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6th European Congress of Conservation Biology
“Biodiversity crisis in a changing world”
www.eccb2022.eu
Book of Abstracts
August 22–26, 2022, Prague, Czech Republic
6th European Congress of Conservation Biology
Book of abstracts
August 22–26, 2022, Prague, Czech Republic
Patrons of ECCB 2022
Ministry of Environment
of the Czech Republic
Minister of Agriculture
of the Czech Republic
Rector of the Czech University
of Life Sciences Prague
Edited by
Zasadil Petr, Ludvíková Vendula & Báldi András
Recommended citation:
Zasadil P. , Ludvíková V. & Báldi A. (eds.) 2022:
Book of Abstracts – 6th European Congress
of Conservation Biology, Prague, August 22 – 26, 2022.
Society for Conservation Biology – European Section
and Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague.
Typography and over design: Jakub Vyšata, GravaStar, s. r. o.
Graphics: Sarah Maršíková, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague
© Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
© Society for Conservation Biology Europe Section
ISBN: 978-80-213-3255-3
Year of publication: 2022
4
6th European Congress of Conservation Biology
Book of abstracts
Published by:
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
Kamýcká 129
Prague 6 – Suchdol
CZ – 165 21
Czech Republic
https://www.czu.cz/
An ocial cultural event during the Czech Presidency of the Council
of the European Union
The 6th ECCB 2022 has been implemented with the nancial support
of the Prague City Hall.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced.
The individual contributions in this publication and any
liabilities arising from them remain the responsibility
of the authors.
5
Table of content
Plenary presentations 7
Abstracts of symposia 11
Abstracts of oral presentations 61
Abstracts of speed presentation 109
Abstracts of posters and E–posters 121
Author index 151
Graphics by: Sarah Maršíková
Tyto alba
6
Plenary presentations
Graphics by: Sarah Maršíková
Salmo salar
7
The large carnivores of Europe: the challenges
of conservation and coexistence.
Boitani L
The large carnivores of Europe are, with few local exceptions, increasing in number and expanding in ranges.
The trend is likely to continue as increasingly large parts of Europe are being abandoned in mountains and
marginal agricultural areas. Conservationists must face ashift in focus, from battling to save endangered
species to managing aconservation success with extensive economic, social and ecological implications.
Diverse values and plural valuation: options and opportunities
to contribute to sustainability transformations.
Kelemen E1
1Essrg Nonprot Kft., Budapest
The IPBES Global Assessment (GA) (IPBES, 2019) called for transformative actions to halt the loss of biodi-
versity which, at its current unprecedented pace, is threatening with the disruption of the social–ecological
systems we are living in. The GA also highlighted that the indirect drivers of change (such as population
growth, unsustainable production and consumption patterns, technology development or governance de-
ciencies and conicts) are underpinned by the worldviews andvalues society holds. The scientic interest in
values and valuation and its relationship to governance and policymaking is growing rapidly, leading to the
recognition that acknowledging diverse values in decision–making is the prerequisite to eectively support
and manage system–wide transformations towards amore sustainable future, but at the same time needs
substantial changes in our existing governance systems (Visseren–Hamakersetal. 2021). The recent IPBES
Assessment onValues and Valuation, getting discussed at the IPBES Plenary 9 in July 2022, digs deep into the
theory and practice of the valuation of nature and its contributions to people, and provides guidance to the
scientic community, as well as to decision–makers in dierent sectors and scales, on how to operationalize
the values of nature in decision–making. This plenary presentation will share some of the key insights of the
Values Assessment, especially how the values of nature can beconceptualized, how it is possible to assess
the diversity of values, and what options and opportunities are available for decision–makers to act upon the
diverse values of nature.
Earth4All
Wijkman A1
1Club of Rome, Stockholm
Presentation of areport that will be launched in the summer of 2022, partly as a50–year follow–up to the
Limits to Growth. ”Earh4All" is an international initiative, supported by the Club of Rome, Potsdam Institute
for Climate Impact Studies, Stockholm Resilience Center and the Norwegian Business School. The purpose
is to accelerate the systems–changes we need for an equitable future on anite planet. The dominant
economic model of today is destabilising societies – socially andecologically. It is time for change.
Combining the best available science with new economic thinking, Earth4All is designed to explore and
promote ve transformations that can create prosperity for all within the planetary boundaries. The ve
turnarounds are focused on poverty, inequality, energy, food systems and empowerment of women.
Abetter future is possible, but we don’t have much time. The next ten years must see the fastest economic
transformation in history!
Rapid adaptation: achance or adanger
in species conservation?
Münzbergová Z1
1Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Science
Dep. Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University
In this talk she explored plant species abilities to adapt to changing environmental conditions, which may
be both benecial e.g. in case of helping plants to deal with changing climate as well as detrimental e.g. in
species adaptations to cultivation in ex–situ collections. She also explored whether cultivation of plants in
private gardens, anovel approach to ex–situ species conservation, may mitigate the problems observed
in other ex–situ collections.
8
Abstracts of symposia
Graphics by: Sarah Maršíková
Cetonia aurata
9
How well does online information–seeking
behavior indicate public conservation
orientation? Taxonomy and personal
characteristics matter
Akasaka M1, Kubo T, Soga M
1Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan
Public conservation support for aspecies can powerfully inuence
the success of conservation policies and actions. To maximize the
eectiveness of the limited resources available for conservation, it
would be benecial to develop away to predict the degree of public
conservation orientation. Here, we explore the utility of the frequency
of accessing web content featuring particular species, adirect meas-
ure of information–seeking behavior, to predict public conservation
orientation. Specically, we tested whether pageviews of Wikipedia
content featuring 100 threatened species in ve taxonomic groups
(mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, insects, and plants) is as-
sociated with public conservation orientation toward these species in
Japan. Wikipedia pageviews predicted public conservation orientation
for species conservation for the two most salient taxonomic groups
(mammals and birds). This relationship, however, was not evident for
the other three taxa. Overall, information–seeking behavior could be
used as aproxy for public conservation orientation for mammals and
birds, but should be interpreted with caution. Based on this nding,
acouple of examples utilizing Wikipedia pageviews to guide conser-
vation eorts will be showcased.
The regionalization of adaptive amphibian
responses to climate change: lessons
for conservation management in Iberian
Peninsula
Alagador D1
1Biodiversity Chair, MED: Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment & De-
velopment, University Évora, Évora, Portugal
The critical dependence of amphibians on water and wetness makes
them largely vulnerable to global warming. In Iberian Peninsula am-
phibians are particularly susceptible, as this is a region already ex-
posed to dryness and high temperatures. I introduce a framework
which, based on the geometry of sequential adaptation areas, the
predictive uncertainty and land uses, provides aguideline for conser-
vation management in the face of climate change. The vulnerability
of each species to climate change is appraised using an exposure/ad-
aptability/risk scheme. On–place climatic stress informs on exposure,
adaptability is assessed using metrics about adaptive dynamics and
risk of failure is related with land uses and with the geometry of suit-
able areas along time, which accounts on the success of conservation
actions. Large dissimilarities on vulnerability expectancies among
the 27 species analyzed were found. Those dierences emerged par-
ticularly from the combined result of dierent: levels of converging
trajectories; sequential overlays of suitable areas in rear and leading
range edges; magnitudes of uncertainty, and land uses. Based on the
regionalization of these responses, preferential portfolios of conser-
vation actions were indicated. The framework presented is arst step
towards an eective climate–resilient conservation planning for Ibe-
rian amphibians.
Market solutions for conserving farmland
biodiversity: how to establish asuccessful
wildlife–friendly certication scheme?
Alif Ž1, Šumrada T1
1University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Ljubljana, Slovenia
While the dramatic loss of farmland biodiversity in Europe has typi-
cally been tackled through governmental interventions like agri–en-
vironmental schemes, this has brought little success in reversing the
biodiversity decline and making farming wildlife–friendly. An alterna-
tive way to stimulate farmers to use biodiversity–friendly measures
is through market–based solutions. Voluntary certication schemes
are one such example where farmers implement a more sustaina-
ble production process in return for ahigher price or better market
access. Here we examine biodiversity–friendly certication schemes
in Europe to determine what contributes to creation of success-
ful schemes to conserve farmland biodiversity. We compare what
criteria the schemes use for wildlife–friendly farming and examine
the factors that lead to the founding of wildlife–friendly certication
schemes and adoption by farmers through the diusion of innova-
tions theory. After the initial screening, we selected nine case studies
from across Europe covering dierent agricultural sectors and per-
formed interviews with the scheme leaders. Most schemes are led
by NGOs and require producers to manage acertain proportion of
their land for biodiversity. We identify key policy interventions that
can stimulate the creation and promotion of wildlife–friendly certi-
cation schemes among farmers and consumers in the future as an
alternative approach for farmland biodiversity loss prevention.
Impacts of Hydropower Dams
on Semi–Aquatic Megafauna
Altanov V1,2, He F1, Bremerich V1, Jähnig S1,3
1Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany, 2Al-
brecht Daniel Thaer–Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Humboldt–
Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 3Geography Department, Humboldt–Univer-
sität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Hydropower has been developed globally, supposedly providing re-
liably renewable energy, increase water supply, and help with ood
control. However, the impacts of hydropower dams on freshwater bi-
odiversity have been widely documented. Most existing studies have
focused on the impacts on migratory sh such as the sturgeons and
salmonids, with less attention being paid to semi–aquatic species in-
cluding crocodilians, turtles, and mammals which are also susceptible
to hydropower development, for example, through the impairment
of their breeding and feeding habitats. We conducted asystematic
literature review and synthesized the eects of hydropower dams
on 61 semi–aquatic megafauna species (i.e., animals that depend on
both freshwater and terrestrial habitats and can reach abody mass of
30 kg). We found that the impacts of hydropower dams vary among
taxonomic groups and regions. By combining the data extracted from
identied studies with global distribution data of semi–aquatic meg-
afauna and hydropower dams (i.e., existing and proposed dams), our
study highlights the gaps in current assessments and emphasizes the
regions of priority for monitoring and conservation actions in the fu-
ture. It provides insights into the development of eective strategies
that may support balancing biodiversity conservation with hydro-
power development.
In the trap of interacting drivers: the
disintegration of extensive, traditional
grassland management in Central and
Eastern Europe
Babai D1,2, Jánó B3, Molnár Z2,4
1Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of Ethnology, Budapest, Hungary,
2MTA Lendület Ethnoecology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary, 3Local farmer,
Gyimesközéplok (Lunca de Jos), Romania, 4Centre for Ecological Research, Institute
of Ecology and Botany, Vácrátót, Hungary
Micro–scale management of cultural landscapes with species–rich
grasslands requires the operation of extensive land–use systems.
These systems are under increasing pressure of interacting drivers
that impact on farmers’ individual decisions and force them to make
trade–os. We aimed to reveal the local understanding of driver in-
teractions and related trade–os focusing the time of haymaking,
through participatory observation and semi–structured interviews in
asmall–scale community in amountainous landscape (Gyimes, Roma-
nia). Local farmers perceived ecological, socio–cultural, economic, and
political drivers aected the optimal and actual time of mowing and
increased the number of trade–os. Direct drivers inuenced the phe-
nology of vegetation and thus the time of mowing, while indirect social,
cultural, and political drivers only impacted on the latter. The complex-
ity of driver and trade–o interactions increased making adaptation
more dicult. While farmers were navigating through the increased
complexity, an informal social institution that previously optimized the
work forces of farms gradually disappeared, thus decreased the eco-
nomic and social viability of the system. Our results suggest that the
local community’s adaptive capacity has been drastically weakened.
More exible regulations are needed to assure the continuity of centu-
ries–old but still existing traditional management systems, which main-
tain high–nature–value cultural landscapes.
10
Role of ancient historical monuments in
conservation ‒ Bronze and Iron age burial
mounds as sentinels of grassland biodiversity
Balazs D1, Valkó O1
1‘Lendület‘ Seed Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for
Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
Due to the intensive land transformation activities during the past
centuries, grassland habitats suered a dramatic area loss, the re-
maining fragmented stands became isolated and often degraded due
to intensication or abandonment. In continental Eurasia the millen-
nia–old burial mounds called ‘kurgans’ are among the most wide-
spread manmade landmarks, which besides verges and river balks
can also maintain remnants of grassland biodiversity. By using ase-
ries of case studies, we aim to reveal the conservation role of kurgans
and the ecological processes and socio–economic factors that sup-
port their biodiversity potential. Based on acontinental–scale survey
we revealed that 61.5% of kurgans situated outside protected areas
held grassland vegetation. Focusing on Central–Europe we showed
that kurgans held similarly high diversity of grassland specialist plant
and arthropod taxa inside and outside protected areas, thus func-
tioned as safe havens. We showed that in Central– and South–Europe
high plant diversity on kurgans was supported by high environmental
heterogeneity of the mounds enhancing species co–existence within
asmall area and ‚island–specic‘ plant traits supporting persistence
in habitat islands. Cultural, historical and religious values associat-
ed with kurgans also had aconsiderable role in the maintenance of
grassland vegetation by suppressing intensive land use and ensuring
extensive management.
Building abiodiversity hotspot systems in
agricultural landscapes: rst experiences
from the Wild Flower Fields
experiment, Hungary
Báldi A1, Pellaton R1, Bihaly Á2, Sziget V1, Lellei–Kovács E1, Máté A3,
Sárospataki M2, Soltész Z1, Somay L1, Kovács–Hostyánszki A1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2Department of Zoology and
Ecology, Institute of Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Hungari-
an University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary, 3Dorcadion Ltd,
Kecskemét, Hungary
Sustainable farmlands should support both production and biodiver-
sity. Restoration of semi–natural grasslands may improve sustaina-
bility. The size of restored patches and their landscape context are
both important cofounding factors. We addressed these issues in the
Kiskunság Wild Flower Field Experiment (https://ecosystem–services.
ecolres.hu/research/eld–experiments). We selected 24 circular land-
scape plots of 500 m radius with either homogeneous or heteroge-
neous environment in Central Hungary. Within 16 landscape plots,
0.5 ha parcels were sown with a32–species seed mixture of local in-
sect–visited plants. Eight of those were asingle large eld or three
smaller strips in the middle with 0.5 ha in total area. The remaining
8 landscapes serve as control sites. The experiment started in 2020,
and we monitor the development of vegetation, bee, hovery, wasp
and other insect communities applying transect walk, Malaise traps,
pantraps, and nest traps. The records and samples are under identi-
cation, data cleaning and analyses. Our rst experiences show that (i)
continuous communication with farmers is essential, as ower elds
require dierent management (or lack of it) than farmers usually do;
(ii) each eld may need individual management to achieve high ower
cover; and (iii) the ower elds have no eect on yield in neighbour-
ing arable crops.
Conservation opportunities for pollinators in
urban landscapes
Baldock K1
1Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Animal pollinators are currently the focus of international concern as
numerous studies document their declines and the multiple threats
they are facing. Pollination services by animals are crucial for healthy
ecosystems as well as food security via pollination of crops. Land use
change is one of the main drivers of pollinator declines, with urbani-
sation regarded as major threat to biodiversity.
Ipresent ndings from research on plant–pollinator communities in
UK urban landscapes including the Urban Pollinators Project, ana-
tional scale study of insect pollinators in UK towns and cities involving
academic and practitioner partners. We investigated three questions:
(1) Where is the UK’spollinator biodiversity? (2) Where are the hot-
spots of pollinator biodiversity in urban areas? (3) How can we help
conserve pollinators in urban areas? Ialso describe patterns of oral
resource availability across cities, including the important role of res-
idential gardens.
Managing urban landscapes for pollinator conservation requires
collaboration with arange of stakeholder partners. Ihighlight knowl-
edge exchange activities with policymakers, practitioners and conser-
vation organisations that aim to enhance the understanding and de-
velopment of optimal land management practices that benet urban
pollinators.
Conservation genetics in the highlands;
contrasting strategies in Scotland and beyond
Ball A1, Senn H1, Partners R
1Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland is home to the renowned
WildGenes Laboratory that uses genetic data to inform conservation
planning and action. With afocus on native species restoration in
Scotland, the techniques and partnerships we develop for conserva-
tion here in Europe can contrast dramatically with our international
work. I will introduce some of our key focuses, from the wildcats of
the Scottish Highlands, through the Himalayas, to the crocodiles of
the Cardamom mountains in Cambodia. Iwill compare and contrast
some of the methods we use, from small SNP panels to whole–ge-
nome sequencing, with an emphasis on the importance of tailored
approaches and the vital role of trusted partnerships across the
board.
Bird responses to urbanization change
depending on reference level, rural or natural
Batary P1, Kurucz K2, Suarez–Rubio M3, Chamberlain D4
1Centre for Ecological Research, Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Vacratot,
Hungary, 2University of Pecs, Department of Ecology, Pecs, Hungary, 3University of
Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Institute of Zoology, Vienna, Austria, 4University
of Turin, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Torino, Italy
Urbanization is one of the most extreme forms of environmental
alteration, posing a major threat to biodiversity. We studied the ef-
fects of urbanization on avian communities via asystematic review
using hierarchical meta–analyses. We found that urbanization had
an overall strong negative eect on bird species richness, whereas
abundance increased marginally with urbanization. Eects of urban-
ization on species richness were more negative for studies including
public green spaces in the sampled landscapes. In contrast, studies
performed solely in the urban matrix revealed astrong positive eect
on bird abundance. When performing subset analyses on urban–sub-
urban, suburban–rural and suburban–natural comparisons, species
richness decreased from natural to urban areas, but with astronger
decrease at the urban–suburban interface, whereas bird abundance
showed aclear intermediate peak along the urban–rural gradient al-
though abundance in natural areas was comparable to that in subur-
ban areas. This suggests that species loss happens especially at the
urban–suburban interface, and that the highest abundances occur in
suburban areas compared to urban or rural areas. Thus, our study
shows the importance of suburban areas, where the majority of birds
occur with fairly high species richness.
Mongolian herders’ ecological understanding
in their landscape and landscape change
Batdelger G1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary
Evidence shows that Mongolian herder’s knowledge can serve as
avaluable body of information about ongoing ecological processes.
Our study areas were located in the mountain forest–steppe region
in Mongolia. In 2017–2020, we interviewed 33 people using photos of
11
plant species and habitats and semi–structured interviews focusing
on landscape change.
Herders distinguished 88 folk habitat types, and we documented
the habitat preference of 76 plant species. The habitat classication
was multidimensional; key dimensions were geomorphological and
edaphic. There were some species (e.g., botyuul – Festuca lenensis,
shireg – dominated by Carex duriuscula and species groups (hot and
leafy plants) that were often used to describe habitat types.
We found 32 indicators of landscape changes for the 14 main habitat
types studied. Herders attributed various changes to diverse drivers.
Some of the long–term trends reported by herders are well–known,
others are rarely mentioned in the scientic literature, if at all. South–
facing mountain slopes and at areas in valleys are changing most
rapidly. Herders wish to cooperate with each other to deal with ad-
verse changes: to increase mobility, stop overgrazing, and help na-
ture to regenerate. Herders have areliable and widely shared under-
standing of landscape changes that could help with this cooperation.
Sacred natural sites in space and time
Bhagwat S1
1The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
The tradition of maintaining ‘sacred natural sites’ can be traced in
many indigenous societies. These sites are considered important in
the development of religion and spirituality in our distant ancestors
and today they demonstrate the special relationship between peo-
ple and nature. Numerous examples of sacred trees, groves, forests,
ponds, lakes and rivers exist throughout the world. These hundreds
of thousands of sites are distributed across all inhabited continents.
This talk will present an overarching perspective on sacred natural
sites that spans their global distribution and their historical origins.
Iwill draw on anumber of case studies from around the world to il-
lustrate the development of sacred natural sites in space and in time.
Bugs at your service: recent insights into
biocontrol and pollination in crop
production systems
Bianchi F1
1Associate Professor, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
Mobile arthropods provide important ecosystem services to support
crop production, including pest suppression and pollination. These
arthropods depend on the life–support functions provided by the
landscape, but at the same time intensive management practices in
the landscape may pose threats for these arthropods. In this pres-
entation I will give an overview of the work of my group in the past
years and highlight how pest, natural enemy and pollinator popula-
tions are inuenced by interactions between resource availability,
insecticide use and their movement. These insights will contribute to
the development of design rules for biodiversity–friendly landscapes
that support arthropod–based ecosystem services.
Using the Ethical Matrix for analyzing value
conicts in conservation
Biasetti P1, de Mori B2
1Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany, 2University of Pad-
ua, Padua, Italy
Conservationists often have to deal with intricate conicts between
competing interests, demands, and values. Conservation projects, for
instance, can produce inequities among social groups and people.
When they involve the manipulation of wildlife, they can negatively
impact animal welfare. Implicit value judgments may create contrasts
in priority–setting. And so on. When not addressed, these and other
similar ethically relevant issues may undermine the chances of suc-
cess of aconservation project. Ethical analysis can help by providing
conservationists with the means for anticipating potential conicts.
Here, we discuss an existing conceptual tool for ethical analysis—the
Ethical Matrix (EM)—in aversion explicitly tailored to biodiversity con-
servation. After briey describing the EM in its specic adaptation to
the context of ethical analysis in conservation—by focusing on what
the tool is, why to use it, and how to use it—we will present some ex-
amples of its application. In this way, it will be shown how the EM can
be used to unpack the values involved in an entangled conservation
scenario, assess the impact of dierent decisions on stakeholders,
and map the potential conicts, exploring the existing possibilities for
compromise between dierent ethical demands.
Climate change mitigation targets
compromise forest ecosystem services and
biodiversity
Blattert C1,2, Mönkkönen M1,2, Burgas D1,2, Di Fulvio F3, Toraño Cai-
coya A4, Vergarechea M5, Klein J6, Hartikainen M7, Antón–Fernández
C5, Astrup R5, Forsell N3, Lukkarinen J8, Lundström J9, Pitzén S8, Po-
schenrieder W4, Primmer E8, Snäll T6, Eyvindson K1,10
1Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä,
Jyväskylä, Finland, 2School of Resource Wisdom, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväsky-
lä, Finland, 3International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Integrated
Biosphere Futures (IBF) Research Group, Laxenburg, Austria, 4Chair of Growth and
Yield Science, TUM School of Life Sciences, Freising, Germany, 5Norwegian Institute
for Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Division of Forest and Forest Resources, Ås, Nor-
way, 6SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 7Silo AI, Helsinki, Finland, 8Finnish Environment Institute
(SYKE), Helsinki, Finland, 9SLU Department of Forest Resource Management, Swed-
ish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden, 10Faculty of Environmental
Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences,
Ås, Norway
The EU decided on clear climate change mitigation targets to reach
climate neutrality, also taking into account forests and their timber re-
sources. We investigate consequences of increased timber demands
resulting from EU mitigations targets on the objectives of national
forest sectoral policies for forest ecosystem services and biodiversity
(FESB). Using three Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden and Norway)
and Germany as study regions, we rst simulate forest dynamics and
management to gain information on the future FESB provision. Sec-
ond, we model the future timber demands for each region related to
EU climate change mitigation targets, and elaborate FESB demands
stated in national policy documents. Third, we resolve the optimal
forest management for EU–level and national–level policy demands
and analyze the cross–scale policy coherence. We show that key Eu-
ropean timber–producing countries (Finland, Sweden, Germany) may
not be able to cover increased timber demands for material and bi-
oenergy usage arsing under the ambitious 1.5 °C target. Focusing on
EU mitigation targets further conicts with national sectoral policies
and cause adverse eects on multiple forest ecosystem services and
biodiversity. We argue that the role of forest and its timber resources
for achieving targets on climate change mitigation and societal decar-
bonization should not be overstated.
Opportunities and limitations for the range
expansion of European bison and
moose in Europe
Bluhm H1, Kümmerle T1
1Geography Department, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
The recent rebounding of large mammals in Europe is a hopeful
trend for conservation. Knowing where recolonizations are possible
is crucial to guide conservation planning and to proactively manage
conicts, but broad–scale assessments of recovery potential are
missing for most species. We assessed the recolonization potential of
Europe’stwo largest herbivores, the European bison (Bison bonasus)
and moose (Alces alces), across Central Europe. Using large occur-
rence datasets from multiple populations, we separately assessed
environmental habitat suitability and human pressure on these spe-
cies. We then modeled landscape connectivity as well as directed
westward movements originating from extant populations to assess
recolonization opportunities and limitations. We identied wide-
spread environmentally–suitable habitat for both, European bison
(>120,000 km²) and moose (>244,000 km²), showing asubstantial po-
tential for recolonizations. However, many potential habitat patches
were associated with high levels of human pressure (European bison:
37%, moose: 43%), particularly in western regions of our study area,
indicating high risk for human–wildlife conicts. Moreover, we identi-
ed astrong east–west gradient of decreasing connectivity, as well as
substantial barriers that likely limit natural recolonization processes.
Our results suggest that conservation measures fostering the return
of large herbivores should prioritize on restoring broad–scale con-
nectivity in Europe’sincreasingly fragmented landscapes.
12
Intercropping oats with undersown clovers
supports pollinators without reducing yields
Boetzl F1, Douhan Sundahl A1, Friberg H1, Viketoft M1, Bergkvist G1,
Lundin O1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (slu), Uppsala, Sweden
Conserving biodiversity and biodiversity mediated ecosystem ser-
vices commonly clashes with maintaining productivity levels in agri-
culture. Increasing within eld vegetation diversity by intercropping
with legumes seems promising but the eects on biodiversity and
ecosystem services are so far not suciently understood. Using 26
semi–eld plots in a paired design, we studied the eects of inter-
cropping oats with amixture of three annual undersown clovers on
pollinators, arable weed control and natural pest control. We found
benecial eects on pollinators and arable weed suppression but no
eects on most natural enemies and aslightly negative eect on spi-
ders. Neither pest damages nor natural pest control or crop yields
were aected by intercropping. The biomass of undersown clovers
was positively correlated with ower cover, pollinator densities and
arable weed suppression. We demonstrate that undersowing annual
clovers is asimple and comparably cheap method to suppress arable
weeds (and thereby reduce herbicide inputs) and support pollinators
without sacricing cereal crop yields or taking land out of arable pro-
duction. Intercropped plant mixtures should, however, be optimised
to support awider spectrum of pollinators and benet natural ene-
mies and natural pest control in order to support a higher level of
overall cropping system biodiversity and multi–functionality.
Modelling and managing animal and human
movements in social–ecological systems
Borger L1, Potts J2, Loison A3
1Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom, 2University of Sheeld, Sheeld,
UK, 3Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambery, France
Movement is akey mechanistic driver of processes in intertwined so-
cial–ecological systems (SESs), connecting individuals and processes
across multiple spatio–temporal scales and leading to the emergence
of complex spatio–temporal patterns. Here we present aset of case
studies, rstly showing new modelling frameworks to understand
the drivers of real animal turning decisions, as well as identify and
quantify the energetic drivers underlying animal foraging and habitat
selection patterns, including the energetic costs and gains of move-
ment and foraging. Secondly, we show how to disentangle complex
movement decisions animals face when confronted with co–occur-
ring lethal and non–lethal human disturbances, an increasingly com-
mon case in social–ecological systems. Third, we present how these
mechanistic modelling approaches, focussing on ne–scale move-
ment decisions of individuals, can be scaled up to quantify and pre-
dict the emergence of broader–scale spatial and temporal patterns
of space use of both single and interacting individuals, as well as help
identify missing drivers of individual movement decisions. We discuss
how and when these methods, which include statistical and mathe-
matical modelling approaches, can be used and how they can inform
management decisions.
Ecological barriers mediate spatiotemporal
shifts of bird communities across Europe
Bosco L1, Marjakangas E1, Versluijs M1, Xu Y1, Santangeli A1, Holopain-
en S1, Mäkeläinen S1, Lehikoinen A1
1Finnish Museum of Natural History, Helsinki, Finland
Species’ range shifts and local extinctions caused by global change
lead to community composition changes. At large spatial scales, eco-
logical barriers, such as biome boundaries, coastlines, elevation, and
temperature gradients, can inuence a community‘sability to shift.
Yet, ecological barriers are rarely considered in global change studies,
potentially hindering predictions of biodiversity shifts. We used data
from two consecutive European breeding bird atlases to calculate
the geographic distance and direction between communities in the
1980‘sand their nearest compositional equivalent in the 2010’sand
modelled their response to barriers. The ecological barriers aect-
ed both the distance and direction of bird community composition
shifts, with coastlines and elevation having the strongest inuence.
Combining ecological barriers and community shift projections can
identify ecological corridors that facilitate shifts of species and com-
munities under global change.
Agriculture and biodiversity in Europe:
challenges and opportunities ahead
for the CAP
Bradley H1
1Institute for European Environmental Policy, Brussels, Belgium
Harriet Bradley will give abroad overview of the challenges and op-
portunities ahead for the CAP to support and conserve farmland bio-
diversity, and more broadly, agro–ecosystems‘ health. This will cover
asummary of the evidence of the CAP’simpact to date, along with
the best available evidence on the impacts of the incoming CAP on
farmland species and habitats and agro–ecosystem health. The talk
will draw on the analysis that IEEP has carried out on the 2023–2027
CAP Strategic Plans of EU Member States, along with previous work
by Ms Bradley on the impacts of the CAP on biodiversity and the likely
impacts of the new CAP reform whilst working at the nature conser-
vation organisation BirdLife Europe.
The Twiga Tracker Initiative: Merging
Site Specic Conservation Management with
Continental Scale Ecological Studies
for Girae
Brown M1,2, Fennessy J1, Stabach J2
1Girae Conservation Foundation, Windhoek, Namibia, 2Smithsonian Conservation
Biology Institute, Front Royal, United States of America
Girae are distributed across populations in 21 African countries,
each with unique habitat characteristics, sociopolitical contexts,
threats, and conservation opportunities. Eective conservation of
these imperiled species requires clear understandings of ecological
requirements, data–driven management strategies, and analytical
frameworks for applying ecological theory towards conservation
objectives across these populations. Through the Twiga Tracker Ini-
tiative, a collaborative partnership spearheaded by the Girae Con-
servation Foundation and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology
Institute, researchers and conservation practitioners collaboratively
deployed over 300 GPS tracking devices on girae across thirteen
countries. Each project aspires to leverage the unique aspects of
each site to cast new insight on girae ecology, generate actionable
real–time data for site specic conservation objectives, and contrib-
ute to continental scale girae spatial ecology studies. This multi–
scale approach to conservation and research is built on afoundation
of strong collaboration with key stakeholders to dene mutual re-
search/conservation objectives. Pioneering the applications of data
sharing platforms, the Twiga Tracker Initiative provides real–time
visualisation and analytics of incoming girae data to meet local con-
servation goals, while providing central data repositories for larger
scale ecology studies. In this presentation, we will explore case stud-
ies of these applications for harmonizing conservation and ecology
research using girae tracking data.
Conservation frontiers – Understanding
relationships between expanding land use
and expanding conservation eorts
Buchadas A1,2, Qin S1, Kuemmerle T1,2
1Humboldt–universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2Integrative Research Institute
on Transformations of Human–Environment Systems (IRI THESys), Berlin, Germany
Land–use frontiers, such as agriculture expanding into natural forests
in the Global South, continue to be amajor driver of biodiversity loss
and frequently trigger conservation responses. With the increasing
geographic footprint of area–based conservation, land conservation
can be considered a major land use itself. Using tools and concepts
from Land System Science – the eld studying land use as a social–
ecological system – therefore should provide opportunities to better
understand the patterns, actors, and drivers of land conservation.
Here, we propose that land conservation can be usefully examined
through the concept of frontiers, and specically three dierent per-
13
spectives related to frontiers. First, conservation can be dened as
eorts to slow or halt other frontiers (e.g. deforestation). Second, ex-
panding land conservation could be described as a frontier process
itself, leading to similar institutional and cultural reorganization, as
well as conict (e.g. green grabbing). Finally, frontiers can be viewed
as spaces where multiple land uses, including conservation, interact.
Bridging the disciplines of Land System Science and Conservation Sci-
ence, as we propose here, could enable adeeper consideration of
the social–ecological contexts in which conservation occurs, and thus
support better conservation planning.
Engaging abillion people to foster
coexistence with megafauna from local to
global scales and back
Bunnefeld N1, Rakotonarivo S, Hodgson I, Thomas–Walters L, Jones
I, Valero D, Duthie B
1University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom
How people respond to change will ultimately determine the degree
to which landscapes of coexistence between people and megafauna
can be realised. Over 2.7 billion people play online games on aregu-
lar basis, but very little of this game play time is used to advance our
knowledge or to tackle environmental challenges. In this talk, we will
1) present the games we have used and the data we have gathered
with over 700 game players in Europe and Africa to understand peo-
ple‘sdecisions towards conservation of land and wildlife; 2) provide
aroadmap for the use of online games as an experimental and obser-
vational tool to collect data on people‘sdecisions in complex social–
ecological systems; and 3) discuss the potentials, limitations and eth-
ical concerns when collecting large scale data on people‘sdecisions.
Boreal forests and restorative health benets
to humans: management recommendations,
synergies and trade–os
Burgas D1,2, Potterf M1,3, Duot R1,2, Eyvindson K1,4, Stoltz J5, Gyllin M5,
Klein J6, Grahn P5, Snäll T6, Mönkkönen M1,2
1Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University Of Jyväskylä,
Jyväskylä, Finland, 2School of Resource Wisdom, University Of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä,
Finland, 3Ecosystem Dynamics and Forest Management Group, Technical Universi-
ty of Munich, Freising, Germany, 4Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural
Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway, 5Depart-
ment of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Lomma,
Sweden , 6Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agri-
cultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden
There are increasing demands from forests to provide more wood
and full abroader range of ecosystem services while simultaneously
improving forest habitats to preserve biodiversity. Although policy-
makers and forest professionals acknowledge the restorative bene-
ts of forests for human health, this dimension is seldom accounted
for, partly due to the lack of tools to quantify such aspect. In this in-
terdisciplinary study, we present the relative contribution of dierent
management practices to restorative health value of forests, and in-
spect the trade–os and synergies between health and biodiversity,
and other ecosystem services. We here use anovel framework that
accounts for the dierent perceived sensory dimensions that allows
us to link forest physical characteristics to restorative benets for hu-
mans. We simulated the growth of acommercial forest landscape in
central Finland 100 years into the future for abroad representation
of management regimes. We use multiobjective optimization to nd
the best combination of managements and trade–os among health,
ecosystem services and biodiversity. Continuous cover forestry has
the largest contribution to the restorative value of forests, followed
by set–asides and rotation forest management practices. This links to
multiple synergies and trade–os.
