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Gaps in ecological research on the world's largest internationally coordinated network of protected areas: A review of Natura 2000
Abstract
Natura 2000 (N2k) is a multinational and coordinated conservation network designated to support the long-term survival of Europe's most valuable species and habitats. It is the key conservation tool in the European Union. We reviewed 510 peer-reviewed publications (period 1998–2014) focusing on ecological aspects of N2k, with the aims of identifying key research gaps and proposing future research priorities for improved conservation success. We categorized the articles by spatial scale, biogeographical regions, taxonomic groups, habitat types, and the analytical methods used. The majority of studies were performed in single N2k sites or at the regional level within countries. The Mediterranean region had the greatest number of publications and the terrestrial Black Sea, Macaronesia, Pannonian and Steppic regions were overrepresented in relation to their total area and to the area of N2k sites that they comprised. Grasslands, freshwater and wetland habitats were overrepresented in comparison to their area within N2k. Plants were the most commonly studied taxonomic group and quantitative empirical studies dominated. Future N2k research should address knowledge gaps by directing more efforts towards: 1) the Boreal region, 2) alpine, agricultural, forest and marine habitats, and 3) underrepresented taxonomic groups such as reptiles, amphibians, lichens and fungi. For enhanced evaluation and realization of the conservation potential of N2k, more studies will need to encompass large spatial scales and utilize modelling approaches to effectively address future climate and land-use changes.
Supplementary resources (5)
... Here we show that adopting such a strategy exclusively in the European Alps should largely improve multifaceted biodiversity protection compared with the current sensu stricto (International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) I and II plus Emerald-Natura 2000) or sensu lato (IUCN I-VI plus Emerald-Natura 2000) European conservation network 47 (Extended Data Fig. 4). These findings reaffirm previous studies indicating that the current European reserve network may not be well suited for effectively conserving biodiversity compared with our current understanding of its complete range and contributions to ecosystem functions [48][49][50] . As an example, the EU-Natura 2000 network was originally structured to protect habitats, rare species and migratory birds, thus omitting the multidimensional aspect of biodiversity 48 . ...
... These findings reaffirm previous studies indicating that the current European reserve network may not be well suited for effectively conserving biodiversity compared with our current understanding of its complete range and contributions to ecosystem functions [48][49][50] . As an example, the EU-Natura 2000 network was originally structured to protect habitats, rare species and migratory birds, thus omitting the multidimensional aspect of biodiversity 48 . ...
... Nevertheless, the EU-Natura 2000 framework is also the world's largest coordinated conservation network. Along with IUCN I and II categories, these PAs are often considered as the flagship tool of the EU reserve network owing to their benefits of protecting species diversity and rarity 48,49,51 . However, we also found that the convergences between the IUCN III and VI network and our expansion forecasts reach ~3% of the study area (Extended Data Fig. 6). ...
To meet the COP15 biodiversity framework in the European Union (EU), one target is to protect 30% of its land by 2030 through a resilient transnational conservation network. The European Alps are a key hub of this network hosting some of the most extensive natural areas and biodiversity hotspots in Europe. Here we assess the robustness of the current European reserve network to safeguard the European Alps’ flora by 2080 using semi-mechanistic simulations. We first highlight that the current network needs strong readjustments as it does not capture biodiversity patterns as well as our conservation simulations. Overall, we predict a strong shift in conservation need through time along latitudes, and from lower to higher elevations as plants migrate upslope and shrink their distribution. While increasing species, trait and evolutionary diversity, migration could also threaten 70% of the resident flora. In the face of global changes, the future European reserve network will need to ensure strong elevation and latitudinal connections to complementarily protect multifaceted biodiversity beyond national borders.
... Here we show that adopting such a strategy exclusively in the European Alps should largely improve multifaceted biodiversity protection compared with the current sensu stricto (International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) I and II plus Emerald-Natura 2000) or sensu lato (IUCN I-VI plus Emerald-Natura 2000) European conservation network 47 (Extended Data Fig. 4). These findings reaffirm previous studies indicating that the current European reserve network may not be well suited for effectively conserving biodiversity compared with our current understanding of its complete range and contributions to ecosystem functions [48][49][50] . As an example, the EU-Natura 2000 network was originally structured to protect habitats, rare species and migratory birds, thus omitting the multidimensional aspect of biodiversity 48 . ...
... These findings reaffirm previous studies indicating that the current European reserve network may not be well suited for effectively conserving biodiversity compared with our current understanding of its complete range and contributions to ecosystem functions [48][49][50] . As an example, the EU-Natura 2000 network was originally structured to protect habitats, rare species and migratory birds, thus omitting the multidimensional aspect of biodiversity 48 . ...
... and rarity 48,49,51 . However, we also found that the convergences between the IUCN III and VI network and our expansion forecasts reach ~3% of the study area (Extended Data Fig. 6). ...
To meet the COP15 biodiversity framework in Europe, one target is to protect 30% of land by 2030 through a resilient transnational conservation network 1,2 . The European Alps are a key hub of this network hosting one of the most extensive natural areas and hotspots of plant biodiversity in Europe 3,4 . Here, we assess the robustness of the conservation network to safeguard the European Alps’ flora by 2080 using semi-mechanistic simulations. Overall, we predict a shift in conservation need from lower to higher elevations through time as plants migrate upslope and shrink their distribution. While increasing species, trait, and evolutionary diversity, migration could also threaten 70% of the resident flora. Future expansions of the protected area network should ensure strong elevational connections, even those that span borders.
... Research has demonstrated that large-scale conservation measures guarantee critical ecological processes and prevent rapid loss of diversity due to habitat fragmentation (Krauss et al. 2010, Poiani et al. 2000. In Europe, large-scale conservation is particularly challenging because the continent is characterised by a diverse array of socio-ecological systems and made up of many different countries with distinct political, social, economic, and ecological systems (Orlikowska et al. 2016, Campagnaro et al. 2019. Natura 2000 is based on an integrated conservation approach, which seeks to balance protection of habitats and species with economic, social, and cultural requirements as well as local characteristics (Article 2 (3) of the HD), and therefore allowing for a wide variety of land uses , Winkel et al. 2015. ...
... Science can further contribute to the assessment of the implementation of conservation policies since monitoring and research can fill the knowledge gaps about the effects on habitats and species (Maiorano et al. 2007, Kati et al. 2015, Winkel et al. 2015. Orlikowska et al. (2016), through a review of the scientific literature, detected the knowledge gaps in ecological research on Natura 2000. Their findings suggest that further research should address underrepresented taxonomic groups in the literature related to Natura 2000 in comparison to their representation in the EU Nature Directives, such as birds, which are often linked to rare habitats. ...
... Moreover, areas with no protection constraints like rural ecosystems, play a complementary role to the surrounding natural protected areas in the conservation of bird species richness at different scales (Pino et al. 2000, Cai andPettenella 2013). However, the research set in Natura 2000 sites should aim more at investigating the conservation status of birds and assessing the effectiveness of conservation efforts at different spatial scales (but see, for large scales, Donald et al. 2007, Popescu et al. 2014, Orlikowska et al. 2016, Gamero et al. 2017, Portaccio et al. 2021). An interesting result is that one third of the analysed literature considered both areas inside and outside Natura 2000 within the same study. ...
The Natura 2000 network, the pillar of biodiversity conservation in Europe, still shows some knowledge gaps after almost 30 years since its implementation. As birds are a taxonomic group that is underrepresented in the literature related to Natura 2000 compared to their importance in the EU Directives, this review investigated the characteristics of the scientific research dedicated to birds in relation to Natura 2000. This review focused on 169 peer-reviewed articles covering a period of 25 years (1995–2019). Most studies were set within single Natura 2000 site or regions within countries, and concerned terrestrial habitats, particularly wetlands. The terrestrial Mediterranean biogeographical region and marine Atlantic region had the greatest number of publications, while Spain, Italy, and France were the countries with the highest number of reviewed articles. The number of publications was correlated to Natura 2000 coverage at both country and biogeographical region level. Bird species were studied mainly at a community or single-species level and most publications studied distribution and occurrence of the bird species of interest, while very few assessed the conservation status of the species. Only a few articles set within Natura 2000 sites addressed the issues of habitat suitability for birds or the effectiveness of conservation efforts. Both Annex I and non-Annex I bird species were examined in the literature, with most species having decreasing population trends at the European scale. Future research on bird conservation and Natura 2000 should focus on marine ecosystems as well as habitats that have received less attention despite their important role in a changing future (alpine and urban types). Moreover, future studies should encompass larger spatial scales and those species for which status and trends are still not thoroughly investigated. Finally, it would be important to enhance research efforts on the conservation status and effectiveness in relation to the network.
... The European Union's (EU) Natura 2000 network, established under the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) and Habitats Directive (92/43/ECC), is considered the largest coordinated multinational network of protected areas in the world (Maes et al., 2012;European Commission, 2016). Reaching a significant protected area slightly more than 20 years ago (Evans, 2012), large-scale conservation in Natura 2000 network still is particularly challenging since the continent consists of different countries with multiple political, economic, social and ecological systems (Orlikowska et al., 2016) and is characterized by a relatively high human population density and a long land-use history (Henle et al., 2008;Kati et al., 2015). ...
... These issues led to various types of threats to conservation, the most common disturbances (pressure) identified in many protected areas of the world include human actions like urbanization, road construction, mining, deforestation, agriculture or grazing and natural phenomena like fire, pest invasion or drought Nagendra, 2008;Tsiafouli et al., 2013;Macedo-Sousa et al., 2009;Reddy et al., 2017). These pressures led consequently to failure to meet the targets of reducing the biodiversity loss rate in Europe by 2010(European Commission, 2011, the commission aiming to halt the loss of biodiversity in Europe by 2020, through Natura 2000 network, under the European Strategy for Biological Diversity 2020 (European Commission, 2015;Orlikowska et al., 2016), and currently by the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. ...
... Studies using remote sensing to monitor Natura 2000 natural habitats have been limited besides visual interpretation of satellite imagery, and rarely exploited in practice (Borre et al., 2011b). Moreover, in spite the fact that Natura 2000 PAs span across the European continent, the majority of studies, regardless of the used methods, were conducted within regional scale (35-56%) or in a single site (25%), whereas studies assessing the whole EU were least common (6-9%) (Orlikowska et al., 2016;Popescu et al., 2014). Maes et al. (2012) used remote sensing derived CORINE Land Cover 2000 dataset along with different other data to map ten spatial surrogates for ecosystem service supply and three for biodiversity at European scale, and assess the spatial relationships between conservation status of Natura 2000 PAs, biodiversity and ecosystem services. ...
The world's largest network of protected areas (PAs), Natura 2000, is facing different types of disturbances and pressures, however, it still remains unclear the impact they have on the conservation status of sites. Remote sensing big data analysis and satellite data were used to quantify dynamics of the dominant land cover category, landscape structure, and vegetation greenness, as indicators of conservation status, as well as drivers of change, between 2000 and 2018, within each Natura 2000 protected area, across the entire European Union. Our results show that the majority of sites are 'favourable' on natural land cover range and areas, but heading to 'unfav-ourable' status regarding the landscape structure, while an alarmingly high number of sites experience both net loss of the dominant land cover type and degradation of landscape structure, labeled consequently as having an 'unfavourable' conservation status. The results also showed high differences between biogeographic regions and countries, with an extremely low number of sites suffering dramatic changes to other dominant land cover types, mainly among grasslands. Mediterranean region showed a high net forest increase (mainly extension of existing forests) as well as insignificant changes of landscape fragmentation and diversity (predominantly in Greece, Spain and, Italy), related to the intensification of forest planting, and to a high loss of grassland area and cropland (land abandonment). High net forest gain, but increasing landscape fragmentation, was observed in the Continental region (mainly in Bulgaria, Poland, Germany and, Italy), suggesting that forest developed in numerous new smaller patches, due to the development of invasive species through natural processes (agricul-tural land abandonment) and natural system modifications. The Alpine region also showed a low positive net forest change, but with significant dynamics of gains due to reducing of agricultural activities and human disturbances , and losses due to natural catastrophes such as natural fires, storms, avalanches or landslides. Contrarily, the Boreal and Atlantic regions recorded considerable net forest loss during the analyzed period, caused mainly by the occurrence of natural catastrophes, natural biotic and abiotic processes (erosion, para-sitism, diseases), and the increase of forestry clearance. These results show the high potential of moderate resolution remote sensing big data in assessing PAs, even more as higher spatial and temporal resolution satellite data are continuously emerging.
... First, the terai, or lowland areas of Nepal, has been a priority for researchers because it is the last sanctuary of globally-endangered species such as tiger, one-horned rhinoceros and elephant, and it supports a very high diversity of birds (Paudel and Šipoš 2014;Primack et al., 2013). Second, the region has six protected areas, which naturally get a high priority for research as compared to non-protected areas (Orlikowska et al. 2016). Third, the region supports nearly half of the Nepali population, and as such it is more accessible via roads than most places in the mountains. ...
