and lacks of supporting documents among others. Arguing shifting baseline syndrome in European mink conservation has weak basis and can result perilously misleading for a species in the brink of extinction.

Soil Conservation in Europe: Wish or Reality?

AbstractNearly all of Europe is affected by soil erosion. A major policy response is required to reverse the impacts of erosion in degraded areas, particularly in light of the current climate change and water crisis. Soil loss occurs not because of any lack of knowledge on how to protect soils, but a lack in policy governance. The average rate of soil loss by sheet and rill erosion in Europe is 2·46 Mg ha−1 yr−1. To mitigate the impacts of soil erosion, the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy has introduced conservation measures which reduce soil loss by water erosion by 20% in arable lands. Further economic and political action should rebrand the value of soil as part of ecosystem services, increase the income of rural land owners, involve young farmers and organize regional services for licensing land use changes. In a changing World of 9 billion people with the challenge of climate change, water scarcity and depletion of soil fertility, the agriculture economy should evolve taking into account environmental and ecological aspects. © 2016 The Authors Journal of Land Degradation & Development Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

EU's Conservation Efforts Need More Strategic Investment to Meet Continental Commitments

AbstractThe European Union (EU) has made significant conservation efforts in the last two decades, guided by the Birds and Habitats Directives, currently under evaluation. Despite these efforts a large proportion of priority species are still in unfavorable condition and continue declining. For this reason, a thoughtful review of the implementation of conservation efforts in Europe is needed to identify potential causes behind this poor effectiveness. We compiled information on the distribution of all conservation funds under the LIFE‐Nature, the main financial tool for conservation in Europe. We found that LIFE‐Nature has not adequately covered continental conservation needs. The majority of funds have been directed toward nonthreatened species or regions of low conservation priority. Given the limited resources available, two key aspects are in urgent need for revision and improvement. First, the distribution of funds should be guided by continental and global conservation needs and planned at the EU scale. Second, new mechanisms are required to set conservation priorities in a dynamic fashion, rather than relying on fixed lists (i.e., the Directives’ Annexes) that may rapidly become outdated. These improvements would require new mechanisms to set priorities and redistribution of conservation efforts, supported by adequate policy and a more effective top‐down control on investment.