AEuropean platform of forest multi–taxon
biodiversity and stand structure data
Burrascano S1, Chianucci F2, Doerer I3, Kepfer–Rojas S4, Mitić B5,
Munzi S6, Nagel T7, Ódor P8, Paillet Y9, Sitzia T10, Tinya F8, Brazaitis
G11, Van der Sluis T12, Heilmann–Clausen J4, Hofmeister J13, Schall P14,
Vandekerkhove K15, Wohlwend M16
1Sapienza University Of Rome, Rome, Italy, 2CREA Research Centre for Forestry and
Wood, Arezzo, Italy, 3University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany, 4University of
Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 5University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia, 6Uni-
versidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal, 7University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia,
8Centre for Ecological Research, Vacratot, Hungary, 9University of Grenoble Alpes,
INRAE, Grenoble, France, 10University of Padua, Padua, Italy, 11Vytautas Magnus Uni-
versity, Kaunas, Lithuania, 12WENR Wageningen Environmental Research, Wagenin-
gen, Netherlands, 13Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czechia, 14University of
Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, 15Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Brussels,
Belgium, 16Albert–Ludwigs–Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
The maintenance of forest biodiversity in Europe strongly relies on
the concept of sustainable forest management. Nevertheless, current
forest management has an important impact on forest biodiversity
and was identied as the main pressure for most European forest
habitats.
Current indicators for the sustainability of forest management either
account only for trees, or are indirect biodiversity proxies. Broad–
scale forest biodiversity data are still lacking in national and continen-
tal forest information systems.
Several groups of scientists across Europe took up the challenge of
multi–taxon eld sampling through local projects on the eects of
forest management on overall forest biodiversity. The COST Action
“BOTTOMS–UP” collected multi–taxon data to build acomprehensive
platform of European forest biodiversity. Up to now, we standard-
ized and merged 36 dierent datasets encompassing 3,595 sampling
units across 13 out of 14 forest categories and 12 European coun-
tries. Each sampling unit was surveyed for at least three taxonomic
groups and for individual tree measures, and associated with aspe-
cic forest management system.
We found that dierences in biodiversity sustainability across man-
agement systems are scale and taxon dependent. Broad–scale moni-
toring networks should account for these dierences and be tailored
on specic conservation objectives.
Observing the owering phenology of an
invasive succulent through the lens of social
media
Canavan S1, Rodríguez J1,2, Castillo M1, Maříková–Moodley D1, Pipek
P1,3, Pyšek P1,3, Novoa A1
1Department of Invasion Ecology, Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of
Sciences, Průhonice, Czech Republic, 2Department of Functional Biology, Faculty of
Biology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain,
3Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, Prague,
Czech Republic
Analyses of digitally generated and stored data can reveal ecologi-
cal patterns and processes that would otherwise be dicult to study;
this approach has recently emerged as iEcology. Plant reproductive
success is an important trait inuencing invasiveness, and it strongly
depends on owering phenology. To ensure fecundity and successful
development of seeds, invasive plants need to adjust their owering
to the most appropriate time of the year in their introduced rang-
es. Here, we apply iEcology tools to study the owering phenology of
the South African succulent taxa of the genus Carpobrotus that are
amongst the most problematic invasive plants in coastal areas world-
wide. We assessed user–generated data from geolocated pictures
obtained from Instagram, a social network platform, at key tourist
sites across multiple countries to record the phenological patterns of
Carpobrotus spp. populations in the past 5 years. Our results suggest
that iEcology provides acost–eective approach to compare ower-
ing periods of plants across their native and introduced ranges.
Biodiversity monitoring and forecasting to
support the Bioeconomy Strategy and EU
citizens at large
Ceia–Hasse A1, Capinha C1
1Centre of Geographical Studies, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, Uni-
versity of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, 2Associate Laboratory TERRA – Laboratory for
Sustainable Land Use and Ecosystem Services, Lisbon, Portugal, 3German Centre for
Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle–Jena–Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Essential biodiversity and ecosystem services variable (EBVs and
EESVs) workows are akey step to demonstrate the value of harmo-
nized, multi–source streamlines of observation data in short–term
forecasts of ecosystem services and disservices. Business opportu-
nities and impacts associated with such real–time data can support
the EU Bioeconomy strategy and EU citizens at large. Here we will
14
showcase how a European Biodiversity Observation Network can
support the Bioeconomy Strategy, by developing models to produce
short–term spatial forecasts of biological phenomena that are rele-
vant for economy and society. We will focus on acase study where we
forecast the fructication of wild mushroom species.
Linking socioeconomic status and urban
biodiversity: are rich areas species–rich?
Chamberlain D1, Reynolds C2, Amar A3, Henry D4, Caprio E1, Stofberg
M3, Batáry P5
1University Of Turin, Turin, Italy, 2University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
South Africa, 3FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town,
Cape Town, South Africa, 4University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa,
5Lendület Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany,
Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
Urban biodiversity, and its associated ecosystem services, is an im-
portant component of the quality of life of urban residents. The
Luxury Eect posits apositive association between biodiversity and
socioeconomic status in urban areas, and is thus reective of envi-
ronmental injustice, as the benets associated with biodiversity are
not equitably shared across society. Our meta–analysis showed there
was apositive association between terrestrial biodiversity measures
and socioeconomic status. Furthermore, the strength of the Luxury
Eect was greater in arid areas. Many key and emerging climate im-
pacts are concentrated in urban areas, thus the degree of environ-
mental injustice represented by the Luxury Eect may be amplied
in the future, especially in arid regions. However, there were biases
in geographic coverage (more studies in the developed world) and
taxonomic groups (most studies were on plants and birds) in the
publications considered. Furthermore, some studies have revealed
complex interactions between urban land cover and socioeconomic
status. Here, we suggest the research priorities that are needed to
fully understand mechanisms driving the Luxury Eect. This is neces-
sary to develop strategies for sustainable development of cities and
thus to promote environmental justice, enhancing the quality of life
of urban residents across all sectors of society.
Plant protection by the Natura 2000 network
across EU countries
Chiarucci A1, Zannini P1, Di Musciano M2, Santovito D1, jansen F3,
Jiménez–Alfaro B4, Testolin R1, Cazzolla GAtti R1, Rocchini D1, Partners E5
1Department of Biological Geological & Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studio-
rum – University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, 2Department of Life, Health and Environ-
mental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, L‘Aquila, Italy, 3Landscape Ecology, Faculty of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany,
4Research Unit of Biodiversity (CSIC/UO/PA), University of Oviedo, Mieres, Spain, 5Eu-
ropean Vegetation Archive, Brno, Czech Republic
The biodiversity crisis is calling for urgent and eective measures of
protection. Area–based conservation is a strategic pillar in the Eu-
ropean Biodiversity Strategy, which aims to eectively protect 30%
of area of member states by 2030. However, an assessment of the
eectiveness of EU protected areas for plant biodiversity is still miss-
ing, limiting conservation planning capacity. With this project, we
address the eectiveness of plant protection by the Natura 2000
Network across EU, using one of the largest plant diversity dataset,
the European Vegetation Archive. We obtained adataset composed
by 1,223,017 vegetation plots. Species nomenclature and origin was
standardized according to Euro+Med and we then focused the anal-
yses on native species only. By overlapping plot location with the
Natura 2000 network, we calculated alpha, beta and gamma diversity
within and outside the network and compared these values across
countries, biogeographic regions and habitat types. The Natura 2000
was found to host a signicant portion of plant diversity, but dier-
ences are highlighted across countries, biogeographic regions and
habitat types. The results here presented oer a baseline for the
conservation planning needed to expand the Natura 2000 Network
and achieve the targets for area–based conservation delineated in
the European Biodiversity Strategy.
Nature apps – Gaining Ecological and
Conservation Insights from Dedicated
Smartphone Applications
Cihlová A1,2, Jarić I3,4, Roll U2
1Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes
for Desert Research, Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben–Gurion,
Israel, 2Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for De-
sert Research, Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben–Gurion, Israel,
3Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, České
Budějovice, Czech Republic, 4Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science,
University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
The increase in people’s digital interactions via smart devices also
generates accessible and voluminous nature–related content. Dedi-
cated nature–related apps (i.e., nature apps) can increase human–na-
ture interactions for the benet of both and provide valuable scientif-
ic insights. However, the true potential of nature apps for ecology and
conservation remains limited. Here, we assessed currently available
nature apps and their attributes to better understand how their im-
pact can be maximized. We used 178 nature–related search keywords
in the Google Play Store and obtained 3151 apps, of which 1723 were
classied as nature apps (after further assessment). Recent years
have seen an increase in nature app downloads. However, their aver-
age ranking with users was lower than those for all apps in the Google
Play Store. Many apps were dedicated to promoting people’soutdoor
activities, natural–history interactions, and education. Apps dedicat-
ed to birding and nature watching were the most popular. Attributes
such as virtual reality, species recognition, or gamication made apps
more popular with users, however, their implementation in nature
apps is still low. Our ndings can help both scientists aiming to use
insights from nature apps to better understand human–nature rela-
tionships, and nature app developers to develop apps providing rich-
er nature engagements.
High biodiversity areas preserve
Nature‘sContributions to People under
climate change
Cimatti M1, Chaplin–Kramer R2,3, Di Marco M1
1La Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy, 2Natural Capital Project, Stanford Uni-
versity, Stanford, CA, U.S.A., 3Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota,
St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.
Increasing human pressures are driving global biodiversity loss, dra-
matically aecting the provision of Nature’sContributions to People.
Here, we estimated how preserving regions with ahigh biodiversity
value could reduce the risk of diminishing the provision of NCP, and
thus contributing to the achievement of dierent Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals (SDGs). We analysed four dierent scenarios of glob-
al environmental change from CMIP6, selecting few data proxies of
regulating NCP indicators to measure the change status of NCPs in
the future, specically, the regulation of air quality (NCP3), climate
(NCP4) and freshwater quantity (NCP6). For each indicator, we evalu-
ated whether risk from environmental change to the provision of reg-
ulating NCPs is higher or lower within priority conservation regions
compared to not priority regions.
Our results highlighted that there was an overall increasing trend of
NCP3 and NCP4 worldwide, while NCP6 showed contrasting results
depending on the area. Furthermore, the change in the provision of
NCP was globally higher in regions of high biodiversity value com-
pared to others but there were also many country–specic excep-
tions. Identifying the relative contribution of high biodiversity areas
to NCP provision allowed us to pinpoint possible synergies between
the achievement of multiple SDGs under alternative future condi-
tions.
Urban conservation and restoration in
times of climate change: going beyond alittle
bit of ‘greening’
Cliquet A1
1Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
It is increasingly recognized that nature in cities plays an important
role for mitigating and adapting to climate change, for human–well-
being and for biodiversity. Policy attention for urban conservation
15
and restoration has increased substantially in recent years. Most of
the commitments are voluntary and legally non–binding. If people
want to survive in cities in times of climate change, substantial eorts
for conserving and restoring nature in urban environments will be
necessary. In this presentation we will analyze recent commitments
in the (draft) post 2020 biodiversity framework under the Biodiver-
sity Convention, as well as the commitments in the EU biodiversity
strategy 2030. We discuss EU legally binding provisions that could be
applied to urban environments and the need for additional binding
provisions (such as the EU nature restoration law). We address the
issue of what restoration means for urban environments: can it go
beyond mere greening, remediation and rehabilitation and restore
native ecosystems. We will also address the role of private actors and
will discuss the Biodiversity plan of Ghent University as an example.
Simple nestbox modications can reduce
drastic heat–related mortality in lesser kestrel
Falco naumanni nestlings
Corregidor–Castro A1, Morinay J2,3, Morganti M4, Assandri G2, Ramel-
lini S5, Morbiato E1, De Capua E6, Cecere J2, Pilastro A1, Rubolini D5
1University of Padova, Padova, Italy, 2Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca
Ambientale, Ozzano dell’Emilia, Italy, 3Norwegian University of Technology and Sci-
ence, Trondheim, Norway, 4Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Milano, Italy, 5Univer-
sity of Milano, Milano, Italy, 6Parco della Murgia Materana, Matera, Italy
The increased frequency and intensity of heatwaves associated with
climate change can have major impacts on bird conservation. The
lesser kestrel Falco naumanii dependency on old buildings for nest-
ing, along with agriculture transformation, caused a decline of the
Mediterranean population in the last decades, but recent heatwave
events represent a cause of further conservation concern. We re-
port the eects of the 2021 heatwave on the reproductive success
of alarge lesser kestrel nestbox colony in southern Italy (Matera). To
tease apart the heatwave eects on nest microclimate from those
on the external environment, we either shaded or left unmanipulat-
ed (control) nestboxes at hatching. As expected, shaded nestboxes
were on average 4.2 °C cooler inside than controls. We observed an
increased survival (shaded 85%, control 20%), body mass (+12%) and
tarsus length (+3%) in nestlings from shaded nestboxes. These re-
sults indicate that heatwaves have direct, strong eects on nestling
(and presumably post–edging) survival. These results suggest that
nest microclimate will be amajor factor aecting population dynam-
ics and conservation of this and possibly other Mediterranean birds
breeding in nestboxes, underlining the need of designing nestboxes
that can minimize the eect of future heatwaves.
Digital data sources and methods for
conservation culturomics
Correia R1, Ladle R2, Jaric I3, Malhado A4, Mittermeier J5, Roll U6, Sori-
ano–Redondo A1, Verissimo D5, Fink C1, Hausmann A1, Guedes–Santos
J4, Vardi R6, Di Minin E1
1University Of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 2Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal,
3University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, 4Federal University
of Alagoas, Maceio, Brazil, 5University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 6Ben–Gurion University
of the Negev, Midreshet Ben–Gurion, Israel
The Information Age provides new opportunities to better under-
stand human–nature interactions as many aspects of daily life are re-
corded in avariety of digital formats. Conservation culturomics aims
to take advantage of digital data sources and methods to study hu-
man–nature interactions and thus to provide new tools for studying
conservation at relevant temporal and spatial scales. Still, technical
challenges associated with the identication, access, and analysis of
relevant data hamper the wider adoption of culturomics methods. To
help overcome these barriers, a conservation culturomics research
framework is outlined that addresses data acquisition, analysis, and
inherent biases. The main sources of culturomic data include web
pages, social media, and other digital platforms from which metrics
of content and engagement can be obtained. Obtaining raw data
from these platforms is usually desirable but requires careful con-
sideration of how to access, store, and prepare the data for analysis.
Methods for data analysis include network approaches to explore
connections between topics, time–series analysis for temporal data,
and spatial modeling to highlight spatial patterns. Outstanding chal-
lenges associated with culturomics research include issues of in-
terdisciplinarity, ethics, data biases, and validation. The framework
provides practical guidance that will facilitate the wider adoption of
culturomics approaches for conservation.
Forest and poverty: Hidden contributions of
forest to multidimensional poverty
Cosmopolis–del–Carpio C1, Tsuchiya A1, Oldekop J2
1School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), The University of Sheeld, Shef-
eld, United Kingdom, 2Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester,
Manchester, United Kingdom
Most research on forest–poverty dynamics has studied the eect of
forest–related policies on monetary poverty, ecosystem services, ag-
ricultural productivity, and food security. These policies modify and
shape forest landscapes; however, the eect of forest conguration
on eradication and/or poverty alleviation remains unknown. Here, we
estimate the impact of forest cover and forest conguration on pov-
erty, for which we use aseries of cross–sectional data that integrate
multidimensional poverty (MPI) values with high–resolution forest
cover data for more than 3000 rural households in Peru. Our results
show 1) the eect of the forest on overall multidimensional poverty
and 2) its eect on each MPI dimension: health, education, and stand-
ard of living. We nd that the eect of forest cover and forest cong-
uration on poverty depends on the outcome. Forest cover and the
number of patches are positively associated with levels of deprivation
in education and standard of living, but show anegative relationship
with levels of deprivation in health, specically child nutrition. Thus,
clusters with alarger amount of forest will present abetter level of
child nutrition. These results demonstrate the complexity of forest–
poverty dynamics and highlight the links between forest conservation
and human well–being.
Using plant genetics to investigate how
landscape change, habitat fragmentation and
connectivity aect diversity
Cousins S1, Plue J1
1Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Ancient grasslands have some of the highest plant species richness in
Europe. Along continuity of management and spatial connectivity is
aprerequisite for the high species richness we can nd there today.
But at the same time, grasslands are threatened by habitat change
and fragmentation. In three dierent research projects we analysed
genetic diversity of Campanula rotundifolia or Galium verum to un-
derstand how habitat fragmentation have inuenced the species,
as indicators for community diversity. We used historical maps and
aerial photographs from 36 landscapes in Europe, 48 in Sweden and
several islands in the Stockholm archipelago to investigate grassland
change over time. We found that grazing networks imprinted strong
landscape–scale spatial patterning in pairwise population genetic dif-
ferentiation and within–population genetic diversity of C. rotundifolia.
In landscapes where ancient grasslands have disappeared landscape
heterogeneity becomes more important to sustain large–scale pop-
ulations and thus genetic diversity of C. rotundifolia. We found that
the green infrastructure in the surrounding landscape were agenet-
ic subset of the focal grassland populations of G. verum. Particularly
anetwork of road verges supported gene ow from grasslands into
the surrounding landscape. Our work highlights the importance of
protecting ancient grasslands as they contain unique genetic diver-
sity.
The eect of climate and land use change
interactions on species’ distribution change in
Great Britain
Cristiano A1, Suggitt A1, Jeries M1
1Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Anthropogenic global change is the most prominent threat for the
conservation of biodiversity, and species’ responses to its compo-
nents are mediated by ecological and life history traits. Land use
change is currently the main driver of habitat destruction and frag-
mentation, while climate change is already having apervasive eect
16
on most of the world’sbiodiversity. When acting in concert, these
drivers can interact to enhance the rates of biodiversity change, but
past studies have tended to report that these interactions are rela-
tively scarce and contextually restricted. Using datasets of validated
occurrence records, we created occupancy maps for 49 terrestrial
mammal species in Great Britain at 1–km scale resolution between
1960 and 2017. We grouped occurrences into two time periods and
estimated extirpation and colonization rates, determining the extent
to which distribution changes were a combined function of species’
traits, land use change, climate change, or interaction between these
latter two drivers. Preliminary analyses revealed that responses were
often trait–dependent, with specialist species more likely to be sensi-
tive to environmental alterations. Afuller understanding of the driv-
ers of range shifting will improve our ability to more precisely attrib-
ute change and help prioritize eorts for the conservation of exposed
species and habitats.
Exploring the coexistence potential for
humans and megafauna in future
European landscapes
Davoli M1, Svenning J1
1Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Megafauna comeback in Europe is aremarkable success for conser-
vation. This trend is favored by revised hunting regulations, imple-
mented legal protection, and structural change in agriculture that
leads to farmland abandonment and outmigration from rural areas.
The narrative of European megafauna comeback often focus on pos-
itive outcomes such as the restoration of trophic chains in degraded
ecosystems, which links to an increased delivery of ecosystem ser-
vices to humans. However, akey aspect in this context is also the
evaluation of coexistence potential for humans and megafauna. Hus-
bandry and farming methods in Europe have developed for decades
in acontext without free–roaming large animals. Therefore, the risk
of an escalation in livestock depredation, or excessive frequency of
crop–raiding events, is concreate, and it would lead to decreasing
support for conservation by citizens.
In this study, we estimate potential future megafauna distribution
in Europe under multiple scenarios of social dynamics. With distri-
bution thus mapped, we indicate both pros and cons of megafauna
comeback. This by 1) mapping hotspots of ecosystem restoration –
comparing with deep–past biodiversity baselines – and 2) mapping
hotspots for human–wildlife conict. This last estimation is pivotal
to prevent drawbacks caused by megafauna comeback and enhance
odds for coexistence.
Are key trophic interactions of large
carnivores maintained in human–
dominated landscapes? Insights from DNA
metarbarcoding
De Barba M1,2, Beaumelle C3, García–Rodríguez A4, Albrecht J5, Boyer
F3, Coissac E3, Gro C6, Konec M1,2, Lionnet C3, Miquel C3, Rioux D3,
Zwijacz–Kozica T7, Selva N8, Taberlet P3
1University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2DivjaLabs, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 3Uni-
versité Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Grenoble, France,
4Estación Biológica de Doñana EBD–CSIC, Sevilla, Spain, 5Senckenberg Biodiversity
and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt, Germany, 6Provincia Autonoma di Trento,
Trento, Italia, 7Tatra National Park, Zakopane, Poland, 8Institute of Nature Conser-
vation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland
Under increasing anthropogenic pressures, dietary studies are crucial
for the conservation of wildlife species and the ecosystem services
they provide. We assessed the diet of brown bears (Ursus arctos) by
DNA metabarcoding in two areas with dierent levels of human ac-
tivities and disturbance, in the Polish Carpathians and in the Italian
Alps. In both areas, brown bears‘ diet showed amarked seasonality,
characterized by awide variety of natural foods, mostly plants and
insects. In the Carpathians, eshy–fruited plants were present in 56%
of faeces, suggesting that brown bears are important seed disperses.
In the Alps, females had a more diverse diet than males, especial-
ly older males, and occurrence of major food items diered among
bear sex and age categories. Occurrence of anthropogenic food was
limited in both areas, but lower in the Carpathians than in the Alps.
Low incidence of food associated to human activities was found also
for wolves in Slovenia and brown bears in the Pyrenees using the
same approach. Our results suggest that large carnivores can play
their ecological role through the maintenance of key trophic interac-
tions also in human–modied ecosystems. Appropriate management
is fundamental for preserving the ecosystem services these animals
provide.
Evaluating global progress in awareness
of biodiversity and conservation
action worldwide
De Oliveira Caetano G1, Vardi R2, Jaric I3, Correia R4, Roll U1, Veríssimo
D5
1Ben Gurion University, Midreshet Ben Gurion, Israel, 2Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv,
Israel, 3Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, 4University of Helsinki,
Helsinki, Finland, 5On the Edge Conservation, London, England
The Convention for Biological Diversity rst target for the last decade
was to increase awareness of biodiversity and conservation. Public
awareness of biodiversity and conservation is important for fostering
pro–conservation behavior and advocacy. We used data on Google
searches to evaluate the success in achieving this target, and inves-
tigated the socioeconomic factors driving dierences between coun-
tries. We found partial success for the target globally. Global interest
for biodiversity increased, driven mostly by charismatic fauna, while
interest for conservation decreased, driven mostly by a decline in
searches for national parks after the 2019 pandemic. Economic ine-
quality had anegative eect in interest for biodiversity and conserva-
tion, while purchasing power had an indirect positive eect through
education and research. Interest for biodiversity and conservation
may be increased in the next decade with outreach campaigns focus-
ing on charismatic species, institutional support for national parks,
environmental education, conservation research and reduction of
economic inequality.
Grassland management eects on ecosystem
service delivery
De Vries R1
1Wageningen University, Netherlands
Biodiversity–friendly grassland management practices are widely im-
plemented biodiversity interventions in agricultural landscapes, re-
ecting the high biodiversity and the severe environmental threats
associated with grassland habitats across Europe. But eective con-
servation of grassland biodiversity and ecosystem functions requires
insight in their relations with grassland habitat characteristics, and
in how this compares with farmers’ interests from grasslands. In this
light, patterns of species richness and abundance of plants, wild bees
and earthworms across agrassland intensication gradient in the
Netherlands are presented. While plants and wild bees relate neg-
atively to grassland productivity, earthworms do not. Assessed soil
ecosystem functions also relate negatively to grassland productivity
but positively to oral diversity. These results indicate atrade o be-
tween farmer interests and societal benets from grasslands, that
needs to be quantied in order to develop successful interventions to
conserve grassland biodiversity and ecosystem functions.
The EU Forest Strategy, the opposition and
the way forward
Deparnay–Grunenberg A1
1Member of the European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium
Forests cover 40% of European territories, providing diverse provi-
sioning, regulating, supporting and cultural ecosystem services. Cli-
mate change, biodiversity loss and intensive forestry practices pose
huge challenges to forests, leading the European Union (EU) to re-
cently adopt ambitious policies including the European Green Deal,
the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030 and the European Forest Strate-
gy 2030. These policies contain normative policy objectives of atrans-
formative move towards enhanced climate protection, biodiversity
conservation and sustainable forest bioeconomy. Nevertheless, the
EU Forest Strategy remains anon–binding agreement, that MS do not
have to follow, due to the subsidiarity principle and the lack of rec-
ognition of European competences on Forests. Still, the Commission
17
works on dening close–to–nature forestry practices and develop
common best practices. The large number of laws, regulations and in-
itiative reports inuencing the forests in Europe is huge, and no har-
monization can happen if the competences of the EU on forests are
not recognized. Based on the diagnostic of barriers and potentials it
is possible to show the way forward to reach harmonised regulations
and how to experience areal shift towards more forest conservation
and real sustainable forest management in the EU.
Abird in the bush worth two on the feeder?
The complex question of food provisioning.
Deshpande P1,2, Haukka A2, Rönkä K1, Santangeli A3, Aivelo T4, Thoro-
good R1, Lehikoinen A2
1HiLIFE Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland,
2Helsinki Lab of Ornithology, Finnish Museum of Natural History, Helsinki, Finland,
3 Research Centre for Ecological Change, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Re-
search Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 4Organismal and Evolu-
tionary Biology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Feeding birds is acommon activity in many countries, especially dur-
ing winter. Supplementary food can inuence survival and reproduc-
tion, and therefore impact bird populations and communities. How-
ever, we know less about the provisioner’sperspective: this is critical
to make policy decisions that benet both birds and people. Feed-
ing birds can enhance people’sconnection to nature, but do people
feed birds dierently in rural and urban areas? Are people changing
what and how they feed birds over time? What are the reasons for
these changes? Here we investigate temporal changes in peoples’
food provisioning behaviour in Finland using information from two
long–term monitoring datasets. In addition, we conducted an online
survey (over 14,000 respondents) to reveal reasons for the changes
that we detected. We nd that due to recommendations of local gov-
ernments and housing organisations in response to aperceived rat
problem, food provisioning is declining in urban areas. Without such
regulation, provisioning is increasing in rural areas. However, hav-
ing more birds at feeding sites was astrong motivation for changing
feeding habits across the board. Our results show that winter food
provisioning involves complex decisions and is aected by factors be-
yond attracting birds.
Acounterfactual approach to evaluating the
eectiveness of biodiversity osets – Case
study of the Ambatovy mine in Madagascar
Devenish K1, Desbureaux S2, Willcock S1,3, PG Jones J1
1School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom, 2Centre
for Environmental Economics – Montpellier, Montpellier, France, 3Rothamsted Re-
search, Harpenden, United Kingdom
Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals requires reconciling de-
velopment with biodiversity conservation. Governments and lenders
increasingly call for major industrial developments to oset unavoid-
able biodiversity loss, but there are few robust evaluations of wheth-
er oset interventions ensure No Net Loss (NNL) of biodiversity. We
focus on the biodiversity osets associated with the high–prole Am-
batovy mine in Madagascar and evaluate their eectiveness at de-
livering NNL of forest. As part of their eorts to mitigate biodiversity
loss, Ambatovy compensate for forest clearance at the mine site by
slowing deforestation driven by small–scale agriculture elsewhere.
Using arange of methods, including extensive robustness checks ex-
ploring 116 alternative model specications, we show that the osets
are on track to avert as much deforestation as was caused by the
mine. This encouraging result shows that biodiversity osetting can
contribute towards mitigating environmental damage from a major
industrial development, even within a weak state, but there remain
important caveats with broad application. Our approach could serve
as atemplate to facilitate other evaluations and so build astronger
evidence–base of the eectiveness of No Net Loss interventions.
National timber harvest projections under
the EU Green Deal and 2030 biodiversity
strategy
Di Fulvio F1, Lauri P1, Forsell N1
1IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria
The 2030 EU biodiversity strategy has the objective of protecting 30%
of EU27 land and strictly protect 10% of it. Furthermore, the Europe-
an Commission FitFor55 climate package has increased the mitiga-
tion demand from forests, for reaching the EU27 climate neutrality
by 2050. Therefore, the objective our study has been to project future
timber harvest levels for Europe (EU27+UK+Norway) and analyzing
spatial allocation of harvest areas and leakages outside Europe, un-
der scenarios integrating the 2030 biodiversity strategy and climate
mitigation objectives. We applied the Global Biosphere Management
(GLOBIOM) model for optimizing allocation of forest harvest across
Europe. In addition, we considered alternatives where the European
protection targets may be reached as an overarching target or ful-
lled by each country. Our results shows that the implementation of
the biodiversity strategy at European level would lead only to a3–5%
reduction in overall harvest levels in 2050, compared to abaseline. At
the same time, fulllment of the targets will reduce European wood–
based products net exports by 8–25%, depending on how the biodi-
versity strategy is implemented. Hence, it would be relevant for policy
makers to consider our study for allocating future protection in away
that will not undermine EU forest sector competitiveness.
Social media in conservation science:
opportunities, challenges and going forward
Di Minin E1
1University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Social media data are increasingly used as asource of information
in conservation science. Social media content and metadata are
useful to study people–nature interactions and how they aect the
global biodiversity crisis. During the presentation Iwill explain how
social media data can be used as a novel source of information to
investigate threats to and opportunities for the conservation of bio-
diversity. Iwill also focus on some of the greatest challenges of using
social media data in research, especially data access and data privacy
concerns. Iwill conclude by examining some of the ways forward to
mainstreaming the use of social media data in conservation science.
Biocultural approaches to advance the
inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge
in conservation in Europe
Díaz Reviriego I1, Hanspach J1
1Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany
Biocultural approaches acknowledge and study the multiple rela-
tionships between the diversity of cultures and the maintenance,
enhancement and creation of biodiversity through the management
of species and landscapes. Biocultural approaches are seen as ap-
propriate to address sustainability challenges across scales towards
sustaining plural and just futures and their application is burgeoning
in many scientic disciplines and beyond. This contribution is based
on asystematic review of the scientic literature on biocultural ap-
proaches in Spanish and English language published between 1990
and 2021. The results show that biocultural approaches touch on
many sustainability issues and that conservation appears as the fo-
cus emphasized in the majority of the articles reviewed. Also, local
and traditional knowledge was the knowledge type most frequently
studied, though the engagement with TEK holders was mainly based
on consultation or information. We highlight key insights from these
bodies of literature that could help in promoting biocultural conser-
vation through processes rooted in the rights, needs, knowledge and
customary practices of those who remain stewards of biocultural di-
versity for a more legitimate and inclusive conservation in Europe,
where TEK is still largely neglected in conservation.
18
The potential for EU Common Agricultural
Policy measures to support wild pollinators
on farmland
Dicks L1, Cole L2, Kleijn D3, Stout J4, Potts S5, Scheper J3
1University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2Scotland’s Rural College,
Ayr, United Kingdom, 3Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 4Trini-
ty College, Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 5University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
We evaluated the potential for habitat and landscape features re-
quired under the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP; 2014–2020)
to support wild insect pollinators. We used structured expert elici-
tation, involving 22 experts from 18 European countries. Ecological
Focus Area (EFA) options were scored for their potential to provide
forage, nesting sites and larval resources to key pollinating taxa (i.e.
bumble bees, solitary bees and hoveries), under both standard and
pollinator–friendly management. We examined initial uptake of the
EFA options in terms of land area. EFA options varied geographical-
ly and temporally in the resources they were perceived to provide.
For example, eld margins provide good forage throughout the sea-
son in Southern and Eastern Europe but lack early–season forage
in Northern and Western Europe. Under standard management, no
single EFA option scored highly across resource categories. Ascarci-
ty of late season forage was perceived. Experts identied substantial
opportunities to improve habitat quality through pollinator–friendly
management. Improving management alone was unlikely to ensure
that all pollinator resource requirements were met. We conclude that
poor management, dierences in pollinator habitat quality and up-
take bias towards crop–based options severely limited the support
provided to pollinators by EFAs in European agricultural landscapes.
Habitat thresholds for forest biodiversity as
recommendation for managers in Europe
Doerer I1, Oettel J, Haeler E, Lapin K, Paillet Y, Burrascano S, Vande-
kerkhove K, Ciach M, Campanaro A, Campagnaro T, Trentanovi G,
Borowski Z, Parpan T, Chianucci F
1Carl Von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
The enhancement and conservation of forest biodiversity requires
sustainable strategies for the preservation and management of
specic species’ habitats. The restoration or maintenance of forest
habitats is also required by international and national agreements
and regulations. These include several structural indicators which
are used as proxies of biodiversity or management sustainability.
However, these indicators were never directly tested with multi–tax-
on forest biodiversity across wide extents. Here we aim at designing
sustainable management indicators for maintaining and enhancing
habitat biodiversity. For this we use athreshold approach to identi-
fy tipping points where the management indicators have adistinctly
higher eect on multiple taxa or single taxon biodiversity. This is en-
abled by the launch of a novel database implemented by the COST
Action Bottoms–up that includes multi–taxon biodiversity, structure
and management information from more than 3,000 plots across
Europe. We hypothesize that common management indicators that
relate to awide range of niches and link to various species may show
distinct thresholds for promoting biodiversity while, at the same time,
we have an array of dierent points for specic taxonomic groups or
indicator species. This approach should allow for specic manage-
ment recommendations towards overall biodiversity and particular
groups or single taxa.
Eects of ivermectin use on dung
beetle communities: Lasting decrease in
functionality and richness
Ambrožová L1,2, Zítek T1,2, Sládeček F1,2, Perlík M1,2, Kozel P1,2, Dostál
D3, Jirků M1, Čížek L1,2
1Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences,v.v.i., České Budějovice, Czech Repub-
lic, 2Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Repub-
lic, 3Česká krajina,o.p.s. / European Wildlife, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic
Use of ivermectin negatively aects non–target dung beetles, which
provide keystone ecosystem services for pasture functioning. Direct
eects of ivermectin on dung beetles are well understood, but its
long–lasting eects on real communities under eld conditions re-
main unknown. We studied species richness, abundance, biomass
and functionality (composition–mediated dung removal ability) of
dung beetle communities in response to ivermectin treatment. Se-
lected 15 ivermectin–treated and 11 untreated sites, both ≥5 consecu-
tive years before sampling, covered wide range of climatic conditions
in the Czech Republic, seasonal variability, and main herbivore dung
types. Ivermectin–treated sites we selected into i) recently treated <8
weeks ago (immediate eects, lethal–sublethal residues levels) and ii)
long–ago >8 weeks (lasting eects, sublethal to inconsequential resi-
dues levels). Ivermectin–treated sites had 35% lower species richness
and 44% lower abundance, biomass did not change. From afunction-
al perspective, ivermectin use signicantly decreased the biomass of
beetles with high contribution to dung removal (relocators, dwellers),
while the biomass of beetles with low contribution (visiting adults,
saprophagous larvae) was unaected. Functionality, i.e., the dung re-
moval ability of the community, was signicantly reduced at treated
sites. Eects of ivermectin use far beyond its physical presence have
obvious negative consequences for pasture biodiversity and ecosys-
tem functioning.