... Agricultural lands are important biodiversity repositories, particularly for butterflies (Stefanescu et al. 2005), avifauna (Li et al. 2020) and ecosystem services (Benton et al. 2003). Such areas are under heavy pressure for agricultural intensification and modernization, requiring more conservation research to determine the effects of change on native species living within them (Stefanescu et al. 2005;Orlikowska et al. 2016;Li et al. 2020). ...
Scientific research on biodiversity and conservation generates the knowledge base useful in achieving sustainability targets. The knowledge gap limits our ability to design well-founded strategies and impedes the prospects of addressing myriad conservation challenges. It is therefore important to assess trends and biases in biodiversity and conservation literature to monitor progress and make corrective actions where needed. Nepal is considered among the most biodiverse regions globally, yet little is known about the progress of biodiversity and conservation science. Here we reviewed 1098 articles published over the last fifty-six years (1964–2019) and provide a snapshot of research patterns, trends and gaps in terms research lens, physiography, ecosystem, protected area, taxonomy, ecological focus, funding, research recommendation, and research authorship and collaboration. The results of our study showed a monotonic trend of article publication until 1990, which increased significantly after 1999. There is a growing trend in the number of publications with socio-economic and multidisciplinary lens. Research publications are highly biased in favour of few taxonomic groups, mainly gymnosperms and mammals, with a preponderance of certain species, while other classes of both the plant and animal kingdoms were less studied. There was disproportionately low focus on certain physiographic regions (e.g., high Himalaya, Siwalik), ecosystem types (e.g., wetlands) and non-protected areas. Articles with an ecological focus were mainly exploratory—e.g., describing general distributions—whereas specialized ecological/evolutionary research (e.g., grazing, competition, physiology), except for genetics and climate change, were rare. More than half of the articles were authored only by foreign-based researchers, who contributed up to 89% of published articles, and consistently maintained dominance as corresponding and lead authors. There is a need to realign research efforts and support home-grown researchers with training, funding and institution-building. This requires a concerted commitment by the Government of Nepal, conservation organizations, researchers and academic institutions. There remains a great need for more empirical science to inform decision-making and consequently achieve ambitious national conservation targets.
... Volume 27, Number 1 including nine different categories of protection (from strict nature reserves and national parks to regional parks) (Bioportal 2022 One of the approaches used to assess the efficiency of protected areas in biodiversity conservation is carrying out the gap analysis (Rodrigues et al. 2004;Jantke et al. 2011;Orlikowska et al. 2016). This analysis comprises overlapping species distributional data with the distribution of protected areas/conservation network (Rodrigues et al. 2004;Jennings 2000). ...
... Gap analysis was frequently used in various studies (Rodrigues et al. 2004;Gruber et al. 2012; Abellan and Sanchez-Fernandez 2015; Orlikowska et al. 2016) revealing different success of protected areas in safeguarding local diversity. Some studies described great efficacy of protected areas in preserving different species (e.g., birds of prey (Mazaris et al. 2013), freshwater crayfish (Lovrenčić et al. 2020), and butterflies (Verovnik et al. 2011)), while others showed many gaps (e.g., temporary freshwater habitats (Bagella et al. 2013), vertebrates (Maiorano et al. 2006(Maiorano et al. , 2015, and flora (Mendoza-Fernández et al. 2009)). ...
Croatian freshwaters are inhabited by four native European crayfish species. One of them is the white-clawed crayfish which is distributed in the waterbodies draining to the Adriatic Sea. This species is endangered by anthropogenic pressures on its habitats, climate change and the introduction and spread of non-native invasive crayfish species and their pathogens, with several documented declines occurring in a number of populations. Consequently, it is declared endangered and protected by international and national legislation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the pan-European Natura 2000 network and national protected areas in conserving the white-clawed crayfish diversity in Croatia through a GIS-based approach that overlays a map of protected areas with species distribution data, also known as a gap analysis. The analysis revealed that 66% of the white-clawed crayfish populations are covered by protected areas (including Natura 2000 sites). Results of this study are useful for the evaluation of protected areas in the conservation of this key freshwater species, and for direct future management plans.
... Climate change velocity was calculated for terrestrial Europe including the Natura 2000 network. Natura 2000 is the largest protected area network worldwide (Orlikowska et al., 2016). This study focused on the Natura 2000 Special Protection Areas (SPA) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) designated under the Birds Directive 2009/147/EC (1979) and Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC (1992), respectively. ...
... In contrast to individual countries, they help to abstract and summarize findings in an ecological way. An integrated review study on Natura 2000 by Orlikowska et al. (2016) suggested emphasizing biodiversity conservation actions inside individual biogeographical regions, which can address conservation efforts for similar biotas and help with implementing research results into more effective conservation practices. Accordingly, the climate change velocities both inside and outside the Natura 2000 network were compared among eleven terrestrial biogeographical regions across Europe in this study (Fig. 1b). ...
Anthropogenic climate change is challenging biodiversity conservation worldwide. Climate change metrics derived from future climate predictions help to assess potential impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Here we calculated future climate change velocities across biogeographical regions of terrestrial Europe and the Natura 2000 protected area network, the largest protected area network on Earth. We applied climate projections for the year 2070, considering two emission scenarios, six global climate models and a fine spatial resolution. Areas with very high climate change velocity were identified as climate change hotspots, while areas with very low velocity were recognized as coldspots. We further revealed where and to what extent climate change hotspots and coldspots coincide with Natura 2000 sites. We found that climate change velocities are projected highest in the Continental and Boreal regions, and lowest in the Mediterranean and Anatolian regions. However, the Alpine region will likely contain largest areal proportions of climate change hotspots, while areal proportions of coldspots are projected largest in the Mediterranean region. High mountain regions such as the Alps show a high proportion of Natura 2000 sites that coincide with climate change hotspots. Both, hotspots and coldspots, are geographically associated with areas of topographic diversity. Low topographical diversity indicates high climate change exposure. The impact of hotspots increases with spatial isolation. Oceanic climate buffers climate change exposure in contrast to continental climate. However, continental regions of Europe tend to exhibit less spatial isolation. We recommend conservation action in climate change hotspots and coldspots to simultaneously protect the most climate-exposed biodiversity as well as climate change refugia. Climate change hotspots and coldspots overlapping with Natura 2000 sites should be considered priority conservation sites because new protected areas are hard to realize in densely populated landscapes of Europe. This study directs European conservation management and policy towards meeting international conservation goals in a climate-smart way.
... Dunnett et al. (2022a) predicted limited overlap of the area of expansion of renewable energy infrastructures and protected areas; however, this result was debated (Dunnett et al., 2022b;Niebuhr et al., 2022;Pérez-García et al., 2022), as it is likely not enough to buffer the decline of species of conservation interest, such as migratory taxa negatively affected by wind turbines, which also exploit non-protected areas. The N2k network covers 18 % of European land territory and is likely the most extended network of (at least partly) protected areas worldwide (Orlikowska et al., 2016). The network aims to ensure the long-term survival of Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats, listed under both the Habitats and the Birds Directives, the latter of which includes the lesser kestrel among species of European conservation interest. ...
... Un réseau européen évalué à l'échelle nationale L'échelle reconnue la plus rationnelle pour élaborer des aires protégées est la région biogéographique (Sutherland 2009), et c'est bien à cette échelle transnationale qu'est projeté le réseau Natura 2000. Pourtant, les évaluations de l'ONG BirdLife International (2022) ainsi que la demande de la CE (EU Pilot) sont réalisées à l'échelle nationale, par Etat membre, malgré le manque d'études à une échelle plus large (Orlikowska et al. 2016). Une étude de cohérence du réseau à l'échelle européenne pour les oiseaux marins permettrait d'appliquer une méthodologie harmonisée entre pays, et également de mieux considérer les zones marines frontalières où les données nationales font abstraction des données présentent de l'autre côté de la frontière administrative. ...
Un réseau d’aires protégées est efficace s’il cible les zones préférentielles des espèces à conserver. Le réseau Natura 2000 de Zones de Protection Spéciale (ZPS) pour les oiseaux marins en France a été désigné progressivement entre 1986 et 2019, d’abord à la côte autour des colonies de reproduction, puis étendu au large sur des zones de passage, de halte et d’alimentation. Afin de répondre aux interrogations émises par la Commission Européenne sur la complétude de ce réseau, la présente étude a mobilisé les différentes sources de données en mer sur les oiseaux marins (entre 2002-2022) pour une évaluation du réseau français selon les critères scientifiques européens pour l’établisement d’un réseau cohérent - complétée par la consultation d’experts locaux et nationaux de l’ornithologie marine. La couverture modérée des zones de plus forte concentration des espèces (50 % en Atlantique, 15 % en Méditerranée) et la présence de points chauds multi-spécifiques en dehors du réseau de ZPS confirme la persistance de manques résiduels de couverture spatiale du réseau. Ces manques sont identifiés en Atlantique et en Méditerranée, dans les eaux territoriales et au large. Suite à leur identification, des propositions ont été élaborées selon deux modalités de scénarios avec les experts (minimal et optimal) en appui à l’action publique, pour améliorer la cohérence du réseau ZPS et ainsi satisfaire les exigences réglementaires de complétude. Les connaissances actuelles sur la distribution et l’abondance des oiseaux marins en mer sont encore parcellaires et inégales entre espèces. Cependant, la dynamique croissante d’études en cours et à venir, notamment liée à la planification des usages en mer, viendra compléter les données mobilisables dans les prochaines années. Ces nouvelles connaissances permettront d’évaluer encore plus finement les progrès réalisés, ainsi que de tester la cohérence du réseau ZPS dans le futur face aux impacts attendus des changements globaux.
... A recent multi-taxonomic assessment across European biogeographic regions shows that the Natura 2000 network is effective in limiting biodiversity loss [10]. Yet, against a backdrop of persistent, continent-wide declines in biodiversity, there are calls for improvements to the network, including data-improved red list assessments, increased focus on those sites with the highest conservation value, species-specific conservation plans, augmented population monitoring, and substantial financial resource allocation for research, implementation, and education [39,40]. ...
The Natura 2000 network of protected areas is the backbone of species conservation in the European Union. We investigated whether Austrian-hatched white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) make particular use of this multinational network during their natal dispersal, and what habitats were of importance to the eagles. We analyzed the utilization distribution of 907,466 GPS locations from 38 dispersing white-tailed eagles using a dynamic Brownian Bridge Movement Model. Eagles ranged over a huge area of central-eastern Europe. Natura 2000 sites overlapped with 67% of the resulting 50% isopleth; i.e., a high probability of utilization of Natura 2000 areas by white-tailed eagles was found. White-tailed eagles used wetlands, waterbodies, and deciduous forests adjacent to wet habitats disproportionately often. Coniferous forests and settlements were avoided. Anthropogenically caused mortalities hardly occurred within Natura 2000 sites. Our study suggests that the Natura 2000 network is a crucial tool for conserving the white-tailed eagle. This top predator is an ambassador for the Natura 2000 idea during all life stages, and should continue to be a conservation priority of the network.
... For the reasons explained above, establishing an extensive network of protected areas is one of the main tools with which to protect endangered species, habitats, and ecosystems, and to neutralize biodiversity loss [15]. Based on the Habitats Council Directive 92/43/EC, the European Union created the Natura 2000 Network, the largest coordinated multinational network of protected areas in the world, which includes more than 18% of the EU's land area and more than 8% of its marine territory [16,17]. The role of protected areas in the prevention of species extinction is still uncertain from several cases. ...
Orchids are among the plants most threatened by anthropic impact and environmental changes. Therefore, all known orchid species are protected in several countries by regional, national and international legislation. Several studies have cast doubts on the effectiveness of legislation to ensure the protection of wild orchids. We assessed the vitality of four orchid populations in a coastal area in Northern Italy, by monitoring the vegetative and reproductive traits of the orchid populations growing both in the protected sites comprising the Natura 2000 network, and in non-protected sites. We also monitored the level of environmental threat to orchid vitality. The early-flowering deceptive species (Ophrys sphegodes and Anacamptis morio) exhibited high vegetative vitality and experienced similar levels of environmental threat in the protected and non-protected areas. However, their reproductive success was strongly jeopardized, probably by a failed pollination that impeded the fruit set. The late-flowering, partially or totally rewarding species (Anacamptis pyramidalis and Anacamptis coriophora) were more strongly impacted by spring mowing and ungulate herbivory and alien species. Only for A. coriophora were the herbivory and alien species invasions lower at the protected vs. non-protected sites, which ensured a higher population vitality at the protected sites. We conclude that the environmental protection in our study area is ineffective for preserving orchids without targeted actions against specific environmental threats.