High resolution ALS–derived forest structure
explains ecomorphological trait variation in
assemblages of wood–living beetles
Drag L1, Burner R2,4, Stephan J3, Birkemoe T4, Potterf M5, Snäll T3, Sver-
drup–Thygeson A4, Müller J1,6
1Field Station Fabrikschleichach, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biol-
ogy, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Rauhenebrach, Germany, 2Upper Midwest
Environmental Sciences Center, U.S. Geological Survey, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA,
3SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Scienc-
es, Uppsala, Sweden, 4Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Man-
agement, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway, 5Department of Biologi-
cal and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland, 6Bavarian
Forest National Park, Freyunger Str.2, Grafenau, Germany
Global climate change is rapidly altering the complex 3D structure of
forests, which is amajor habitat determinant aecting local commu-
nities. However, little is known about how functionally diverse wood–
living (saproxylic) beetles, involved in the recycling of wood, will be
aected by this change. Here we combine ecological and morpholog-
ical traits available for saproxylic beetles and airborne laser scanning
(ALS) data in Bayesian trait–based joint species distribution models to
study how traits drive the distributions of more than 230 species in
temperate forests of Europe. We found that elevation (as aproxy for
temperature and precipitation) and the proportion of conifers played
important roles in species occurrences while variables related to hab-
itat heterogeneity were less relevant. Further, we showed that local
communities were shaped by environmental variation through their
traits. As predicted, ecological traits shaped species’ responses to for-
est structure more than did morphological traits. Both models, how-
ever, revealed strong phylogenetic signal in species’ response to en-
vironmental characteristics. Our ndings provide support that strong
habitat ltering based on evolutionary adaptions is acentral process
shaping saproxylic beetle communities. Therefore, future changes in
climate and the forest structure may inuence ecosystem functions
by altering community trait composition.
19
Evaluating policy outcomes in complex
land–use systems
Droste N1, D‘Amato D2, Ekström H1, Iliev B3, Thomsen M3
1Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland, 3Copenhagen
University, Copenhagen, Denmark
To inform the design of policies that eectively reach sustainable
development goals, reliable knowledge about both the status quo
and potential pathways of transition is required. Acomprehensive
evidence–based policy advice thus needs to capture dynamics of
complex socio–ecological systems, including biophysical mechanisms
and diverse human–nature relationships. We present aconceptual
framework for atransdisciplinary, co–productive approach for evalu-
ating outcomes of land–use governance through an integrated policy
assessment. The case of Nordic forest policies is used to elaborate on
the role of theory, model integration, and knowledge co–production.
Here, we argue that three main components are needed: 1) acompre-
hensive theory about causal mechanisms in the system, 2) amodular
architecture that operationalizes data ows between various models,
and 3) aprocedure to integrate values and knowledge from multiple
stakeholders. The general idea of such amodular model architecture
for integrated policy assessments can in principle be applied to any
land use policy nexus.
Nordic forest governance shifts towards
multi–functionality and non–regulatory
approaches
D‘Amato D2, Brockhaus M2, Ekström H1, Iliev B3, Lier M4, May W1,
Thomsen M3, Droste N1
1Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland, 3Copenhagen
University, Copenhagen, Denmark, 4Luke, Helsinki, Finland
Forests are rising on the global political agenda as key ecosystems for
mitigating climate change and halting biodiversity loss. Fenno–Scan-
dian countries are among the largest exporters of forest–based prod-
ucts and their forest management is thus of strategic importance for
(inter–)national forest policies. Based on a “most–similar systems”
study design and expert–based interviews, we compare the develop-
ment of forest policy instruments across Denmark, Finland, Norway,
and Sweden over the last 20 years. Analytically, we place an emphasis
on paradigmatic shifts in goals, instruments, and governance modes
while considering (un)intended consequences and eectiveness. We
nd an increasing use of non–regulatory instruments, and abroad-
ening of goals from economic production to climate objectives, as
well as biodiversity conservation, and thus amoderate shift toward
multi–functionality. There are dierences in the timing of introduc-
ing economic policies and in the use of participatory processes. We
discuss these dierences with regard to the policy outcomes and in
the light of multi–level forest policies in the European Union. Here,
we argue that the design of eective multi–functional forest policies
benets from an early inclusion of abroad range of stakeholders, es-
pecially when coupled with processes that allow for are–negotiation
of roles and positions.
Diverse opportunities for grassland
biodiversity in agricultural and urban
landscapes
Duot R1,2, Pithon J3, Aviron S4, Alignier A4, Beaujouan V3, Burel F5,
Cochard A3, Ernoult A5, Pain G3, Daniel H3
1Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyvaskyla,
Jyväskylä, Finland, 2School of Resource Wisdom, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla,
Finland, 3BAGAP, INRAE, Institut Agro Rennes Angers, ESA, Angers, France, 4BAGAP,
INRAE, Institut Agro Rennes Angers, ESA, Rennes, France, 5Ecobio, CNRS, Université
de Rennes 1, Rennes, France
Grasslands occupy large areas in agricultural and urban landscapes.
Although considered to be species–rich habitats, the response of their
biodiversity to landscape structure has been much less studied than
for wooded habitats. Here we investigated multi–taxon responses of
grassland biodiversity to landscape structure across asingle region
and compared these between agricultural and urban contexts. Plant,
carabid, and bird communities were sampled along landscape gradi-
ents in agricultural and urban contexts, in western France. We looked
at the inuence of grassland connectivity and proximity with wooded
habitats and private gardens on species richness and composition of
overall communities and of functional groups. Results showed that
species richness did not vary much according to landscape structure
while species composition did, governed by ecological traits. Species
and functional composition also diered between agricultural and
urban contexts. Biodiversity of grasslands in both agricultural and
urban contexts was primarily inuenced by neighbouring wooded
vegetation at dierent scales. In urban context, ahigh proportion of
private gardens correlated with increased plant species richness and
bird abundance in grasslands and inuenced species composition.
We conclude that grasslands located in diering landscape contexts
oer diverse opportunities for biodiversity.
Breeding birds in European
Agroforestry systems
Edo M1, Rösch V1, Entling M1
1Universität Landau, Landau, Germany
Declining numbers of farmland birds across Europe call for drastic
changes in agricultural systems. Agroforestry could be such achange
by mixing open farmland elements with trees. In the EU AGROMIX
project, we study mature agroforestry systems combining either
trees and crops or trees and livestock grazing. We compare biodi-
versity of the agroforestry system with its components, such as crop
monocultures or tree plantations. Here, we present rst results re-
garding breeding birds in agroforestry systems in temperate Europe,
with sampling sites in England, Switzerland, France and Germany.
Breeding birds were assessed with audio recordings. Preliminary
analyses suggest that species richness in agroforestry is comparable
to forest, but higher than in orchard, grassland and arable controls.
However, agroforestry had dierent species composition than forest,
including species that depend on semi–open habitats. Thus, integrat-
ing agroforestry into agricultural landscapes could greatly enhance
bird populations.
Conserving bee diversity in gardens through
vegetation and nesting resources across
urban landscapes
Egerer M1
1Technische Universität München, Freising, Germany
In cities, insect pollinators contribute to urban biodiversity and pro-
vide important ecosystem services including pollination. Urban gar-
dens are social–ecological spaces where wild and cultivated plants
coexist, and natural structures are implemented or remain. Through
these habitat interventions in what may otherwise be aresource–
poor landscape, gardens may support diverse pollinator assemblag-
es. In this talk, Iuse the example of our research on wild bees in com-
munity gardens in Berlin and Munich, Germany, and the California
Central Coast, USA, to discuss how these habitats can promote bee
assemblages representing awide range of life history strategies. Spe-
cically, Ishow how functional traits of bees associate with manage-
ment factors in gardens, and also how bee traits relate to landscape–
level urbanization. Furthermore, Iconsider how ndings of rare bee
species in these gardens open questions around whether gardens
in urbanizing landscapes are ecological sinks, or whether they can
support species conservation. Although many mechanisms driving
urban pollinator diversity remain unknown, our preliminary work on
bee diversity and traits in relation to the urban environment provides
practical insight into how city residents can actively contribute to pol-
linator conservation, and calls for future research on changes in pol-
linator diversity in cities.
20
Land sharing in urban gardens to support
insect biodiversity
Egerer M1
1Technische Universität München, Freising, Germany
Urban gardens are a form of green infrastructure that engender
arange of ecosystem services, such as food production and recrea-
tion. These systems can also be biodiversity hotspots of animals and
plants through amix of annual and perennial vegetation and struc-
tural diversity and complexity. Yet, sometimes urban gardens are
posed as ‘at odds’ with biodiversity if human aesthetic preferences
and benets are preferred over nature conservation objectives. In
this talk, Idiscuss how community gardens are aform of urban green
infrastructure that can reconcile conicts between biodiversity con-
servation and human use. Ipresent examples of how through man-
agement of diverse cultivated and wild plant communities in these
systems, we can also thereby promote arthropod biodiversity, such
as of wild bees. As urban community gardens are aform of urban
green infrastructure that is consistently threatened and erased from
our cityscapes, this work aims to prompt discussion around the value
of these shared spaces for people and biodiversity.
Ecosystem service valuation as argument
for wetland restoration
Lucius I1, Ereifej L1, Perosa F1, Hristov I
1WWF–Central and Eastern Europe, Vienna, Austria
Policy makers and businesses are still regarding nature restoration
and protected areas management as a cost, not as an investment
that is generating values. The paper outlines monetary valuation of
the sh and biomass provisioning ecosystem service from restora-
tion investments in protected areas Persina Island, Kalimok and Kai-
kusha wetlands in Bulgaria. The results are as follows: the increased
water supply of the areas contributed to the enhancement of carp
nursery habitats, resulting in increased adult carp landings for local
shermen while the potential biomass provisioning services – palleti-
zation of harvested reed and use as fuel – also increased. This ex-
ample is compared to ecosystem service assessments for selected
oodplains along the rivers Tisza in Hungary and the oodplain com-
munity Bistret in Romania on the Lower Danube, both candidates for
restoration measures. The feasibility of market utilization of these
ecosystem services and their implications to water management and
climate change adaptation policies and implementations are dis-
cussed and evaluated.
Tracking the social dimension of ongoing
sh distributional range shift in marine
recreational shing
Espasandín L1, Coll M1, Sbragaglia V1
1Institut of Marine Sciences (ICM–CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
One of the most important ecological impacts of climate change on
marine ecosystems is the distributional range shift of species. Un-
derstanding the social implications of this phenomenon is crucial for
managers and policymakers for developing eective and proactive
adaptive management. Here, we characterize the social dimension
of recreational shing by mining data on YouTube about recreation-
al anglers and spearshers targeting the white grouper (Epinephelus
aeneus), which is expanding northwards in the North–Western Medi-
terranean Sea. Results showed that social engagement in Italian vid-
eos is higher for spearshers than anglers. We also found ahigher
positive polarity and positive emotions in spearshing comments
compared to angling comments. Most importantly, we detected age-
ographical gradient of emotions showing apositive correlation be-
tween the emotion “joy” and latitude. This result suggests that videos
from higher latitudes, where the white grouper is still arare species,
triggered more joy than at lower latitudes where this species is more
common. We demonstrated the potential of social media data for
quantifying socio–ecological dynamics across ageographical gradient
and, above all, the possibility for real–time monitoring of the social
dimension associated with biodiversity redistribution in response to
climate change.
Balancing conservation and production
in the bioeconomy: stakeholder–based
management scenarios make biodiversity
winners and losers in the boreal forest
Klein J1, Henckel L1,2, Eggers J1,3, Bradter U1,4, Fabritius H1,5, Moor H1,6,
Snäll T1
1SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Scienc-
es, UPPSALA, Sweden, 2INRAE (French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and
Environment), Dijon, France, 3Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish
University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden, 4Norwegian Institute for Nature
Research (NINA), Trondheim, Norway, 5Smart City Centre of Excellence, Tallinn Uni-
versity of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia, 6Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Bir-
mensdorf, Switzerland
Countries are transferring into fossil–free economies with increasing
demands on woody products. This makes arigorous process identi-
fying policy instruments that reconcile wood production and biodi-
versity conservation ever more important. Land–use policies that are
founded in the expertise and particular interests of key stakeholders
are likely more implementable and politically long–lasting, however,
only if acommon perception about the future exists. In this study, we
simulate the development of a>100000 ha Swedish forest landscape
100 years into the future, based on the management and policy sce-
narios of four key stakeholders. We based simulations on state–of–
the art models for eleven species of conservation concern. The simu-
lations show that most species do as well or better as today after 100
years under all but the most production–oriented scenario (formulat-
ed by Swedish landowners). For wood–decaying fungi, the percent-
age forest not managed with even–aged forestry was the common
denominator for this result. Birds and the lichen Lobaria pulmonaria
showed stable or positive developments on all management types.
The scenario presented by the state–owned forestry company was
the most production–oriented scenario, which still largely sustained
biodiversity after 100 years. The species generally increased in the
scenarios by the Sweden’sEPA and largest environmental NGO.
N = 2 (×5). An attempt to compare eects of
feral horse refaunation on ve checkerspot
buttery species inhabiting dry grasslands of
Podyjí National Park.
Konvicka M1, Hajkova K, Vodickova V, Vrba P, Sbaraglia C, Shovkun D,
Bartonova A, Grill S, Faltynek Fric Z
1Institute of Entomology, Bc Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czech
Republic
Restoring natural habitats by native megaherbivores refaunation is
increasingly practiced across Europe, but very little is known regard-
ing population dynamics of aected biota, including insects. To ll this
gap in knowledge, we used mark–recapture to compare demography,
dispersal and habitat utilization by ve Melitaeini butteries (Melitaea
athalia, M. aurelia, M. britomartis, M. cinxia and M. didyma) co–occur-
ring at grasslands of Podyjí National Park, Czech Republic, refaunated
by Exmoor ponies. Both pre–(2017) and post–(2021) intervention sur-
veys encompassed whole–season eld work, amassing huge amount
of material (e.g., total of 17,100 capture events). Still, the post–inter-
vention ndings diered in many ways from our pre–intervention
predictions (J. Nature Conserv. 52, 125755), pointing to substantial
variation among years due to such factors as weather. Findings at-
tributable to the megaherbivores presence included longer buttery
movements and more uniform within–habitat distribution, probably
because the horses uniformized the distribution of their resources.
Encouragingly, the critically endangered M. britomartis, rarest of the
ve butteries, beneted from the refaunation. Despite all the eort,
two seasons can hardly grasp entire dynamics of asystem, in which
large mammals, vegetation, insects, and inter–annual weather varia-
tion interact.
21
Anthropogenic barriers aect large carnivore
range expansion in Iberia
Fandos G1,2,3, Pratzer M3, Nill L3, Kuemmerle T3, Zurell D2,3
1Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 2Potsdam University, Pots-
dam, Germany, 3Humboldt–Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Large carnivores currently recolonise their historical range in Europe
after centuries of persecution and habitat loss. Understanding how
these recolonisations take place is important for proactive conserva-
tion planning to foster coexistence between carnivores and people.
Integrating species distributions models with dispersal scenarios, we
explore where and when large carnivores are likely to expand into hu-
man–dominated landscapes, and how human pressure might impact
this recolonisation process.
We highlight that the recolonization potential of large carnivores in
the Iberian Peninsula is likely more constrained by anthropogenic
resistance than by habitat availability, a situation likely emblematic
of large carnivores in many parts of the world. More generally, our
approach provides atool for conservation planners and managers
to identify where range expansion is most likely to occur, and thus
where human–carnivore conicts could arise, to proactively imple-
ment preventive measures that foster coexistence between humans
and wildlife.
Using anovel biodiversity data standard
and platform to mainstream the Essential
Biodiversity Variables
Fernández N1,2, Pereira H1,2, Langer C1,2, Quoss L1,2, Fernández M1,2
1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (idiv) Halle–jena–leipzig, Leip-
zig, Germany, 2Institute of Biology, Martin Luther Univ. Halle–Wittenberg, Halle, Ger-
many, 3International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Vienna, Austria
The ambition of NaturaConnect is to co–create with key decision–
makers and stakeholders, knowledge, tools and capacity building to
support Member States in realizing an ecologically representative,
resilient and well–connected network of conserved areas that con-
tribute to achieving the objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for
2030. To do this, NaturaConnect has acomprehensive set of interdis-
ciplinary research tasks aimed at producing, sharing and mobilizing
knowledge for implementation. This includes applying state–of–the–
art models on the distribution of biodiversity and ecosystem services
across Europe and scenario projections on how distributions may
change under future climate and land–use scenarios. Essential Biodi-
versity Variables are the cornerstone for assessing gaps in the current
protected area coverage and to identify critical ecological corridors
required to restore connectivity.
Biodiversity monitoring to support the Birds,
Habitats, and Water Framework Directives
Fernández N1,2, Solheim A, Brotons L, Hernando S, Jandt U, Bruel-
heide H
1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (idiv) Halle–jena–leipzig, Leip-
zig, Germany, 2Institute of Biology, Martin Luther Univ. Halle–Wittenberg, Halle, Ger-
many
Enhanced data workows and models can leverage monitoring data
on biodiversity and potential drivers to assess the status of selected
terrestrial and aquatic habitats and species of the Nature Directives.
Furthermore, regulatory monitoring under the Water Framework Di-
rective can serve as the backbone for better integrated aquatic bio-
diversity monitoring in Europe. By integrating multiple data sources
including remote sensing, coordinated monitoring programs, and
citizen science, we propose ways in which data workows under the
European Nature Directives can be eectively enhanced. Ensuring
production and distribution of Essential Biodiversity Variables data
is key for supporting comprehensive and coherent monitoring within
Europe.
Sustaining traditional knowledge systems for
better environmental stewardship
Fernández–llamazares Á1
1University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Over the last decades, signicant knowledge has accumulated about
the unique contributions of Indigenous Peoples and local communi-
ties to global biodiversity conservation. As aresult of this rich body
of evidence, there is increasing recognition in policy circles that tra-
ditional knowledge systems play critical roles in safeguarding our
planet’sbiological and cultural diversity. However, globalization, colo-
nialism, and extractivism threaten the integral relationships between
Indigenous Peoples and local communities and their environments,
thereby challenging the continuity and resilience of their knowledge
systems. Based on my long–term eld–based research partnerships
with several Indigenous communities in the Global South (e.g., Tsi-
mane’ in Bolivia, Maasai and Daasanach in Kenya) and drawing on an
in–depth global literature review on pressures to traditional knowl-
edge systems, this work will identify 15 strategic actions to support
the ongoing eorts of Indigenous Peoples and local communities
in sustaining their knowledge systems and ties to lands. Iwill nally
discuss how supporting Indigenous Peoples and local communities
in sustaining their homelands and associated knowledge systems is
inextricably linked to global eorts to address biodiversity loss and
climate change.
Mass–owering crops as apollinator
biodiversity enhancing intervention
Fijen T1
1Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands
Biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes is often restricted
by the surface of productive land. Apromising way to circumvent this
problem, is when crop cultivation in itself also benets biodiversity.
For example, mass–owering crops temporally provide enormous
amounts of food resources for insect pollinators, potentially boost-
ing local biodiversity levels. However, placement of honeybee hives
is frequently deemed necessary for high yields, potentially osetting
some of the biodiversity benets of mass–owering crop cultivation.
In this case study, we have studied the contribution of buckwheat (Fa-
gopyrum esculentum) cultivation to wild pollinators and vice versa, and
whether the placement of honeybee hives inuences wild pollinators.
We found that the buckwheat pollinator community was diverse, al-
beit dominated by honeybees, and we found no clear indications of
resource competition between honeybees and wild pollinators. Crop
yield was largely dependent on crop pollinator density, notably of
honeybees, and to alesser extent crop biomass. Also when the hon-
eybee hives were removed, relatively large densities of honeybees
were found, suggesting that they lure honeybees away from natural
areas. Our results indicate that buckwheat cultivation can contribute
to ll an important nectar gap in the summer, which potentially in-
creases wild pollinator populations on the long term.
Halting the Loss of Biodiversity in the
European Union; the Eect of the
Environmental Liability Directive
Fogleman V1
1Cardi University School of Law and Politics, Cardi, United Kingdom
In 2004, the Environmental Liability Directive (2004/35/EC; ELD) intro-
duced liability for preventing and remediating biodiversity damage,
that is, damage to species and natural habitats protected by the Birds
Directive (2009/147/EC) and the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). Whilst
the ELD also introduced liability for preventing and remediating land
and water damage, its main focus is to assist in halting the loss of bi-
odiversity in the EU. Before introduction of the ELD, no Member State
imposed liability on persons whose activities had caused biodiversity
damage to carry out measures to compensate for the failure fully to
restore it or for the loss of biodiversity during the time it was being
restored. Indeed, many Member States did not require biodiversity
to be restored to its condition before it was damaged. The ELD has
now been in force for over 12 years. During this time, the European
Commission and Member States have carried out measures to im-
prove its implementation including its assistance in halting the loss
22
of biodiversity. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to
which they have been successful.
Downscaling the fulllment of global
climate targets to national and landscape
level harvest projections and biodiversity
assessments
Forsell N1
1Iiasa, Laxenburg, Austria
During the last decade, alarge body of work has been done to dene
cross–sectoral mitigation pathways at the global and regional levels
that are consistent with reaching the Paris Agreement‘sgoal of limit-
ing global warming to well below 2 °C, preferably to 1.5 °C, compared
to pre–industrial levels. Analysis has highlighted the critical role for-
ests and land use sectors will play in pathways that are aligned with
1.5 °C and 2 °C temperature targets. However, there is less under-
standing of what the global and regional pathways mean for national
and landscape level development. The aim of this work is to demon-
strate how global greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction pathways can be
downscaled and translated to future national– and landscape–level
forecasts of wood demand. The GLOBIOM–forest model (a global
spatially explicit forest sector model), which here is used to project
the future demand for wood, which in turn can then be coupled with
highly detailed national forest planning tools to analyze the multiple
dimensions of biodiversity and ecosystem services at the national
and landscape scale.
Calling for are–assessment of conservation
policy on hybrids
Galbusera P1, Ball A8, Bertola L3, Bishop von Wettberg E7, Fienieg E9,
Helsen P1, Kopatz A2, Russo I5, Senn H8, Stronen A10, Ting N6, Waits L4
1Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp (RZSA), Antwerp, Belgium, 2Norwegian Institute
for Nature Research, Trondheim, Norway, 3Department of Biology, University of
Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 4 Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences,
University of Idaho, Moscow, USA, 5School of Biosciences, Cardi University, Cardi,
UK, 6 Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA, 7College
of Agriculture and Life Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, USA, 8The Royal
Zoological Society of Scotland Edinburgh, Scotland, Edinburgh, UK, 9European Asso-
ciation of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) , Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 10Department of
Biology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
The IUCN currently considers hybrids as athreat to biodiversity con-
servation. Hybridization with an invasive or feral population/species
can negatively aect resident taxa by genetic swamping and homog-
enization. Moreover, population viability can be compounded by
outbreeding depression (also in later generations) and/or lead to the
loss of genetic diversity. Yet hybridization is omni–present and can
play an important role in evolutionary processes such as speciation.
Furthermore, interspecic genetic exchange is anatural process and
may be essential for adaptation. Hence, we need to consider and
manage hybrids in amore nuanced way. Here, under the initiative of
the IUCN SSC Conservation Genetics Specialist Group, we discuss dif-
ferent aspects of hybridization, taking into account risks and benets
of hybrids, including the specics of taxa, the level of threat, the pop-
ulation size, the distinction between human induced versus natural
hybrids, besides legal, welfare and functional ecological aspects. We
argue that genetic analyses increase our ability to discover introgres-
sion and identify hybrids, allowing us to better assess, monitor and
manage genetic diversity, which is critically important for the resil-
ience of populations and ecosystems. If introgression can ensure or
improve retention of unique genetic components without reducing
population viability, hybrids may warrant preservation.
Public judgment of rewilding in relation to
dierent views of animal welfare
Gamborg C1, Palmer C2, Jensen F1, Sandøe P1
1University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C, Denmark, 2TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY, Col-
lege Station, USA
Rewilding is enjoying growing traction in conservation biology and is
now receiving considerable public attention. In this paper, we will fo-
cus on aspecic form of rewilding, ‘translocation rewilding’, in aDan-
ish context. Here, domesticated larger grazing animals such as horses
and cattle are settled in new so–called National Nature Parks (NNP),
which are fenced areas of 5–30 km2, to facilitate improvements to
the ecosystem. Supplementary feeding is not practised, but animals
can be taken out. Two questions in relation to the case are explored:
how are the animals translocated to the area viewed: as wild, tame
or something in between? What aspects of animal welfare are consid-
ered important, and how does this inuence an overall judgment of
NNP and translocation rewilding? Debates between supporters (e.g.
conservation biologists) and opponents (e.g. veterinarians) of NNPs
have become harsh and rather intractable. We suggest that two un-
derlying causes of disagreement are, rst, astress on dierent as-
pects of animal welfare (e.g. absence of suering vs natural living)
and assessing animals at dierent levels (e.g. individual vs herd level).
We inform the discussion by drawing on astudy of where the Dan-
ish population stands on these issues, using arepresentative sample,
(n=5000).
Is Vacant Land aValuable Habitat
for Urban Bees?
Gardiner M1
1The Ohio State University, Columbus, United States
Although we see rapid urbanization occurring across the globe,
over 400 cities worldwide have lost substantial population. These
“shrinking cities” are tasked with demolishing an overabundance of
unneeded infrastructure, creating parcels of vacant land. A recent
focus on vacant land as a conservation target is justiable as many
rare or declining bee species have been documented within these
urban greenspaces. In fact, a remarkable 20% of Ohio’s(USA) bee
fauna have been collected from urban vacant lots. However, for pol-
linator conservation to succeed long term, far greater consideration
for the humans in urban ecosystems must be made. In our experi-
ence, conservation potential is dicult to achieve when conservation
goals, aesthetics, and safety concerns are not shared or communicat-
ed between city residents and conservation practitioners. Likewise,
from abee ecology perspective, many questions remain unresolved
regarding optimal design and management practices for pollinator
habitats in cities. This presentation will discuss these challenges to
urban bees and suggest ways to advance eective pollinator conser-
vation paired with the delivery of cultural ecosystems services within
vacant land and other forms of public greenspace.
Assessing the impact of protected
areas on biodiversity and the role of
experimental design
Geldmann J1
1University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
In this talk, Iwill examine the role of study design and the quality of
data on the ability to assess eectiveness and impacts of protected
areas. Protected and conserved areas are enshrined in the Conven-
tion on Biological Diversity and are amongst the most important tools
for safeguarding nature. This had led to aproliferation of sites un-
der formal or informal protection with more than 250,000 sites now
designated across the globe and covering over 15% of the terrestrial
surface. However, to what extend these protected areas are having
an impact and are eective in delivering positive conservation out-
comes is debated. Addressing this question has proven dicult for at
least two interconnected reasons. One; lack of data on changes in the
state of nature, and two; diculties with implementing experimental
setup at scale or applying appropriate quasi–experimental methods
on the data available. In this talk, Iwill examine the experiences from
published studies and synthesis of the eectiveness of protected
areas at the global and regional levels, to explore how increasingly
sophisticated statistical methods and better data have changed our
perception of the impact and eectiveness of protected areas.
23
Temperature drives wild bee community
assembly in an urban environment
Geppert C1, Cappellari A1, Corcos D2, Caruso V2, Cerretti P2, Mei M2,
Marini L1
1University of Padova, Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals
and Environment, Padova, Italy, 2Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Biolo-
gy and Biotechnology “Charles Darwin”, Rome, Italy
Urbanization is widely regarded as a major threat to biodiversity.
However, recent research highlighted the ecological importance of
cities for pollinators. Key determinants of cities’ ability to sustain pol-
linators are the amount and the spatial organisation of green areas.
In addition, temperature is expected to be of primary importance for
pollinator activities. Here, we aimed at disentangling the eects of
temperature, open habitat cover and distance from the city centre
on wild bee communities in the city of Rome (Italy). We selected 36
sites along two independent gradients of surface temperatures and
of open habitat, and we sampled bee communities using pan traps
for four months. Then, we measured functional traits of wild bees,
i.e., body size, social behaviour, nesting strategy, and diet breadth.
Temperature emerged as the main driver of wild bee communities.
At warmer temperatures, communities were richer in species and
individuals. In addition, with increasing temperatures, bee communi-
ties showed ahigher percentage of polylectic and small size species.
Here, we showed that in ahighly urbanised environment, tempera-
ture shapes pollinator communities irrespective of other landscape
metrics. Warming seemed benecial for bee abundance, but it might
homogenise communities selecting for those traits that make species
more easily adaptable.
Anthropogenic resistance – considering
human–wildlife conict
in conservation planning
Ghoddousi A1, Dutta T2,3, Dietsch A4, Kuemmerle T1
1Humboldt–University Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2University of Goettingen, Göttingen,
Germany, 3European Forest Institute, Bonn, Germany, 4The Ohio State University,
Columbus, USA
Landscapes around the globe are increasingly transforming due, in
part, to increased human population, expansion and intensication
of land uses, and infrastructure development. This transformation
forces megafauna to share landscapes with people and to venture
into human–dominated areas when moving between habitat patch-
es. Sharing landscapes can lead to competition over space and re-
sources, and negative outcomes (e.g., conict) for both species. De-
spite landscape–level conservation eorts, including the protection of
core habitat and movement corridors, conict continues to threaten
megafauna worldwide. We argue that the growth of conict despite
conservation eorts arises from ignoring the diverse human behav-
iours that inuence wildlife movements and persistence. Thus, we
introduce the concept of ‘anthropogenic resistance’ to capture the
psychological and socioeconomic factors that shape human behav-
iours and wildlife outcomes. Several factors such as the risks posed
by aspecies to the high economic–value property could inuence the
responses of humans to megafauna presence and related conict.
We illustrate the concept of anthropogenic resistance using case
studies and propose how to obtain and incorporate data into con-
servation planning. Amore holistic social–ecological perspective in
conservation planning can help to ensure the coexistence of people
and megafauna.
The impact of forests characteristics on forest
recreational value – an European perspective
Giergiczny M1, Jacobsen J, Glenk K, Meyerho J
1University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Warszawa, Polska
The economic value of goods and services provided to the societies
by forests depends on how forests are managed. On aEuropean
scale, forests are diverse and managed in many ways. Yet, there has
been no large–scale assessment of the economic value of forests
recreation across Europe. In this paper we systematically apply pref-
erence–based valuation methods to investigate public preferences
for forest visits in ten European countries. We observe substantial
recreational value measured by the consumer surplus. Compared to
the gross value added of forestry and timber production, gross recre-
ational benets are, except for Belarus, on par or larger. Additionally,
using stated preference methodology we nd that more diverse for-
est structure with taller trees, alarger number of mixed tree species,
higher variation in tree layers, and larger amounts of deadwood yield,
on average, higher recreational values. This implies that managing
forests to promote recreational values may generate signicant syn-
ergies with biodiversity conservation. The results of our study provide
arobust basis for evaluating the societal consequences of future for-
est management policies and can form abasis for integrating forest
recreational values into ecosystem service models for European for-
ests. An example of such analysis is performed for Poland.
Coexisting with dierent human–wildlife
coexistence perspectives
Glikman J1,2, Frank B3, Ruppert K2, Marchini S4
1Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados (iesa–csic), Cordoba, Spain, 2San Diego Zoo
Wildlife Alliance, Escondido, USA, 3Capital Regional District–Regional Parks Canada,
Victoria, Canada, 4North of England Zoological Society (Chester Zoo), Chester, United
Kingdom
Over the last decade, there has been a remarkable increase in sci-
entic literature addressing human–wildlife interactions (HWI) and
associated concepts, such as coexistence, tolerance, and acceptance.
Despite increased attention, these terms are rarely dened or con-
sistently applied across publications. Indeed, the meaning of these
concepts, especially coexistence, is frequently assumed and left for
the reader to interpret, making it hard to compare studies, test met-
rics, and build upon previous HWI research. To work toward abetter
understanding of these terms, we conducted two World Café sessions
at international conferences in Namibia, Africa and Ontario, Canada.
Here, we present the array of perspectives revealed in the workshops
and build upon these results to describe the meaning of coexistence
as currently applied by conservation scientists and practitioners. Al-
though we focus on coexistence, it is imperative to understand the
term in relation to tolerance and acceptance, as in many cases these
latter terms are used to express, measure, or dene coexistence.
Drawing on these ndings, we discuss whether acommon denition
of these terms is possible and how the conservation eld might move
toward clarifying and operationalizing the concept of human–wildlife
coexistence.
What factors drive arthropod communities on
extensive green roofs of Central Argentina?
Gonzalez E1,2, Fabián D1, Salvo A1, Bikic B1, Sanchez Dominguez M1,
Fenoglio M1
1Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV), Universidad Nacional de
Córdoba (UNC), CONICET, Cordoba, Argentina, 2Department of Ecology, Faculty of
Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha – Suchdol,
Czech Republic
Green roofs are among the recommended green infrastructures to
support biodiversity in cities, where impervious surfaces, pollution,
and warming jeopardize wildlife. However, the eectiveness of green
roofs to provide habitat for arthropods is still poorly known, particu-
larly for Latin American cities. Therefore, we investigated how dier-
ent structural and environmental characteristics of extensive green
roofs inuence ying and ground–dwelling arthropod communities.
We collected arthropods using yellow pan traps and pitfall traps in
30 green roofs located in dierent urbanization contexts in Córdo-
ba, Argentina. In addition, asubset of green roofs was compared to
their neighbour ground–level habitats. Despite that green roofs sup-
ported, on average, half the diversity and abundance of ground–level
habitats, we found diverse communities on green roofs, with more
than 600 morphospecies and 20,000 individuals. Flying arthropods
were mainly positively linked to green roof area and variables such as
green cover in the landscape and plant richness. In contrast, ground–
dwelling arthropods were aected by plant composition, and their
abundance and richness increased with irrigation and soil depth.
These results represent the rst assessments of arthropods on green
roofs of aLatin American region and provide valuable information to
guide the design of biodiverse green roofs.
24
Field defects in oilseed rape: apromising
alternative for insect conservation
in arable elds?
Gonzalez E1,2, Štrobl M2, Kadlec T2, Knapp M2
11Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV), Universidad Nacional de
Córdoba (UNC), CONICET, Cordoba, Argentina, 2Department of Ecology, Faculty of
Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha – Suchdol,
Czech Republic
Biodiversity has decreased globally and agricultural intensication is
one of the main causes. Therefore, conservation measures in agro-
ecosystems are urgently necessary. Over the last years, we investi-
gated natural and articially–created temporary patches of non–crop
habitats (eld defects) in oilseed rape elds in the Czech Republic
and assessed their eect on arthropod communities and ecosystem
services. Natural eld defects supported fewer species of carab-
id beetles than oilseed rape controls, whereas pest and weed seed
predation levels were similar or slightly lower in defects compared
to controls. In articial defects, Lepidoptera, Hemiptera and Hyme-
noptera were more abundant and diverse than in controls, while the
abundance of spiders showed the same trend. On the contrary, car-
abids and staphylinids presented more individuals and species in the
controls, and the richness of myriapods showed the same pattern.
In both natural and articial eld defects, abundance and richness
increased during oilseed senescence, when eld defects seem to be-
come suitable refuges for several groups. These temporary patches
may represent asimple tool to benet some groups of arthropods,
although future studies are needed to better understand their impor-
tance in terms of ecosystem services and how they will perform when
established in low–yield areas of cultivated elds.
Contextualizing Fish Habitat
in Novel Riverscapes
Hansen H1
1Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
Current trends in freshwater sh biodiversity on a global scale are
showing continuous decline. Many of these degraded ecosystems
are lotic systems that currently exhibit hybrid ecosystem states and
can be restored to similar historical conditions prior to anthropogenic
pressures. Other rivers exhibit novel ecosystem characteristics where
no amount of restoration could return it to its former state. Agreater
understanding of sh–habitat relationships is needed comprehen-
sively to identify realistic conservation opportunities in this context.
Relatively few sh–habitat models integrate anovel ecosystems per-
spective thus conservation goals may misalign with biological and
practical limitations throughout the river restoration process. Past
literature highlights how current models often fail to 1) encompass
the long time scales that operate on altered lotic systems, 2) account
for hydrologic complexity, 3) incorporate diverse sh movement pat-
terns, and 4) evaluate multiple disturbances simultaneously. Herein
we propose anew perspective of altered rivers and the implications
this has for sh habitat modeling. We focus on these challenges both
historically, present time, and their future outlook. We provide aspa-
tial and temporal overview of how new developments in sh–habitat
models can be guided to better address novel river ecosystems.
Moving tracks across socio–scapes
Harris N1
1Yale University, New Haven, United States
Wildlife move through and within complex environments. Traditional
assessments of external factors governing movement characteristics
focused largely on biophysical attributes. But with an increasingly
crowded planet, its crucial to also evaluate of socio–scapes comprised
on human behaviors, cultures, values, and governance schemes that
create heterogeneous, dynamic environment that organisms must
also navigate. How humans interact with the natural world can create
barriers to movement and reduce connectivity, alter habitat quality
that result in avoidance, and produce areas of high risks. Additionally,
humans can be recipients of provisioning and biocultural services as-
sociated with the movement of animals. For example, pulsed resourc-
es made available during migratory routes are benecial for indige-
nous communities and the local tourism industry. However, disease
exposure and human–wildlife conict also emerge from movement
patterns. These feedbacks with humans as drivers and humans as
recipients highlight the need in building infrastructure to explicitly
incorporate social dimensions into animal movement ecology. Only
by coupling databases of social and natural processes and investing
in technologies that gather both types of information will we have
the tools necessary to promote coexistence for asustainable future.
Landscape–scale agri–environment
schemes in social–ecological systems
for promoting pollinators
Hass A1
1University of Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany
Biodiversity in agro–ecosystems is decreasing rapidly in Europe de-
spite the implementation of agri–environment schemes (AES). AES
at landscape scale have been suggested to be more eective than
measures by individual farmers. However, eects of landscape scale
AES on ecological, social and economic outcomes remain poorly un-
derstood including how dierent AES in the landscape aect pollina-
tors.
We identied potential synergies of implementing cooperative AES
at the landscape scale between ecological, social and economic as-
pects. The cooperation of farmers and other stakeholders could
lead to increased ecological eectiveness and ecosystem services,
but also higher social capital. Moreover, cooperation might result in
decreased transaction costs and improved market opportunities for
farmers.
First results of aeld study showed interactive eects of two AES at
the landscape scale on wild bee abundance: Increasing area of annu-
al ower elds only had apositive eect, if the proportion of organic
farming was low. However, the eectiveness of organic farming de-
pended on the availability of semi–natural habitats providing nesting
habitats.
AES implementation at the landscape scale is apromising tool with
potential to overcome the currently low eectiveness of AES in halt-
ing biodiversity decline. Nevertheless, key questions remain unsolved
and interactions between dierent AES should be considered.
The eects of river oodplain restoration
on ecosystem services
Hein T1,2, Becsi R1, Bondar–Kunze E1,2, Böck K1,3, Funk A1,2, Grüner B1,
Muhar S1, Tschikof M1,2
1University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 2Wasser-
Cluster Lunz, Lunz, Austria, 3WWF Austria, Vienna, Austria
Rivers and their oodplains are recognized to support vital ecosys-
tem functions and services at local and regional scales. Restoration
measures of oodplains, may aim to re–establish multi–functionali-
ty of oodplain systems, by ensuring navigation, preserving and re-
storing unique uvial and riparian habitats, re–establishing natural
processes and hence, to support a variety of service provisioning.
Dierent restoration measures can be implemented including side
arm re–connection and more in–channel measures such as the re-
moval of embankments and groins. We present ecosystem services in
river–oodplains and evaluate how aprogramme of measures along
the Danube can inuence the diversity and quantity of specic eco-
system services (ES) and therefore, the overall multi–functionality of
oodplains compared to the current situation. Therefore, regulating
ecosystem services (RES), such as nutrient retention and habitat pro-
visioning, were modeled and predicted. Also, the potential to provide
cultural ecosystem services (CES) was assessed based on mapping of
various land– and water–based recreational activities. We present re-
sults showing synergistic eects and potential tradeos for dierent
ecosystem services related to restoration measures. Overall, we pro-
vide evidence that restoration measures have ahigh potential to in-
crease the multi–functionality of the oodplain system by supporting
the provisioning of RES including habitat availability and selected CES.
25
Wildlife movement management frameworks
in conservation of social ecological systems
Hejcmanová P1, Borger L2
1Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic, 2Swansea University, Unit-
ed Kingdom
Movement of organisms is one of the key mechanisms determining
individual responses to resources, environmental change and species
interactions, patterns of changes in species’ traits and genetic diver-
sity, and, ultimately, the distribution of biodiversity (Broseetal. 2004;
Nathanetal. 2008). Movement is therefore fundamental for predict-
ing human impact on biodiversity, e.g. in the context of changes in
landscape conguration, habitat deterioration and climate change
(Jeltsch et al. 2013). Recent technological advancements certainly
provide big data on movement patterns of unprecedented quality,
but akey challenge now is to make full use of such data with regard
to better understanding and predicting biodiversity dynamics and
how to make the outputs readily accessible and integrated, i.e. how
to communicate them in an understandable way to conservation
practitioners (Bartonetal. 2015; Fraseretal. 2018). The importance
of understanding the patterns and drivers of movement for eective
conservation and management has been recognized (Katzner and Ar-
lettaz 2020), there is, additionally, often adisjoint in aims and goals
of researchers and managers in conservation science and movement
ecology. We aim to tackle the gaps in understanding between aims
of conservation practitioners and researchers, and in how science–
based ndings in movement ecology may rene decision–making and
thus contribute to fullling conservation objectives. We therefore in-
vite practitioners and scientists from both elds to adebate on joint
and transdisciplinary approaches for eective conservation in the
Anthropocene.
Spatial prioritisation of threat management
for biodiversity conservation across the
Natura 2000 network
Hermoso V1,2, Salgado–Rojas J3, Lanzas M2, Álvarez–Miranda E4,5
1University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain, 2Centre de Ciència iTecnologia Forestal de Cata-
lunya, Solsona, Spain, 3Universidad Politecnica de Cataluña, Barcelona, Spain, 4Uni-
versidad de Talca, Talca, Chile, 5Universidad de Santiago, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Eective conservation must rely on careful planning and strategic
investment of limited resources. The last report on the State of the
Nature in the European Union (EU), aperiodic monitoring exercise
at continental scale, shows that biodiversity continues to decline, de-
spite the eorts done in the last decades. Urgent action is, therefore,
needed to reverse this trend.
We carried out agap analysis to identify pressures and threats with
no reported management action over the period 2013–2018 and
identify priorities to close this gap. We nally prioritised the selection
of pressures and threats to be addressed for all species and habitats
collectively, to identify management priorities.
We found that 2/3 of all combinations of species/ habitat x pressure/
threat did not have management actions reported. Management
gaps were especially large for birds, amphibians and reptiles and
marine bioregions in northern EU. The spatial prioritisation anal-
yses showed that all species and habitats could benet collectively
from areduction in 30% of pressures/ threats incidence by targeting
asmall proportion of pressures/ threats and Natura 2000 sites.
The prioritisation approach that we demonstrate here could be val-
uable to plan investment to close the current management gap and
inform conservation across the EU.
The application gap: genomics for ecosystem
service management
Heuertz M1, Carvalho S2, Galindo J3, Rinkevich B4, Robakowski P5, Aa-
vik T6, Barth J7, Cotrim H8, González–Martínez S1, Grebenc T9, Goessen
R10, Hoban S11, Kopatz A12, McMahon B13, Porth I10, Raeymaekers J14,
Träger S15, Vella A16, Garnier–Géré P1
1Inrae, University of Bordeaux, Cestas, France, 2CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal, 3Univer-
sidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain, 4National Institute of Oceanography, Haifa, Israel,
5Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland, 6University of Tartu, Tartu,
Estonia, 7University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 8Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon,
Portugal, 9Slovenian Forestry Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 10Université Laval, Que-
bec, Canada, 11The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, USA, 12Norwegian Institute for Nature
Research, Trondheim, Norway, 13University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 14Nord
University, Bodø, Norway, 15Martin Luther University Halle–Wittenberg, Halle, Ger-
many, 16University of Malta, Msida, Malta
The conservation of biodiversity at all levels is fundamental for the
continual provision of ecosystem services, ES. This is because biodi-
versity underpins ecosystem functions and services and enables the
resilience of populations, services and communities in the face of un-
certainty. Genetic and genomic diversity information is now increas-
ingly used in applied biodiversity conservation thanks to the imple-
mentation of solutions to bridge the “conservation genetics gap”. We
argue that asimilar “application gap” exists for genetic and genomic
information in natural resource management for ecosystem servic-
es. We review evidence on how genomic applications can be used to
support management goals for ES through dedicated management
actions based on genomic information in single species (relatedness,
neutral vs. potentially adaptive variants) or in interacting species
(host–microorganism coevolution, hybridization). These goals pertain
to conservation and restoration questions, but also to the produc-
tion of food and materials in ecosystems managed for sustainable
productivity, to adaptive management in the face of climate change,
to the management of invasive species and to the management of
microbial diversity and functions to support ES from soils and poten-
tially even oceans. We provide examples of management applications
when available, and conclude with perspectives on genomics for ES.
Introducing the G–BiKE
Heuertz M2, Vernesi C1
1Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele All‘adige (TN), Italy, 2INRAE, University of
Bordeaux, France
The COST Action G–BiKE (Genomic Biodiversity Knowledge for Resil-
ient Ecosystems) includes more than 110 researchers and practition-
ers from all European countries. G–BiKE’sgoal is to install measuring
and monitoring of genetic diversity in any new policy and regulation
targeting biodiversity. G–BiKE’sactivities –from workshops to small
grants– are ultimately intended to ensure persistence of populations
and species, and to guarantee the supply of nature–based ecosys-
tem services. Our main aims are: 1) explaining how genetic diversity
can support ecosystems; 2) developing and testing best practices for
monitoring genetic diversity in time and space; 3) providing an online
forum on emerging tools; 4) connecting all stakeholders through net-
working and training opportunities; 5) building a network of conser-
vation genetics labs. G–BiKE is actively involved in the drafting of the
post–2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the Convention
of Biological Diversity. Through several papers, webinars and policy
briefs G–BiKE managed to propose some amendments to the zero
draft that resulted in the current inclusion of genetic diversity in the
new targets. Finally, G–BiKE is among the founders of The Coalition
for Conservation Genetics, anetwork of networks.
Our (Traditional) Knowledge Our Way?
Hill R1
1James Cook University, SMITHFIELD, Australia
Traditional knowledge of herders, foragers and farmers is increasing-
ly recognised as useful for conservation science, policy and practice
across Europe. However, few conservation scientists are trained to
work with place–based knowledge, practices and worldviews. Euro-
pean guidelines for ethical research practice are generally silent on
these topics. Some journals contain standards for working with Indig-
enous knowledge, generally drawn from experiences in places such
as Australia and Canada. Many challenges have been encountered
in working with traditional knowledge in these contexts—knowledge
is frequently misappropriated for commercial gain without benets
owing to communities, without consent and in ways that are con-
sidered harmful by traditional custodians. Here I present guidance
about working with traditional knowledge in biodiversity assessment,
emanating globally from the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodi-
versity and Ecosystem Services, and nationally from Australian Indig-
enous land and sea managers in Our Knowledge Our Way and the
recent State of the Environment 2021 report. Australian Indigenous
peoples emphasise their own purposes and leadership in traditional
knowledge, rather than situating these in the context of enrichment
of scientic–led biodiversity management. I consider whether these
guidelines may be applicable in the European context, and how con-
servation scientists can use such guidance to enrich their research
and practice.
26
Patterns of taxonomic, functional, and
phylogenetic diversity in forest–grassland
mosaics
Ho K1, Kröel–Dulay G2, Lengyel A2, Ónodi G2, Bátori Z3, Tölgyesi C3,
Török P4,5, Erdős L2,4
1Doctoral School of Environmental Sciences, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hunga-
ry, 2Institute of Ecology and Botany, MTA Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót,
Hungary, 3Department of Ecology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary, 4MTA–DE
Lendület Functional and Restoration Ecology Research Group, Debrecen, Hungary,
5Polish Academy of Sciences, Botanical Garden – Center for Biological Diversity Con-
servation in Powsin, Warszawa, Poland
Large areas of Eastern Europe are covered by forest–grassland mosa-
ics. However, the conservation implications of habitat heterogeneity
in these mosaics, and the patterns of phylogenetic and functional di-
versities are virtually unknown, which hinders appropriate planning
of ecological restoration programs and conservation–oriented hab-
itat management. We compared species composition, species rich-
ness, Shannon diversity, functional and phylogenetic diversity among
eight habitat types in forest–grassland mosaics of the Kiskunság Sand
Ridge, Hungary. Our study revealed acompositional gradient, rang-
ing from large forest patches through smaller–sized forest patches
and edges to closed and open grasslands. Each habitat had species
that were rare or absent elsewhere. North–facing forest edges and
open annual grasslands had the highest species richness and Shan-
non diversity, respectively. Forest patches had high functional and
phylogenetic diversity, underscoring their ecological and conserva-
tion importance despite the fact that they are usually overlooked
in conservation practice. We found that taxonomic diversity indices
were poor surrogates for functional and phylogenetic diversities.
Our ndings emphasize that the habitat heterogeneity of mosaic–like
ecosystems needs to be taken into account in research and nature
conservation practice. Furthermore, conservation should consider
various aspects of diversity, including functional and phylogenetic di-
versity, instead of exclusive emphasis on taxonomic diversity indices.
Trophic structure and the eect of
environmental variables on riverine shes in
an anthropogenically altered river ecosystem
Horka P1, Musilova Z2, Holubova K1, Jandova K1, Kukla J1
1Charles University, Faculty of Science, Institute of Environmental Studies, Benatska
2, Czech Republic, 2Charles University, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology,
Praha 2, Czech Republic
Although the concept of trophic interactions has been used for long
time, there are still considerable gaps in our understanding of the
trophic interactions of river sh communities. Stable isotope analysis
can be used to infer ecological niche use in sh. δ13C and δ15N of 20
species of sh belonging to both eurytopic and rheophilic ecological
groups from alarge temperate river were used to evaluate trophic
niche use, and to nd out how environmental variability aects indi-
vidual and community–wide aspects of trophic structure. Of the 11
environmental variables tested, nutrients had asignicant eect on
trophic niche area of species, indicating that eutrophication is of crit-
ical importance for sh communities. Isotopic niche area of species
was found to be positively inuenced by total phosphorus, and neg-
atively aected by concentrations of N–NO3– and ammonia (N–NH4+).
Niche diversication and total area of niche space (TA) were highest
at sites with high heterogeneity of both in–river and adjacent habitat,
reecting high resource diversity in less channelised reaches. An ob-
served pattern where nutrient loading inuenced both individual spe-
cies and the overall trophic structure of the sh assemblage provides
strong support for an anthropogenic inuence on riverine food webs.
How to single out species and populations for
monitoring of genetic diversity
Hvilsom C1, Segelbacher G2
1Copenhagen Zoo, Frederiksberg, Denmark, 2University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Ger-
many
One of the main challenges for conservation today is understanding
changes in biodiversity. Genetic diversity provides the foundation for
biodiversity and is necessary for long–term survival, adaptation, and
resilience not only for individuals, but also for populations, species,
and entire ecosystems. Monitoring genetic diversity across dierent
time points is arst step to gain insight into the extent to which pop-
ulations or species might be at risk, to guide conservation action and
to provide evidence for solutions. However, putting genetic diversity
monitoring into practice in the form of an eective, implemented pro-
ject can be challenging. To help guide practitioners through the de-
cision and evaluation processes of identifying the most appropriate
set of species or populations to monitor in agenetic diversity moni-
toring project, the IUCN SSC Conservation Genetics Specialist Group
has produced a guidance document. Asuite of steps and consider-
ations that needs to be taken into account when planning a genetic
diversity monitoring project will be presented, followed by criteria
which should be evaluated to select which species and populations
to monitor. Lastly, dierent key aspects will be highlighted, and case
studies used to illustrate dierent approaches to establishing genetic
diversity monitoring projects.
Social–ecological forest management
as astrategy in the concatenant forest,
biodiversity and climate crises
Ibisch P1
1Centre For Econics And Ecosystem Management, Eberswalde University for Sustain-
able Development, Eberswalde, Germany
The loss of functioning forest ecosystems is intimately linked to
the current biodiversity crisis and increases the vulnerability of the
global ecosystem in the anthropogenic climate crisis. The concept of
social–ecological forest management is based on asystems ecology
approach. In the face of Earth crises, the goal of best preserving eco-
system functioning includes maintaining or restoring their dynamic
capacity to resiliently adapt and evolve. Social–ecological systems
result from their complex and intertwined interactions and inter-
dependencies. Social–ecological forest management is ecosystem–
based and human–centered. This means that, in addition to apara-
digm of ecosystem functioning that can be scientically described and
justied, appropriate ethical considerations and orientations must be
taken to provide an expedient framework for management. In the
face of existing challenges and lines of conict, social–ecological forest
governance must contribute to the creation of frameworks through
social instruments and discourses that ensure the maintenance and
promotion of forest ecosystems as well as of acontemporary forest
justice, in the sense of the fair and equitable use of all ecosystem
services needed for human well–being. The growing importance of
regulating ecosystem services means that forest management must
emancipate itself from the primacy of timber harvesting.
Haymeadows and pastures in the
present and past. Traditional and
historical knowledge in successful species
conservation961
Ivașcu C3, Iuga A1, Westin A2, Lennartsson T2, Biro A4
1National Museum of The Romanian Peasant, Bucharest, Romania, 2Swedish Univer-
sity of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 3West University, Timisoara, Romania,
4Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Karlova Ves, Slovakia
European biodiversity is threatened by changed land–use, and akey
conservation measure is to restore degraded habitats and improve
habitat management. Targets for restoration and management are,
however, often dicult to identify due to lack of sites with favorable
conservation status. Studies of declining populations and degraded
habitats may provide misleading information about what is the suit-
able habitat. It is therefore necessary to trace earlier, more favorable
conditions, for example by using traditional ecological knowledge
(Berkesetal. 2000, Roué and Molnár 2017) and historical knowledge
in combination with ecological knowledge (Westinetal. 2018).
We present results from own interdisciplinary research in which
Swedish threatened hay–meadows are compared with actively used
meadows in Romania in order to identify management practices of
key importance for biodiversity. We discuss the eects on threatened
plant and insect species of mowing and grazing regimes in meadows,
as well as temporary cultivation. Our paper also includes the use of
reference landscapes, i.e. learning about traditional management
and species in landscapes where they are still common, for conserva-
tion where they have become rare.
27
Mainstreaming the importance of Riparian
Zones in Norway
Iversen A1
1Norwegian Environment Agency, Oslo, Norway
The presentation will contribute with the observations, experiences
and reections from the point of view of the Environment Agency on
the aspect of environmental governance for protecting and restoring
Riparian Zones in Norway. The presentation will look specically at
examples and experiences concerning the roles and interplay of dif-
ferent actors like research institutions, authorities at dierent levels,
and NGOs.
The Research Institutions develop the knowledge base for decision-
makers, for instance the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Re-
search (NIBIO) and the Norwegian Institute of Water Research (NIVA).
The Central Government (ministries and agencies) develop the na-
tional Legal Requirements and Guidelines for environmental policy,
land use planning, environmental impact assessment etc. Responsi-
bilities are divides between dierent authorities, creating challenges
for integration of objectives and coordination of activities.
Regional authorities are key to translating the national policy into ac-
tion, when they develop River Basin Management Plans, as well as
advising and inspecting the local authorities (municipalities) who are
the actual decisionmakers concerning land use.
There are also dedicated environmental NGOs making use of the
knowledge and working in more creative ways to conscientize the
public, aiming to inuence policy.
Putting land–use actors in focus for improved
conservation planning and eectiveness
Iwamura T1
1Oregon State University, Corvallis, United States
Estimating human–wildlife encounters is the key concept for the
assessments of both the threats to biodiversity conservation. While
many factors are considered to be associated with the human–wild-
life encounters, it can be conceptually modeled as spatio–temporal
overlaps between human and wildlife presence. In rural to frontier
environment, spatial aspects of animal presence is often represented
as species distribution model or abundance model, while temporal
nature is rather dicult to capture. On the other hand, spatio–tempo-
ral activities of human is often captured as hunting pressures or land
cover changes in conservation and ecology context. With these meth-
ods, we are deeply in need to address the issue of human agency,
meaning how each human decide what to do in where at which tim-
ing. In my talk, Iwill introduce the modeling framework and concept
of Agent–based modeling (ABM) in the human–wildlife encounter rate
by using the example of Guyana‘ssavannah and Sri Lanka‘sfarmers.
Iwill discuss how to model spatio–temporal nature of animals and
humans, while taking human agency in the center piece of mecha-
nism. Iwill also discuss potential of such methods to explore the dual
objectives of human–wildlife interactions in conservation and public
health.
Societal extinction of species
Jaric I1, Roll U2, Bonaiuto M3, Brook B4, Courchamp F5, Firth J6, Gaston
K7, Heger T8,9, Jeschke J9, Ladle R10, Meinard Y11, Roberts D12, Sherren
K13, Soga M14, Soriano–Redondo A15, Verissimo D6, Correia R15
1Biology Centre of The Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Repub-
lic, 2Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben–Gurion, Israel, 3Sapienza
Universita di Roma, Rome, Italy, 4University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia, 5Uni-
versite Paris–Saclay, Orsay, France, 6University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom,
7University of Exeter, Penryn, United Kingdom, 8Technical University of Munich, Mu-
nich, Germany, 9Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin,
Germany, 10Universidade do Porto, Vairao, Portugal, 11Universite Paris Dauphine,
Paris, France, 12University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom, 13Dalhousie Univer-
sity, Halifax, Canada, 14University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, 15University of Helsinki,
Helsinki, Finland
The ongoing global biodiversity crisis not only involves biological ex-
tinctions, but also the loss of experience and the gradual fading of
cultural knowledge and collective memory of species. We refer to this
phenomenon as ‘societal extinction of species’ and apply it to both
extinct and extant taxa. We describe the underlying concepts as well
as the mechanisms and factors that aect this process, discuss its
main implications, and identify mitigation measures. Societal extinc-
tion is cognitively intractable, but it is tied to biological extinction and
thus has important consequences for conservation policy and man-
agement. It aects societal perceptions of the severity of anthropo-
genic impacts and of true extinction rates, erodes societal support for
conservation eorts, and causes the loss of cultural heritage.
Transience of public attention in conservation
science
Jaric I1, Correia R2, Bonaiuto M3, Brook B4, Courchamp F5, Firth J6, Gas-
ton K7, Heger T8,9, Jeschke J9, Ladle R10, Meinard Y11, Roberts D12, Sher-
ren K13, Soga M14, Soriano–Redondo A2, Verissimo D6, Roll U15
1Biology Centre Of The Czech Academy Of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Repub-
lic, 2University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 3Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome,
Italy, 4University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia, 5Universite Paris–Saclay, Orsay,
France, 6University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, 7University of Exeter, Penryn,
United Kingdom, 8Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany, 9Leibniz Insti-
tute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany, 10Universidade do
Porto, Vairao, Portugal, 11Universite Paris Dauphine, Paris, France, 12University of
Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom, 13Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, 14Uni-
versity of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, 15Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben–
Gurion, Israel
Societal awareness of, and engagement with, environmental prob-
lems is acritical prerequisite for eective conservation programs. Re-
search has revealed astrong general pattern whereby public atten-
tion received by cultural products diminishes over time. If transposed
to conservation, this transience of societal attention is likely to be of
major importance because it can limit motivation to support conser-
vation eorts. We address the concept of conservation–attention
transience, discuss its major drivers and mechanisms, and provide
ashort overview of conservation issues for which this phenomenon
is expected to be particularly relevant. Attention transience leaves
a brief window of opportunity for conservationists to focus public
awareness and to mobilize necessary support. In this context, it is
critical to maximize the conservation benets generated during these
short bursts of attention, especially through tailored conservation
marketing campaigns with targeted message framing and regular ef-
forts to re–focus attention on key issues.
Foraging personalities modify eects of
habitat fragmentation on biodiversity
Jeltsch F1, Rohwäder M1, Szangolies L1
1University Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Habitat loss poses asubstantial threat to biodiversity, but whether
fragmentation per se drives the loss of species is still widely debat-
ed. While negative consequences from fragmentation are often an-
ticipated, many empirical studies report positive eects suggesting
that intrinsic mechanisms governing species’ persistence are not
fully understood. We investigated consistent personality–dependent
dierences in foraging behaviour among individuals as apossible
mechanism underlying the discrepancy of reported fragmentation
eects. We used amechanistic individual–based model to simulate
home range behaviour of acompetitive mammal community based
on the availability of a shared resource. Thereby, the personality of
an individual dictates its foraging decisions at risky habitat edges,
an inherent property of fragmentation per se. Our simulations show
that dierences in risk–taking while foraging are a further mecha-
nism contributing to the reconciliation of the fragmentation debate.
While risk–averse communities displaying edge avoidance conrm
the negative eects of fragmentation, risk–prone communities show
a neutral response. Furthermore, fragmentation positively impacts
biodiversity and species coexistence for behaviourally diverse com-
munities including risk–averse and risk–prone individuals. Our study
highlights the importance of recognizing the behavioural composi-
tion of communities for estimating fragmentation eects, because
dierent personalities can inuence the coping abilities of animal
communities in light of fragmentation.
28
Long term tracking of big mammals in
detail: how could new biologging techniques
improve data for wildlife management
Ježek M1, Silovský V1, Faltusová M1
1Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
Long–term tracking is one of the most important methods for study-
ing animal behavior. Scientists are developing more sophisticated de-
vices for tracking during the last decades, but continuously long–term
tracking and detailed behavior description have not been possible yet.
Here we take advantage of the emergence of biologging technologies
to characterize the adaptive signicance and biophysical mechanisms
underlying analyses in free–roaming wild boar and red deer. We have
designed biologging collars equipped with tri–axial accelerometer
and magnetometer sensors and GPS tags. During the last 3 years, we
tested these devices on 85 wild boar and 36 red deer. The average
tracking period was 103 days (maximum 202) for wild boar and 203
days for red deer (maximum 413). Accelerometer data from asubset
of individuals was synced with ground–truth video records to devel-
op and test behavioral classiers using machine learning techniques.
Behavioral classications were then time–synced with magnetometer
and GPS for calculation of real path of the animal by dead–reckon-
ing. Apreliminary analysis based on these new technologies gives us
detailed information about animals‘ lifestyles. Furthermore, the con-
tinued development of these technologies and techniques will oer
new opportunities to investigate arange of important biological and
ecological topics.
Naturalistic grazing in crowded Central
Europe: from reintroduction of megafauna to
rational landscape management
Jirků M1
1Biology Centre – Czech Academy of Sciences,v.v.i., České Budějovice, Czech Re-
public
Naturalistic grazing by large herbivores is an increasingly practiced
way of landscape management in areas of nature conservation val-
ue. It has the potential to restore and enhance biodiversity, creating
self–sustainable environments vital for organisms requiring regular
disturbances to moderate and/or reverse successional changes. De-
spite the growing number of the large herbivore „grazing reserves“
throughout Europe, science–based methodology and critical results
assessments of the inuence of large herbivores on dierent com-
ponents/levels of biodiversity remain virtually non–existing. In Czech
Republic alone, the natural grazing schemes grew rom 15 horses on
40 ha in 2015, to >200 horses, European bison and semi–wild Tauros
cattle on >600 ha in 2021. Based on the Czech experience, good prac-
tice in naturalistic grazing requires cohesion to the following premis-
es: i) involvement of autochthonous herbivore taxa, ii) extensive graz-
ing of ≤1 animals/ha, ii) cross–grazing combining equids and large
bovids wherever possible, iv) year–round grazing, v) maintenance
of landscape connectivity for free–living wildlife, vi) restricted access
of public, vii) biological monitoring and viii) herd management in ac-
cordance with international species conservation (European bison)
and breeding programs (pedigree books etc.). Although trivial on rst
sight, all these requirements are rarely met in the existing European
grazing reserves.
Former military training area Milovice
(Czechia): changes of landscape and
vegetation mosaic in the regional
biodiversity hotspot
Jirků D1, Hais M1, Jirků M2
1University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Ecosystem Biology,
České Budějovice, Czech Republic, 2Czech Academy of Sciences, Biology Centre, Insti-
tute of Parasitology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Former military training areas (MTA) are long recognized unique
regions of high biodiversity and habitat variability in otherwise in-
tensively utilized and homogenized Central European landscapes.
Changes of land cover and development of forest and non–forest
vegetation were analyzed by GIS methods in MTA Milovice in the
context of historical events and nature conservation. Geodatabases
with classication of land cover (24 categories including 6 types of
woodlands according to canopy closure and species composition,
and 5 types of non–forest vegetation according to its architecture)
were generated using series of aerial photographs from the period
1950–2019 covering substantial part of the military history of the area
and its entire development after abandonment. Over 50% of the area
experienced changes, especially forest closure (15%), agricultural in-
tensication (15 %), urbanization (11%), and aorestration (10 %).
The area of temperate grassland–savanna decreased by staggering
57%. Homogenization of grassland–savanna vegetation structure af-
ter abandonment and its renewal after introduction of conservation
management was revealed. Our results provide historically the very
rst exact evidence of enormous losses of habitats of high conserva-
tion value and impact of dierent management methods in former
MTAs, highlighting aneed of immediate systematic conservation ac-
tions in these unique areas.
Protected areas have amixed impact on
waterbirds, but management helps
Jones J1, Wauchope H1
1Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
International policy is focused on increasing the proportion of the
Earth‘ssurface protected for nature. While studies show that protect-
ed areas prevent habitat loss, there is asurprising lack of evidence for
their impact on species’ populations: existing studies are local scale
or use simple designs that lack appropriate controls. We explore
how 1506 protected areas have impacted the trajectories of 27,055
waterbird populations using arobust Before–After–Control–Interven-
tion study design, which compares protected and unprotected pop-
ulations in the years before and after protection. We show that the
simpler study designs typically used to assess protected area eec-
tiveness (before–after and control–intervention) incorrectly estimate
impact for 37–50% of populations. Using our robust study design, we
nd that protected areas have a decidedly mixed impact on water-
birds, with astrong signal that areas managed for waterbirds or their
habitat are more likely to benet populations, and aweak signal that
larger areas are more benecial than smaller ones. Calls to conserve
30% of the Earth’ssurface by 2030 are gathering pace, but protection
does not guarantee good biodiversity outcomes. As countries gather
to agree the new Global Biodiversity Framework, targets must focus
on creating and supporting protected areas that measurably benet
populations.
Birds in gilded cages: An investigation of the
illegal trade of wild songbirds in the EU
Juergens J1,2, Bruslund S2,3, Staerck J1,2, Oegelund Nielsen R1,2, Conde
D1,2
1University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, 2Species360 Conservation
Science Alliance, Minneapolis, USA, 3Zoologischer Garten Rostock gGmbH, Rostock,
Germany
Even though wild bird imports into the EU have been banned since
2005, live birds are regularly among the most seized wildlife commod-
ities entering the EU. However, conscation reports have focused on
parrots and birds of prey, although the EU has been implicated in the
international songbird trade recently.
Here we analysed data from the Songbirds in Trade Database (SiTDB)
on songbird trade in the EU. The SiTDB holds records of wild song-
birds on sale from 2006–2020, relative trade volumes in the EU com-
pared to the population size in the wild, diculty of captive breeding
and reports of EU captive breeding. We found 907 (13.8 %) wild–
sourced songbird species on sale including 30 (3.3%) threatened
species and 38 (4.2%) species protected under the EU Wildlife Trade
Regulations. Most species had low relative trade volumes though 96
(10.6%) species were reported with high or extreme trade volumes
including 3 threatened species. Half of the species were traded wild
despite having EU captive breeding reported.
Our results highlight a largely undocumented illegal trade in wild
songbirds in the EU showing that demand for songbirds continues
despite the import ban on wild birds and captive breeding within the
EU.
29
The eects of an ecosystem engineer species
(Castor ber) in the light of the biodiversity
crisis along Central European watercourses
Juhász E1,2, Vági B3, Molnár Z1, Sári G4, Szabó G2,5, Klébert A4, Katona
K6, Németh A4, Biró M1
1Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Hungary, Vácrátót,
Hungary, 2Doctoral School of Biology, Institute of Biology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University,
Budapest, Hungary, 3Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, Univer-
sity of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary, 4Duna–Ipoly National Park Directorate, Budapest,
Hungary, 5Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology,
ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, 6Department of Wildlife Biology and
Management, Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Hungarian
University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary
Wetlands are exposed to several threats, e.g., the loss of habitat
complexity, decreasing water levels and biological invasion. Beavers,
as ecosystem engineers, are able to inuence these processes. We
studied the selective foraging of beavers at 20 sites along the Dan-
ube and its tributaries. Additionally, 10 further beaver–altered hab-
itats were surveyed to understand the eects of beaver dams on
amphibian and reptile species richness. We counted amphibian and
reptile individuals along transects and registered egg clutches and
larvae of amphibians to assess the reproductive success of each spe-
cies. We also involved the 5 largest beaver–reconstructed wetlands
in bird monitoring surveys. Based on our results, beavers generally
preferred native woody species against invasive ones, which may in-
directly accelerate the process of the biological invasion. However,
dam–building created habitat for several studied native vertebrate
taxa: Nine amphibian species used the beaver meadows and ponds
as breeding sites and migratory waterfowl used them as astop–over
site. Our study supports that, by the rapid reoccupation of aquatic
habitats in their former range, beavers might become adriver of
landscape change across Europe. Therefore, understanding their ef-
fects on the environment will have critical importance in conservation
planning and freshwater habitat management.