... For the reasons explained above, establishing an extensive network of protected areas is one of the main tools to protect endangered species, habitats, and ecosystems and neutralize biodiversity loss [15]. Based on the Habitats Council Directive 92/43/EC, the European Union created the Natura 2000 Network, the largest coordinated multinational network of protected areas in the world which includes more than 18 % of the EU's land area and more than 8 % of its marine territory [16,17]. The role of protected areas in the prevention of species extinction is still uncertain in several cases. ...
Orchids are among the plants most threatened by anthropic impact and environmental changes. Therefore, all known orchid species are protected in several countries by regional, national and international legislation. Several studies cast doubts on the effectiveness of legislation to ensure protection of wild orchids. We assessed the vitality of four orchid populations in a coastal area in Northern Italy, by monitoring vegetative and reproductive traits of orchid populations growing both in protected sites comprised in the Natura 2000 network and in non-protected sites. We also monitored the level of environmental threat to orchid vitality. Early flowering deceptive species (Ophrys sphegodes and Anacamptis morio) exhibited high vegetative vitality and experienced similar levels of environmental threat in protected and non-protected areas. However, their reproductive success was strongly jeopardized probably by failed pollination that impeded fruit set. Late-flowering, partially or totally rewarding species (Anacamptis pyramidalis and Anacamptis coriophora) were more strongly impacted by spring mowing, ungulate herbivory and alien species. Only for A. coriophora were herbivory and alien species invasion lower at protected vs. non-protected sites which ensured higher population vitality at protected sites. We conclude that environmental protection is ineffective for preserving orchids without targeted actions against specific environmental threats.
... National parks are the representatives of the most complex spatial protection where strict and selective protection is applied. Of special importance is NP "Tara", whose natural and created values are protected within the most important conservation tool in the EU-NATURA 2000 ecological network [7]. NP "Tara" with "Zaovine" Landscape of outstanding features and Šargan-Mokra Gora Park of Nature will become part of the future cross-border protected area -"Drina" Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MaB) programme. ...
... Third, investment from both scientists and stakeholders is required. More specifically, research positions and funding models will need to prioritize and facilitate networks of researchers working on common goals over individuals and small teams [47]. Fourth, to remove inefficiencies in the flow of information (e.g., publications, data repositories) to and from Big Data and Experimental Frameworks, information transfer needs to be hardened into systems designs where experimentalists and modelers get relevant results but still quickly cross-communicate in an inclusive and readily accessible way. ...
Many ecologists increasingly advocate for research frameworks centered on the use of 'big data' to address anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems. Yet, experiments are often considered essential for identifying mechanisms and informing conservation interventions. We highlight the complementarity of these research frameworks and expose largely untapped opportunities for combining them to speed advancements in ecology and conservation. With nascent but increasing application of model integration, we argue that there is an urgent need to unite experimental and big data frameworks throughout the scientific process. Such an integrated framework offers potential for capitalizing on the benefits of both frameworks to gain rapid and reliable answers to ecological challenges.
... Similar studies investigating the effect of the surrounding land use outside the protected areas on the presence of freshwater-related species inside Natura 2000 (N2k) sites are rare. This lack of studies at larger spatial scales based on a larger number of N2k sites was identified as a main knowledge gap in the review of Orlikowska et al. (2016). The few available studies indicate that the importance of surrounding land use differs between organism groups and depends on species' mobility. ...
The Birds and Habitats Directive are the cornerstones of Europe's nature conservation policy and the resulting Natura 2000 (N2k) sites form the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world. Despite the ambitious targets of these directives and decades of efforts, biodiversity, especially of freshwater-related species, continues to decline in Europe. While multiple stressors at larger spatial scales are known to limit the effect of river restoration projects, the importance of surrounding land use outside the N2k sites for freshwater-related species richness inside N2k sites has rarely been studied. Conditional inference forests were used to assess the importance of land use in the surrounding and upstream of the German N2k sites compared to local habitat conditions inside. Freshwater-related species richness depended on land use in the surrounding besides local habitat conditions. Results indicated that this was especially true for birds in small N2k sites embedded in a wet, diverse, and patchy landscape and for non-birds due to the provision of additional habitats outside the N2k sites. Given that most N2k sites in Europe are rather small, the surrounding habitat conditions and land use potentially influences and affects freshwater-related species in many N2k sites across Europe. The additional conservation and restoration areas to be designated under the EU Biodiversity Strategy and upcoming EU restoration law should either be large enough or surrounded by extensive land use to optimize their effect on freshwater-related species.
... The 3,797 marine sites hosted by 23 Member States are either exclusively marine or have both marine and terrestrial components (Figure 1). Orlikowska et al. (2016) recognized important gaps in ecological research on Natura 2000 marine systems, with limited attention to social issues . raise concerns on the operational capacity of the network, supporting an inadequate and insufficient reporting of threats in marine sites (e.g., invasive species). ...
As a response to increasing human pressures on marine ecosystems, the legislation aimed at improving the conservation and management of marine coastal areas in European and Contiguous Seas (ECS) underwent crucial advances. ECS, however, still remain largely affected by increasing threats leading to biodiversity loss. Here, by using emblematic case studies and expert knowledge, we review current conservation tools, comparing their application in different areas to assess their effectiveness, potential for synergies, and contradictions. Despite regional differences in their application, the existing legislative frameworks have the potential to regulate human activities and to protect marine biodiversity. However, four challenges remain to be addressed to fully achieve environmental policy goals: (1) Lack of shared vision representing a limitation in transboundary collaboration. Although all EU countries are committed to fulfil EU Directives and other binding international legislative acts, a remarkable heterogeneity exists among countries in the compliance with the common legislation on conservation and in their degree of implementation. (2) Lack of systematic procedures for the selection of protected marine sites. Regional and national approaches in designating Natura 2000 sites and nationally designated marine protected areas (MPAs) reflect varying conservation targets and importance of conservation issues in political agendas. (3) Lack of coherent ecological networks. Natura 2000 sites and other MPAs are still far from reaching the status of effective networks in all considered case studies. (4) Hotspot of conflicts with private economic interests prevailing over conservation aims. Recommendations are given to overcome the fragmented approach still characterizing the conservation and management of coastal marine environments. Holistic, integrated, ecosystem-based, cross-cutting approaches can avoid conflicts among institutions so as to provide effective and timely solutions to current and future challenges concerning the conservation and management of marine ecosystems and associated goods and services.
... Several designations for preserving areas of highnature value exist within European countries, and the Natural 2000 network is the most ambitious conservation figure to ensure the long-term persistence of European endemic species (https://www.eea.europa.eu/). Despite the paramount relevance of protected areas for biodiversity conservation (Chape et al., 2005), they have been criticized due to knowledge gaps or poor performance for the protection of groups other than mammals, birds, and plants (Abellán and Sánchez-Fernández, 2015;Araújo et al., 2007;López-López et al., 2011;Maiorano et al., 2015;Orlikowska et al., 2016). The alarming low conservation status of reptiles and their multiple functional roles within natural communities urge to assess how reptile diversity is protected by the Natura 2000 network under the context of high vulnerability to global change that characterizes the Mediterranean basin (Bellard et al., 2014;Brooks et al., 2006;Underwood et al., 2009). ...
Habitat degradation and climate change are major threats to the long-term persistence of reptile populations. However, their roles on primary productivity instability remain unclear at certain scales. Besides, the design of protected areas has often overlooked reptiles or assumed that their ecological requirements are represented under the umbrella of more charismatic species. Here, we assess the vulnerability of areas of high diversity of reptiles in the Iberian Peninsula to global change using data from satellite imagery. We focused on primary productivity, climate and land-use change because they are indicators of environmental variability that might impair ecosystem functioning and alter wildlife communities. We used linear regressions to detect monotonic temporal trends in primary productivity (through the enhanced vegetation index, EVI) and climate (mean temperature and accumulated precipitation) at two spatial resolutions (10-km2 UTM squares and CORINE land-cover polygon level) over the period 2000-2020. We also determine how the strength of land-use and climate change affected the intensity of change in primary productivity at both spatial scales with multivariate linear regressions. We identified 339 hotspots (10-km2 UTM squares) and monotonic increments of temperature, EVI or both occurred in 43 %, 16 % and 22 % of them, respectively. Positive trends of the EVI were related to increasing temperatures and changes in shrubland and forest cover. Within the hotspots with monotonic increments in EVI and temperature, EVI increments occurred in 60 % of the CORINE polygons that did not change their land-cover type, with stronger increases in tree crops. Finally, the Natura 2000 network provides only moderate protection to reptile hotspots, being most of the vegetation types relatively underrepresented. The proportion of forest and shrubland protected by the Natura 2000 network was higher in hotspots where EVI changed. Our procedures are relevant to prioritize hotspots requiring ground monitoring that allows economic and time savings.
... Under these 'Nature Directives', member states designate a functional network of sites and appropriate management measures that ensure the restoration or maintenance of natural habitats and species of community interest at a favourable conservation status (EEC Council 1992). This Natura 2000 (N2000) network is one of the largest coordinated protected area networks in the world with more than 27,500 sites covering 18% of the EU's land area (European Commission 2018, Orlikowska et al. 2016) and is presented as the EU's major tool for protecting biodiversity. If the N2000 policy consists of creating sites and implementing management measures, the desired effect must be evaluated Europe-wide and divided into large sectors: biogeographical regions. ...
Through the Natura 2000 policy, EU member states are committed to maintaining or restoring the favourable conservation status of a list of habitats and species throughout their territory. We show here that evaluating the effectiveness of this policy regarding its assigned objectives requires translating these objectives into normative reference and then describing the constraints on habitats and species that the policy seeks to conserve. We propose a strategic evaluation framework based on this principle, applied at the level of the Metropolitan French territory, by relying on the exploitation of several data sets, whose are generally not mobilised by the standard evaluation procedure. The results are broken down by natural ecosystems and biogeographical regions, providing a dashboard for the policy that is the basis for a comprehensive strategic evaluation.
... The Natura 2000 network reflects the ambitious goal of the European Union (EU) to conserve biological diversity through a network of protected areas extending across all member states (Orlikowska et al., 2016). Today, the network contains more than 27,000 sites (EEA, 2012;EC, 2018), 15% of which has a marine component (Mazaris et al., 2017). ...
The continual damage to ecosystem integrity, functions, and processes caused by increasing anthropogenic pressures on a global scale are threatening the supply of ecosystem services fundamental for human well‐being. Marine and coastal protected areas (MCPAs) are an essential bastion of ecosystem services. Their special management and conservation status aims to ensure the maintenance of key ecosystem functions and the sustained supply of ecosystem services in the face of increasing pressures. This chapter deals with the contribution of Earth observation (EO) for the enhancement of knowledge‐based conservation, management, and restoration policies in MCPAs, to ensure the sustainable provision of ecosystem services. H2020 European Project ECOPOTENTIAL has led to a novel unified framework for improving the monitoring and management of MCPAs, based on the use of EO. The framework constitutes a significant progress beyond the state of the art, due to its unique capacity to blend EO from remote sensing and field measurements. It also maximizes return on investments due to its capabilities for data mining and inclusion of versatile modeling approaches utilizing information from EO. These tools allow for assessing ecosystem service supply in current and future conditions, designing and executing needs assessment of new measurement protocols, and evaluating the requirements of new MCPAs. Open and interoperable access to data and knowledge will be ensured to researchers, managers, policy makers, and stakeholders by a GEO Ecosystem Virtual Laboratory Platform, fully integrated in GEOSS. To show how this unified framework is applied we showcase two MCPAs that include marine areas and coastal wetlands: Wadden Sea and Doñana, with specific focus on their relevance for bird conservation.
... High anthropogenic pressure faces ecosystems across the continent [33][34][35]. The current dearth of broad-scale modelling approaches to analyse anthropogenic pressures in and around European PAs severely limits our understanding of effective biodiversity conservation on a continental scale [36]. ...