European conservation and restoration
options under future land–use scenarios
Jung M1, Chapman M2, Lewis M1, Visconti P1
1International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria, 2Uni-
versity of California Berkeley, Berkeley, United States
The new EU Biodiversity strategy species that 30% of terrestrial land
should be managed for conservation. However present land–use sys-
tems often prevent more stringent conservation measures, instead
requiring restoration in many intensively used areas while also avoid-
ing leakage eects by displacing land–use changes elsewhere. To esti-
mate the impacts of proposed EU policies, such as the EU Restoration
Law or the Farm–2–Fork strategy, on biodiversity, asystems perspec-
tive is necessary, that jointly considers both conservation, restoration
and anthropogenic land uses. We combine conservation objectives
from the EU Biodiversity Strategy with targets and constraints on
land uses derived from integrated assessment models customized
to European land–use and conservation policies to 2030. Using mul-
ti–criteria spatial–planning we then identify areas where conservation
and restoration would bring the greatest biodiversity benets in the
future subject to the opportunities and constraints imposed by land–
use changes. The results show that considerable trade–os exist for
various taxonomic groups and geographic regions, and that the right
areas need to be targeted to maximize benets. Overall, this work
highlights pathways for future eorts to conserve and restore 30%
of European land. It furthermore quantitatively evaluates European
conservation policies with regards to their upper potential value.
The impacts of agricultural land use and
production on vertebrate biodiversity
dier greatly across products, space and
biodiversity indicator
Kastner T1, Bidoglio G1, Dullinger S2, Erb K3, Essl F2, Krausmann F3,
Matej S3, Semenchuk P2
1Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt Am Main, Germa-
ny, 2 Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Vienna,
Austria, 3Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Institute of Social Ecology,
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Vienna, Austria
It is becoming increasingly clear that achieving conservation targets
will require transformative changes in the way societies operate.
Part of such changes revolve around consumption patterns. Indica-
tors depicting biodiversity implications of individual products can be
auseful tool to assess the impacts of consumption choices. The mul-
ti–facetted nature of biodiversity poses achallenge to developing such
indicators and communicating insights derived from them. Here we
present anovel set of indicators, depicting how agricultural produc-
tion – through land use and its intensity – impacts terrestrial vertebrate
biodiversity. For this, we combine global data on land use, agricultural
production and species distributions with acountryside species–area
relationship model. We developed two spatially explicit indicators for
the contribution of individual agricultural products to: (a) regional de-
cline in species richness at the landscape level, and (b) global biodiver-
sity decline, via accounting for the share of species ranges aected by
the respective land use in agiven landscape. Our results show that the
dierent indicators yield complementing, often contrasting, insights on
the biodiversity implications of agricultural products. Presenting the re-
sults for selected individual products and production areas highlights
how these indicators help assessing the eect of altered consumption
choices on biodiversity across dierent scales.
Acknowledging wild animal suering
and the need for compassion challenges
conservation fundamentally
Katz T1
1University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
The literatures on wild animal suering and on compassionate con-
servation both strive to take the moral status of wild animals seri-
ously. But the former is championed by philosophers; the latter by
conservation scientists – and there has been to date no cross–polli-
nation between them. While compassionate conservationists advo-
cate for greater concern for the harms which conservation inicts on
wild animals, the literature on wild animal suering points out that
wild animals suer all the time, even without human intervention.
If real compassion means being concerned with suering no matter
how it is caused, then the surprising consequence is that compassion
challenges conservation itself. While compassion will justify conser-
vation where human activity can be said to be the greatest cause of
suering, in most cases this is in fact not so; rather, most suering
is a result of evolutionary and reproductive processes. Compassion
should therefore motivate us to look for new ecological setups, and
some suggestions are given. While the practical consequences of this
new approach require greater investigation, what is stressed is that
an ideological switch is needed, such that decisions in environmental
management are justied based on their expected impacts both in
terms of anthropogenic and natural suering.
Revealing threats through the full annual
cycle in along distance migratory bird species
Kiss O1,2, Tokody B2
1University of Szeged, Faculty of Agriculture, Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary, 2BirdLife
Hungary, Budapest, Hungary
The worldwide decline of the avifauna disproportionately aected
migratory birds. Full annual cycle approach is necessary to under-
stand the processes driving these changes as migratory species use
dierent areas during the breeding and the non–breeding periods
when dierent factors may aect the individuals. The European roller
is a long–distance migratory species which entire European popula-
tion has undergone aserious decline, and except from afew coun-
tries with current positive trends, it is still decreasing nowadays. Our
aims were to reveal the movement patterns of rollers including the
study of home–range and habitat use during breeding season and
also the migration phenology, migrations routes, stopover and win-
tering sites. The adult rollers were tagged between 2015 and 2021
in Hungary. Our results showed high individual variability of home–
range size during the breeding period. We found the Sahel region
as an important stopover area, where we found the frequent use of
croplands, contrary to the wintering areas which were mostly char-
acterized by natural grassland vegetations. Our results contribute to
the better understanding of the movement patterns and habitat re-
quirements of the species during the full annual cycle enabling us to
plan comprehensive, and therefore eective conservation strategies
30
The value of biodiversity interventions
in agricultural landscapes
Kleijn D1, Fijen T1, Scheper J1
1Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands
The conservation of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes requires
farmers to integrate biodiversity management into their farming
practices. An increasing body of ecological literature suggests that
this could produce awin–win situation. More species–rich ecosys-
tems function more eectively which leads to enhanced ecosystem
service delivery such as carbon sequestration, pollination, pest reg-
ulation and ultimately crop yield. Biodiversity therefore adds value
to farm businesses and this represents arational argument for bio-
diversity enhancement. However, few farmers are actually adopting
biodiversity management. Here, we discuss some of the drivers un-
derlying this reluctance. We show that when the costs of biodiversity
management are taken into account, currently, managing for ecosys-
tem service delivery is often not protable. Many of the ecosystem
services that are enhanced by biodiversity management represent
public goods that benet society at large but do not benet individual
farmers. The value of some of these public goods are furthermore
non–rational and dicult to quantify economically. Because farmers
operate in aglobal economy, this suggests that eective biodiversi-
ty conservation on farmland requires stronger economic incentives
than are currently available to farmers.
Optimising agricultural landscapes
for biodiversity conservation and crop
production using yield maps and
ecological theory
Knapp M1, Teder T1,3, Lukas V4, Štrobl M1, Knappová J1, Landis D5,
González E1,2
1Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, 2Universidad Nacional de
Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina, 3University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia, 4Mendel Universi-
ty, Brno, Czech Republic, 5Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
Intensively–managed temperate agricultural landscapes are dom-
inated by large arable elds and suer from biodiversity loss and
biotic homogenisation. However, environmental conditions between
neighbouring elds or even within asingle arable eld can still dier
remarkably. In our talk, we will introduce the concept of employing
arable land heterogeneity, in combination with surrounding land-
scape structure, as key information for landscape optimization. We
propose a conceptual framework that uses yield maps (atool com-
monly employed in precision agriculture) to identify low–yield zones
within arable elds and ecological theory to select the best areas for
setting aside from crop production. As aresult, optimized landscapes
will keep high production potential (crop yield) and improve biodiver-
sity support at the same time. Strengths of the proposed concept, po-
tential shortcomings (e.g., data availability) as well as existing knowl-
edge gaps and future research challenges will be discussed.
Socio–psychological factors, beyond
knowledge, predict people’sengagement
in pollinator conservation and reveal new
opportunities for increasing uptake
Knapp J1,2, Phillips B2, Clements J2, Shaw R2, Osborne J2
1Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2University of Exeter, Truro, United Kingdom
Human behaviour is critical to conservation. However, despite numer-
ous government strategies and extensive ecological research on pol-
linators, the drivers of people‘sengagement in pollinator conserva-
tion remain overlooked. We used alarge–scale, online questionnaire
(1,275 responses) to address this gap, framed around the Theory of
Planned Behaviour. Perceived behavioural control (feeling able to
help pollinators) and nature–connectedness (astronger connection
to nature) were consistently important predictors of people‘spollina-
tor conservation actions, whilst the importance of other socio–psy-
chological factors depended on the particular conservation action.
From apractical perspective, our ndings suggest 1. Several simple,
low–cost pollinator conservation actions are currently under–utilised
and should be priorities for pollinator conservation programmes. 2.
Strategies are needed to overcome reported practical barriers, such
as communicating simple benecial actions that can be carried out
with limited time, space and money. 3. Knowledge is just one (rela-
tively less important) factor that predicts pollinator conservation be-
haviour. Finally, we believe that engaging, inspiring, and empowering
the public to help pollinators and take responsibility for their local
environment will increase pollinator conservation. These ndings are
also relevant to other conservation challenges where public action
could strongly impact.
High–ying insect abundances in urban
versus rural systems
Knop E1,2, Grimm M2, Liechti F3
1Agroscope, Zürich, Switzerland, 2University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, 3Swiss Or-
nithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland
Insects are of increasing conservation concern as their abundance
and diversity has recently been reported to decline. Most of what we
know on their decline is derived from studies on insects close to the
ground. Generally, we do not know much about high–ying insects,
and accordingly also not much about factors driving their abundance.
Here, we thus tested whether the abundance of high–ying insects
diers between rural, urban and mountainous landscapes, whether
their abundance is related to meteorological factors or the hour of the
day. The abundance of high–ying insects was recorded using verti-
cal–looking radar devices. Despite colder temperatures in mountain-
ous regions and aclear positive relationship between high–ying in-
sect abundance and temperature, we found the highest abundances
in the mountainous regions. In contrast, in the lowlands, abundances
did not dier between urban and rural landscapes. We conclude that
land–use on the ground aects the abundance of high–ying insects,
and that rural areas in the lowlands oer similarly poor conditions
for high–ying insects as do urbanized areas. Conservation measures
should therefore also account for the needs of high–ying insects.
Safeguarding biodiversity by modifying law
Kokko K1
1The University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Biodiversity loss continues although the Convention on Biological Di-
versity (CBD) has been in force almost 30 years with three main ob-
jectives: 1. the conservation of biological, diversity, 2. The sustainable
use of the components of biological diversity and 3. The fair and eq-
uitable sharing of the benets arising out of the utilization of genetic
resources. Regardless new 20 Aichi Biodiversity sub–targets ecolog-
ical information gives more alarming signals about the poor state
of global biodiversity. Conservation biological and ecophilosophical
studies have shown that biodiversity needs protection as acomplex
dynamic system and atarget of diverse values. However, the legal im-
plementation of the biodiversity objectives is not successful. At least
two aspects can explain the reason. Firstly, the CBD has originally
too narrow objectives to safeguard biodiversity. Policy instruments
for biodiversity conservation and for the sustainable use of its parts
will not guarantee the safeguarding if biodiversity degrades because
of pollution or climate change. Secondly, the safeguarding objective
cannot be achieved by means of traditional legal solutions and rela-
tionships. Recognizing legally relevant safeguarding relationships be-
tween persons and nature can improve with new policy instruments
the implementation of biodiversity targets. The presentation gives
some examples for the legal development towards biodiversity law.
Megaherbivores rewilding and functional
diversity of aected communities: Plants and
insects across refaunated sites in Czechia
Konvicka M1, Vodickova V, Perlik M, Potocky P, Ashmarina D, Jirku M
1Institute of Entomology, Bc Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czech
Republic
Rewilding incomplete ecosystems by native megaherbivores is in-
creasingly viewed not only as atool for ecient vegetation manage-
ment, but also as away to restore functional richness and interactions
in biota of refaunated sites. Adozen of medium–size localities, from
wetlands to dry grasslands, had been refaunated by combinations
31
of horse, aurochs and wisent in the Czech Republic. We use data ob-
tained from monitoring refaunation eects on vascular plants, acu-
leate Hymenoptera, butteries and Orthoptera to test the hypothesis
that refaunated sites should display higher plants and insect species
and functional richness than controls. Within each group, we also
disclose specic sets of life history traits associated with megaher-
bivores presence, and discuss the mechanisms of megaherbivores
eects. We conclude that much of the nature management practices
conventionally associated with traditional land uses, and carried out
by reserve managers in small scales, are in fact mimicking impacts of
native megafauna, historically extirpated, and now hopefully return-
ing, to European ecosystems.
Eects of urbanization on biological control
of insect pests and associated functional
groups: aglobal meta–analysis
Korányi D1, Egerer M2, Rusch A3, Szabó B1, Batáry P1
1Centre For Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2Technische Universität
München, Freising, Germany, 3INRAE, Villenave d’Ornon, France
Biological control is amajor ecosystem service provided by natural
enemies, especially in densely populated areas where chemical plant
protection poses severe risks to human and environmental health.
However, the impact of urbanization on this service and the abun-
dance patterns of relevant functional groups (herbivores, predators,
and parasitoids) remains contested. By performing three hierarchical
meta–analyses on 51 relevant studies, we showed that advancing ur-
banization leads to outbreaks of sap–feeding insects, declining num-
bers of predators with low dispersal abilities, and weakened overall
biological pest control delivered by arthropods. In addition, we found
a strong contrast between species– and community–level observa-
tions for both herbivore and natural enemy abundances with asignif-
icant positive eect of urbanization on herbivore species and amar-
ginally signicant negative eect on natural enemy communities. Our
results suggest that sedentary predators may have the potential to
eectively regulate sap–feeders, one of the most important pests in
urban environments. A well–connected network of structurally di-
verse and rich green spaces with less intensive management practic-
es is needed to promote natural plant protection in urban landscapes
and sustainable cities.
Sown set–aside elds promote biodiversity at
local and landscape scales in Hungary
Kovács–Hostyánszki A1, Batáry P2, Kőrösi Á3,4, Orci K4, Somay L1,
Soltész Z1, Szigeti V1, Báldi A1
1Lendület Ecosystem Services Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany,
Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2‘Lendület’ Landscape and Con-
servation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research,
Vácrátót, Hungary, 3Büro Geyer und Dolek, Wörthsee, Germany, 4MTA–ELTE–MTM
Ecology Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University
and the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary
In the last two decades, Hungarian agricultural landscapes have
faced new challenges and opportunities since the EU accession.
While certain intensication processes endanger the comparably
high biodiversity, agri–environment schemes (AES) are devoted to
halting species loss and maintaining ecosystem services. Besides the
horizontally available AES, special schemes are available regionally
for e.g., protection of great bustard, red–footed falcon, or farmland
birds in general. Some of these regional schemes require the with-
drawal of acertain percent of arable elds from production for 1–3
years, turning them to sown set–aside elds, mown once per year.
We conducted studies on the suitability of such set–aside elds for
wild plants, dierent arthropod groups, farmland birds and showed
their general benets for grasshoppers and butteries and increasing
positive eects by set–aside age for wild plants and farmland birds.
We also tested the landscape–scale eects of set–asides on wild
bees, hoveries, and predatory wasps and found that reproductive
success of cavity–nesting bees and wasps was positively related to
the presence of set–aside elds in the landscape and increased with
their proportion. We conclude that set–aside elds in amosaic ag-
riculture landscape can be highly benecial for biodiversity and are
worth maintaining in future AES.
Identity of grazing livestock and intensity
jointly shape grazing eects on sand
grassland vegetation
Kovacsics–Vári G1, Tóth K1, Sonkoly J1,2, McIntosh–Buday A1,2, Balogh
N1,2, Díaz Cando P1, Törő I2, Guallichico Suntaxi L2, Espinoza Ami F1,
Demeter L3, Matus G4, Tóthmérész B1,5, Török P1,2
1Department of Ecology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, 1 Egyetem tér, Hungary,
2MTA–DE Lendület Functional and Restoration Ecology Research Group, Debrecen,
1 Egyetem tér, Hungary, 3Hortobágy National Park Directorate, Debrecen, 2 Sumen
utca, Hungary, 4Department of Botany, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, 1 Egyetem
tér, Hungary, 5MTA–DE Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Research Group, Debre-
cen, 1 Egyetem tér, Hungary
Conservation of biodiversity in agriculture–driven landscapes have
acrucial importance; their conservation and restoration have atop
priority both in research and practice. We compared the eects of
cattle and sheep grazing on sand grassland vegetation under various
grazing intensities. The composition of the vegetation was surveyed
in 2 by 2 m plots, and biomass was harvested in from an area of 20
by 20 cm. We found that both the identity of livestock and grazing in-
tensity signicantly aected the vegetation composition and most of
the biomass fractions. With increasing grazing intensity, the amount
of litter and graminoids decreased with typically lower values in
sheep grazed sites. The amount of lichen and moss biomass were
decreased with increasing grazing intensity and the highest values
were mainly detected in exclosures. The total biomass was the lowest
in sites grazed by sheep in high intensity. With increasing grazing in-
tensity, the cover and biomass of short–lived species increased. Our
results suggest that in conservation and sustainable management of
sand grasslands not only the grazing intensity, but the identity of live-
stock should be carefully selected and adjusted.
Natura 2000 and forest conservation
Křenová Z1
1Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic
The most valuable European forests are organized within Natura
2000, aunique EU–wide network of protected areas, which aims to
maintain European biodiversity. In time of climate change and the
increasing frequency and intensity of natural disturbances, forest
managers, conservationists, police makers together with involved
NGOs and citizens are discussing and negotiating the most appropri-
ate management for the Natura 2000 forests. Nevertheless, improve-
ment of forest management is long–lasting and politically sensitive
processes because of the multifunctional role of forests, private own-
ership (only 40% of EU forests are state owned) and ingrained habits
of traditional forestry. One would expect that at least in protected
areas, where old growth and natural forests are protected, the situa-
tion is better. However, there are numerous examples showing that
even there, site managers, state authorities and politicians are not
always ready to consider the unforeseen events related to climate
change. Scientic recommendations are insuciently accepted in
practice and managerial decision–making is often based on personal
knowledge, previous experience, or political inuence. Clear manage-
ment guidelines at European and national levels are lacking in many
protected areas. Key procedures needed to improve the situation are
going to be proposed during the ECCB2022 Symposium.
Animal migration to the North breeding
grounds: still advantageous strategy or
maladaptive behaviour?
Kubelka V1
1Department of Zoology and Centre for Polar Ecology, Faculty of Science, University
of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Every year, many wild animals undertake long–distance migration to
breed in the North, taking advantage of seasonally high pulses in food
supply, fewer parasites and lower predation pressure in comparison
with equatorial latitudes. However, growing evidence suggests that
climate change–induced phenological mismatches have reduced
food availability. Furthermore, novel pathogens and parasites are
spreading Northwards, and nest or ospring predation has increased
at many Arctic and North temperate locations. Altered trophic in-
teractions have decreased the reproductive success and survival of
32
migratory animals. Reduced advantages for long–distance migration
have potentially serious consequences for community structure and
ecosystem function. Changes in the benets of migration need to
be integrated into projections of population and ecosystem dynam-
ics and targeted by innovative conservation actions. We will discuss
recent disruptions of migration protability for birds, mammals and
insects, together with consequences for population dynamics, com-
munity structure and ecosystem functioning as well as eective con-
servation measures.
Digital and traditional marketing approaches
for eective fundraising in conservation
Kubo T1,2, Yokoo H1,3, Veríssimo D2
1NIES (National Institute for Environmental Studies), Tsukuba, Japan, 2University of
Oxford, Oxford, UK, 3Hitotsubashi University, Kunitachi, Japan
Financial shortages hamper biodiversity conservation. Fundraising
using digital marketing measures can help address nancial short-
ages in conservation. However, there is little evidence concerning the
eciency of digital eorts compared with the traditional approach-
es. We conducted real–world eld experiments using Facebook and
mailshot advertisements to understand how digital and traditional
conservation fundraising approaches perform. Specically, both ex-
periments compared three types of message frames: Simple, Seed
money, and Ecological.
The current study found that advertising costs on Facebook exceeded
the donation amounts, although the opposite was true for the tradi-
tional approach. Also, the message framing focused on Seed money,
which emphasizes the amount already donated, outperformed the
ecological framing focused on threatened species. These ndings
demonstrate that fundraising using digital marketing has unique
challenges, and traditional strategies cannot be simply replaced with
digital measures. Further collaboration of practitioners and research-
ers will provide rigorous behavioural evidence to develop eective
and ecient fundraising in conservation.
Responses of large carnivores and their
prey to landscape heterogeneity in
Polesia(Ukraine): before the war started
Kudrenko S1,2, Vyshnevskyi D3, Zedrosser A4, Selva N5, Heurich M6,7
1Frankfurt Zoological Society, Lviv, Ukraine, 2University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Ger-
many, 3Chornobyl Biosphere Radio–Ecological Reserve, Kyiv, Ukraine, 4University of
South–Eastern Norway, Bø, Norway, 5Institute of Nature Conservation Polish Acade-
my of Sciences, Krakow, Poland, 6Bavarian Forest National Park, Grafenau, Germa-
ny, 7Innland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Evenstad, Norway
Large carnivores are the rst species to be lost from fragmented land-
scapes, which in turn causes disruption of food chains from the top
down and thus causing cascading eects. Wolf, lynx, and brown bear
were once widely distributed throughout the Palearctic and Nearc-
tic biogeographical areas, yet their former ranges reduced drastical-
ly during the last centuries. Studies on large carnivores are heavily
biased toward developed countries or countries with charismatic
and endangered species. One of the “blind spots” is Polesia region
(Ukraine, Belarus) where there is substantial uncertainty about large
carnivore distributions, densities and how dierent landscape fea-
tures may aect their habitat use, movements, and dispersal. Parts
of Polesia were under formal protection yet the protected system did
not ensure adequate protection. Since July 2020, camera traps were
systematically applied for large mammals’ monitoring in the Ukraini-
an part of Polesia (181 locations) and for lynx monitoring in Cherno-
byl Exclusion Zone (67 locations, 2020–2021). Collected data enabled
to map regional distribution for large mammals and revealed the im-
pact of environmental and anthropogenic factors on the occurrence
on large terrestrial mammals in areas with dierent levels of protec-
tion (exclusion zone, reserves, national parks, and expansion zones).
Land systems for mapping and
understanding interactions among threats to
biodiversity
Kuemmerle T1, Baumann M1, Pötzschner F1, Pratzer M1, Romero–Mu-
noz A1
1Humboldt–University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Interactions among dierent threats to biodiversity, such as habitat
transformation and hunting, are akey reason for the global erosion
of biodiversity, but these interactions remain weakly understood.
Akey reason for this is insucient data on the spatial prevalence and
dynamics of dierent threats. We here highlight the potential of map-
ping social–ecological systems for adeeper understanding of the ge-
ography of threats. We showcase this approach for the entire South
American Gran Chaco (1.1 million km²), aglobal hotspot of deforest-
ation and defaunation. Specically, we built a typology of so–called
‘land systems’, representing distinct combinations of land–use extent,
practices and actors. We then used asystematic literature review to
link these land systems to portfolios of threats typical for each system
and developed spatial indicators to map these system back to 1985.
Together, these analyses uncover where synergistic threats occur
and how the spatial footprints of threats vary over time, identifying
intensifying or relaxing interactions. For conservation planning, this
provides apathway towards spatially targeting threat–specic inter-
ventions, to more directly address synergistic threats, and to identify
the key actor groups associated with them.
Data uncertainties in spatial conservation
plans: which ones are important?
Kujala H1
1Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Finland
Spatial prioritisation methods, which identify priority areas for tar-
geting conservation actions, are frequently used to guide conserva-
tion programs and land use decision–making. Uncertainties in input
data and how these aect conservation solutions, have long been
of central interest to both conservation scientists and practitioners.
Because conservation priority maps are underpinned by biodiversity
data, the greatest eort has traditionally focused on perfecting their
accuracy. What is perhaps less well understood is that in spatial re-
source–allocation problems, some data inuence the nal solution
far more strongly than others, and resolving uncertainty in the highly
inuential data layers is thus most important for the stability of the
priority solution.
Using examples from dierent conservation case studies, Ishow that
uncertainties in conservation costs, threats or vegetation condition
often outweigh the impact of individual biodiversity data on conser-
vation plans. In addition, Ishow that the decisions we make on which
data to include and how we modify them before their use may have
larger impacts on the prioritisation result than uncertainties in any
individual species data. Understanding how dierent data types and
their use aects spatial priorities is useful as it helps to focus our ef-
forts in data improvement to those uncertainties that matter.
Anovel digital approach to quantifying
political vulnerability of protected areas
Ladle R1,2, dos Santos J2, Correia R2,3, Mendes Malhado A1,2
1CIBIO – Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Por-
to, Porto, Portugal, 2Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University
of Alagoas, Maceio, Brazil, 3Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science
(HELICS), Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki,
Finland
Protected areas (PAs) are often seen as opportunity costs and are
therefore vulnerable to political decisions. PAs with high levels of
public support should be more resilient to such decisions because;
i) politicians in democratic societies are reluctant to make unpopu-
lar/controversial decisions that go against public opinion, and; ii) the
proposed development of popular PAs is more likely to be met by
vigorous public resistance. Nevertheless, public interest and, by ex-
tension, support for protected areas has rarely been considered in
PA risk assessments. We propose an innovative approach to assess-
ing the political vulnerability of PAs that combines indices of devel-
opmental pressures with an innovative culturomic–derived metric of
33
public interest based on Wikipedia page views. We use this to quanti-
fy the political vulnerability status of 523 Brazilian PAs. Large number
of PAs are identied as politically vulnerable, having acombination
of high developmental pressure and low/very low levels of public in-
terest. Such PAs should take measures to increase public interest to
ensure ahealthy base of public support in the future. More generally,
digital metrics of public interest are simply and inexpensively gener-
ated, and could be easily incorporated into the existing assessment
systems.
Science–management initiatives
to monitor genetic diversity using newly
proposed indicators
Laikre L1
1Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Monitoring of genetic diversity to understand rates of change and
identify potential threats to this vital part of biodiversity is becoming
increasingly put into practice. Indicators for this level of diversity have
recently been put forward both for international use within the con-
text of the post–2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Conven-
tion on Biological Diversity (CBD) as well as at national levels. These
indicators are now being tested in several countries and an update of
such eorts and their outcome will be provided in this presentation.
One of the countries involved in this work is Sweden where long–term
science–management collaborations have resulted in monitoring of
genetic diversity now being increasingly included into national mon-
itoring eorts, particularly in aquatic environments. Newly proposed
indicators using genetic data are being applied to pilot species includ-
ing several shes and habitat forming species. Results from these on-
going eorts will be presented and discussed.
Optimizing Agricultural Landscapes for
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
Landis D1
1Michigan State University, East Lansing, United States
Sustainable and resilient agricultural systems are needed to feed and
fuel agrowing human population. However, the current model of ag-
ricultural intensication which produces high yields has also resulted
in a loss of biodiversity, ecological function, and critical ecosystem
services. Along with intensication, landscape simplication exac-
erbates biodiversity losses which leads to reductions in ecosystem
services on which agriculture depends. In recent decades, consid-
erable research has focused on mitigating these negative impacts,
primarily via management of habitats to promote biodiversity and
enhance services at the local scale. While it is well known that local
and landscape factors interact, modifying overall landscape structure
is seldom considered due to logistical constraints. Ipropose that the
loss of ecosystem services due to landscape simplication can only
be addressed by aconcerted eort to fundamentally redesign agri-
cultural landscapes. Designing agricultural landscapes will require
that scientists work with stakeholders to determine the mix of de-
sired ecosystem services, evaluate current landscape structure, and
implement targeted modications to achieve desired goals.
Biogeomorphology and riparian
ecosystem conservation
Larsen A1
1Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands
Biota has long been shown to inuence surface processes, but it has
not been since recently that geoscience has taken aserious interest
in understanding abiotic–biotic feedbacks. This is subject to the rela-
tively new eld of biogeomorphology, which has been expanding as
adiscipline, due to increased recognition of the often overlooked role
that biology can play in geomorphic processes, as well as due to our
increasing capacity to measure and quantify feedback between bio-
logical and geomorphological systems. Despite the recent advances,
biogeomorphology has rarely been recognised in studies focusing on
conservation and biodiversity. Here, Ipresent results from aglobal
data collection on the ecosystem eects of beavers (Castor ber, Cas-
tor canadensis), demonstrating the usefulness of biogeomorphology
in the conservation of riparian ecosystems. Beavers are one of the
most inuential mammalian ecosystem engineer, heavily modifying
river corridor hydrology, geomorphology, nutrient cycling, and eco-
systems mainly through the construction of dams, which impounds
and diverts water ow, from which most other ecosystem feedbacks
follow.
Learning collaboration in the adaptive
co–management environment: example from
Lahemaa National Park in Estonia
Linno K1, Pilving T1, Suškevičs M1
1Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Adaptive co–management (ACM) is an approach to govern complex
social–ecological systems, utilising participatory decision–making, so-
cial learning, sustainable resource use and development of adaptive
capacity for social–ecological resilience. It has been applied in multiple
resource management contexts across the world, incl. conservation
management. However, it is still not known how collaboration can
be learned in the ACM setting and how the learning process should
be facilitated. This study is set in the post–communist national park
with recent turbulent past and bases on aproject that was carried
out in Lahemaa in Estonia between 2019–2021 that created acom-
munity innovation lab, attended by 80 local stakeholders. The meth-
odology of Lahemaa case study included qualitative methods of sev-
en semi–structured interviews and two focus groups. In conclusion,
collaborative learning occurs in the problem and interest communi-
cation through dierent governance levels and makes stakeholders
to understand the elements of individual and collective gain. It helps
them to choose collaboration partners, the structure, limitations and
boundaries in which they can operate and position themselves in the
local social, managerial and entrepreneurial context. Fostering col-
laborative learning needs outside facilitation and takes time to adapt
in public sector much more than in private sector.
Does protected area establishment result in
pre–emptive forest clearing? Exploring the
case of Madagascar’sprotected area system
expansion
Llopis J1,2, Jones J1
1School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom, 2Inter-
disciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United
Kingdom
Slowing tropical deforestation is amajor global policy objective given
its role in tackling the combined challenges of climate change and
biodiversity loss. Establishment of protected areas (PAs) is a com-
monly used tool. However, PA establishment might potentially result
in unintended consequences; specically pre–emptive forest clearing
as people anticipate the upcoming policy restrictions, which has been
anecdotally identied in other policy contexts. This is the rst study to
systematically investigate the phenomenon, and to explore whether
it undermines benets from PA establishment. We focus on Mada-
gascar, which expanded its PA network by more than 400% between
2003 and 2017, using the synthetic control method to assess de-
forestation outcomes in some 300 administrative units overlapping
with 25 PAs established as part of this expansion. Results suggest
that pre–emptive forest clearing did occur in alarge number of units.
In most units, PA appears to have brought net gains in avoided de-
forestation, but worryingly, in many other units, pre–emptive forest
clearing completely negated the intervention’sgains. These ndings
raise concerns about the prevalence of this phenomenon in Mada-
gascar, and potentially elsewhere, and highlight the need to revisit
the assumptions underpinning the theories of change informing
area–based forest conservation interventions.
34
Understanding the resilience of articially
drained forest–wetland landscapes
Lõhmus A1
1University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
Forest and wetland landscapes have been long transformed into
semi–natural ecosystems for economic purposes such as timber pro-
duction. Hydrological reconstruction into dense linear ditch networks
has been afundamental intervention behind such transformations,
but its long–term perspectives for biodiversity conservation and land-
scape functioning are poorly understood. Iintroduce abasic frame-
work and an ongoing research project in Estonia, which are focused
on the key elements for such perspectives: positive vs negative feed-
back mechanisms of the drainage, irreversible ecological changes vs
resilience in the terrestrial realm, socio–economic lock–ins, and their
indicators. One can identify major disciplinary gaps of knowledge
between freshwater and terrestrial ecology that have inhibited land-
scape perspectives to hydrological transformations. Our main eld
design to address some of those gaps comprises 23 forested catch-
ments (up to 10 km2 in size) that represent dierent combinations
along articial drainage and logging intensity gradients. This is com-
plemented with specic systems addressing reversibility (ecological
restoration) and alternative stable states (long–term trends). The ul-
timate challenge is to link ecological and hydrological spatial models
with land–use scenario analyses.
The role of cemeteries
in biodiversity conservation
Löki V1, Nagy J1, Malkócs T1, Lovas–Kiss Á1, Fekete R2, Süveges K2,
Takács A2, Molnár V. A2
1Centre for Ecological Reseach, Debrecen, Hungary, 2University of Debrecen, Debre-
cen, Hungary
In the face of worldwide habitat loss, the role of human–shaped hab-
itats in conserving biodiversity is becoming increasingly important.
Due to their special cultural role, cemeteries can preserve parts of
the native vegetation when the surrounding landscape becomes
degraded. However, these special refuges are threatened by hu-
man encroachment and changing management practices. Our aim
was to understand the conservation value of cemeteries, mainly in-
dicated by orchids as agship species for biodiversity conservation.
More than 2500 cemeteries were visited between 2014 and 2018 in
Turkey, Azerbaijan and 12 European countries. We analysed species
richness, abundance and the presence of orchid taxa in the visited
cemeteries, while we also collected sporadic data of other valuable
organisms, mainly other threatened plant species occurring in ceme-
teries. We found orchids in smaller or higher numbers, but in all vis-
ited countries. Conservation value was generally the highest in rural
cemeteries, while cemeteries represent important habitats for many
organisms. Our results indicate that urbanization and modern chang-
es in human activity have astrong impact on the conservation value
of cemeteries in both Europe and Asia Minor. Practices maintaining
traditional burial habits and environment–friendly management of
cemeteries deserve more moral and nancial support.
Fostering protected area eectiveness
through asocial–ecological perspective
Loos J1
1Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany
To counteract the global biodiversity loss, the designation and exten-
sion of protected areas (PAs) is acore conservation strategy. However,
their eectiveness is challenged for avariety of social and ecological
reasons. Despite their stark increase in amounts and coverages over
the past decades, the goal to safeguard biodiversity seems to be at
the brink, as many PAs face continuing wildlife losses and land cover
changes. At the same time, PAs have been accused of disrupting hu-
man–nature relationships, violating human rights, and putting amas-
sive burden on riparian communities. At the same time, protected
areas are also expected to contribute to human well–being, includ-
ing those living in their surroundings. Within this paradox situation,
the increasing recognition of PAs as social–ecological systems oers
an opportunity to unravel interactions between people, governance,
land–use changes, and biodiversity loss. Backed up by systematic lit-
erature searches, this presentation will exemplify social–ecological in-
teractions and their potential inuence on PA eectiveness referring
to three empirical case studies from Romania, Tanzania, and Zambia.
The approach behind elucidating these place–based insights may
guide further explorations of PA eectiveness through asocial–eco-
logical perspective and help to identify the leverage potential of key
interactions for integrative conservation and development planning.
Lessons to leverage policy coherence for
forest multifunctionality and biodiversity
Lukkarinen J1, Pitzén S1, Primmer E1
1Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Ambitious and transformative policy goals to address both direct and
indirect causes of biodiversity loss have been set in the EU Green Deal
and EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. These goals are entering afrag-
mented and misaligned landscape of existing strategies embedded
in diverse and contradictory interests, especially visible in the con-
texts of European forests. We utilize and develop asemi–quantitative
policy coherence evaluation methodology for analyzing the policy (in)
coherence both vertically (across governance levels) and horizontally
(between policy sectors) (e.g., Nilssonetal., 2012). More specically,
we analyze how biodiversity, bioeconomy, and forest strategies on
the EU scale and in four national contexts (Finland, Germany, Nor-
way, and Sweden) set targets for multiple forest ecosystem servic-
es (FES). Our ndings explicate national dierences in addressing
the FES. Further, climate change mitigation is identied as apolicy
area, where most conicting goals as well as greatest potential to in-
crease coherence. Finally, the pressure to align the fragmented goals
is pushed down to policy implementation on land–use level, where
new information and coordination tools are needed. Our conclusions
point towards approaching policy coherence as aprocess rather than
end–goal, which would enable bundling e.g., the more ambitious bio-
diversity goals into ongoing policy processes.
Strengthening Ecological Monitoring Through
Conservation Technology: Applying the
Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool
(SMART), Wildlife Insights and KoBotoolbox to
Ecological Surveys
Lynam A1, Detoeuf D1, Strindberg S1, Choo L1, Palmer J1
1Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, United States
Conservation technology is helping to improve the eciency of eco-
logical studies, empower conservation practitioners, and improve
social science for conservation. Here we give an overview of three
widely applied tools in monitoring and evaluation; SMART Survey,
Wildlife Insights, and KoBotoolbox. SMART Survey is acomponent of
the SMART system that allows practitioners to design and plan eco-
logical surveys, digitally collect data on mobile devices, and incorpo-
rate these data into the central platform. Wildlife Insights (WI) is atool
for managing camera–trap survey data. KoBotoolbox is adigital data
collection tool for research with people. We present an overview of
the features of each tool and how they are able to support the val-
idation, management, visualization, analysis, and sharing of ecologi-
cal and social data. We provide examples of how these technologies
developed by global collaborative partnerships are being applied in
wildlife strongholds around the world.
Biodiversity change in terrestrial
and aquatic ecosystems
Magurran A1
1University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom
The world is experiencing a biodiversity crisis with ecosystems un-
der escalating threat as a consequence of anthropogenic pressures
on the environment. It is clear that biodiversity is imperilled, but the
nature of ongoing biodiversity change is complex, and not well under-
stood. In this talk I will summarise recent advances in documenting
temporal and spatial change in biodiversity in terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems. This work shows that these patterns are complex. For
35
example, compositional re–arrangements (change in temporal beta
diversity) are widespread. The ecological processes that underpin
these changes, and the similarities and dierences in how they play
out in aquatic and terrestrial systems, are not well understood. Iwill
nish by identifying a number of research challenges including how
we can use new approaches to quantifying biodiversity change to
deliver fundamental insights into the regulation of ecological com-
munities, and inform strategies to mitigate damage and protect the
resilience of these ecosystems.
Indigenous Knowledge Systems
and Practices (IKSP) of riverine shers
in the Philippines: linking social capital
to socio–ecological resilience
Maliao R1,2, Jaspe B2, Cahilig R3,4, Cahilig R4
1Pál Juhász–Nagy Doctoral School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University
of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary, 2Aklan State University in New Washington, New
Washington, Philippines, 3Malay National High School, Malay, Philippines, 4Aklan
Trekkers, Malay, Philippines
We explored how traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) as asubset
of social capital fosters local socio–ecological resilience to climate
change (CC) and enhances biodiversity conservation eorts in the
Philippines. We adopted amixed–method purposive sampling of the
126 shing households living within the Nabaoy River Watershed lo-
cated in Aklan province, Central Philippines, and assessed their TEK
with relevance to riverine biodiversity conservation and CC aware-
ness and knowledge. The high level of CC awareness (98%) on–site
is associated with extreme warming and erratic weather patterns,
which are attributed to anthropogenic causes by 62% of the respond-
ents. The most signicant perceived impact of CC is the diminishing
sh harvest from the Nabaoy river. TEK on–site reects an extensive
understanding of local environmental changes and resource uctua-
tions, reecting the intimate relationship of subsistence communities
with their immediate environments. The social taboos subscribed to
by the local shers in the Nabaoy River are largely based on the myth-
ical spirits that are pervasive in indigenous cultures worldwide. These
TEK, including social taboos, are crucial components of the local so-
cial capital and can reinforce biodiversity conservation in the Philip-
pines and elsewhere, particularly in data–depauperate areas and in
situations where formal management interventions are lacking.
Ecological rehabilitation of riparian
vegetation in regulated rivers:
catchment–wide environmental ows
or local erosion protection?
Malm Renöfält B1, Jansson R1, Widén Å2
1Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, 22 Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental
Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden, Umeå, Sweden
Riparian vegetation occupies the transition zone between aquatic and
terrestrial ecosystems along rivers, and perform multiple important
ecosystem services. In regulated river systems of northern Sweden,
riparian vegetation has been reduced to afraction of its former area,
with concomitant losses in species richness, as aresult of changes in
the magnitude, frequency and timing of water–level variation. Based
on the hydrologic niche requirements of riparian plants, we projected
the consequences of introducing environmental ows to rehabilitate
riparian vegetation abundance by (1) re–introducing more natural
water–level variation in run–of–river impoundments, and (2) re–intro-
ducing spring ood events. We contrast these projections with as-
sessments of the eectiveness of rehabilitating riparian vegetation
by placing boulders in near–shore areas to reduce erosion caused by
hydropeaking. We conclude that while environmental ows have the
potential increasing the area of riparian vegetation in entire catch-
ments, it comes with costs associated with reductions in hydropower
production. Reducing erosion by placing boulders to protect ripari-
an zones is an eective nature–based solution but has more limited
scope in terms of the potential areas being restored.
Species–habitat networks: Apromising tool
in applied landscape ecology
Marini L1, Lami F2
1University of Padova, DAFNAE, Legnaro (Padova), Italy, 2University of Bologna, Dis-
tal, Bologna, Italy
Interventions to support ecosystem services across agricultural land-
scapes often require the introduction of novel habitats (e.g. hedge-
rows, ower strips) across an existing mosaic of dierent habitats.
Hence, understanding how species use resources across landscapes
is essential for the design of eective management strategies. De-
spite recent advances in theoretical network ecology, there is still
a gap between theory and applied ecological science. We propose
adapting existing bipartite network tools to create species˗habitat
networks that explicitly evaluate the associations between species
and habitat resources. This approach can describe not only single
habitat and species roles across the landscape, but also emerging
properties of whole habitat networks. The versatility, visualization
tools, and easy interpretation of species–habitat networks enable its
application to awide range of applied conservation issues. Here, we
exemplify the application of this framework by sampling pollinator
and natural enemy communities in all major habitat types occurring
across multiple agricultural landscapes and use species–habitat net-
works to determine how habitat specialization changed along gradi-
ents in landscape structure.
Pollinators and people: socio–economic
drivers of allotment garden management and
impacts on urban pollinator communities
Martelli F1, Scott A1, Goddard M1, Baldock K1
1Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Habitat loss, including increasing urbanization, is akey driver of pol-
linating insect decline. Allotment gardens oer multiple socio–eco-
nomic benets, including food production, and can also improve
the heterogeneity of urban landscapes acting as pollinator hotspots
through the provision of oral resources. Allotment management is
potentially driven by socio–economic factors which could inuence
ecological features and therefore pollinator community structure.
Iuse an interdisciplinary research design to assess the role of socio–
economic drivers in structuring insect pollinator communities in al-
lotment gardens in Tyneside (UK). Isampled along adeprivation gra-
dient to address the following questions: (1) Does the “luxury eect”
– positing that neighbourhoods with higher SES (socioeconomic sta-
tus) have higher biodiversity than neighbourhoods with lower SES –
hold for pollinators in allotment gardens? (2) How do socio–econom-
ic factors aect allotment management and the provision of oral
resources? (3) How do gardeners’ perceptions of pollinators change
across socio–economic groups?
Plant–pollinator interactions and oral resources were sampled in
allotment sites. I used social surveys to collect information about
garden management, socio–demographic features and biodiversity
perception.
Ipresent my preliminary ndings and discuss the evidence for the
luxury eect, to assess how to improve garden management to ben-
et pollinator communities in urban landscapes.
The contribution of the EU Habitats Directive
to the net gain approaches of the UN
Post 2020 Biodiversity Framework and EU
Biodiversity Strategy
Mauerhofer V1,2,3
1Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden, 2Vienna University, Vienna, Austria,
3Meiji University, Environmental Law Centre, Tokyo, Japan
Biodiversity is continuing to decrease widely and manifold echoed
calls for reversing this trend need support from more eectively for-
mulated and implemented rules–of–law. The UN Post 2020 Biodiver-
sity Framework to be concluded in May 2022 contains in the past and
current drafts an overall vision for global net improvements till 2050
and already some goals and targets for concrete net gains. The over-
all goal of this contribution is to show how the EU Habitats Directive
already in its current version contributes and can further contribute
36
to such biodiversity net gains, besides the actions outlined in the
2020 EU Biodiversity Strategy also referring to the Net Gain Principle.
Hermeneutic methods are applied such as comparative legal analy-
ses and dierent types of text interpretation (e.g. historic, wording,
rational). The ndings identify three major parts of the EU–Habitats
Directives where the implementation of the objective to achieve net
gains can be legally based upon, namely the maintenance, the resto-
ration and the compensation. The results show the already current
potential of the Habitats Directive to contribute through an imple-
mentation of EU’s Net Gain Principle to the overall global vision to-
ward net improvements of the UN Post 2020 Biodiversity Framework.
Where to bee? Dierent types of
semi–natural habitats are required
to sustain diverse wild bee communities
in agricultural landscapes
Maurer C1,2, Sutter L3, Martínez–Núñez C1, Pellissier L2,4, Albrecht M1
1Agroscope, Zürich, Switzerland, 2ETH, Zürich, Switzerland, 3Agroscope, Conthey,
Switzerland, 4Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL,
Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Semi–natural habitats (SNHs) provide important resources for wild
bees in agricultural landscapes. As oral resources uctuate in space
and time, dierent SNH types within landscapes could have dierent
eects supporting diverse bee meta–communities throughout the
season. Such knowledge is of critical importance for pollinator con-
servation. Here, we integrate analyses of alpha– and beta–diversity,
as well as species–habitat networks, to examine the relative contribu-
tion of major SNH types (extensively managed meadows, convention-
ally managed meadows, ower strips, hedgerows and forest edges)
to wild bee meta–communities in agricultural landscapes in dierent
seasonal periods. Results highlight the importance of extensively
managed meadows supporting more rare species, habitat specialists
and overall bee diversity during the entire season; yet, ower strips
were similarly important in late summer. Nevertheless, each of the
ve investigated SNH harboured relatively unique sets of bee spe-
cies, with dierent habitats generally acting as distinct modules in
the bee–habitat network. Local oral richness explained alpha– and
beta–diversity within and across habitats, while landscape composi-
tion and conguration also interactively inuenced species turnover
between habitats. Our ndings underpin the critical importance of
maintaining dierent types of SNH oering complementary resourc-
es throughout the season to sustain diverse meta–communities of
bee pollinators in agricultural landscapes.
Higher synergies and alleviated trade–os
between ecosystem services from forest
policies embedding more natural climate
solutions in the production landscape
Mazziotta A1,2, Lundström J3, Forsell N4, Moor H1,5, Eggers J3, Subrama-
nian N6, Aquilué N7,8, Morán–Ordóñez A7,9, Brotons L7,9, Snäll T1
1Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
(SLU), Uppsala, Sweden, 2Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Helsinki, Fin-
land, 3Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricul-
tural Sciences (SLU), Umeå, Sweden, 4International Institute for Applied Systems
Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria, 5Swiss Federal Research Institute (WSL), Bir-
mensdorf, Switzerland, 6Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish Univer-
sity of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Alnarp, Sweden, 7Forest Science and Technology
Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), Solsona, Spain, 8Centre d’ Etude de la Forêt (CEF), Uni-
versité du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Montréal, Canada, 9Centre for Research on
Ecology and Forestry Applications (CREAF), Barcelona, Spain
To stabilize global warming under 2 °C by 2100, societies act to in-
crease the global terrestrial carbon sink in forests with bioenergy,
bioeconomy and natural climate solutions (NCS). NCS means protec-
tion via set–aside to store carbon in standing biomass and soil. Bio-
energy and bioeconomy solutions mean managing forests intensively
to produce biofuels and bioproducts. NCS provide more habitat for
biodiversity and non–wood ecosystem services (ES) compared to bi-
oenergy and bioeconomy. We evaluate the future impact of policies
with increasing wood demand on seven ES linked with biomass pro-
duction, climate change mitigation and biodiversity in the Swedish
forests under increasing climate change. We demonstrate that: (1)
increasing wood demand will decrease ES multifunctionality of man-
aged forests, but climate change will counterbalance this negative
trend; (2) climate change will negatively impact the supply of ES more
strongly in production than in NCS forests; (3) increasing wood har-
vesting and climate change will decrease ES synergies and increase
ES trade–os, but NCS will strongly increase ES synergies and turn
ES trade–os into synergies. To conclude, even though policies of in-
creasing wood demand will drastically reduce forest ES multifunction-
ality, NCS will minimize this negative impact, representing a strong-
hold to increase the resilience of the working landscape.
Trade–os between timber revenues and
biodiversity conservation shift for
taxa dierently aected by forestry
in boreal landscapes
Mazziotta A1, Duot R2,3, Eyvindson K1,4, Juutinen A5, Le Tortorec E2,3,
Miettinen K6, Moilanen A7, Podkopaev D8, Pohjanmies T1, Reunanen
P2,3, Salminen H9, Strandman H10, Tikkanen O10, Mönkkönen M2,3
1Natural Resources Institute Finland (luke), Helsinki, Finland, 2Department of Biolog-
ical and Environmental Science, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland, 3School
of Resource Wisdom, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland, 4Faculty of Environ-
mental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life
Sciences, Ås, Norway, 5Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), University of Oulu,
Oulu, Finland, 6Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla,
Finland, 7Finnish Natural History Museum, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland,
8Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, 9Natural
Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Rovaniemi, Finland, 10School of Forest Sciences,
University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
Timber harvesting is in conict with the conservation of several for-
est taxa. However, not all taxa respond equally to forestry. Forest
habitat remains suitable for generalist taxa with wide ecological re-
quirements even after management has induced sensible changes in
forest composition and structure, while it decreases dramatically for
specialists with narrow ecological requirements as forestry intensi-
es. We review the impacts of applying forest management regimes
of dierent intensity on the trade–os between the production of
timber and habitat for boreal species with diverse ecological require-
ments. We show that increasing habitat for specialist taxa depending
only on deadwood tends to be more expensive in terms of missed
timber revenues than increasing habitat for generalists. This is be-
cause management regimes generating the highest timber revenues
subtract resources from living tree biomass, which prevents dead-
wood production. To reduce the loss of biodiversity in the production
landscape, the conservation of taxa with dierent responses to man-
agement should be ensured by adiversication of management re-
gimes. In the boreal production forest, set–aside is the management
regime improving more species habitat but generating no timber rev-
enues; set–aside can be complemented by other biodiversity–friendly
regimes fewer impacting revenues, and whose capacity to improve
habitat is taxon dependent.
Eects of highway pollution
on plant–insect interactions
Meineke E1, Eng D1, Richards L2, Karban R1
1UC Davis, Davis, United States, 2University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, United States
Vehicle pollution is a pervasive aspect of anthropogenic change in
both urban and rural habitats. Plant–insect herbivore interactions are
highly contingent on environmental variables associated with pollu-
tion, including the availability of carbon and nitrogen in leaves. Nitro-
gen– and carbon–based compounds are emitted from tailpipes, but
the extent to which these compounds are then taken up by plants is
poorly understood, as are any downstream eects on insects that
feed on plants in polluted environments. Here, we demonstrate that
herbivory on commonly planted oak trees (Quercus lobata) across the
state of California is substantially elevated on trees planted within
200 meters of highways compared urban trees further from high-
ways and rural trees. In the laboratory, caterpillars preferred leaves
from highway adjacent trees and performed better on leaves from
highway adjacent environments. Together, our data suggest that pol-
lution associated with highways aects interaction strengths and may
explain highly variable patterns of insect feeding within cities. While
planting trees near highways may provide benets to residents,
tradeos between these benets, tree health, and insect conserva-
tion should be considered in tree planting programs as the climate
warms and trees are exposed to multiple increasing stressors.
37
Making sense of eective population size
estimates in conservation
MERGEAY J
The eective size (Ne) is an important property of populations in
evolutionary biology, population genetics and biological conserva-
tion. It represents how fast populations lose genetic diversity, and
thereby provides information on expected future levels of inbreeding
and evolutionary potential. Ne has been proposed as akey variable
for evaluating the conservation status of populations and species,
but the correct implementation requires conservation geneticists to
calculate reliable and robust estimates. There are many ways to get
Ne–estimates and each method makes various assumptions on the
past evolutionary trajectory of populations, connectivity and popula-
tion structure. This has led to aBabylonian speech confusion among
conservation geneticists on what Ne actually represents. This makes
the concept even harder to grasp for non–specialists and leads to
aloss of trust in Ne as auseful variable for policy and management.
Here I try to navigate the quagmire of Ne–estimation methods, dis-
cuss the critical role of knowing and checking model assumptions
and illustrate this with practical examples from conservation genetics
projects.
Reconnecting lynx populations across
continental Europe
Meyer N1,2, Signer J3, Dormann C1, Andrén H4, Persson J4, Linnell J5,
Mattisson J5, Jobin A6, Ornicans A7, Dula M8, Krojerova J9, Mannil P10,
Kopaniak L11, Herdtfelder M11, Sindicic M12, Gomercic T12, Krofel M13,
Oliveira T13, Odden J5, Anders O14, Melovski D15, Potocnik H13, Pagon
N13, Tam B16, Kubala J16, Oeser J17, Heurich M18
1Freiburg University, Freiburg, Germany, 2The University of Newcastle, Callaghan,
Australia, 3University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany, 4SLU, Grimsö, Sweden,
5NINA, Trondheim, Norway, 6Italian Lynx Project, Travisio, Italy, 7Latvian State Forest
Research Institute, Salaspils, Latvia, 8Mendel University Brno, Brno, Czech Republic,
9Czech Academy of Sciences, Praha, Czech Republic, 10Estonian Environmental Agen-
cy, Tallinn, Estonia, 11Forest Research Institute Baden–Wuerttemberg (FVA), Freiburg,
Germany, 12University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia, 13University of Ljubljana, Ljublja-
na, Slovenia, 14Harz National Park, Wernigerode, Germany, 15Macedonian Ecological
Society, Skopje, Macedonia, 16National Zoo Bojnice, Bojnice, Slovakia, 17Humboldt
University, Berlin, Germany, 18Bavaria National Park, Grafenau, Germany
The Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx is awide–ranging carnivore that, following
extirpation in much of Europe, is progressively recovering through-
out the continent. Reintroduction and restocking of populations
have been key for this recovery process. However, the species is still
threatened by habitat fragmentation and genetic depletion. Hence,
to better facilitate successful recolonization and to meaningfully ad-
vise policy makers on land use planning, identifying areas that ease
movement of lynx are needed, yet lacking. Here, we used an exten-
sive data set of lynx movement from 221 individuals in 11 countries
across Europe to examine their resource use. We calculated land-
scape resistance for lynx that were categorized as either resident or
disperser, and subsequently estimated functional connectivity for the
two groups using circuit theory. Although corridors identied diered
between the two groups, we were able to identify areas important for
restoring connectivity between core populations of lynx in Europe.
User and policy needs for biodiversity
monitoring in Europe
Moersberger H1,2, Martin J3, Georgieva I3, Junker J4,2, McCallum I3,
Bonn A1,5,2, Pereira H4,2
1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany, 2German
Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany, 3International
Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Vienna, Austria, 4Martin–Luther–Uni-
versity Halle–Wittenberg (MLU), Halle, Germany, 5Friedrich–Schiller–Universität Jena
(FSU), Jena, Germany
What do users and policymakers need from biodiversity monitoring
in Europe? The EuropaBON project consulted with more than 350
expert stakeholders from policy, research and practice to determine
their needs from biodiversity monitoring in Europe. Our assessment
shows afragmented monitoring landscape that cannot easily answer
all relevant policy questions now or in the near future. Challenges
range from insucient nancial resources, taxonomic biases and lack
of experts to inaccessibility of raw data. Proposed solutions include
standardization of data gathering, capacity building and stakeholder
engagement, modeling and novel technologies, and enhanced coor-
dination. Finally, we will articulate how biodiversity data is currently
being used by policy and what the biodiversity monitoring require-
ments for addressing the main policy questions and goals are.
Reviewing across knowledge systems for
better conservation: the case of the ’Gourmet
omnivorous’ pigs
Molnár Z1, Demeter L1, Szabados K2, Kiš A2, Ajvazović M3, Runjanin
B3, Mandušić V3, Biró M1, Öllerer K1, Marinkov J4, Ulicsni V1, Babai D5,
Katona K6
1Centre For Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2Institute for Nature Conser-
vation of Vojvodina Province , Novi Sad, Serbia, 3Traditional pig keeper (svinjar),
Bosut forest, Serbia, 4MTA–DE ‚Lendület‘ Evolutionary Phylogenomics Research
Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Debrecen, Hungary, 5Research Centre for
the Humanities, Institute of Ethnology, Budapest, Hungary, 6Institute for Wildlife
Management and Nature Conservation, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life
Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary
Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and collaborative research
is increasingly acknowledged; conservationists and scientists work
together with local knowledge holders for better and fairer conser-
vation management. Experience shows that working with locals and
the use of evidence from both knowledge systems can considerably
improve conservation. Detailed cross knowledge system reviews of
the available evidence are, however, still scarce. We studied exten-
sive pig keeping in forests and marshes, ahistorically widespread but
nowadays almost extinct practice in Europe. We focused on three
knowledge areas: what, when and how pigs forage. We reviewed
ve knowledge sources: living TEK, ethnographic literature (archived
TEK), pig and wild boar scientic literature, and authors’ observations
of foraging. Archived TEK diered much from living TEK. Scientic
knowledge on wild boar foraging poorly correlated with living TEK.
Variations in the contributions of the knowledge sources to the big-
ger picture were benecial in widening the scope of our review, and
were caused mainly by their dierent interests and methods used.
We met several challenges of cross knowledge system reviewing. The
unexpected dissimilarity of living and archived TEK and science points
to the need to help the continuing existence and to an ongoing docu-
mentation of living traditional knowledge in Europe.
Rebuilding green infrastructure in boreal
production forest given future global wood
demand
Moor H2,1, Eggers J2,3, Fabritius H2,4, Forsell N9, Henckel L2,5, Bradter
U2,6, Mazziotta A2,7, Nordén J8, Snäll T2
1Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow And Landscape Research Wsl, Birmensdorf,
Switzerland, 2Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU, Uppsala, Sweden,
3Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU, Umeå, Sweden, 4Tallinn University
of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia, 5French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and
Environment INRAE, Dijon, France, 6Norwegian Institute for Nature Research NINA,
Trondheim, Norway, 7Natural Resources Institute Finland LUKE, Helsinki, Finland,
8Norwegian Institute for Nature Research NINA, Oslo, Norway, 9International Insti-
tute for Applied Systems Analysis IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria
Global policy for biodiversity conservation is ultimately implement-
ed and evaluated at landscape scale. In parallel, green infrastructure
planning needs to account for socio–economic dynamics at national
and global scales. We constructed scenarios of future landscape–
scale forest management that account for global socioeconomic
developments under a middle–of–the–road Shared Socioeconomic
Pathway (SSP) and evaluated their impact on forest biodiversity. Spe-
cically, we studied the potential to rebuild green infrastructure in
aboreal production forest landscape, that had been intensively man-
aged for decades, while meeting the projected future demand for
wood products. In agreen infrastructure scenario, we optimized lev-
els of national environmental quality (EQO) indicators, asking wheth-
er good indicator status actually benets forest biodiversity (the re-
sponses of multiple species), whether it can be achieved given global
demands on forest products, and at what economic cost (relative to
targeting nancial gains alone). We show how eects of global SSPs
can be downscaled and accounted for in planning landscape–scale
forest and conservation management. Accounting for EQO in the
management optimization can reveal scenarios for reaching targets
on both revenue and conservation. Rebuilding green infrastructure
38
in the production forest was possible at arelatively minor economic
cost and to the benet of species of conservation concern.
Mapping and making current European
monitoring initiatives accessible via aweb–
based database
Morán Ordóñez A1,2, Martí Pino D1,3, Villero D2, Herrando S1,3, Brotons
L1,2,4
1Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals (CREAF), Bellaterra, Barcelona,
Spain, 2Consorci Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC), Solsona, Lleida,
Spain, 3Institut Català d‘Ornitologia (ICO), Barcelona, Spain, 4Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Cientícas (CSIC), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
The EUROPABON biodiversity database (monitoring.europabon.org),
is a web–based platform explicitly describing current workows of
monitoring eorts delivering biodiversity information in Europe. This
database is akey tool to understand how biodiversity data collected
in monitoring schemes across Europe ows through dierent institu-
tions and programs and gets processed to produce Essential Biodi-
versity Variables (EBVs), Ecosystem Services Variables (EESVs) and /or
other European policy–relevant indicators.
For a given monitoring network, the database collects information
about three distinctive elements: 1) the biodiversity data collected in
monitoring programs (e.g. taxa, spatio–temporal resolution); 2) the
“integration nodes”: platforms/projects/institutions processing the
biodiversity data to generate EBVs, EESVs or any other indicators (e.g.
funding available, type and spatial level of data processing) and 3)
data ows (e.g. ow frequency).
Preliminary analyses of the database suggest, most integration of
biodiversity data at the European level is carried out by non–govern-
mental bodies and that there is ageographic and taxonomic bias in
monitoring eorts across Europe, with data on plants and birds dom-
inating over other taxonomic groups. Data from systematic monitor-
ing programs are most commonly integrated to generate EBVs, ESSVs
and indicators at the European level; however, only asmall fraction of
these data is open access.
Introduction of large herbivores restored
plant species richness in abandoned dry
temperate grassland
Mudrák O1, Dvorský M1, Doležal J1, Jirků M2
1Institute of Botany CAS, Třeboň, Czech Republic, 2Institute of Parasitology, Biology
Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
An increasingly practiced way of managing habitats with conserva-
tional value is naturalistic grazing by large herbivores. Their (re)intro-
duction has the potential to restore and enhance biodiversity, creating
self–sustainable environments vital for organisms requiring regular
disturbances to moderate successional changes. European bison, Ex-
moor pony, and Tauros cattle were introduced in 2015 to aformer
military training area in Milovice, Czech Republic. The prevailing veg-
etation type is aforest–steppe savanna with Bromus erectus–domi-
nated xeric grasslands mixed with deciduous shrubs and trees. After
the cessation of military use, the area was abandoned which led to
successional changes, including the dominance of tall grasses, litter
accumulation and bush encroachment. In 2017–2021, we monitored
grassland vegetation in 30 grazed permanent plots (2×2 m) and 5
control plots representative of ungrazed, abandoned vegetation ad-
jacent to the grazed areas. Naturalistic grazing increased species rich-
ness and the cover of forbs, while the cover of grasses and legumes
was minimally aected. Grazing promoted acompositional change to
small statured species and an increased incidence of red–list species.
Seven years of continuous grazing increased the conservation value
of this forest–steppe vegetation, ahabitat type rapidly declining in
Europe.
Bridging the gap: How can genetic analysis
translate to conservation action in the
Eurasian lynx
Mueller S1
1Ludwig Maximilian University, Planegg–Martinsried, Germany
Population genomic methods allow for better estimates of key fea-
tures of wild populations: including eective population size, inbreed-
ing, demographic history and population structure. These estimates
can inform ongoing conservation eorts, however, the gap between
researchers and practitioners can make integration of scientic re-
sults into clear actions dicult. Using the Eurasian lynx as acase
study, Iwill show how population genomic analyses can translate into
clear conservation action, providing aframework for future projects.
The Eurasian lynx is alarge carnivore, which became locally extinct in
Central Europe in the 20th century and has since been reintroduced
in several countries beginning in the 1970 s. We investigated how re-
introduction has shaped the demography of isolated Eurasian lynx
populations, nding evidence of astrong founder eect and high lev-
els of recent inbreeding in several populations. Our results indicate
that reintroduced populations are vulnerable to the negative eects
of inbreeding and small population sizes and conservation action will
be needed to reach the overarching goal of aself–sustaining popula-
tions in the long term. These results have been integrated into man-
agement strategies, at a national and international level, involving
newly planned translocations for the hopeful establishment of aEu-
ropean metapopulation of Eurasian lynx.
Testing Key Biodiversity Areas Criteria on
Amphibians and Reptiles of Italy
Nania D1, Lumbierres Civit M1, Falaschi M2, Ficetola G2, Pacici M1,
Rondinini C1
1Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy, 2University of Milan, Milan, Italy
The Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) approach, although relatively new
and unexplored, is rapidly becoming an important method to identify
regions of the planet hosting unique biodiversity. KBAs are identied
through the implementation of standardized threshold–based crite-
ria, which can be applied regardless of the target species and region.
We developed amoving–window based methodology to scan geo-
graphical regions and detect potential KBAs under multiple criteria
for target taxa. We tested the methodology on selected species of
reptiles and amphibians in Italy and evaluated the response of dier-
ent KBA criteria. Potential KBAs were identied for multiple species
under most tested criteria. Unit size of the moving–window grid used
to identify KBAs played an important role in shaping the distribution
of potential KBAs, also aecting the degree of overlap between areas
triggered by dierent criteria. New identied potential KBAs are only
partially nested within current KBAs in Italy and within the national
protected areas. The new methodology can be used for assessments
of target taxa to identify potential KBAs. Evaluating species response
to the KBA criteria can deepen our understanding of the KBA ap-
proach and how it can be improved to increase its contribution to the
conservation of Earth’sbiodiversity.
Coping with environmental change: Are
migrants particularly vulnerable?
Nemeth Z1
1University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
Organisms are increasingly exposed to rapid changes in the environ-
ment, yet it remains dicult to predict their responses to such chang-
es. Migratory birds are considered to be ecologically less exible than
resident species thus it may be hypothesized they are more vulner-
able to altered conditions. If so, one may predict that migrants may
be less able to cope with challenges in the environment than resident
congeners. To test this prediction, migratory and resident subspecies
of the White−crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii) and
(Z. l. nuttalli) were examined in cognitive, behavioral and physiological
tests and the following variables were measured: (1) risk tolerance
(i.e. ight initiation distance); (2) problem−solving ability; (3) object
neophobia; (4) spatial exploratory tendency; and (5) adrenocortical
stress response. All tests, except the exploratory test, were conduct-
ed in the non−breeding season. In support of the prediction, migrants
39
were found to be more risk−averse and less innovative in accomplish-
ing afeeding task but did not dier in their response to novel objects,
novel space or capture and restraint stress. These results suggest
that migrants may be more constrained in their ability to cope with
human disturbance and exploit emerging novel resources.
Impacts of community forest managed areas
on deforestation and forest fragmentation
during apolitical crisis in Madagascar
Neugarten R1, Rasolofoson R, Vieilledent G, Barrett C, Rodewald A
1Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
The majority of the world’stropical forests are located in fragile na-
tions that have suered repeated political crises. Given the impor-
tance of tropical forest ecosystems for biodiversity, climate mitigation,
and livelihoods, it is critical to understand what kinds of conservation
interventions are resilient during times of political crisis. We inves-
tigated the relative eectiveness of two conservation interventions:
community forest managed areas (CFM) and national parks (MNP), in
the island nation of Madagascar, acountry characterized by globally
signicant biodiversity, high levels of deforestation, and repeated po-
litical crises. Using panel data on deforestation and forest fragmenta-
tion derived from remote sensing, we conducted statistical matching
and adierence–in–dierences analysis to isolate the causal impact
of CFM areas and matched MNP during the political crisis. Preliminary
results indicate that CFM areas performed worse than MNP in terms
of reducing deforestation during apolitical crisis, but better in terms
of reducing forest fragmentation. This unexpected result may be due
to dierent threats experienced by CFM areas and MNP in Madagas-
car. If our results hold up to planned robustness checks, then our
ndings indicate that hybrid conservation approaches combining
traditional government–managed MNP with community–managed
areas might be the most resilient during times of crisis.
Conservation planning for species and
nature‘scontributions to people
O‘Connor L1, Pollock L2, Verhagen W3, Verburh P3, Lavorel S1, Renaud
J1, Thuiller W1
1Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Laboratoire d’Écologie
Alpine, Grenoble, France, 2Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Can-
ada, 3Environmental Geography Group, Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije
Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
There is an urgent need to protect key areas for biodiversity and na-
ture’s contributions to people (NCP). However, dierent values of
nature are rarely considered together in conservation planning. We
identied and compared priority areas in Europe for three values of
nature: (i) biodiversity, represented by 785 terrestrial vertebrate spe-
cies; (ii) regulating NCP, represented by carbon sequestration, air qual-
ity regulation, ood prevention and pollination; and (iii) cultural NCP,
represented by heritage forests, heritage agriculture, foraging for wild
foods (mushrooms and plants), and nature tourism. We quantied the
spatial overlap between these priorities and their performance in rep-
resenting dierent values of nature. We found that dierent priorities
rarely coincide, except in certain irreplaceable ecosystems. We also
identied priority areas given what is already protected by the Natura
2000 network, which covers about 20% of the EU. We found that Natu-
ra 2000 protects 30% of the key areas for NCP, and 36% of vertebrate
species distributions on average. Our results show that protecting an
additional 5% of land has the potential to double conservation gains
for biodiversity while also maintaining some essential NCP, leading to
co–benets for both nature and people.
Integrating big animal tracking data at
acontinental scale for assessing the potential
of Eurasian lynx recovery across Europe
Oeser J1, Heurich M2,3, Kramer–Schadt S4,5, Kuemmerle T1,6
1Geography Department, Humboldt–Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2Chair of
Wildlife Ecology and Management, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources,
University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 3Bavarian Forest National Park, Depart-
ment of Visitor Management and National Park Monitoring, Grafenau, Germany,
4Department of Ecological Dynamics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research,
Berlin, Germany, 5Institute of Ecology, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germa-
ny, 6Integrative Research Institute on Transformation in Human Environment Sys-
tems, Humboldt–Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
The comeback of large carnivores in Europe provides unique oppor-
tunities for restoring biodiversity and missing ecological functions,
yet coexisting with carnivores in shared landscapes remains akey
conservation challenge. Fostering viable metapopulations of large
carnivores across Europe requires knowledge about potential habitat
for range expansions, as well as on how large carnivores can adapt to
living in human–dominated landscapes. We analyzed these questions
for the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) integrating continent–wide animal
tracking data (450 individuals across 13 countries). Using this unique
dataset, we (1) compared approaches for large–area yet high–reso-
lution habitat mapping and (2) assessed how lynx adjust their habi-
tat selection in response to varying human pressures and landscape
composition. We highlight that robustly mapping wildlife habitat at
acontinental scale requires accounting for regional variation in hab-
itat selection across environmental gradients. Moreover, we show
that human pressure is amain driver of variation in lynx habitat se-
lection, determining the use of habitat features providing protection
from human disturbance (i.e., forests or rugged terrain) and that such
refuge habitats are essential for promoting coexistence, allowing lynx
to persist in human–dominated landscapes. Together, our ndings
provide important new insights for the continent–wide conservation
of lynx and large carnivores more generally.