Habitat loss from anthropogenic development has led to an unprecedented decline in global biodiversity. Protected areas (PAs) exist to counteract this degradation of ecosystems. In the European Union, the Natura 2000 (N2k) network is the basis for continent-wide conservation efforts. N2k is the world’s largest coordinated network of protected areas. However, threats to ecosystems do not stop at the borders of PAs. As measured by a landscape fragmentation metric, anthropogenic development can affect the interiors of PAs. To ensure the long-term viability of the N2k network of PAs, this paper attempts to quantify the degree to which N2k sites are insulated from development pressures. We use a comprehensive dataset of effective mesh density (seff) to measure aggregate fragmentation inside and within a 5 km buffer surrounding N2k sites. Our results show a strong correlation (R² = 0.78) between fragmentation (seff) within and around N2k sites. This result applies to all biogeographical regions in Europe. Only a narrow majority (58.5%) of N2k sites are less fragmented than their surroundings. Remote and mountainous regions in northern Europe, the Alps, parts of Spain, and parts of eastern Europe show the lowest levels of fragmentation. These regions tend to hold the largest N2k sites as measured by area. In contrast, central and western Europe show the highest fragmentation levels within and around N2k sites. 24.5% of all N2k sites are classified as highly to very-highly fragmented. N2k PA age since initial protection does not correlate with the difference in exterior and interior fragmentation of N2k PAs. These results indicate that PAs in Europe are not sheltered from anthropogenic pressures leading to fragmentation. Hence, we argue that there is a high potential for improving PA efficacy by taking pre-emptive action against encroaching anthropogenic fragmentation and by targeting scarce financial resources where fragmentation pressures can be mitigated through enforced construction bans inside PAs.
... This EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, part of the European Green Deal initiative (EC 2019), specifies the necessity to improve the European reserve network by further implementing TBPAs, to effectively preserve the biological biodiversity of Europe under global change. In the face of these challenges, there is therefore an urgent need to implement an extensive SCP of multifaceted diversity and uniqueness over the whole continent, and refine the current European reserve networks (Kukkala et al. 2016, Orlikowska et al. 2016) into one comprehensive transnational network that will efficiently protect the European Flora and Fauna at present and for future environmental changes. ...
Conservation in the European Alps is a central topic, as this region is one of the largest natural areas in Europe, and a center of plant diversity and high endemism. The European Alps host 4’485 vascular plant species – more than the third of the flora recorded in Western Europe – with around 400 endemic species. Alpine and mountain ecosystems are generally known to be particularly vulnerable to climate changes, with many species expected to migrate upward, with risk of extinctions for cold-adapted alpine plants not being able to disperse further. Consequently, research and conservation studies on plant taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity of the European Alps have increased lately. However, a comprehensive study assessing areas of conservation priority for the multifaceted diversity and uniqueness of this remarkable region under climate and land use change is still missing.
Conservation prioritization and planning generally needs to implement species distribution maps as inputs, and species distribution model (SDM) outputs are increasingly recommended due to their finer distribution and description of the species’ ecological niche. SDMs are invaluable tools for conservation purposes and predict the potential suitable areas of species in space by relating their observations to environmental and/or anthropogenic predictors. These models bear decisive information for improved species/biodiversity conservation and management, provided that good modelling practices are followed. These practices may severely impact SDM outputs if not followed, and include, among others, the choice of relevant predictor variables and the comprehensive sampling of the observational dataset; two practices strongly driven by the increasing availability of presence-only records and environmental predictors. Their multiplication and growth in number open novel questions and investigations on how to correct for sampling bias more efficiently in large observational datasets, and how novel categories of environmental predictors influence plant species distributions in mountain environments. Preliminary exploring these effects is severely needed to ensure sound models outputs and current/future conservation prioritization of the European Alps.
This thesis aimed at providing the first comprehensive conservation assessment of the plant multifaceted diversity/uniqueness of the European Alps under global change. For this, this thesis developed novel methods to correct for the observer bias of large observational datasets in presence-only SDMs (Chapter 1), assessed the influence of climate, soil, and land cover on the plant distribution of the European Alps along different elevation gradients (Chapter 2), evaluated the spatial consequences of predictor resolutions on modelling the plant multifaceted diversity of the region (Chapter 3), and, based on previous findings, predicted and proposed key areas of conservation for the plant multifaceted diversity and uniqueness of the European Alps (Chapter 4).
... It has been posed that more effective conservation solutions should be achieved by coordinated planning at the continental, rather than local level (Kark et al. 2009;Moilanen et al. 2013;Robertson et al. 2015;Aizen et al. 2019;Pyšek et al. 2020). Such initiatives are particularly challenging because continents are composed of countries with a myriad of political, social, economic, ecological, and cultural systems (Orlikowska et al. 2016), which present different postures in dealing with environmental and conservation issues. Despite these difficulties, studies have argued the integrated approaches through international cooperation are pivotal to avoid and block transnational species invasions with the potential to negatively affect biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human livelihoods (Aizen et al. 2019;Pyšek et al. 2020). ...
Humans are facilitating the introduction and range expansion of invasive alien species (IAS), which have negatively impacted ecological and socio-economic systems worldwide. Understanding the global diffusion of IAS is important for developing environmental policies and management strategies. We estimate the rate of increase and the doubling times of the number of new records of 178 IAS using a global dataset with c. 3.4 million records obtained over c. 100 years. Here, we show that the number of records of IAS have exponentially increased with a mean double time of c. 14 years across the Earth. For the most analysed species, the number of records increased faster in the non-native than native continents, suggesting that such IAS might be exponentially expanding their range size. We also found that each continent has a taxonomic group with a particular increase in IAS records. Governments and scientists should pay attention to these taxonomic groups to implement appropriate control or management actions. Our study provides an indication that the current local, regional and continental efforts to control invasions may be not sufficient at the global scale. This is a concerning situation given the great number of areas available for invasion worldwide.
... The study was conducted within three km of the tributary zone of Ž elivka Reservoir (49 • 57 ′ 90 ′ ' N, 15 • 25 ′ 14 ′ ' E, 1602 ha, maximum water level of 381.7 m above sea level) in the Czech Republic. The study site harbours the largest asp population within the country and is protected in selected areas of the European Union under the Habitats Directive, Natura 2000 (Orlikowska et al., 2016). Fish were individually tagged with passive integrated transponder tags (PIT tags; Oregon RFID; half-duplex; length: 32 mm; diameter: 3.65 mm; weight: 0.8 g; ISO 11784/11785 compatible), and their survival and estimates of population viability were monitored yearly since 2014 as part of a conservation programme. ...
Animal behaviour interacts with various relationships within biota, and its variation among individuals may cause bias in behavioural research because of its impact on sampling efficiency. In this study, we simultaneously recorded fish behaviour during the reproductive season by passive telemetry and sampled a fish population using an active sampling method by boat electrofishing. A total of 1479 individuals of the cyprinid fish asp (Leuciscus aspius) were tagged, and their reproductive behaviour was recorded using passive telemetry systems in 2015–2020. We investigated whether capture probability was related to fish behaviour during reproduction (length of spawning, number of individual visits to spawning grounds, proportion of time spawning, arrival date and average daily arrival time). Overall, males were more likely to be captured than females (30 ± 4% standard error (SE) vs. 20 ± 3% SE probability) when present in the area. Traits favouring the odds of being captured differed between sexes and included the length of presence, proportion of time invested in spawning and average daily arrival time in males; in females, the capture probability was related to the length of presence and arrival date. This study suggests that even a large sample obtained using active gear may not represent the entire population’s behaviour because of behavioural-related bias in a population.
... Contrary, study by Lovrenčić et al. (2020) that evaluated representation of the stone crayfish (Austropotamobius torrentium) by protected areas in Croatia, revealed its much greater coverage compared to the results of this study. The effectiveness of the protected areas, especially Natura 2000 network, in fulfilling their role of protecting biodiversity has been evaluated through gap analysis in numerous studies at global or regional scales with the varying outcomes VeroVniK et al., 2011;gruber et al., 2012;bagella et al., 2013;abellan & SanChez-Fer-nanDez, 2015;Maiorano et al., 2015;orliKowSKa et al., 2016;yang et al., 2020;ahMaDi et al., 2020;Spiliopoulou et al., 2021). Some studies reported great effectiveness of protected areas and/or Natura 2000 in safeguarding various groups on the European level, such as butterflies (VeroVniK et al., 2011), birds of prey (MazariS et al., 2013), plants (FoiS et al., 2017, and freshwater crayfish (Lovrenčić et al., 2020). ...
The noble crayfish is a native European freshwater species, endangered due to the strong anthro-pogenic influence on its habitats, climate change, and invasive crayfish species. In the present study, we aimed to assess the effectiveness of nationally designated protected areas and the pan-European Natura 2000 network in representing and maintaining over time the noble crayfish diversity using a comprehensive species occurrence dataset. Overall, our gap analysis indicated moderate efficiency of the existing protected areas in covering the noble crayfish diversity. Overlapping the distribution map of the noble crayfish with the map of protected areas revealed that protected areas encompass 50% of recorded populations. This study can serve as an evaluation of the protected areas in conservation of this key freshwater crayfish species.
... High anthropogenic pressure faces ecosystems across the continent [33][34][35]. The current dearth of broad-scale modelling approaches to analyse anthropogenic pressures in and around European PAs severely limits our understanding of effective biodiversity conservation on a continental scale [36]. ...
Habitat loss from anthropogenic development has led to an unprecedented decline in global biodiversity. Protected areas (PAs) exist to counteract this degradation of ecosystems. In the European Union, the Natura 2000 (N2k) network is the basis for continent-wide conservation efforts. N2k is the world’s largest coordinated network of protected areas. However, threats to ecosystems do not stop at the borders of PAs. As measured by a landscape fragmentation metric, anthropogenic development can affect the interiors of PAs. To ensure the long-term viability of the N2k network of PAs, this paper attempts to quantify the degree to which N2k sites are insulated from development pressures. We use a comprehensive dataset of effective mesh density (seff) to measure aggregate fragmentation inside and within a 5 km buffer surrounding N2k sites. Our results show a strong correlation (R² = 0.78) between fragmentation (seff) within and around N2k sites. This result applies to all biogeographical regions in Europe. Only a narrow majority (58.5%) of N2k sites are less fragmented than their surroundings. Remote and mountainous regions in northern Europe, the Alps, parts of Spain, and parts of eastern Europe show the lowest levels of fragmentation. These regions tend to hold the largest N2k sites as measured by area. In contrast, central and western Europe show the highest fragmentation levels within and around N2k sites. 24.5% of all N2k sites are classified as highly to very-highly fragmented. N2k PA age since initial protection does not correlate with the difference in exterior and interior fragmentation of N2k PAs. These results indicate that PAs in Europe are not sheltered from anthropogenic pressures leading to fragmentation. Hence, we argue that there is a high potential for improving PA efficacy by taking pre-emptive action against encroaching anthropogenic fragmentation and by targeting scarce financial resources where fragmentation pressures can be mitigated through enforced construction bans inside PAs.
... Grasslands are important ecosystems that support high levels of biodiversity, but they are being threatened by anthropogenic land-use changes (Tilman et al. 1996;Bradford et al. 2002;Kordbacheh et al. 2019) and climate change (O'Mara 2012; Orlikowska et al. 2016). Researchers interested in grassland conservation are developing ways to re-integrate biodiverse grasslands into agricultural landscapes. ...
Ants in temperate grasslands are consumers and ecosystem engineers, influencing biodiversity and potentially grassland productivity. However, the effects of ant exclusion or suppression on resource removal and the biological community in temperate grasslands have yet to be fully explored. We conducted ant-suppression experiments and evaluated the effects of ants on ground-dwelling arthropod communities in the field by using pitfall and bait traps. In the laboratory, we evaluated the effects of ants on the ant-attended aphid Aphis rumicis, which is a honeydew resource for ants, and the slug (Deroceras laeve), an aphid predator. Aboveground arthropod communities were not affected by the ant-suppression treatment. However, slugs (D. laeve and Ambigolimax valentianus) visited bait resources more frequently in the ant-suppression treatment area. In the ant-absence condition in the laboratory experiment, there were fewer aphids on the plants compared to the ant-presence condition owing to predation by D. laeve. Our results suggest that ant abundance in temperate grasslands influences the predation activity of slugs toward honeydew sources such as aphids.
... Accessibility to such species may also have allowed researchers to easily collect data on species listed as Least Concern. A review by Orlikowska et al. (2016) noted that the ecological research is often focused on Red Listed species, demonstrating an emphasis on species of conservation concern. ...
Nepal is a global biodiversity hotspot, supporting 213 mammal species with diverse habitats across various landscape types, from the lowland Terai to the high Himalayas. Studies of Nepal’s mammalian fauna are not evenly distributed and better understanding of past biases towards some species, research themes and locations can provide better strategic direction for future research investments. Therefore, we reviewed 575 scientific articles on mammals in Nepal, published between 2000 and 2019 and compiled these in March 2020, to examine trends, patterns and gaps, and pave future plans for mammalian research in Nepal. A positive increase in the number of publications (β = 0.27 ± 0.02SD, P < 0.00) was observed, with a more than threefold increase between 2010 and 2019 compared to 2000–2009 (t = − 6.26, df = 12.21, P < 0.000). Analysis of these documents revealed that mammalian researches favored large flagship, threatened species of carnivores inside Nepal’s protected area system. Geographically, mammalian research was not uniform in Nepal, as most studies were concentrated in Bagmati Province and in the Terai and Chure region. Baseline surveys and ecological studies were more common types of research, while studies on the impact of climate change and wildlife trade and poaching, are scant, which deserves a future look. While these studies shape current mammalogy in Nepal, studies of small, uncharismatic species, and in areas outside protected areas and other provinces except Bagmati, Lumbini and Province One are severely lacking. The research identified habitat loss, degradation and human-wildlife conflict as the major threats to the survival of mammalian species in Nepal. Therefore, redesigning and strict implementation of policies based on habitat management and human-wildlife co-existence, including other threat mitigation measures, are warranted. To address knowledge gaps, the prioritization of future research and funding should be focused on relatively unexplored research themes and under-researched provinces. This approach will help to re-align the research focus with the current need, and assist to fully understand and effectively conserve the wealth of mammalian diversity that Nepal holds.