Eects of livestock grazing in temperate
forests – Historical knowledge enhancing
present scientic understanding
Öllerer K1,2, Molnár Z1, Demeter L1, Dénes A3, Varga A4, Fehér A5, Kiš
A6, Szabados K6, Biró M1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2Institute of Biology – Bucharest,
Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania, 3Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs, Hunga-
ry, 4University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary, 5Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra,
Slovak Republic, 6Institute for Nature Conservation of Vojvodina Province, Novi Sad,
Serbia
Forests have been grazed by livestock for centuries and there is an
increasing recognition that, if done considerately, this incriminated
activity can benet forest management and biodiversity, maintain-
ing acultural practice providing benets for local communities. We
reviewed both current scientic literature (Web of Science) and his-
torical traditional knowledge (Carpathian Basin, prior to mid–20th
century) in order to assess the contemporary relevance of traditional
silvopastoral practices to biodiversity management. We identied 71
recent, and over 160 relevant historical publications. Over 900 histor-
ical records present the practice of forest grazing, including cattle and
sheep used for weed control in plantations, facilitating regeneration
of target tree species. Pigs were used to prepare the soil for acorns,
favouring oak regeneration. Reported eects varied greatly depend-
ing on forest type and stocking levels, livestock species and age,
availability of alternative forage, grazing season, herder precaution
and other activities taking place in the forest. Eects relevant from
aconservation perspective include increased patchiness and habitat
diversity resulting from a reduction in the cover of monodominant
shrubs and pioneer vegetation, leading to an increased diversity of
herbaceous vegetation. We urge the use of historical literature as
acomplementary source for developing tradition–based innovative
conservation management methods.
Ecosystem Services from Urban Sacred
Natural Sites
Ormsby A1
1University of North Carolina Asheville, Asheville, United States
Urban sacred natural sites, found globally, are important green spac-
es that provide avariety of ecosystem services, including cultural and
ecological benets. They are under increasing pressure due to the
impacts of urbanization, while at the same time being needed more
than ever. They provide both spiritual values as well as ecosystem
services such as pollution control. One key example is Krakus Mound
in Poland. This and other cases of urban sacred natural sites will be
presented and compared, including those in Europe and beyond,
such as Swayambhu, Nepal, Meiji Jingu, Japan, and Ambohimanga,
Madagascar. Despite a wide diversity of associated faith traditions,
some common features of these sites include sacred species of trees
40
and symbolic boundary markers. Several of the locations have been
declared World Heritage Sites, which has resulted in increased tour-
ism. Future conservation eorts should take into account the diversi-
ty of managers and associated management systems for these sites,
as well as their multiple users, ranging from participants in associated
ceremonies to tourists to city residents.
SUPPLEMENTAL FEEDING AND ANIMAL
MOVEMENT: ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES
OF AWIDESPREAD MANAGEMENT PRACTICE
Ossi F1, Ranc N1,2,3, Moorcroft P2, Cagnacci F1
1Animal Ecology Unit – Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach,
San Michele All‘adige, Italy, 2 Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts – USA, 3Université de Toulouse, IN-
RAE, CEFS, Castanet–Tolosan, France
The heterogeneous distribution of resources can inuence individ-
ual movement and space–use patterns. We investigated behavioral
and spatial responses of European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)
to supplemental feeding, a widespread management practice that
alters resource distribution by articially providing abundant and
concentrated food. We rstly analyzed roe deer spatial responses by
experimentally manipulating feeding site accessibility, nding that
these resource alterations drove shifts in roe deer movements and
space–use, mediated by both individual resource preferences, and
site familiarity. We also demonstrated that roe deer relied on mem-
ory, not perception, to track the spatio–temporal availability of these
resources. Then, we examined the environmental and behavioral
drivers inuencing roe deer use of feeding sites, nding evidence for
both a seasonal and circadian cycle in the pattern of visits that was
further inuenced by competition of conspecics. Finally, by contrast-
ing these patterns during and before the COVID–19 Anthropause, we
linked the aforementioned patterns of use of feeding sites to risk per-
ception by roe deer. By applying movement ecology principles and
techniques, we showed that this management practice importantly
aects individual space–use and behavior, with potential detrimen-
tal unintended eects on the target populations that deserve further
investigation.
Coping with the challenges of human–wildlife
conicts in the 21st century. Is coexistence
just adream of nature lovers?
Koenig H1, Hemminger K1,4, Ostermann–miyashita E1,4, Srivastava
N1,5, Hibler S2, Gandl N3, Bluhm H4, Uthes S1, Kiner C1
1ZALF, Muencheberg, Germany, 2Potsdam University, Potsdam, Germany, 3WWF
Germany, Berlin, Germany, 4Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 5Martin
Luther University of Halle–Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
Agricultural landscapes increasingly become arenas of conict in
which human and wildlife compete for the same resources. Design-
ing sustainable strategies requires balancing two apparently diverg-
ing goals: (mainly economic) interests of farmers, and conservation of
protected species and/or habitats. We present multiple human–wild-
life conict examples from Germany:
• expansion of gray wolf populations vs. livestock depredation,
• changing migratory yways of cranes vs. crop damages,
• recolonization of mega–herbivores such as European bison and
moose vs. (yet) unknown damages,
• outbreak of African swine fever in wild boar vs. fencing activities.
These examples suggest that the damage mitigation measures to
protect the economic interests of farmers conicts with legal con-
servation frameworks. This discrepancy is manifested in opposing
stakeholder interests, and causes human–human conict. Integrated
impact assessment can be used as atool to identify trade–os and
to assess alternative policy measures and management options and
their likely eects on humans and wildlife. The concept of human–
wildlife coexistence provides aholistic framework in which social and
economic aspects of people and ecological needs of wildlife are con-
sidered in an integrated way. We illustrate examples of integrated
impact assessment for human–wildlife interaction and discuss ideas
for policy and management implications.
Forecasting future range shifts to an
endangered freshwater mussel in Europe: the
importance of considering biotic interactions
P.da Silva J1, Gonçalves D2, Lopes–Lima M3, Anastácio P4, Banha F4,
Emmanuel F5, Gama M4, Miranda R6, Reis J7, Filipe A8, Sousa R1
1Centre of Molecular And Environmental Biology, Department of Biology, Univer-
sity of Minho, Braga, Portugal, 2CIIMAR – Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação
Marinha e Ambiental, University of Porto, Matosinhos, Portugal, 3CIBIO/InBIO – Re-
search Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto, Vairão,
Portugal, 4MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Department of Land-
scape, Environment and Planning, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal, 5Department
of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, 6Institu-
to de Biodiversidad y Medioambiente (BIOMA), Universidad de Navarra, Navarra,
Spain, 7MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ciências
da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal, 8Forest Research Centre, School of Ag-
riculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
The freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera has been suf-
fering major population declines in Europe. This endangered species
is ahost specialist and exclusively requires salmonid species (Salmo
trutta and Salmo salar) to complete its life cycle, demanding aspe-
cial conservation attention, particularly under future climate change.
To evaluate the importance of including the occurrence of sh hosts
for predicting the current and future distribution of M. margaritifera
in Europe, three datasets were used to build species distribution
models (SDMs) with amaximum entropy (MaxEnt) approach: (1) en-
vironmental variables; (2) probability of sh hosts occurrence; and
(3) environmental variables and probability of sh hosts occurrence.
Projections were also used to evaluate the adequacy of current net-
works of European protected areas in covering suitable habitats.
Incorporating data about sh hosts into M. margaritifera’s SDMs
avoided the overprediction of geographical projections. While pre-
dictions indicated large contractions in M. margaritifera‘sdistribution
as aresult of future climate change, the current European network
of protected areas fails to safeguard its habitats. SDMs can inform
political decision–making about the likely scenarios for species occur-
rence in future decades, the requirements needed for an eective
conservation strategy, and the regions where conservation should be
apriority.
Eects of land–tenure regimes on
deforestation in Brazil
Pacheco A1, Meyer C1,2,3
1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany, 2In-
stitute of Geosciences and Geography, Martin Luther University Halle–Wittenberg,
Halle (Saale), Germany, 3Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Many tropical forestlands are experiencing changes in land–tenure
regimes, but how these changes may aect deforestation rates re-
mains theoretically and empirically ambiguous, hampering general-
izations on the most likely long–term eects of land–tenure policies
and interventions. Using Brazil’suniquely comprehensive compila-
tion of land–tenure data and quasi–experimental study design, we
estimated the eects of six alternative tenure regimes on deforest-
ation from 1985–2018. We tested the consistency of these ndings
across regional–historical contexts by creating quasi–repetitions over
49 spatiotemporal scales. Our results indicated that poorly dened
public tenure increased deforestation relative to any alternative re-
gime in most contexts. Private tenure often reduced this deforesta-
tion, but did so less eectively and less reliably than alternative well–
dened regimes, except for in remote regions where on–the–ground
governance is limited and there are extensive environmental policies.
Directly privatizing conservation regimes or indigenous lands, in
turn, would likely increase deforestation. Our cross–scale synthesis
informs how conservation, titling, and other tenure–intervention pol-
icies may align with climate–change, biodiversity, and broader envi-
ronmental sustainability goals; and are directly relevant to ongoing
political debates regarding land privatization and/or protection in
Amazonia.
41
Validating forest biodiversity
indicators with multi–taxonomic data:
An Europe–wide analysis
Paillet Y1, Aszalós R2, Brazaitis G3, Campagnaro T4, Chianucci F5, Ciach
M6, Doerer I7, Gültekin Y8, Haeler E19, Heilmann–Clausen J9, Kepfer–
Rojas S10, Kozák D11, Nascimbene J12, Nordén B13, Schall P14, Sitzia T4,
De Smedt P15, Svoboda M11, Tinya F2, Trentanovi G16, Vandekerkhove
K17, Burrascano S18
1Univ. Grenoble Alpes, INRAE, Saint Martin D‘Heres, France, 2Centre for Ecological
Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 3Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania, 4Uni-
versità degli Studi, Padova, Italy, 5CREA – Research Centre for Forestry and Wood,
Arezzo, Italy, 6Faculty of Forestry, University of Agriculture, Kraków, Poland, 7IBU,
Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany, 8Düzce University, Düzce, Tur-
key, 9CMEC, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 10University of Co-
penhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 11CULS, Praha, Czech Republic, 12BIOME, Bolo-
gna, Italy, 13Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Oslo, Norway, 14University of
Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, 15Forest & Nature Lab, Ghent University, Ghent ,
Belgium, 16IRET–CNR, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, 17INBO, Brussels, Belgium, 18Sapienza
University, Rome, Italy, 19Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural
Hazards and Landscape (BFW), Vienna, Austria
Most forest biodiversity indicators are based on existing data from
national forest inventories. They have been used for several dec-
ades to assess the state and dynamics of forest biodiversity, notably
through Forest Europe‘sinitiative and reportings. Although valuable,
these indicators are essentially indirect and evaluate habitat quantity
and quality rather than biodiversity per se. Therefore, their link to
biodiversity may be weak, which decreases their usefulness for deci-
sion making for biodiversity conservation.
Within the framework of the COST Action Bottoms–up CA18207, we
gathered data on multi–taxonomic biodiversity and forest structure
across more than 3 000 plots in Europe. We hypothesised that no sin-
gle biodiversity indicator from Forest Europe is able to represent all
biodiversity, but that several indicators would reect habitat quality
for at least some taxa in arather comprehensive way (e.g. saproxylic
species).
While these indicators have been chosen for their availability and the
fact that they are understandable to most, our analyses show that
there are still gaps in the monitoring framework, and that monitoring
certain taxa (groups, species) along with stand structure is necessary
to support policy making and tackle forest biodiversity loss at the
large scale.
Ecosystem services, conicts, and
well–being impacts: Aforest restoration
project along the river Drava
at the Croatian–Hungarian border
Pataki G1, Kelemen E1, Szakál D1
1ESSRG, Budapest, Hungary
The Lankoc Forest, situated along the river Drava at the Croatian–
Hungarian border, is one of the last remnants of species–rich alluvial
forests. Awater retention project was initiated in 2018 by WWF Hun-
gary to halt the loss of biodiversity induced by the dropping water
table and the extreme weather events. While the improved water
regime could benet both the private forest owners and the state
forestry by increasing ecological resilience and timber quality, con-
icts arose when local stakeholders were informed about the water
retention plan. During 2020 and 2021, astakeholder and conict
analysis, aqualitative ecosystem services assessment, and apartic-
ipatory scenario building process were carried out to better under-
stand the stakeholders’ views, potential divergences and to allow
win–win solutions to emerge. The research highlighted diverging per-
ceptions of ecosystem services across key stakeholder groups, pro-
visioning services being more important to those who make aliving
from the forest, while regulating and cultural services prioritised by
citizens or visitors. In addition to the conicting interests, interviews
also revealed structural and value–laden roots of the conict. Better
communicating and distributing the project’ssocial and cultural ben-
ets to the wider local community can be away forward to increase
its acceptance.
(How) can the EU Common
Agricultural Policy still address
the crisis of farmland biodiversity?
Pe‘er G1
1idiv / UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
The EU’sCommon Agricultural Policy (CAP) hasn’t succeeded in halt-
ing farmland biodiversity loss. The CAP post–2023 oers anew ‘Green
Architecture’, including ‘Eco–schemes’, that can potentially address
this weakness. Over 3,600 scientists called the EU to be more ambi-
tious, and over 300 experts delivered recommendations on how the
CAP could do better for biodiversity.
Key principles for success include: preserving and restoring (semi–)
natural elements and extensive grasslands; improving spatial plan-
ning and landscape–scale implementation, e.g. via collective actions;
implementing result–based approaches; and improving knowledge
exchange. The reality, however, is that the war on Ukraine has re-
vived the food security narrative, leading the EU to open fallow land
to production, and shifting budgets to Pillar 1 to expand the use of
agrochemicals. Overall lack of ambition is demonstrated also by the
National Strategic Plans submitted to the Commission.
There is much work for the Commission and Member States to im-
prove Eco–schemes’ design, as well as the CAP’soverall implementa-
tion. Transparency and greater involvement of scientists (and farm-
ers!) is imperative, as is the need to identify and address sources of
resistance to transformation.
We should also think beyond 2027: if Direct Payments cannot be
phased out, other policy instruments should be sought.
Essential Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service
Variables as apowerful tool to overcome
current monitoring roadblocks
Pereira H1,2, Junker J1,2, Fernández N1, Fernandez M1,2, Valdez J1,2
1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (idiv) Halle–Jena–Leipzig, Leip-
zig, Germany, 2Institute of Biology, Martin Luther Univ. Halle–Wittenberg, Halle, Ger-
many
Essential Biodiversity Variables and Essential Ecosystem Service Vari-
ables, aframework initially conceptualized by GEO BON, have alarge
potential to increase standardization and harmonization of data col-
lection while enhancing modeling eorts. In collaboration with hun-
dreds of experts from research and policy, we identied aset of vari-
ables essential to monitor in Europe. These EBVs and EESVs can help
address key policy questions while being of high scientic relevance.
Natural enemy diversity stabilizes biological
pest control via enhanced species asynchrony
Perez–Alvarez R1, Martin E1
1Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Land–use changes associated with agricultural intensication reduce
the diversity of natural enemies with potential consequences on the
level of natural pest control. Few studies, however, have explored
how these landscape–driven changes in natural enemy diversity in-
uence the temporal stability of biological control (i.e., the inverse of
variability) and the underlying mechanisms. Using aglobal database
of natural enemies and biocontrol studies collected from 1180 crop
elds, we found that species asynchrony—more than the temporal
stability of dominant species and species diversity per se—is the
main driver of temporal stability of biological control. Landscape sim-
plication had relatively weak negative eects on biocontrol stability
either indirectly by reducing natural enemy diversity, or directly by
increasing the temporal variability in natural enemy abundance. We
conclude that high species diversity via enhanced asynchrony is crit-
ical for ensuring stable biocontrol services under varying landscape
contexts.
42
Biodiversity post–2020: Closing the gap
between global targets and national–level
implementation
Perino A1, Pereira H1,2
1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (idiv), Leipzig, Germany, 2Mar-
tin–Luther University, Halle–Wittenberg, Germany
National and local governments need to step up eorts to eectively
implement the post–2020 global biodiversity framework of the Con-
vention on Biological Diversity to halt and reverse worsening biodi-
versity trends. In this talk, we propose aframework for improved
implementation by national and subnational governments, drawing
on recent advances in interdisciplinary biodiversity science. First,
the identication of actions and the promotion of ownership across
stakeholders need to recognize the multiple values of biodiversity
and account for remote responsibility. Second, cross–sectorial imple-
mentation and mainstreaming should adopt scalable and multifunc-
tional ecosystem restoration approaches and target positive futures
for nature and people. Third, assessment of progress and adaptive
management can be informed by novel biodiversity monitoring and
modeling approaches handling the multidimensionality of biodiver-
sity change.
Enhancing weed multifunctionality through
landscape–scale management
Petit S1
1Agroécologie, AgroSup Dijon, INRAE, Univ. Bourgogne, Univ. Bourgogne Franche–
Comté, Dijon, France
Arable weeds have drastically declined over the last decades, yet,
even if they can have detrimental eects on crop production, weeds
are of key value for the maintenance of biodiversity and the delivery
of pollination and pest control services in agroecosystems. Agroe-
cological weed management should thus aims at maintaining weed
diversity, preventing weed outbreaks while reducing herbicide use.
Local management practices and properties of the wider landscape
can contribute in combination, rather than separately, to achieving
this aim. They can directly shape the composition of weed communi-
ties, and, indirectly, promote organisms that regulate weeds. In this
talk, I present aframework to assess the multifunctionality of weed
communities in real landscapes and show how the compositional and
congurational heterogeneity of crop mosaics can create interesting
trade–os between weed services and disservices at alandscape lev-
el. Ialso present results illustrating how the interplay between eld–
scale management and landscape properties can aect weed seed
predators and ultimately the biological regulation of weeds. Both ex-
amples highlight the benets of diversifying landscapes and farming
management for biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services.
What is an eco–evolutionary conservation
ethic and why do we need one?
Piccolo J1
1Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
Natural scientists have largely been responsible for identifying our
current environmental crises of climate change and mass extinction.
They have also been responsible for naming the Anthropocene. Many
would also argue that natural science, by fostering Cartesian dualism,
is in fact partly to blame for the Anthropocene in the rst place! Re-
gardless, natural science is going to play akey role in informing hu-
man actions and the future of humankind (and hence the biosphere)
in the geological near–term. Thus, it is important to reach natural
scientists in terms of conveying the importance of our moral obliga-
tions to nonhuman nature. Supposed objectivity in natural sciences,
however, often precludes the possibility of even opening adialogue
about what scientists ought to do. Scientic textbooks on evolution
warn against the dangers of anthropomorphism – yet Darwin him-
self was at pains to reveal expressions and emotions of animals, and
postulated that our moral sense is indeed evolved from the social
instincts of animals. Our evolutionary kinship with nonhuman nature
is the foundation of an eco–evolutionary conservation ethic that may
allow natural scientists to develop an ecocentric worldview. By no
means the only path to ecocentric enlightenment, anatural–science
based ethic is nonetheless important precisely because of the role
that science plays in informing policy. Ecocentric worldviews, through
recognition of the intrinsic natural value of organisms, species and
ecosystems, are the foundation for the rights of nature. Iwill present
ashort overview of the development of ecocentrism in western philo-
sophical thought, give my interpretation of an eco–evolutionary ethic,
and suggest ways in which it can be put into practice.
Understanding spatio–temporal dynamics
of returning wolves to Germany
Planillo A1, Louvrier J1,2, Wenzler–Meya M1, Reinhardt I3, Kluth G3,
Michler F4, Stier N5, Knauer F6, Kuemmerle T7, Kramer–Schadt S1,2
1Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany, 2Technische Uni-
versität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 3LUPUS – German Institute for Wolf Monitoring and
Research, Spreewitz, Germany, 4Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development
(HNEE), Eberswalde, Germany, 5Technische Universität Dresden, Tharandt, Germa-
ny, 6University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 7Humboldt–University
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
After centuries of extirpation, wolves are now recolonizing the hu-
man–dominated landscape of Germany. This represents a major
challenge for wildlife management and conservation, including in-
creasing human–wildlife conicts. Limited data and non–stationarity
responses to habitat selection in expanding populations pose signi-
cant challenges to reliably predict wolves’ range expansion and suita-
ble areas for conservation. We used the natural experiment of the re-
cent wolf expansion into Germany from the past 20 years, combining
telemetry with territory monitoring data. We compared predictions
from models representing spatio–temporal colonization steps with
aglobal ensemble model that used all data. Models for dierent col-
onization steps diered substantially from the global model, showing
individuals in newly colonized areas select for areas with lower hu-
man disturbance. This cautions against extrapolating habitat models
in space based on data from initial colonization phases, when species
are out of equilibrium with their environment. To further understand
the expansion process, and based on the global suitability map, we
developed an individual–based model accounting for population de-
mographic, dispersal and settlement processes, which shows bottle-
necks in range expansion and gives atemporal horizon of recoloniza-
tion. Our modelling approach highlights the importance of explicitly
accounting for non–stationarity in habitat selection and demography
when modeling range–expanding carnivores.
Harnessing the push–pull technology for
biodiverse agroecosystems in East Africa:
the UPSCALE project
Poppenborg Martin E1
1Leibniz University of Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland
The push–pull technology is a mixed cropping system practiced in
smallholder tropical cereal farming in areas of East and Central Af-
rica. Push–pull systems harness the chemical interactions of com-
panion plants and insects to provide highly eective pest protec-
tion and yield enhancement of crops. In this talk Iwill present the
EU Horizon 2020 project UPSCALE which is working to upscale the
push–pull technology for sustainable agricultural intensication in
East Africa and beyond. Major focal points of the project include in-
vestigation of how landscape–level factors inuence the eectiveness
of push–pull systems, how increases in the landscape–level amount
of push–pull cropping inuences arthropod communities within and
outside crops, and how transdisciplinarity can help to address key
bottlenecks for the implementation of push–pull practices at scale.
From this Iwill discuss and highlight key knowledge and practice gaps
for the broader expansion of biodiversity–enhancing intensication
practices in tropical agroecosystems.
43
FROM CITIZEN SCIENCE DATA TO POLICY
IMPACT ASSESSMENT: AN INTEGRATED
MODELLING APPROACH TO CALCULATE THE
FBI IN AGRICULTURAL POLICY SCENARIOS
Prince K1, Chiron F2, Barbosa A3, Hurle J3, Fellmann T3, Hristov J3, Weiss
F4, Paracchini M4
1Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, UMR 7204 Centre d’Ecologie et des Sciences
de la Conservation, Paris, France, 2Université Paris–Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech,
Ecologie Systématique Evolution, F–91405, Orsay, France, 3European Commission,
Joint Research Center, Seville, Spain, 4European Commission, Joint Research Center,
Ispra, Italy
The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the recently com-
pleted work that aimed to develop an integrated robust methodology
by embedding the Farmland Bird Indicator (FBI) – one of the most
consolidated Common Agricutural Policy indicators for years – into
the agricultural economic model CAPRI. This methodological devel-
opment may then be used to assess the impact of the CAP and other
policies on conserving relatively common and widespread farmland
birds. Using data from the Pan–European Breeding Bird Monitoring
Scheme over the period 1990–2013, our analysis focuses on nding
the relations between changes in farmland bird populations and
changes in agricultural practices, within four macro–regions. These
relations are then linked to changes in agricultural production ac-
tivities and common reporting indicators from CAPRI such as, crop
shares, nitrogen input, livestock density, resulting from policy change
scenarios. Projections from the models are derived rst to assess the
predictive power of the model within each macro–region. We then
use the species predicted abundances to calculate the FBI at dierent
spatial scales. By testing the FBI performance in ascenario assess-
ment exercise, it is possible to assess, for example, to which magni-
tude of changes the FBI is responding.
EU Forest and Biodiversity Governance
Puelzl H1
1European Forest Institute, Joensuu, Finland
This talk sets out the context of governance for EU forest and bio-
diversity policy–making in three ways: It discusses (a) synergies and
trade–os between dierent policy areas, (b) consequences of target
accumulation and (c) potential for policy coordination and integration
Factors inuencing the allocation of
international conservation eorts
Qin S1, Pratzer M1, Meyfroidt P2, Kuemmerle T1
1Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2UCLouvain, Louvain–la–nueva, Bel-
gium
International funding for conservation has grown over the last dec-
ades. Yet, much unclarity remains about what factors aect such
decisions – particularly at the subnational level and between major
donors. Five considerations are often mentioned in literature and
grant descriptions: 1) conserving areas with more environmental as-
sets (species, carbon, water); 2) conserving areas with higher level of
threats, 3) conserving areas where the cost is low, 4) conserving areas
steward by Indigenous people and local communities (IPLC), and 5)
conserving places with previous investment (agglomeration eect).
Using ageoreferenced database of 1160 internationally funded pro-
jects related to conservation in South America’smajor deforestation
frontiers, we examined the inuences of the aforementioned consid-
erations on the level of funding committed to an area. Our results
showed that funding has been committed to areas with higher spe-
cies richness and higher carbon density, but not as much to places
with higher water provision importance. Cost and previous invest-
ments inuenced funding allocation more than deforestation threats
or the existence of IPLC. We further showed the factors inuencing
the distribution of foreign conservation funding from major donors,
and discussed the implications for more targeted strategies to im-
prove the resource allocation for conservation.
Diversied farming at eld– and landscape
scale for biodiversity and ecosystem services
Raderschall C1,2, Lundin O1, Lindström S3, Gagic V4, Bommarco R1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology, Uppsala, Swe-
den, 2University of Würzburg, Department of Animal ecology and Tropical biology,
Würzburg, Germany, 3Swedish Rural Economy and Agricultural Society, Kristianstad,
Sweden, 4Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Ecosciences Precinct,
Dutton Park, QLD, Australia
Agricultural intensication has led to homogenous landscapes char-
acterised by vast elds of monocultures of few high–yielding crops
grown in short rotations. The lack of diverse food and habitat re-
sources in these landscapes has contributed to astark decline of
biodiversity. Here we assessed the potential for diversied farming
systems at multiple spatial scales to promote pollinators, natural en-
emies of pests and the ecosystem services they provide. At landscape
scale, we found that higher crop diversity (i.e. increasing the number
and evenness of crop types grown) promoted bumblebee densities.
Carabid beetle species richness was higher in landscapes with high
crop diversity in the previous year, suggesting positive legacy eects
of crop diversity on carabid beetles. At eld scale, annual ower strips
supported spiders in adjacent arable elds. Adding ower strips also
promoted bumblebee queen abundance in the landscape in the sub-
sequent spring, yet this positive legacy eect of ower strips was di-
minished in landscapes with added honeybee hives. We argue that
these diversication strategies are valuable management approach-
es in providing more resources for wild biodiversity. Legacy eects
of diversication strategies remain rarely considered, yet are crucial
in understanding eects on biodiversity conservation, population
growth, ecosystem functioning and crop production over time.
The use of grazing for biodiversity and
ecosystem management in marginal
farmland areas
Ribeiro I1, Líbano Monteiro M1, Themudo Barata L1, Gama I2, Rodri-
gues N2, Domingos T1, Proença V1
1MARETEC − Marine, Environment and Technology Centre, Instituto Superior Técnico,
Lisboa, Portugal, 2Terraprima – Serviços Ambientais, Samora Correia, Portugal
The abandonment of marginal farmland across the Mediterranean
is leading to an increase in shrub encroachment, which may result
in habitat homogenization and increased wildre risk. This study
investigated the performance of dierent grazing regimes in regu-
lating re prone vegetation, supporting biodiversity conservation,
and to identify and deliver cost–eective solutions for ecosystem
management. Specically, three grazing regimes (extensive cattle
grazing, semi–wild horse grazing, and no grazing) were assessed at
three case–study sites in Portugal. Overall, non–grazed sites showed
higher shrub connectivity at the landscape level, had amore complex
vertical structure and larger proportion of tall grasses, which increas-
es the risk of wildre. Semi–wild grazing showed positive but limit-
ed contribution to wildre prevention, which may require addition-
al management measures, while extensive grazing (with additional
feeding) created vertical fuel discontinuity, reduced fuel loads, and
supported high species richness, showing, on the other hand, impact
in tree recruitment and suggesting the need for protective meas-
ures. The performance and suitability of grazing regimes, and their
combination, will also depend on local environmental conditions and
management goals. Ultimately, where wild herbivores’ density is low,
semi wild and/or domestic herbivores in extensive regimes can help
regulate fuel loads and maintain habitat diversity.
Are mass–owering crops
benecial or detrimental for the conservation
of wild pollinators?
Riggi L1, Lundin O1, Berggren Å1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
Insect pollinator species declines in agroecosystems are concerning,
and addition of oral resources to sustain pollinators is encouraged
in agri–environmental schemes. The amount of oral resources in
agroecosystems can be increased by growing mass–owering crops
(MFC). However, the benet of MFC on insect pollinator densities and
species richness seem context–dependent. In this presentation, we
44
show the eects of MFC on insect pollinators in acase study and in
ameta–analysis.
From acase study in Sweden, we found greater bumblebee species
richness following bloom of mass–owering red clover. The results
indicate that late owering MFC oer food resources during atime
when these are scarce and that this has a potential to benet less
common bumblebee species.
On the other hand, ameta–analysis shows that increasing MFC cover
generally has negative eects on wild pollinator densities and species
richness, predominantly in crop habitats. No evidence was found of
pollinator spill–over from crop to non–crop habitats after MFC bloom.
From our ndings, we conclude that only the densities of afew polli-
nator species adapted to the owering crop benet from MFC. There-
fore increasing the cultivation of MFC will not ensure conservation of
pollinator species.
Using global scenarios of phylogenetic
diversity to design conservation priorities
Robuchon M1, Pavoine S2, Véron S3, Delli G1, Faith D4, Mandrici A1,
Pellens R3, Dubois G1, Leroy B5
1Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Ispra, Italy, 2Centre d’Ecologie
et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO), Paris, France, 3Institut de Systématique,
Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Paris, France, 4Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia,
5Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques (BOREA), Paris, France
Various prioritisation strategies have been developed to cope with ac-
celerating biodiversity loss and limited conservation resources. These
strategies could become more engaging for decision–makers if they
reected the positive eects conservation can have on future pro-
jected biodiversity, by targeting net positive outcomes in future pro-
jected biodiversity, rather than reecting the negative consequences
of further biodiversity losses only. Hoping to inform the post–2020
biodiversity framework, we here apply this approach of targeting net
positive outcomes in future projected biodiversity to phylogenetic
diversity (PD) to reidentify priority areas for conserving global mam-
malian PD. We identied two types of priority areas: those whose pro-
tection would maximise gains in future projected PD and those where
extinction(s) would maximise losses in future projected PD. We show
that these two types of priority areas dier from each other, and gen-
erally dier from previously–identied ones for global mammal con-
servation. We further highlight that these newly–identied species/
areas of interest currently lack protection and oer some guidance
for their future management.
Ecological insights gained in over 15 years of
European bison grazing in the coastal dunes
of Kraansvlak, the Netherlands.
Rodriguez E1
1PWN, Velserbroek, Netherlands
Abandonment of extensive grazing, increasing nitrogen deposition
and decline of rabbit populations over the last decades have led to
vegetation encroachment of the dune landscapes throughout the
Netherlands. To counteract this overgrowth of vegetation, grazing
with large herbivores has been widely embrazed in nature areas
across the Netherlands. Mostly cattle and horse breeds have been
chosen to roam year round.
In the National Park Zuid–Kennemerland, located in the North–West-
ern coast of the Netherlands, a similar approach was taken. Semi–
free roaming cattle and horses were introduced to restore the dunes.
However, uniquely and for the rst time in the Netherlands, in the
Kraansvlak dune area (also part of National Park) it was chosen to
run apilot to investigate the role of European bison in the dune eco-
system under natural semi–free living conditions. Ever since the rst
European bison were released in Kraansvlak in 2007, active research
and monitoring have taken place. Along the years, konik horse and
highland cattle have been added to the herbivore assemblage of
Kraansvlak, giving unique chances to study the three large herbivores
together. Feeding ecology, impact on vegetation as well as habitat
selection and habitat use have been major focus of attention.
Trends and dynamics in conservation
culturomics and iEcology research
Roll U1, Correia R2,3, Jaric I4,5, Vaz A6,7
1Ben–Gurion University of The Negev, Midreshet Ben–gurion, Israel, 2University of
Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 3University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal, 4Institute of Hyd-
robiology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic, 5University of South Bohemia, České
Budějovice, Czech Republic, 6Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal, 7University of
Granada, Granada, Spain
Recent years have seen the formulation of the elds of Conservation
Culturomics and iEcology. Consequently, there has been asharp in-
crease in scientic papers dedicated to these elds. Nevertheless,
many publications are still unaware of these formulations, their
growing body of dedicated publications, and recent advances. Here,
we aimed at exploring trends in papers dedicated to these elds to
elucidate their various attributes and trends, their underlying data
sources, methods employed, and citation network features. To this
end we collated research papers dedicated to conservation culturo-
mics and iEcology using an array of potentially relevant keywords. We
assembled their attributes and constructed their citation network.
We found that while many papers share acitation network there are
distinct clusters of publications centered on particular framings of
these elds. Social media and webpage analytics were the most com-
mon corpora explored. Topics covered by these papers were varied
including: elucidating people’sinterest in species, wildlife, and nature
in general; monitoring interest in environmental and conservation
issues; studying provisions of cultural ecosystem services; obtaining
data for species distributions; topics in invasion biology, and others.
Overall, conservation culturomics and iEcology could benet from
popularization and greater clarity of scope, denitions, and improved
scientic collaborations.
Eects of village modernization on
biodiversity – urbanization in rural areas.
Rosin Z1,2, Pärt T2, Low M2, Kotowska D2,3, Tobolka M4,5, Szymański P6,
Hiron M2
1Department of Avian Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz Uni-
versity, Poznań, Poland, 2Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 3Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of
Sciences, Kraków, Poland, 4Department of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Scienc-
es, Poznań, Poland, 55Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary
Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 6Department of Behavioural Ecology, Faculty of
Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Villages are biodiversity rich environments, yet they have received
little attention in the context of farmland biodiversity conservation.
Similarly, being atype of urban habitat, they have been rarely studied
in urban ecology. Asubstantial component of farmland bird declines
come from species linked to human agricultural settlements, and
these areas have undergone radical changes due to modernization
in the past 50 years. We performed a large–scale study to disentan-
gle the relative impact of two widespread ongoing processes in rural
landscapes: village modernization and agricultural land–use intensi-
cation. We investigated abundance and species richness of farm-
land birds in 104 villages and their surrounding crop environments
in Poland. Model predictions showed that highly modernized villages
and their surrounding agricultural elds had 50–60% fewer birds than
those in and around comparable older villages. The relative contribu-
tion of modernization versus agricultural intensication to predicted
reduction in bird abundance was 88% vs. 12% for birds in villages and
56% vs. 44% in surrounding crops, with high variation among eco-
logical species subsets. Conservation of important habitats linked to
villages and rural settlements needs to be urgently developed and
included in European Green Deal, Common Agriculture Policy and
program for rural development.