... Other EU structural funds and the LIFE programme can be utilised as well (Kettunen et al., 2017). These instruments can be used to supplement national budgets and might be particularly valuable in the regions of high conservation priority and with substantial knowledge gaps (Hermoso et al., 2017;Orlikowska et al., 2016;Sutcliffe et al., 2015). In addition, research initiatives that develop EU-wide and regional databases and monitoring guidelines, provide knowledge sharing and pilot new measures in several Member States should be promoted. ...
In this study, we explored the potential of the payment-by-results approach in supporting the maintenance of High Nature Value (HNV) grasslands in a typical HNV farming system and Natura 2000 site in Slovenia (Europe) with a high share of small farms, fragmented land ownership and long-term process of land abandonment. We tested the applicability of a hypothetical result-based scheme (RBS) for the conservation of dry grasslands and a set of associated plant indicators, and identified key obstacles to its implementation. Based on a statistical analysis of a survey with 263 farmers and a thematic data analysis of 62 farmer interviews and 10 in-depth interviews and focus groups with researchers, public officials and agricultural advisors, we found that a majority of both farmers and experts support the introduction of RBSs. The selected plant indicators were well-known among the local farmers and monitoring of their presence was preferred over the current system, which demands keeping records on the implementation of farming practices. However, although the RBSs seem to be a superior alternative to the current management-based schemes, their introduction might not be enough to ensure HNV farming systems' successful conservation. Our results indicate a lack of institutional capacity to implement RBSs on a larger scale, particularly in terms of data support and qualified staff in the advisory service and monitoring agencies. Furthermore, experience to date and mistrust among stakeholders indicate a questionable ability and motivation of authorities to develop locally-based, flexible and innovative agri-environmental measures. RBSs alone also do not adequately address some of the root causes for the disappearance of HNV grasslands, particularly: the lack of knowledge regarding the appropriate modern farming system(s) to ensure their sustainable management in line with conservation goals; specific needs of small farmers; and the need for a socially acceptable land policy reform to enable easier access to land. We argue that systematic investment in closing the existing data and research gaps as well as in increasing the capacity of key institutions at the national and local levels are needed, particularly in European regions of high conservation priority. Furthermore, better integration of nature conservation in different rural policies and a holistic developmental approach in (remote) rural areas are necessary to prevent further abandonment of HNV farming and enable the adoption of biodiversity-friendly farming models.
... Given the HD legal framework, the question arises as to whether non-listed species can receive "incidental protection" (sensu Evans, 2012) through measures targeting legally protected biodiversity components (the so-called 'umbrella' effect; Brooks et al., 2004). This question has already been asked for various non-Annex species and species groups that have been assigned a threatened status (e.g. according to IUCN), and is usually dealt with by examining if and how much of their distribution overlaps with N2K sites (Abellán & Sánchez-Fernández, 2015;D'Amen et al., 2013;Maiorano et al., 2015;Morán-López, Cortés Gañán, Uceda Tolosa, & Sánchez Guzmán, 2020;Trochet & Schmeller, 2013;Van der Sluis et al., 2016;Orlikowska et al., 2016;Pellissier et al., 2020;Rosso et al., 2018). These studies have provided contrasting results. ...
Europe’s Natura 2000 network, based on the EU Birds and Habitat Directives, has rapidly expanded protected areas targeting species and habitat types. In Greece, 52.4% of native freshwater fish are considered as species of EU community interest within the Habitats Directive (HD). However 31.3% of all threatened fish species at a global level and 32.0% at national level, are not included in the Habitat Directives Annex lists. Fishes in Greece’s rivers are understudied, precise knowledge of their distributions is poor for most species. We utilize a large set of site-based electrofishing samples to explore the coverage of these species by the country’s Natura 2000 sites. Field surveys recorded 102 species inhabiting rivers within 645 sampling sites. Although the majority of HD listed, threatened and endemic range-restricted freshwater fish species exist within the current N2K network, important gaps are evident and four HD species were not found within any Natura 2000 sites. In analyzing fish densities from field sampling, only two upland-stream species, Salmo farioides and Barbus strumicae, show significantly higher abundance inside N2K sites. Applying a Combined Index utilizing IUCN vulnerability status, species rarity and richness, we identified 161 hotspot sites for riverine fishes; 50.9 % of all hotspots are located outside of N2K network, especially in lowland areas. Unprotected hotspot areas, with a high concentration of hotspots are mapped; the river basins with the highest number of such unprotected hotspots belong to the Strymonas, Pinios, Evrotas and Aoos rivers. With concern for the EU’s revised biodiversity conservation strategy, our screening level assessment provides insights for unmet conservation needs and the method is readily transferable to other states and protected area jurisdictions.
... Therefore, there is an urgent need to better comprehend how climate change drives invasive species distributions (Bellard et al., 2018), so that preventive measures can be established accordingly. For instance, Orlikowska et al. (2016) suggested that lack of modelling studies limits insight enabling adequate management of potential impacts of invasive species in protected areas. Although there is no shortage of climate change modelling studies in general, there is a generalized lack of empirical evidence on the reliability of their predictions (cf. ...
Aim
Invasive alien species (IAS) can cause profound impacts on ecosystem function and diversity, human health, well-being and livelihoods. Climate change is an important driver of biological invasions, so it is critical to develop models and climate-driven scenarios of IAS range shifts to establish preventive measures. In this study, we analyse how projected changes in the frequency and magnitude of climate extreme events could affect the spread of the six most widely distributed invasive vertebrate species in the Iberian Peninsula.
Location
Iberian Peninsula.
Taxa
Red avadavat (Amandava amandava), common waxbill (Estrilda astrild), monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus), rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri), American mink (Neovison vison) and pond slider (Trachemys scripta).
Methods
We followed best-practice standards for species distribution models (SDMs) regarding handling of the response and predictor variables, model building and evaluation using metrics that assess different facets of model performance. We used an ensemble approach with four modelling methods of varying complexity, including both regression-based and tree-based machine-learning algorithms. We analysed five regional models for current (1971–2000) and future climate (2021–2050). We used principal components analysis to assess consensus among model outputs and positively weighed predictions from well-performing models.
Results
Selected models showed high consensus and good predictive capacity on block cross-validation areas. Generalized Linear Models and Generalized Additive Models scored highest in reliability (calibration), but Bayesian Additive Regression Trees provided the best balance between calibration and discrimination capacity. Forecasts include visible changes in environmental favourability, with losses generally outweighing the gains, but with some areas becoming more favourable for several species.
Main conclusions
Increased frequency and/or intensity of climate extreme events associated with ongoing climate change are projected to reduce overall invasion risk for the species examined although increases in favourability should be expected locally.
... Conservation policies and management continue to be hampered by inadequate and/or obsolete scientific knowledge (Orlikowska et al., 2016). Even basic research was limited on small wetlands, temporary wetlands, and most artificial wetlands. ...
• Wetlands are some of the most important ecosystems on Earth. They play a key role in mitigating climate change-related events and filtering polluted water, and provide habitats for a wide range of species. Despite their importance, and numerous regulations that support their conservation, wetlands continue to be destroyed. Recent reports have indicated a progressive decline in ecological character of remaining wetlands.
• This research reviews and extends the present status of wetland knowledge in Sardinia, the second largest Mediterranean island. For the first time, Sardinian wetlands were comprehensively mapped using satellite images and field validation. Impacts were also assessed. Trends in literature published about Sardinian wetlands since 1900 were then analysed, mainly according to the location(s) and topic(s) studied.
• In total, 2,501 Sardinian wetland sites were identified. The most common impacts observed in the field were vegetative degradation and water pollution. Of these wetlands, 2,274 have never been the subject of a research paper. Despite recent increases in publication rates, there was a lack of even basic knowledge about many wetlands, especially smaller ones. Larger wetlands have been studied from a range of viewpoints.
• In the light of these results, suggestions for improved awareness, effective management and conservation of Mediterranean wetlands were established. Future work should be directed to filling gaps in basic information, and to improvements in research and conservation, which might include multidisciplinary approaches in support of more comprehensive conservation management plans.
... The Natura 2000 network of protected areas, the pillar of biodiversity conservation in Europe, is the largest of the very few coordinated nature conservation actions explicitly aimed at improving ecological connectivity at the continental scale (Campagnaro et al., 2019;European Commission, 2011;Orlikowska et al., 2016;Wurzel, 2008). The network is composed of protected Natura 2000 sites designated under the European Union (EU) Nature Directives: Birds Directive (79/409/EEC, repealed by the 2009/147/EC) and Habitats Directive (1992/43/EEC). ...
The Natura 2000 network of protected sites is the pillar of biodiversity conservation in Europe. Although the Natura 2000 network directly addresses birds, these have shown worrying declining trends. It is therefore crucial to assess the potential contribution of Natura 2000 conservation measures. In this paper, we use a replicable method to model bird trends in the period 2000–2015 and the effects of Natura 2000 protection, across land cover classes, on regional abundances and local species richness and diversity. We model bird trends in Veneto, a North-Eastern Italian Region with areas among the richest in bird species in Italy. Bird data were derived from the national breeding bird monitoring scheme. Breeding birds showed declining trends at the regional level, confirming national and continental trends, particularly on agricultural and natural areas. The land cover class, rather than Natura 2000, mostly influenced population trends, however it was possible to observe slightly higher estimates of species richness and diversity in Natura 2000 sites. Despite the absolute higher estimates over the investigated period, farmland and woodland bird species had steeper declining trends inside Natura 2000 than outside, matching the values of diversity and richness of the areas outside the network at the end of the survey period. We conclude that the Natura 2000 network capacity to buffer biodiversity loss and act as a species-pool for non-protected areas is decreasing over time, mainly with regards to farmland and woodland birds. Natura 2000 implementation must be improved: management, monitoring and conservation measures should be better integrated into existing plans and funding should be made more efficiently available for Natura 2000 related expenditures.
... The network includes Special Protection Areas (SPAs) designated under the Birds Directive 2009/147/EC and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) designated under the Habitats Directive 1992/43/EEC. The effectiveness of this network in representing biodiversity has been assessed in numerous studies at global or regional scales through gap analysis Jantke et al., 2011;Verovnik et al., 2011;Gruber et al., 2012;Bagella et al., 2013;Abellan & Sanchez-Fernandez, 2015;Maiorano et al., 2015;Orlikowska et al., 2016), and the outcomes of these studies vary. ...
The stone crayfish Austropotamobius torrentium (Schrank, 1803) is a threatened native European freshwater crayfish species for which Natura 2000 network represents the most important conservation effort at the European level. In Croatia, there are altogether 25 Natura 2000 sites defined specifically for this species. In the present study, we aimed to assess the effectiveness of Natura 2000 sites in preserving stone crayfish diversity through gap analysis, a GIS-based approach that overlays species distribution data on a map of designated Natura 2000 sites. Our results showed that the existing Natura 2000 network in Croatia encompasses most of the areas with a high diversity of A. torrentium; currently designated sites harbour 73.3% of recorded A. torrentium populations. Future conservation planning efforts, and possible expansion of Natura 2000, should be focused on newly discovered A. torrentium populations that present divergent evolutionary lineages.
... To achieve this target, Europe must enlarge the number of marine areas devoted to conservation, also in the N2K network. However, numerous are the present limitations concerning the marine N2K sit efficacy in covering and safeguarding adequately the marine environment [7] [8], preventing the establishment of an effective protection network. The selection of marine N2K sites lacks a systematic procedure, which could clearly and effectively address marine conservation needs. ...
The Natura 2000 (N2K) network is a key conservation instrument in Europe, despite its many limitations concerning the efficacy in covering and adequately safeguarding the marine environment, mainly due to missing coordinated Governance and Management Systems (GMS). In this study, we present and discuss the main benefits, which could be provided by Marine Ecological Observatories (MEOs) to support N2K marine network implementation and related GMS. The conceptual design of the ecological observatory ECOAdS, under development in the framework of the Interreg Italy-Croatia project ECOSS, is described. ECOAdS, which focuses on marine N2K sites under jurisdiction of Italy and Croatia, is a first operative pilot proposal of MEO for the Adriatic Sea. It represents an opportunity to build a common knowledge and monitoring framework and shared data management practices at the transnational level, overcoming the N2K site fragmentation. The main challenges that ECOAdS should face in its implementation are discussed, with emphasis on the integration of the marine connectivity aspects and on the adoption of adaptive and participative GMS to address the main conservation issues in the area.
This chapter will ask if the Habitats Directive’s rules on designation, in their status quo, contribute to the current detrimental state of European biodiversity. To that end, it will introduce the Commission’s instrument for evaluating legislative tools, the Fitness Checks. It will present how the 2015 Fitness Check of the Nature Directives was set up, what assessment elements it contained and what questions it covered. It will also re-examine the Commission’s methodology in setting up the Fitness Check and will find that detailed questions on the Member States’ experiences with their Natura 2000 designation duties under the Habitats Directive were missing. All replies to the issued Evidence Gathering Questionnaires will be re-examined in this chapter, focusing on the various stakeholders’ information concerning their experiences with designating Natura 2000. Subsequently, this chapter will categorise these replies into legal reasons for the non-optimal compliance levels and reasons that are rooted elsewhere than in the drafting of the Habitats Directive to explore in more depth the individual roots of the problem of lacking compliance with the Habitats Directive’s designation rules in the Member States.
In the last decades, lichenological studies started again in Lombardia (N Italy), where locally overlooked situations persist. One of such areas is the southernmost part of the Pavese Apennine, where the highest mountains of the Province of Pavia are located. We report the results of a thorough lichen survey carried out in the Natura 2000 Habitat 9130 “Asperulo-Fagetum beech forests” occurring along the Monte Lesima-Cima Colletta ridge, an area with an outstanding naturalistic relevance, part of which is included within the SCI IT2080025 “Le Torraie-Monte Lesima”. Ninety-two taxa are recorded from four sites with different features, with the richest site hosting old beech trees and rock outcrops. Circinaria coronata, Glaucomaria subcarpinea, Gyalolechia marmorata, Leproplaca chrysodeta, Pertusaria coronata, Physconia servitii, Variospora paulii and Wadeana dendrographa are new to Lombardia.
Networks of protected areas (PAs) are globally recognized as playing a key role for in situ conservation of species. Despite a high potential for biodiversity conservation, PAs may not mitigate the current biodiversity loss because they do not consider climate change impact. In fact, because PAs have static geographical boundaries, they may hardly keep pace with dynamics in species distribution caused by the climate change, which was not considered when they were designed. In this study, we used species distribution modelling of 85 plant taxa endemic or subendemic to Southwestern Alps to evaluate the effectiveness of PAs network in protecting endemics under future climate change scenarios. PAs cover roughly the 30% of the Southwestern Alps. PAs will harbour more expected distribution range of taxa in the future than today, probably because they occur in high altitude areas rich in endemics that have been climatically stable areas in the past and that will likely remain relatively climatically buffered in the future. Moreover, PAs are distributed to poorly cover expected range of endemics at low and middle elevation, which are threatened by urbanization and climate change. We recommend additional protection at low and middle elevation, considering the future climatic suitability of species.
As Natura 2000 missed challenges of halting biodiversity decline, its' management is being affected by factors of ecological, political, and economic character. To address the shortcomings revealed during the Fitness Check and to facilitate meeting the EU's biodiversity targets, the European Commission developed an "Action Plan for Nature, People and the Economy" prioritizing areas for improvement. However, mixed views still exist on the Nat-ura 2000 governance; it is not certain that Action Plan would address existing drawbacks. The aim of the research was to identify divergent and convergent experts' attitudes towards biodiversity conservation in Europe, with a focus on forward-looking environmental gov-ernance and policy-informing perspective. Participants representing multiple disciplines and professional backgrounds related to planning, governance, or management of Natura 2000 sites provided a comprehensive overview on the topic and address-related challenges. Based on the results of a Delphi survey, we established a framework for illuminating the spaces of disjunction in experts' views towards Natura 2000 conservation. We distinguished three main divergence areas in views towards future network operation: (1) raising public awareness of environmental problems in the network, (2) the role of the European Commission in building political ownership of Natura 2000 sites among landholders, and (3) funding of Natura 2000. Then, based on revealed dichotomies, we return with drawing a roadmap for promoting more consensual outcomes. The results should help enable the practical management of conflicting views and the effective engagement of future biodiversity conservation strategies in Europe and beyond.
Since the adoption of the Habitats and Birds Directives by EU governments, marine Natura 2000 (N2K) sites have been established in the European Mediterranean Sea, creating one of the largest international networks of protected areas. Nevertheless, to date, marine N2K sites are generally scarcely implemented, studied and monitored, and thus their management effectiveness is weak, and their environmental status is often unknown. The Interreg Italy-Croatia ECOSS project aimed at establishing the ECOlogical observing system of the Adriatic Sea (ECOAdS), to integrate the existing research and monitoring activities in the area, and to promote data sharing at international level, for enhancing monitoring and conservation in Adriatic N2K network. In the framework of ECOSS, a conceptual model was developed and applied to selected N2K sites, to review the existing knowledge, assess site effectiveness, and suggest possible improvements in their monitoring and management based on the contribution that ECOAdS can provide to their implementation. Information on social, ecological, and oceanographic elements related to the conservation and management of these case studies was gathered by consulting the project partners involved in the management and monitoring of the sites and through a literature review. The results of this study revealed a discouraging condition with no management plan in most of the sites, while regulatory measures are generally in place but without surveillance. Monitoring activities are performed occasionally, and information on presence and status of protected species is often lacking or outdated. Although the N2K network provides a unique opportunity to advance marine conservation and achieve the 30% conservation target by 2030, the biggest challenge ahead is the proper management and monitoring of N2K sites. The proposed conceptual model may be taken as a framework to properly set up ecological observing systems in the N2K network and help overcome current limitations, integrating scientific research within the N2K conservation strategies.
Implementing effective marine monitoring to detect and track ecosystem shifts, biodiversity alteration, and habitat loss is one of the most crucial challenges to meet the objectives set out by the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework and by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The lack of coordinated and harmonized monitoring frameworks at different spatial scales and their weakness in accounting for ecological processes, due to incomplete sets of monitoring variables, strongly hinder the achievement of conservation objectives. Here, we propose an approach to build a coherent ecosystem-based system of monitoring variables for target marine species and habitats. The approach is designed to integrate the existing monitoring frameworks set up by the Water and the Marine Strategy Framework directives, and the Essential Ocean and Biodiversity Variables, with the aim to contribute to their harmonization and implementation. Furthermore, by embracing a holistic vision, it aims to incorporate ecological processes and socio-ecological aspects, considering the benefits of public engagement through citizen science, and of the ecosystem services approach for policies’ implementation. The study stems from the Ecological Observing System of the Adriatic Sea (ECOAdS), which was developed in the framework of the Interreg Italy-Croatia project ECOSS, using as exemplary monitoring test cases two relevant conservation targets for Natura 2000 sites of the Adriatic Sea, the common bottlenose dolphin and seagrass meadows. We test the potential of this approach in guiding the prioritization of monitoring variables under ecosystem-based criteria, and provide insights into the benefits delivered by an integrated system of observatories’ networks and monitoring frameworks to support marine conservation at both local and regional scales. The proposed approach can be transferred to other contexts and scales to help build a common knowledge and monitoring framework for conservation and management strategies, saving costs by relying on available resources and on consolidated and long-lasting approaches that might converge towards global initiatives.
Since the adoption of European Union Council Directive 92/43 on the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora, some opposition has arisen among owners and managers of land affected by the directive. Some studies have indicated that some of this opposition has found expression in subsequent arson fires in these areas. This article analyses the occurrence of arson fires in the SACs (Special Areas of Conservation) included in the European ecological network, Natura 2000, in Galicia (Spain), more specifically in the montes vecinales en mano común (MVMCs), which are privately owned collective lands. We tested whether the declaration of SACs had a statistical impact on the forest fire regime in the period 1999–2014. The analyses focused on the sub-periods of 1999–2004 and 2005–2014, i.e., before and after the approval of the list of sites of community importance in the study area in December 2004. The results obtained show that, after the declaration of protection, there was a statistically significant increase in the area burnt by fire in these areas, mainly on private estates. We also found that the percentage of arson fires after 2004 was higher in SACs than in other territorial units. We found that the percentage of arson fires was reduced less in SACs than in other territorial units. Furthermore, we found that the area burnt per fire after 2004 in SACs was almost double that in the MVMC-SACs (12.04 ha versus 6.64 ha), so it can be concluded that the conservationist policies of the Natura 2000 network in Galicia have not had a positive effect on the forest fire regime.
This Policy Brief succinctly presents the Ecological Observing System of the Adriatic Sea (ECOAdS), aimed at integrating the ecological and oceanographic dimensions within the conservation strategy of the Natura 2000 network, and to propose a way to go for its future development and maintenance. After a definition of marine ecological observatories, we describe the current structure of ECOAdS, its key components and potential relevance in relation to the main European strategies for biodiversity and marine observation for the next decade. Finally, we suggest some actions that could be undertaken for the future development of ECOAdS, targeting possible perspectives in different regional, macro-regional, national and European strategic contexts. This Policy Brief is one of the outcomes of the Interreg Italy-Croatia Project ECOSS (ECological Observing System in the Adriatic Sea: oceanographic observations for biodiversity; https://www.italy-croatia.eu/web/ecoss), which had the main purpose to design and carry out the first steps for the establishment of ECOAdS.
Background: Protected areas (PAs) are aimed to hold the environmental conditions that facilitate species and ecosystems to persist. PAs can become climatically unsuitable and unable to sustain their current number of species under climate change. The Natura 2000 (N2K) is the largest coordinated conservation tool assigned to maintain the long-term survival of Europe's most significant species and habitats. In attempting to understand the effectiveness of PAs in the face of climate change scenarios, we tested two hypotheses: (1) PAs in the Alpine and the Boreal biogeographical regions will experience more newly emerged climate conditions (hotter and drier) compared to the climate representation of other biogeographical regions under future climate in Europe and (2) PAs in the Mediterranean and the Continental biogeographical regions will face more consistency in climate conditions due to less area of disappearing and novel climate in future. Methods: Current climate data (1960-1990) and projections for 2050 and 2070 of PAs of N2K were extracted from WorldClim global climate data. Principal components analysis (PCA) was performed to construct climate space for the PAs across the biogeographical regions based on 19 climatic variables assessed at 5-km resolution. ArcMap 10.1 was used to map the location of the novel and disappearing climates. Results: PAs in the Alpine region will experience more novel climate conditions in the future compared to other biogeographical regions. The future projections showed that 17.70% of the PAs in the Alpine region will experience novel climate by 2070. Considerable climate consistency was observed in the PAs in the Continental region compared to the other biogeographical regions. Our results showed that about 176 km 2 of the selected PAs in the Continental region will face new emerging climate, while about 110 km 2 will disappear under RCP 8.5 scenario. The prediction also revealed that in the Mediterranean region 08 PAs will experience novel climate and 786 km 2 areas in these PAs will face disappearing climate by 2070. We found that fewer areas of PAs in the Boreal regions will experience disappearing climate in both the scenarios. Conclusions: The portion of novel climate conditions can be seen as a future opportunity to assign new reserves for the species. Our study highlights the importance of conservation planning to increase the connectivity between PAs, identifying novel conservation zones to maximize representation of habitats during the emerging climatic changes as well as designing strategies, management, and monitoring of the individual PAs.
En 1992 en Europe, grâce à la Directive Habitats-Faune-Flore, les habitats naturels sont devenus des objets à conserver au même titre que les espèces, élargissant ainsi le domaine d’actions des politiques publiques à un autre niveau d’organisation de la biodiversité. Mais la reconnaissance tardive de leur valeur de conservation, ainsi que des lacunes dans leurs définitions sont en partie responsables de l’absence de séries temporelles de données sur les habitats à l’échelle nationale. Cela limite notre capacité à surveiller et évaluer leur état de conservation, et à adapter les actions de conservation aux niveaux national et local. Les objectifs de cette thèse sont d’abord d’explorer des approches rapides et formalisées de reconnaissance des habitats forestiers afin de pouvoir ensuite étudier leur dynamique récente au regard de deux grands changements survenus au cours des dernières décennies : le réchauffement climatique et la création du réseau Natura 2000.Nous avons d’abord étudié les incertitudes liées à la reconnaissance des habitats forestiers lors du rattachement d’un relevé floristique à un type d’habitat en comparant cinq experts et trois programmes automatiques de classement. Nous avons mis en évidence la forte variabilité de classement entre experts, et l’efficacité des programmes automatiques qui est comparable à celle des experts. Nous avons également montré que pour la reconnaissance des habitats forestiers, un nombre limité d’espèces est suffisant, et qu’il est possible d’utiliser des relevés réalisés en hiver. Ainsi, nous avons pu créer des séries temporelles de données standardisées sur les habitats forestiers à partir de différentes sources d’inventaires floristiques, rattachés ou non à un type d’habitat.Dans un second temps, la création de 5701 couples de relevés floristiques historiques (avant 1987) et récents (après 1997) a permis de mettre en évidence, en montagne, un changement de 11% des couples vers des habitats forestiers caractéristiques de conditions climatiques plus chaudes. L’augmentation de la dominance de ces habitats nous permet de conclure à une thermophilisation des habitats forestiers en montagne. Cependant, aucun changement significatif n’a été observé en plaine, ce qui conduit à un décalage important entre les exigences thermiques des communautés végétales et les températures actuelles : une dette climatique se développe. Face à des impacts différenciés, nous concluons que les politiques publiques pourraient être mises en place et priorisées de façon différente en montagne et en plaine pour être plus efficaces.Enfin, en étudiant 155 sites Natura 2000 français répartis sur tout le territoire métropolitain tempéré et montagnard, nous avons montré que, depuis la mise en place du réseau, l’augmentation de la quantité des très gros bois sur les zones où ils sont présents est significativement plus forte à l’intérieur du réseau Natura 2000 qu’à l’extérieur. Ainsi, nous avons mis en évidence que les actions de conservation mises en place dans les forêts au sein du réseau Natura 2000, qui sont gérées et exploitées, ont déjà eu des effets positifs sur les très gros bois, considérés comme une caractéristique de vieilles forêts, et utilisés aussi comme indicateur de biodiversité et du bon état de conservation des habitats forestiers.Ce travail de thèse était nécessaire pour compléter les nombreuses études déjà disponibles à l’échelle des espèces et des communautés végétales, car pour être efficace il est indispensable de travailler à la conservation de tous les niveaux d’organisation de la biodiversité simultanément. Connaitre les domaines de validité des moyens de reconnaissance des habitats forestiers, mais aussi comprendre leur dynamique récente et les facteurs qui l’influencent permettent de fournir des éléments pour mettre en place un suivi des habitats forestiers et adapter les politiques publiques et les actions de gestion afin d’en améliorer l’efficacité.
Green infrastructure is a strategically planned network that broadens traditional biodiversity conservation methods to also encompass the concept of ecosystem services (ES). This study aims to identify the network of green infrastructure in Central Europe. An analysis of ecological connectivity is based on ES supply quantified for CORINE land cover classes. Corridors between core areas, which are represented by Natura 2000 sites, are based on the capacity of ecosystems to supply maintenance and regulating ES. The delineated network of corridors of green infrastructure covers approximately 15% of the landscape of Central Europe that provides high levels of various ES. Ecological corridors create linkages between Natura 2000 sites and support the migration and dispersal of species. Central Europe is an important transitional region where coordinated improvement of ecological connectivity is fundamental. Moreover, promotion of the green infrastructure network and full implementation of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives are targets of two important documents at the European level, the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the EU Strategy on Green Infrastructure.
The Anthropocene is characterised by unprecedented declines in nature causing the sixth mass extinction event in earth history. The main drivers of these immense deteriorations are human land use and anthropogenic climate change. A dilemma evolves because human welfare depends on the conservation of nature’s integrity. We profit from ecosystem functioning, goods and services, which are based on biodiversity. Moreover, species have the right to exist independent of their use for us. The use and existence values of nature motivate nature conservation. Global biodiversity hotspots are in focus of international conservation as they contain a rich inventory of species. Inventory diversity is, nevertheless, only one of three broad categories classifying diversity indices. Other diversity metrics that offer complementary information refer to differentiation or proportional diversity, and account for the dissimilarity between species assemblages. Effective biodiversity conservation contemplates multiple measures of species diversity as well as threats to biodiversity. Anthropogenic climate change is a major threat to biodiversity that inevitably affects the entire global land in multiple ways, not only hotspots of species diversity. The change in the magnitude, timing, position and availability of climate conditions exerts influence on the demography, phenology and range of species, with unknown consequences for ecosystems worldwide. Therefore, biodiversity conservation must be applied to large geographical extents, which is the foundation of conservation biogeography. Conservation biogeographers investigate protected areas as major tools to protect biodiversity because a high degree of biodiversity can hardly exist in unprotected landscapes that are intensively used by humans. Approximately 15% of global land is covered by protected areas. To overcome the many challenges emerging from anthropogenic pressures, protected areas need efficient and effective planning and management. Such planning and management often lacks the continuous availability of data on current states and trends of nature and threats, which can be delivered by in-situ monitoring, remote sensing and open data infrastructures. Since resources for planning and management are limited, conservationists prioritise conservation targets. Given the rising importance of protected areas owing to expanding human land use and increasing climate change, I address the effectiveness and efficiency of terrestrial protected areas in conserving biodiversity under anthropogenic threats through the six manuscripts of this thesis. I assign each manuscript to the scientific modules of an adaptive protected area management cycle. Adaptive protected area management is an auspicious concept to ensure the enduring effectiveness of protected areas under uncertain future developments. My manuscripts provide missing scientific foundations of adaptive protected area management. In Manuscript 1, I present a comprehensive quantification of the diversity of the European Union’s priority species within major protected areas in the European Union. This quantification of inventory, differentiation and proportional diversity informs protected area management of manifold metrics of species diversity to increase protected area management effectiveness from the local to the European extent. In Manuscript 2, I prove to what degree remote sensing signals (i.e. airborne Light Detection and Ranging data, and a time series of multispectral Sentinel-2 data) reflect the compositional dissimilarity of perennial plant communities on the protected island of La Palma, Canary Islands. This study fosters efficient monitoring of differentiation diversity by remote sensing techniques. Monitoring of the biotic and abiotic environment is a scientific prerequisite of adaptive protected area management. In Manuscript 3, I developed a method to optimise in-situ surveys of biodiversity, i.e. to maximise information content and minimise sampling effort. This approach enhances the efficiency of in-situ surveys, which is required under limited management resources, such as time and funds. As a case study, I analysed the inventory diversity of alpine grassland in the Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy. I supply the data on this threatened vegetation type in an open data paper (Manuscript 4). Moreover, I show predicted changes in the availability of climate conditions (Manuscript 5) and the predicted magnitude of climate change (Manuscript 6) within the global terrestrial protected area estate for two alternative climate change scenarios in the year 2070. These two studies inform protected area management worldwide of the climate change impacts on biodiversity, to sustain protected area management effectiveness from the local to global extent. In addition, I aim at spreading this conservation-minded knowledge and data by providing open-source software and open data, and by open-access publishing. Consequently, this thesis advances the effectiveness and efficiency of protected areas in biodiversity conservation, mediated through adaptive protected area management. Filling biogeographical knowledge gaps, improving biogeographical forecasts and promoting biodiversity conservation by communicating research are permanent tasks for conservation biogeographers. The global biodiversity crisis can be solved by local conservation strategies worldwide that are internationally coordinated. Eventually, I consider the development of a global adaptive protected area management system the most favourable future perspective in conservation biogeography to stop nature’s declines and guarantee a sustainable future for the welfare of generations to come.
Invasive Alien Species (IAS) represent a serious and growing threat to biodiversity and, in some cases, to human well-being. It is, therefore, appropriate to adopt preventive and more responsible behavior to reduce the introduction rates, in the most sensitive environments such as protected areas. However, once these species have settled in the new environment, their eradication or elimination becomes particularly difficult and economically expensive. In that framework, the concept of Circular Economy (CE) can offer an opportunity to reconsider IAS as a resource. IAS from something unwanted can be transformed into something advantageous that can be used as new raw materials opening economic possibilities and sustainable development. Examples of the circular economy and bioeconomy are suggested to exploit invasive species sustainably, thus
guaranteeing both correct environmental management and socio-economic well-being.
Successful conservation needs to be informed by social science because it is closely linked to socio-economic processes and human behaviour. Limited knowledge about ecosystems' interactions with these processes currently undermines conservation efforts. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of social science concerning the world's largest multinationally-coordinated conservation infrastructure: the European Ecological Network - ‘Natura 2000’. Based on a review of 149 publications, we analyse and discuss the main findings and outline key social-science research gaps with regard to the Natura 2000 network. The review shows that human dimension of the Natura 2000 network is complex and varies among EU Member States. In general, low level and quality of public participation in implementation of the Natura 2000 network and its management, negative public perceptions of the network, lack of flexibility of responsible authorities and insufficient consideration of the local context pose the greatest challenges to the network's functioning. Important but hitherto little studied research topics include: evaluation of participation; effects of education on potential to raise public awareness; effects of potential financing mechanisms for compensating private land-owners; economic studies on cost-effectiveness; and benefits from conservation and ecosystem services. These knowledge gaps will need to be filled for the Natura 2000 network to reach its goals.
The 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 unfavourable 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 towards non-threatened species or regions of low conservation priority. Given the limited resources available, two key aspects are in urgent need for revision and improvement. Firstly, the distribution of funds should be guided by continental and global conservation needs and planned at the EU scale. Secondly, 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. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
To halt the decline of biodiversity in European farmland, two major tools are available: the Natura 2000 network and agri-environment schemes (AES). We investigated the effect of these two measures on local species richness, single species occurrence and beta diversity of grassland birds in Poland. We counted birds on AES parcels (with less intensive grassland management) and control parcels, both within and outside Special Protection Areas (SPAs, part of Natura 2000), during 2013–2014. Local species richness of AES-target birds was not associated with AES. Similarly, the turnover of AES-target species among sites was comparable at AES and control parcels. Furthermore, no positive interaction between AES and SPAs was observed, indicating a general lack of effect of AES. Local species richness of SPA-target birds was not higher within than outside SPAs, but two SPA-target species were more common and the beta diversity of SPA-target species was higher within than outside SPAs. Thus, our study showed no positive effects of AES on the occurrence of their target species, but confirmed some positive effects of SPAs on their target species. The decision to restrict AES to Special Protection Areas in 2015–2020 has no justification in our analyses. Actually, many AES-target species will be protected within SPAs irrespective of whether the area is an AES or not, but future AES should also include parcels outside SPAs, as many target species occur there. However, to improve the effectiveness of AES management prescriptions should be diversified and customized to meet the largely different habitat preferences of present target species (such as, for instance, the lapwing and corncrake).
Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas established by the European Union under the Habitats Directive (European Union 1992). The aim is to assure long-term survival of the most valuable and endangered species and habitats in Europe. The network comprises special areas of conservation and protection designated by the member states under, respectively, the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive. The establishment of the network of protected areas also fulfils a community obligation under the Convention of Biological Diversity of the United Nations.
Legislation for the preservation of biodiversity has been instrumental to the recovery of multiple species and habitats. The European Habitats Directive 92/92/EEC is one of the strongest legal tools in nature conservation. This Directive seeks to achieve its biodiversity goals by requiring EU Member States to take measures to reach or maintain Favourable Conservation Status (FCS) of natural habitats and species in Europe. FCS is a legal concept, but must be understood and applied by scientists, managers and policy makers, and therefore a proper interpretation of this concept is crucial for biodiversity conservation and wildlife management. However, its definition contains several aspects that can lead to misinterpretation, being the core of controversies in determining whether or not populations have reached FCS. In this review, we provide legal and ecological clarifications of the most contested aspects of FCS that have not yet been conclusively settled by analyzing and weighting a variety of sources.
The boreal forest, one of the largest biomes on Earth, provides ecosystem services that benefit society at levels ranging from local to global. Currently, about two-thirds of the area covered by this biome is under some form of management, mostly for wood production. Services such as climate regulation are also provided by both the unmanaged and managed boreal forests. Although most of the boreal forests have retained the resilience to cope with current disturbances, projected environmental changes of unprecedented speed and amplitude pose a substantial threat to their health. Management options to reduce these threats are available and could be implemented, but economic incentives and a greater focus on the boreal biome in international fora are needed to support further adaptation and mitigation actions.
Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Abstract: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/349/6250/819?ijkey=9E/LoNrjj1ASk&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
Reprint: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/rapidpdf/349/6250/819?ijkey=9E/LoNrjj1ASk&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
Full Text: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/349/6250/819?ijkey=9E/LoNrjj1ASk&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
Protected areas (PAs) are a key strategy for protecting biological resources, but they vary considerably in their effectiveness, and are frequently reported as having negative impacts on local people. This has contributed to a divisive and unresolved debate concerning the compatibility of environmental and socioeconomic development goals. Elucidating the relationship between positive and negative social impacts and conservation outcomes of PAs is key for the development of more effective and socially just conservation. Here, we conduct a global analysis of how PAs affect the wellbeing of local people, the factors associated with these impacts, and crucially the relationship between PAs' conservation and socioeconomic outcomes. Our results show that PAs reporting positive socioeconomic outcomes are more likely to report positive conservation outcomes. We find positive conservation and socioeconomic outcomes are more likely to occur when PAs adopt co-management regimes, empower local people, reduce economic inequalities and maintain cultural and livelihood benefits. While the strictest regimes of PA management attempt to exclude anthropogenic influences to achieve biological conservation objectives, our study provides evidence that PAs that explicitly integrate local people as stakeholders tend to be more effective at achieving joint biological conservation and socioeconomic development outcomes. Strict protection may be needed in some circumstances, yet our results demonstrate that conservation and development objectives can be synergistic and highlight management strategies that increase the probability of achieving win-win scenarios that maximize conservation performance and development outcomes of PAs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
The Natura 2000 network is regarded as one of the conservation success stories in the global effort to protect biodiversity. However, significant challenges remain in Natura 2000 implementation, owing to its rapid expansion, and lack of a coherent vision for its future. Scientific research is critical for identifying conservation priorities, setting management goals, and reconciling biodiversity protection and society in the complex political European landscape. Thus, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive evaluation of published Natura 2000 research to highlight prevalent research themes, disciplinary approaches, and spatial entities. We conducted a systematic review of 572 scientific articles and conference proceedings focused on Natura 2000 research, published between 1996 and 2014. We grouped these articles into ‘ecological’ and ‘social and policy’ categories. Using a novel application of network analysis of article keywords, we found that Natura 2000 research forms a cohesive small
Established under the European Union (EU) Birds and Habitats Directives, Natura 2000 is one of
the largest international networks of protected areas. With the spatial designation of sites by the EU member
states almost finalized, the biggest challenge still lying ahead is the appropriate management of the sites.
To evaluate the cross-scale functioning of Natura 2000 implementation, we analyzed 242 questionnaires
completed by conservation scientists involved in the implementation of Natura 2000 in 24 EU member states.
Respondents identified 7 key drivers of the quality of Natura 2000 implementation. Ordered in decreasing
evaluation score, these drivers included: network design, use of external resources, legal frame, scientific
input, procedural frame, social input, and national or local policy. Overall, conservation scientists were
moderately satisfied with the implementation of Natura 2000. Tree modeling revealed that poor application
of results of environmental impact assessments (EIA) was considered a major constraint. The main strengths
of the network included the substantial increase of scientific knowledge of the sites, the contribution of
nongovernmental organizations, the adequate network design in terms of area and representativeness, and
the adequacy of the EU legal frame. The main weaknesses of Natura 2000 were the lack of political will from
local and national governments toward effective implementation; the negative attitude of local stakeholders;
the lack of background knowledge of local stakeholders, which prevented well-informed policy decisions;
and the understaffing of Natura 2000 management authorities. Top suggestions to improve Natura 2000
implementation were increase public awareness, provide environmental education to local communities,
involve high-quality conservation experts, strengthen quality control of EIA studies, and establish a specific
Natura 2000 fund.
Background/Purpose: In the context of the European Biodiversity policy, the
Green Infrastructure Strategy is one supporting tool to mitigate fragmentation,
inter-alia to increase the spatial and functional connectivity between
protected and unprotected areas. The Joint Research Centre has developed an
integrated model to provide a macro-scale set of indices to evaluate the
connectivity of the Natura 2000 network, which forms the backbone of a Green
Infrastructure for Europe. The model allows a wide assessment and comparison to
be performed across countries in terms of structural (spatially connected or
isolated sites) and functional connectivity (least-cost distances between sites
influenced by distribution, distance and land cover).
Main conclusion: the Natura 2000 network in Europe shows differences among
countries in terms of the sizes and numbers of sites, their distribution as well
as distances between sites. Connectivity has been assessed on the basis of a 500
m average inter-site distance, roads and intensive land use as barrier effect
as well as the presence of "green" corridors. In all countries the Natura 2000
network is mostly made of sites which are not physically connected. Highest
functional connectivity values are found for Spain, Slovakia, Romania and
Bulgaria. The more natural landscape in Sweden and Finland does not result in
high inter-site network connectivity due to large inter-site distances. The
distribution of subnets with respect to roads explains the higher share of
isolated subnets in Portugal than in Belgium.
Large-scale conservation requires the involvement of numerous stakeholders to plan for and implement a range of activities across multiple scales. Establishing and sustaining the effective collaborations necessary to achieve this is a key challenge. Utilising data from a large-scale conservation initiative in the south west of Australia we characterise the interactions between stakeholders as a social network. We employ a novel network theoretical approach to assess the different forms of collaboration, including cross-scale collaboration. We find that the social network predisposes cross-scale collaboration for invasive animal control, an action where coordination of activities is necessary. We find that for revegetation activities there is little evidence of collaboration across scales, but this could be fostered by a subset of stakeholders acting in a “scale-bridging” role. Addressing this will likely improve the effectiveness of revegetation efforts and the outcomes of the broader conservation initiative.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
A precise knowledge of the spatial distribution of taxa is essential for decision-making processes in land management and biodiversity conservation, both for present and under future global change scenarios. This is a key base for several scientific disciplines (e.g. macro-ecology, biogeography, evolutionary biology, spatial planning, or environmental impact assessment) that rely on species distribution maps. An atlas summarizing the distribution of European amphibians and reptiles with 50 × 50 km resolution maps based on ca. 85 000 grid records was published by the Societas Europaea Herpetologica (SEH) in 1997. Since then, more detailed species distribution maps covering large parts of Europe became available, while taxonomic progress has led to a plethora of taxonomic changes including new species descriptions. To account for these progresses, we compiled information from different data sources: published in books and websites, ongoing national atlases, personal data kindly provided to the SEH, the 1997 European Atlas, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Databases were homogenised, deleting all information except species names and coordinates, projected to the same coordinate system (WGS84) and transformed into a 50 × 50 km grid. The newly compiled database comprises more than 384 000 grid and locality records distributed across 40 countries. We calculated species richness maps as well as maps of Corrected Weighted Endemism and defined species distribution types (i.e. groups of species with similar distribution patterns) by hierarchical cluster analysis using Jaccard’s index as association measure. Our analysis serves as a preliminary step towards an interactive, dynamic and online distributed database system (NA2RE system) of the current spatial distribution of European amphibians and reptiles. The NA2RE system will serve as well to monitor potential temporal changes in their distributions. Grid maps of all species are made available along with this paper as a tool for decision-making and conservation-related studies and actions. We also identify taxonomic and geographic gaps of knowledge that need to be filled, and we highlight the need to add temporal and altitudinal data for all records, to allow tracking potential species distribution changes as well as detailed modelling of the impacts of land use and climate change on European amphibians and reptiles.
Clozapine is underutilized in the management of treatment-resistant schizophrenia. To understand contributing factors, we analyzed the frequency and causes of clozapine discontinuations that occurred over a 15-year period in a clinical setting.
Data were extracted from computerized records and from mandatory termination reports for discontinuation events 1993-2007. The reasons for termination were analyzed.
Over half of the patients (n = 183/320; 57%) had at least one discontinuation (median time 609 days). The two most common causes for discontinuation were non-adherence (35%) and side-effects (28%). Hematological side-effects accounted for 45% of all side-effect associated discontinuations; most such patients remained eligible for clozapine treatment, and a significant fraction remained on clozapine after rechallenge. Central nervous system side-effects accounted for 35% of side-effect induced discontinuations. General factors significantly associated with discontinuation were African American race, older age at initiation of clozapine and less improvement in psychiatric symptoms.
In addition to anticipating and addressing causes of non-adherence, psychiatrists should consider clozapine rechallenge in eligible patients and implement measures to mitigate clozapine-associated sedation, seizures, and other side-effects. Future studies should particularly address why African American and older patients may be more likely to discontinue clozapine.
The discovery of a shell of the Chinese pond mussel in 1998 and further confirmation of this species indicate that a reservoir with natural thermal conditions is the oldest species location in Poland. Growth increments of an archival shell do not fall within the ranges obtained by this species in Konin lakes. They are, however, close to population ranges from Hungary. In contrast to other specimens found, the analyzed shell has a very high H/L ratio and is thicker. The observed features might result from the founder effect or they might point to a considerable plasticity of the species.
The world's biodiversity is currently in rapid decline -Europe being no exception -with as principal cause a human-mediated global change. The Natura 2000 network is an important conservation tool for Euro-pean biodiversity; it is a network of natural and semi-natural sites within Europe with high heritage values due to the exceptional flora and fauna they contain. Here, we evaluated the coverage of 300 threatened species by the Natura 2000 network, and determined potential factors influencing the designation of sites and the structure of the network within a country (social, ecological and demographic national fac-tors). Our analysis was based on a coverage ratio between the Natura 2000 sites and distribution maps of threatened European species. We showed that the distributions of a large proportion of threatened species of mammals, birds and reptiles considered in our study were highly covered (above 90%) by the current Natura 2000 network, demonstrating that the Natura 2000 network also covers species not listed in the annexes of the Nature Directives. However, our results confirm that a large proportion of threatened spe-cies (some of them listed on the European annexes), especially fishes, are currently poorly covered by the Natura 2000 network. The coverage of species likely seemed to be highly related to national demographic factors, i.e. the proportion of the national urban population. Our analysis also suggested that the designa-tion of sites depends too strongly on governmental politics, economic and cultural criteria, and interac-tions between society and the environment. A more effective process might be necessary to ensure the Natura 2000 network reaches its potential as the most important and comprehensive network of protected areas intended to halt the loss of biodiversity in Europe in the near future. A peer-reviewed open-access journal
The lack of coherence of a network of protected areas across administrative borders may occur as different bodies are responsible for nature conservation on either side which may lead to a lack of unified approaches in site selection. In the European Union such a situation is possible not only across international borders but also across borders of provinces of those countries which have strong legislative internal powers. We obtained robust estimates of spatial connectedness and functional connectivity, the latter based on presence of the same species in Natura 2000 sites adjoining across internal borders, between federal states of Austria and Germany and autonomous provinces of Italy and Spain.
Network connectedness across internal borders in Germany, Italy and Spain showed a similar logical pattern with means over 75% and most values were higher than connectedness measures of international borders. In Austria we found no clear pattern: connectedness measures both of internal and external borders varied greatly. Network connectivity across internal borders was typically poorer than connectedness and poorer than connectivity of international borders of the same countries: we provide a number of possible explanations for that. The poor connectedness of the Austrian Natura 2000 network across internal borders is linked with the absence of coordination of Natura 2000 site designation at the national level. We believe this study could be interesting for other (large) countries worldwide with similar de-centralisation of nature conservation administration.
We studied the spatial connectedness of Natura 2000 site boundaries and the functional connectivity of the Natura 2000 network across the 34 terrestrial borders of the European Union. Connectivity was measured by the dispersal success of 192 reptile, amphibian, invertebrate and plant species from Annex II of the European Union Habitats Directive, based on the presence of same species on both sides of the borders. Connectedness and connectivity varied greatly between state borders, with good and bad examples found in all parts of the European Union. Connectedness and connectivity were positively correlated. However, a few outlying examples showed that good connectedness is not necessarily associated with good connectivity and that good connectivity is not always possible because of different habitats and/or different management on both sides of border. In 13 out of 34 borders the connectivity measure was 100% and in 11 other borders it was over 50%. Very few of the geographical and political factors tested to explain variation in connectedness and connectivity were significant. Better connectedness and connectivity, both at the border and site-pair level, was correlated with the rivers forming the border. The time since the designation of the second site in a site-pair was nearly significant, suggesting that connectivity might have always existed in nature but the 'documentation of it' required some time for additional site inventories. It seems that each country border has its own history with a unique subset of factors influencing Natura 2000 site selection and management thus generalising our findings to other international borders would be difficult. We did not find substantial differences in trans-boundary connectivity among taxonomic groups. The application of our method elsewhere in the World would perhaps bring interesting results at a large (continental or sub-continental) scale, provided that similar data are available.
Humans have directly modified half of the ice-free terrestrial surface and use 40% of terrestrial production. We are causing the sixth major extinction event in the history of life on Earth. With the Earth's climate, flora, and fauna changing rapidly, there is a pressing need to understand terrestrial ecosystem processes and their sensitivity to environmental and biotic changes. This book offers a framework to do just that. Ecosystem ecology regards living organisms, including people, and the elements of their environment as components of a single integrated system. The comprehensive coverage in this textbook examines the central processes at work in terrestrial ecosystems, including their freshwater components. It traces the flow of energy, water, carbon, and nutrients from their abiotic origins to their cycles through plants, animals, and decomposer organisms. As well as