45
The eects of ecosystem restoration on soil
biota: 5–year data from aBACI experiment in
forested wetlands
Runnel K1, Lõhmus A1, Tamm H1
1Tartu University, Tartu, Estonia
Globally, restoring degraded wetland ecosystems is amajor topic.
Restoring soil is afundamental part of that, but it is addressed indi-
rectly (e.g., by hydrological restoration) and actual measurements of
the biotic responses in the soil are scarce. We studied the response
of fungi and bacteria to ecosystem restoration activities in alarge
scale BACI experiment in bog forests in Estonia, hemiboreal Europe.
The eld treatments combined ditch closure and partial cutting to
restore the original water level and stand structure. The soil samples
and environmental data were collected before and four years after
the treatments, the soil samples were sequenced for fungi and bacte-
ria using Illumina MiSeq. The assemblages of both fungi and bacteria
had astrong, rapid, but partly dierent response to ditch closure. The
eect of partial cuttings was smaller. Within four years post treat-
ment the assemblages became characterized by large yearly changes
partly reecting the annual water conditions, with no clear succes-
sional direction. We conclude that it is not obvious that hydrological
restoration can reverse the soil succession in drained bog forests,
and long term monitoring is needed.
The sacred commons: Conicts and solutions
of resource management in sacred natural
sites
Rutte C1
1Swiss Academy of Sciences, Bern, Switzerland
Sacred natural sites are considered an additional pillar for biodiversity
conservation, next to the protected areas network. However, sacred
landscapes are not primarily conservation areas, but exist for cultural
and social reasons. To evaluate their strengths and weaknesses as
community–based conservation areas, athorough understanding of
the underlying values, institutional arrangements, and outcomes is
required. Iused institutional economics for ameta–analysis of pub-
lications on sacred natural sites to identify potential conicts in their
maintenance, and to analyse institutional arrangements to solve
these conicts. Ishow that most sacred natural sites resemble com-
mon–pool resources and that many design principles that are linked
to common–pool resources are also found in traditional institutions
managing sacred places. Design principles are no blue–print solution
but they may guide future research to identify locally robust insti-
tutional arrangements that are linked to the ecological integrity of
sacred natural sites.
How to encourage people to increase
biodiversity in their gardens? An application
of the Theory of Planned Behavior
Samus A1, van Heezik Y2, Freeman C1, Dickinson K3
1School of Geography, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 2Zoology Depart-
ment, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 3Botany Department, University
of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Private gardens cover asubstantial amount of space in urban areas
and thus they have an immense impact on urban biodiversity. Our
study uses an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behavior,
awidely used theory to explain human behavior, to identify factors
that predict feature richness in private gardens (i.e., the number of
plant and non–plant–based features that provide habitats for wild-
life). Using survey data from 695 urban dwellers from four cities in
New Zealand, we show that householders’ intention to engage in wild-
life gardening was associated with feature richness in their gardens.
Attitudes towards the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived
behavioral control as well as nature connectedness were signicant
predictors of the intention to engage in wildlife gardening practices.
We conclude that the Theory of Planned Behavior, with nature con-
nectedness as an additional predictor, is well suited to explain house-
holders’ engagement in wildlife gardening practices. Furthermore,
we explored the beliefs that determine attitudes, subjective norms,
and perceived behavioral control. Access to information and knowl-
edge had the strongest association with perceived behavioral control.
Subjective norms were predicted by householders’ normative beliefs
about friends, family, and environmentalists. The ndings can help
develop eective interventions to increase urban biodiversity.
Alpine lynx populations need connectivity
improvements for future self–sustainment
Sánchez Arribas E1,2, Planillo A1,2, Premier J1,3, Kürschner T1, EURO-
Lynx P4, Kramer–Schadt S1,2, Molinari–Jobin A5
1Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW–Berlin), Alfred–Kowalke–Straße
17, Berlin, Germany, 2Department of Ecology, Technische Universität Berlin (TU–Ber-
lin), Rothenburgstraße 12, Berlin, Germany, 3Bavarian Forest National Park, De-
partment of Visitor Management and National Park Monitoring, Freyunger Str.2,
Grafenau, Germany, 4EUROLynx Partners, https://www.eurolynx.org/, Partners with-
in Europe, 5KORA, Thunstrasse 31, Muri bei Bern, Switzerland
Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) populations reintroduced in Europe in the
1970’sstagnated in the 1990’sand remain isolated until today. Mutu-
al connectivity is essential for their long–term survival, which makes
the Alps, due to their location and extensive suitable habitat, crucial
for aCentral European metapopulation. We used an individual–based
spatially–explicit model to simulate ve lynx populations in Central
Europe until 2040 (Scenario 1), and the eect of 14 lynx reintroduced
within the LIFE Lynx project (Scenario 2). We 1) assessed population
viability and 2) connectivity under both scenarios; and 3) determined
the Minimum Viable Population for astepping–stone network within
the Alps. Preliminary results show that, in both scenarios, the Jura
population has the best chances of survival while the Dinaric is the
most vulnerable, with extinction probabilities of 72 or 66%, respec-
tively. Connectivity between core lynx populations was minimal. Still,
reintroductions within the Dinaric population improved its survival
and local connectivity. Finally, at least eight breeding pairs were need-
ed for astepping–stone. Our work highlights the fragility of the lynx
Dinaric population. The slow natural expansion of lynx populations
and the consequent lack of connectivity, reinforces the need to intro-
duce genetic variability and promote gene ow between populations.
Eects of protected areas on biodiversity
occurrence trends – acountry–wise multi
taxon evaluation
Santangeli A1, Antão L1, Weigel B1, Vanhatalo J1, Hällfors M1, Kaarlejär-
vi E1, Ovaskainen O1, Roslin T1, Saastamoinen M1
1University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Most studies evaluating impacts of conservation, e.g. protected areas,
are taxonomically restricted, with a large bias towards vertebrates.
Here, we apply arobust matching of protected and unprotected sites,
and model species occurrence trends over several decades through
joint species distribution modeling using long–term systematic sur-
vey data on forest understory plants, phytoplankton from lakes, birds
and mammals collected across a whole country, Finland. Eect of
protected areas (PAs) on species occurrence trends varied strongly
between and within the higher taxonomic groups considered. Eect
of PAs was broadly positive for mammals and phytoplankton, with
a large proportion of species showing more positive trends inside
than outside of PAs. For plants, we found no measurable eect of
PAs, with most species showing no dierence in trends within and
outside of PAs. Conversely, birds had more negative occurrence trend
inside than outside of PAs. Ecology and life–history strategies of the
contrasting species and higher groups likely drive the observed pat-
terns. These contrasting responses to conservation highlight the im-
portance of considering multiple and contrasting taxonomic groups
when assessing the potential eects of PAs on biodiversity.
Double advantages in monitoring biodiversity
trends and threats using digital tools in the
context of recreational shing
Sbragaglia V1, Espasandín Soneira L1, Coll M1
1Institute of Marine Sciences, Barcelona, Spain
Mining data about recreational sheries on social media can increase
our understanding of potential threats of such shing activity on bi-
odiversity. At the same time, such data can contribute to understand
46
biodiversity trends and, most importantly, the ecological and social
dimension of biodiversity changes in response to climate change.
Iwill present three case studies where YouTube data mining about
recreational shing in the North–Western Mediterranean Sea demon-
strated to be useful to: (i) document unexpected harvesting patterns
of an iconic sh species that can provide crucial information for the
conservation of the species; (ii) characterize macroecological patters
of groupers such as ontogenetic deepening and distributional range
shifts, which can unveil climate change eects on these emblematic
top predators of coral and rocky reefs; (iii) quantify polarized senti-
ments of recreational shers towards an invasive species that is ex-
tending its distribution in response to climate change, thereby provid-
ing information for possible management interventions. In summary,
digital tools in the context of recreational shing can have adouble
and overlooked advantage in monitoring marine biodiversity trends
and threats from an ecological and social perspective.
Strategic climate change litigation, science
and the EU Habitats Directive: moving from
adaptation to contestation?
Schoukens H1
1Ghent University, Lennik, Belgium
Against the backdrop of the rising temperatures, climate change
lawsuits have recently emerged as a new lever in order to step up
compliance with international climate pledges. As of today, the ma-
jority of these strategic lawsuits are based upon tort law and human
rights duties. However, many ecosystems are already suering from
the global rise of temperatures, also in Europe. This chapter outlines
the potential interplay between the existing protection and restora-
tion duties that are included in the EU Habitats Directive and climate
change. First, it is addressed to what extent the risks associated with
climate change play a role throughout the designation process for
endangered habitats and species. Second, it is analyzed whether the
protection mandates could be reframed so as to encompass aclear–
cut duty to limit CO2–emitting activities that further jeopardize en-
dangered habitats and species. Third, it is researched to what extent
the restoration duties incumbent on the EU Member States could
be used as alever to designate and protect future climate corridor
zones, that might be essential for the migration of vulnerable spe-
cies aected by climate change. The overall conclusion is that the EU
Habitats Directive will be at the forefront in future climate litigation.
Evaluating the eectiveness of surrogates for
large mammal connectivity conservation
Dutta T1,2, De Barba M3,4, Signer J1, Frank S5, Fedorca A6, Thuiller W3,
Lucas P7, Maiorano L8, Püger F9, Selva N7, Zedrosser A5, Balkenhol N1
1University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany, 2European Forest Institute, Bonn,
Germany, 3Laboratoire d‘Ecologie Alpine, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont
Blanc, CNRS , Grenoble, France, 4Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Lju-
bljana, Slovenia, 5University of South–Eastern Norway, Bo, Norway, 6National Insti-
tute for Research and Development in Forestry “Marin Dracea”, Romania, Brasov,
Romania, 7Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow,
Poland, 8Department of Biology and Biotechnologies “Charles Darwin”, University of
Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy, 9Department of Conservation Biology, University of
Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
Connected landscapes can increase the eectiveness of protected ar-
eas by facilitating individual movement and gene–ow between pop-
ulations, increasing species persistence and ecosystem resilience.
Connectivity conservation needs to be species–specic. Assessing it is
often based on modelling connectivity for one or few surrogate spe-
cies, with the assumption that the resulting network will be eective
for co–occurring species. However, the selection and eectiveness of
the surrogate at representing other species is rarely evaluated.
We present a framework to select surrogates for connectivity and
evaluate their eectiveness for representing other species. We simu-
lated connectivity networks for 24 large mammals among IUCN cate-
gory I–IV protected areas and Natura2000 sites in continental Europe
across 13 geographical biomes and 38 ecoregions. We devised an ap-
proach to evaluate which and how many species contribute the most
towards pre–identied connectivity goals.
We found multiple species were necessary to meet connectivity goals
across all scales and regions. The number, identity, and attributes of
connectivity surrogates are sensitive to spatial scale and human inu-
ence on the landscape. We conclude that multiple species, selected in
relation to landscape characteristics, are essential to meet connectiv-
ity goals. We demonstrate away to objectively select and assess the
eectiveness of surrogates for connectivity conservation.
Access and Benet Sharing in the Global
Biodiversity Framework: How to Measure the
Reciprocity for Nature?
Sirakaya A1
1Lund University, Lund, Sweden
International law provides for mechanisms for the conservation and
restoration of biodiversity resulting from utilising nature. One of the
mechanisms that aims to generate funds and awareness for conser-
vation is fair and equitable sharing of benets arising from genetic
resources (ABS). The success of ABS is measured through the global
indicators such as the Aichi Targets. ABS is also an integral part of the
Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
The Open–Ended Working Group on the Post–2020 Biodiversity
Framework is in the process of negotiating the international biodi-
versity goals, targets and indicators which will be replacing the Aichi
Biodiversity Targets. The negotiation will lead to the adoption of the
Post–2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
In 2020, the Global Biodiversity Outlook has announced that we have
failed to achieve every single one of the Aichi Targets. Therefore,
there is an apparent need to evaluate whether the Post–2020 Frame-
work faces the same fate.
This presentation will compare the access and benet–sharing relat-
ed goals, targets and indicators of Aichi Targets with the Post–2020
Framework that will be adopted in May 2022 in order to discuss
whether the success or failure of ABS can be measured through these
frameworks.
Contribution of CAP data and remote sensing
to the calculation of abiodiversity indicator
for farmers, policy makers and other
stakeholders
Sirami C1
1INRAE– Dynafor, Castanet–tolosan, France
The development of agri–environmental indicators is needed to mon-
itor and support the transition towards more sustainable agricultural
systems. It will be particularly critical for the next Common Agricul-
tural Policy (CAP). However, the implementation of such indicators
at regional, national and EU levels faces amajor obstacle, which is
the acquisition of relevant data at ne spatial and temporal resolu-
tion (e.g. at eld level, every year) across large areas. The use of CAP
data and satellite data, in particular high–resolution Sentinel images,
represents apromising avenue to tackle this challenge. After ashort
review of the possibilities provided by CAP data and Sentinel images,
we will present three agri–environmental indicators currently devel-
oped in the H2020 NIVA project: carbon budget, nitrate leaching and
biodiversity. We will then focus on the biodiversity indicator, explain
its scientic background, the method proposed to calculate this indi-
cator, perspectives to improve this indicator. Finally, we will discuss
how such biodiversity indicator could be used by dierent types of
stakeholders, including farmers and policy makers.
47
AEuropean series of forest stands
of dierent ages and their
multi–taxon biodiversity
Sitzia T1, Chianucci F2, Campagnaro T1, Barreto de Andrade R3, Fotakis
D4, Kepfer–Rojas S5, Landivar Albis C6, Paillet Y7, Penner J6, Trentanovi
G8, Alterio E1, Balducci L9, Burrascano S9
1Università degli Studi di Padova, Department Land, Environment, Agriculture and
Forestry, Legnaro, Italy, 2Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economy
Analysis, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, Arezzo, Italy, 3University of Mary-
land, Department of Entomology, College Park, USA, 4Hellenic Αgricultural Οrganiza-
tion, Forest Research Institute, Vasilika, Greece, 5University of Copenhagen, Depart-
ment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Frederiksberg, Denmark,
6Albert–Ludwigs–Universität Freiburg, Department of Biometry and Environmental
System Analysis, Freiburg, Germany, 7Université Grenoble Alpes, INRAE, Saint–Mar-
tin–d’Hères, France, 8National Research Council, Research Institute on Terrestrial
Ecosystems, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, 9Sapienza Università di Roma, Department of
Environmental Biology, Roma, Italy
Changes in forest structure, composition, and management regimes
over time aect the temporal variation of biodiversity. Therefore,
the results from studies on forest biodiversity conducted at single
time scales may not be transferable to all the development phases
of aparticular stand. When no experimental plots are available for
long–term observations, articial time series may be established by
combining stands of dierent ages. Articial time series have been
used for recording the growth of even–aged stands to construct yield
tables. We established a similar growth series of even–aged stands
that included about 2000 plots distributed across Europe within the
framework of the COST Action BOTTOMS–UP. This allowed us to as-
sess the relationship between management regime, structure, struc-
tural diversity, species richness and abundance of several taxa over
time. The results contribute to bridging the gap between the increas-
ing amount of knowledge about stand structure processes and the in-
formation decit in how multi–taxon biodiversity changes with them.
High throughput sequencing of
microsatellites for ecological research –
practical large–scale application to brown
bears (Urus arctos) and beyond
Skrbinsek T1,5, Boyer F3, Fumagalli L6,7, Iosif R2, Jelenčič M1, Konec M1,5,
Pazhenkova E1, Promberger B2, Taberlet P3,4, De Barba M1,5
1Dpt. of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University Of Ljubljana , Ljubljana, Slovenia,
2Foundation Conservation Carpathia, Brașov, Romania, 3Laboratoire d‘Ecologie
Alpine, CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France, 4Tromsø Museum, The
Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway, 5DivjaLabs, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 6Labo-
ratory for Conservation Biology, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of
Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, 7University Centre of Legal Medicine Lausanne–
Geneva, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Swit-
zerland
For many wildlife species, noninvasive genetic sampling is the back-
bone of abundance and distribution monitoring and is being increas-
ingly included into routine monitoring programs. In most cases the
markers of choice are microsatellites, which are in many aspects
ideal for the purpose, but the way they’re commonly analyzed is la-
bor–intensive and subjective, making large studies and collaboration
between laboratories dicult. An alternative using high–throughput
sequencing has been recently proposed, and we applied it to several
large studies of brown bears, analyzing 7916 noninvasive and 1971
tissue samples. The method proved to be ecient and cost eective,
providing fast and reliable genotyping with low manual labor, making
it easily scalable to large studies. Since genotypes are based on DNA
sequences, they can be readily transferred between laboratories and
will be independent from the DNA sequencing technology used in
the future, fostering collaboration and longitudinal studies. Besides
providing athorough real–world test, we have optimized the proce-
dure for application of the method to other species and developed
protocols for grey wolf and Eurasian lynx. The method has a great
potential not only for ecological research, but also for routine wildlife
monitoring programs that require rapid, cost–eective genotyping of
large numbers of samples.
Spatial targeting to achieve the dual
biodiversity goals – ecosystem service
provisioning and species conservation
as such
Smith H1,2, Brady M2,3, Carrié R2, Ekroos J2,4, Olsson O1, Persson A2,
Sidemo Holm W2,3, Wätzold F5, Weber J1
1Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2Centre of Environmental
and Climate Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 3AgrifoodEconomics Centre,
SLU, Lund, Sweden, 4Department of Agricultural Sciences, Helsinki University, Helsin-
ki, Finland, 5Department of Economics, Brandenburgische Technische Universität,
Cottbus, Germany
Biodiversity conservation must consider both the preservation of
species as such and the maintenance of biodiversity for utilitari-
an reasons (ecosystem services), but it remains unclear if there are
synergies or conicts between strategies pursuing these targets. We
used modelling to demonstrate that spatial targeting of conservation
in agricultural landscapes could result in overall more eective con-
servation than uniform strategies, by pursuing species conservation
(i.e. biodiversity at larger scales) in heterogeneous landscapes and
focussing on ecosystem services in homogenous landscapes. In an
empirical study, we applied this framework to existing EU strategies
to conserve farmland plants and pollinators, specically reduced
farming intensity which primarily benets ecosystem services, or in-
creased farmland heterogeneity through preservation of semi–nat-
ural grasslands primarily crucial for conservation of species. Anovel
tool allowing upscaling of biodiversity consequences demonstrates
that semi–natural grasslands may be amore cost–eective strate-
gy for species conservation, but that organic farming is capable of
maintaining ecosystem service providers (stable pollinator commu-
nities) throughout farmland. Given the infeasibility of creating new
semi–natural grasslands, strategies focussing on grasslands may not
be sucient in already homogenous landscapes. Thus, preservation
of semi–natural grasslands and reducing external inputs are comple-
mentary strategies for benetting biodiversity and ecosystem servic-
es when spatially optimized.
Introduction of Reducing the future
biodiversity crisis given dierent future words
Snäll T1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
The Biodiversity Crisis in aChanging World requires acknowledging
multiscale policy development and land–use planning. Global poli-
cy for future biodiversity conservation is ultimately implemented at
landscape and local scales. Correspondingly, landscape–scale green
infrastructure planning needs to account for future socio–econom-
ic dynamics at national and global scales. This includes deciding on
the use of forests to mitigate climate change. Besides raw materials
and biodiversity, forests provide multiple ecosystem services, includ-
ing stress relief and reduction. However, holistic analyses of forests
to meet the growing demand of wood and still retain multiple eco-
system services and biodiversity are still sparse. In the introduction
of this symposium, Iwill present an approach to account for global
Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) or climate change mitigation,
and the global demand for wood that they may bring with them, in
projections of future woody and non–woody ecosystem services (ES),
stress relief and reduction and multiple measures of biodiversity.
Making reliable projections of biodiversity into the future requires
models accurately reecting interactions among species with dier-
ent traits and acknowledging uncertainties. Iwill further introduce
our approaches to account for these.
Mapping future mammal exposure to
extreme drought and warm spells
Soria C1, Serlupi–Crescenzi M1, Pacici M1, Rondinini C1,2
1Global Mammal Assessment Program, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies,
Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, 2Global Wildlife Conservation Center, Col-
lege of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse,
United States
The frequency and intensity of extreme climate events such as hur-
ricanes, oods and droughts are projected to increase over the next
decades, signicantly impacting global biodiversity. As endotherms,
48
mammals can maintain ahigh and constant body temperature, pro-
viding ahigh degree of thermal independence. However, exposure to
extreme droughts and warm spells will potentially limit their capacity
to thermoregulate, increasing their extinction risk. Therefore, identi-
fying which mammal populations will be exposed to these events is
essential to design proactive and eective conservation measures.
Here, we derived global maps of future exposure of mammal pop-
ulations to extreme droughts, warm spells, and both. We consid-
ered two dierent periods (2021 – 2040 and 2081 – 2100) and three
greenhouse gas emission scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). To
account for intraspecic dierences in tolerance to extremes, we de-
ned as apopulation the intersection of species’ distributions and
biomes. We identied as exposed the areas of the population that
will experience drought and/or warm spell values substantially higher
than those experienced during the historical period (1961 – 1990). We
found that exposure to extreme droughts, warm spells, and both will
increase with period and emission scenario.
Addressing human–tiger encounters using
socio– ecological information on tolerance
and risk
St John F, Linkie M, Deere N, Martyr D, Millyanawati B, Faulkner S,
Le Comber S, Mangunjaya F, Leader–Williams N, McKay J, Struebig M
1Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
Tigers are critically endangered due to deforestation and persecution.
Yet in places, Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) continue to
coexist with people, oering insights for managing wildlife elsewhere.
Here, we couple spatial models of encounter risk with information
on tolerance from 2,386 Sumatrans to reveal drivers of human–tiger
conict. Risk of encountering tigers was greater around populated
villages that neighboured forest or rivers connecting tiger habitat; ge-
ographic proles rened these predictions to three core areas. Peo-
ple’s tolerance for tigers was related to underlying attitudes, emo-
tions, norms and spiritual beliefs. Combining this information into
socio–ecological models yielded predictions of tolerance that were 32
times better than models based on social predictors alone. Pre–emp-
tive intervention based on these socio–ecological predictions could
have averted up to 51% of attacks on livestock and people, saving 15
tigers. Our work provides further evidence of the benets of interdis-
ciplinary research on conservation conicts
Assessing People’sValues of Nature: Where
Is the Link to Sustainability Transformations?
Stålhammar S1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Malmö, Sweden
The eorts to measure people’s current preferences and values of
ecosystem services raise questions about the link to sustainability
transformations. The importance of taking social and cultural values
of nature into account is increasingly recognised within ecosystem
services research and policy. This notion is informing the develop-
ment of social valuation methods that seek to assess non–material
social and cultural benets of ecosystems in non–monetary terms.
Here, ‘values’ refer to the products of descriptive scientic assess-
ments of the links between human well–being and ecosystems. This
use of the values term can be contrasted with normative modes of
understanding values, as underlying beliefs and moral principles
about what is good and right. While both perspectives on values are
important for the biodiversity and ecosystem services agenda, values
have mainly been understood in relation to assessments and descrip-
tive modes. Failing to acknowledge the distinction between these
modes bypasses the mismatch between people’scurrent values and
sustainability transformations. Rening methodologies to accurately
describe social values risks simply giving us amore detailed account
of what we already know—people in general do not value nature
enough. Values studies should explore why or how peoples’ mindsets
might converge with sustainability goals, to incorporate change and
transformation.
Movement models identify management
targets overlooked by common space–use
models: acase study of invasive wildlife in an
agroecosystem
Street G1,2, Boudreau M1,2, Ellison N1,2
1Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, United States, 2Quantitative Ecology
and Spatial Technologies Laboratory, Mississippi State, United States
The movements of individuals through space produce trajectories
that, in aggregate, result in observed patterns of space use. Common
approaches grounded in point–process models (e.g. Resource–Se-
lection Functions, RSFs) are typically implemented to describe these
patterns and to inform wildlife and landscape management. We con-
tend that this can lead to failures in identifying critically important
components of landscape structure and composition contributing to
movement by and occurrence of wildlife species targeted for man-
agement, particularly when the processes of ne–scale movement
and broad–scale space–use are determined by dierent factors (e.g.
scale–dependent habitat functional responses). Here we discuss how
such discrepancies can occur, why they are often linked to scale–de-
pendencies, and how they can produce poor management decisions.
We demonstrate the discrepancy in acase study of acritically inva-
sive species (wild pigs, Sus scrofa) occupying asemi–natural agroeco-
system. In particular, we show how the movement model approach
identies specic edge eects missed by the common RSF, and we
identify important landscape management considerations ground-
ed in the mechanisms driving pig movements to improve crop yields
and minimize crop damage. Incorporation of movement explicitly
into management–focused modeling eorts may thus provide new
management targets that can improve long–term sustainability and
viability of managed ecosystems.
Multi–taxon conservation strategies are
highly needed, but also challenging: examples
from boreal and hemi–boreal forests
Strengbom J1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
Setting–aside forest of high conservation value is acornerstone in
forest conservation strategies globally. The understanding of factors
that determine high conservation value is, however, less well under-
stood. Although it is widely acknowledged that the response to en-
vironmental changes varies greatly among species, such dierences
are rarely reected in conservation strategies. Thus, we need abetter
understanding of factors determining conservation values, and how
uniform of such factors are among dierent. Based on results from
several studies, Ihere summarize how diversity of species of conser-
vation concern varies depending on local and landscape factors in bo-
real and hemi–boreal forests in Sweden. The results show that local,
landscape, and regional forest characteristics inuence biodiversity in
anon–uniform pattern among species groups and forest types. The
environmental factors best explaining variation in species richness
varies considerable among forest type (mixed forest, mixed conifer-
ous forests, spruce–, and pine dominated forests) and among taxa
(vascular plants, macro fungi, lichens and bryophytes), suggesting
that there is no single conservation strategy that will preserve biodi-
versity across all forest types or across taxa. Nevertheless, the single
most common measure associated with high species richness across
taxa and forest types was amount of mature forest in the landscape.
49
Areduced SNP panel to identify wolf
population admixture vs. hybridization with
other Canis taxa
Stronen A1,2, Mattucci F3, Fabbri E3, Galaverni M4, Cocchiararo B5,6,
Skrbinšek T1,2, Vlasseva A7, Caniglia R3
1University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2DivjaLabs, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 3Italian
Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Ozzano dell’ Emilia,
Italy, 4Science Unit, WWF Italia, Rome, Italy, 5Senckenberg Research Institute and
Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Gelnhausen, Germany, 6LOEWE Centre for
Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE–TBG), Frankfurt am Main, Germany,
7Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Soa, Bulgaria
Human–induced hybridization is aglobal threat to wildlife, and must
be distinguished from natural intra– and interspecic gene ow. Ge-
netic markers to dierentiate among these processes are therefore
essential for conservation. Genetically distinct populations of grey
wolves (Canis lupus) are now reconnecting within Europe. However,
the species is aected by hybridization with domestic dogs (C. l. fa-
miliaris), which are also known to hybridize with golden jackals (C. au-
reus) in south–eastern Europe. We used existing genomic resources
to identify discriminant single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mark-
ers, with focus on the Iberian, Italian and Dinaric wolf populations, to
(1) separate wolves, dogs, and golden jackals, and (2) identify their
rst two hybrid generations. We selected 192 SNPs that identied the
ve canid groups, all simulated rst–generation (F1) hybrids (0.482
≤ Qi ≤ 0.512 between their respective parental groups) and all rst
backcross (BC1) individuals (0.723≤ Qi ≤ 0.827 to parental groups). An
assay design and test with invasive and non–invasive samples per-
formed successfully for 178 SNPs, which correctly categorized the ve
groups and simulated hybrids. The identied SNPs permit dieren-
tiation between inter–specic hybridization and natural population
admixture and promote data sharing among laboratories, facilitating
evolutionary research, monitoring, and conservation of European ca-
nid populations.
Ecosystem based forest management in the
city forest of Lübeck
Sturm K1, Welle T2
1Stadtwald Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany, 2Natural forest academy, Lübeck, Germany
Since the early 1990 s, municipal forests in Lübeck, northern Ger-
many, are not managed for pre–dened, specic forest structures
or tree species compositions anymore. Instead, on 4,620 ha of for-
est area, Lübeck forest managers carefully accompany natural forest
development and try to intervene as little as possible, avoiding dis-
ruption of ecosystem dynamics. Thereby, this approach diers from
many silvicultural concepts that are also referred to as close–to–na-
ture or natural. Research results from forest ecology and especially
disturbance ecology had indeed been discussed for long, indicating
that forest species richness requires ahigh continuity of forest his-
tory and developmental conditions, as well as unpredictable nat-
ural disturbances. Those ecological insights also challenged nature
conservation planning specications, in particular the protection of
species and habitats. The presented management concept provides
answers to these open questions. The Lübeck approach builds on
regular monitoring (every 5–10 years, with sample plots and area–
based inventories). Key indicators are: 1) standing volume in dierent
forest ecosystems, including habitat trees and deadwood, compared
to baseline areas, 2) degree of naturalness (tree species composition,
incl. all successional stages, gap dynamics, horizontal and vertical
vegetation structure), and 3) population parameters of species (mam-
mals, birds, herbs, ferns and fungi).
National strategic planning and result–
oriented CAP: anew obstacle or some good
news for biodiversity policy integration?
Šumrada T1, Erjavec E1
1University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Ljubljana, Slovenia
In the EU, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is considered to be
the critical public policy in terms of both impacts and funds dedicated
to conservation. However, the goal of halting biodiversity loss in the
EU remains elusive. By combining program theory and environmen-
tal policy integration frameworks, we assessed the current state of
strategic planning and mainstreaming of biodiversity into the CAP in
aselected EU Member State. The policy’sprogram logic model was
found to be only loosely dened for most objectives. The key weak-
nesses were inadequate elaboration and quantication of needs and
specic objectives, often unclear linkages to biodiversity policy leg-
islation, and alack of evaluations for particular measures. Further-
more, asignicant gap was revealed between the relevance of meas-
ures, as declared in strategic documents, and their actual potential to
achieve the stated objectives. Since decision–making is increasingly
being devolved to the national level, the future CAP should thus in-
clude adequate safeguards and incentives to improve the quality of
programming. In particular, the decision–makers should systemati-
cally close existing national data and knowledge gaps and strive to in-
crease the capacity and motivation of national ministries to increase
the CAP performance in the eld of biodiversity conservation.
Carpathian Peatlands – functions,
importance, conservation and improved
management
Szewczyk M1, Mikołajczyk P1
1UNEP/GRID–Warsaw Centre, Warsaw, Poland
Peatlands are important ecosystems, providing valuable ecosystem
services, e.g. acting as eective carbon sinks and water retention res-
ervoirs. Mountain peatlands play aparticularly important role: due to
their location in the upper parts of catchments, they positively impact
on water regimes over vast areas.
Peatlands are degraded by drainage, conversion into agricultural
land, extraction of peat, res, etc. Degraded peatlands are responsi-
ble for over 5% of the world‘shuman–induced CO2 emissions.
Meeting the goal of keeping the global average temperature rise be-
low 2 °C compared to the pre–industrial era requires urgent action to
keep the peatland carbon where it is – in saturated peat. We need to
improve water conditions in already drained peatlands so that they
can recover, ensuring sustained provision of ecosystem services.
We address this challenge with our new project „Carpathians Unite –
Conservation of Orawsko–Nowotarskie Peatlands“, implemented in
partnership with the Nature and Man Foundation and the Norwegian
company Asplan Viak, with co–funding from EEA Grants. Its main ob-
jectives are active protection of valuable natural raised bog habitats,
in the „Czerwone Bog Woodland“ reserve (Ramsar site), as well as the
enhancement of wetland–friendly spatial management in the entire
Natura 2000 „Orawsko–Nowotarskie Peatlands“ area.
Post–project use of ecosystem type, condition
and services maps in conservation practice
Tanács E1, Tormáné Kovács E2, Báldi A1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Vácrátót, Hungary,
2Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Hungarian University
of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary
Ecosystem assessments provide valuable information on the extent
and condition of ecosystems, and the range of functions and services
they provide to society. However, both the methods and results of
such assessments take time to nd their way into conservation prac-
tice. We used an online survey to get some information about the
post–project use of ecosystem type, condition and services maps in
practice. Our rst results are based on answers from six national or
regional parks from six European countries who had carried out such
assessments for their area. These show that ecosystem type maps
are more widely used than ecosystem condition or services maps.
Those who use any of the maps, use them regularly and for diverse
tasks. The reasons for no use vary, in many cases there is simply no
interest, but a post–project shift in the focus of the institution can
also play arole. Data quality also features; the need for up–to–date
maps based on eld data (rather than just using available databases)
was highlighted. While project participants tend to see the potential
usefulness of such maps, there is still alot to do to facilitate their use
in conservation practice.
50
Combining local and academic knowledge to
dene and assess wild food plant sustainable
foraging in Norway
Teixidor Toneu I1, Giraud N1, Karlsen P2, Annes A3, Kool A1
1University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, 2Norges sopp– og nyttevekstforbund , Oslo, Nor-
way, 3UMR LISST–Dynamiques Rurales, INP–PURPAN, Toulouse, France
Wild food plants are well recognized as local sources of nutrition that
can contribute to food security. In Europe, the use of wild food plants
as an emerging trend in high–end gastronomy has raised concerns
about the conservation of the foraged plant. Here, we co–designed
aresearch project with the Norwegian Association for Mycology and
Foraging to characterize and assess sustainable foraging in Norway.
We conducted 19 face–to–face interviews and produced an online
questionnaire. We enquired about what species are harvested, by
whom and how, where do foragers learn, and what are their per-
spectives on the sustainability of foraging. Foragers base decisions
on when and how much can be harvested on moral judgements con-
sidering location, plant, and plant part being harvested. They pay at-
tention to plants’ conservation status and local abundance, the plant
individual’s survival after foraging, and aim to not spread invasive
species. We visualized their decision–making process as aowchart
that, combined with academically–produced data on ecological and
social aspects of foraging, we use to assess sustainability of forag-
ing in Norway. Finally, we propose ways to apply this co–created
knowledge to support transmission of knowledge about low–impact
practices and sustainability ethics in Norway and other geographical
contexts.
Anovel model applied on the constant eort
mist–netting reveals important patterns
in population dynamics of long–distance
migratory birds
Telenský T1, Storch D2,3, Klvaňa P4, Cepák J4, Jelínek M4, Reif J1,5
1Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague,
Prague, Czech Republic, 2Center for Theoretical Study, Faculty of Science, Charles
University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, 3Department of Ecology, Faculty of
Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, 4Bird Ringing Centre,
National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic, 5Deparment of Zoology, Faculty of Sci-
ence, Palacky University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Long–distance migratory birds are experiencing long–term popula-
tion declines in Europe. Due to their complex annual cycle, there are
two major classes of potential factors responsible for this decline.
The cause might lie in the breeding grounds, where, for example,
migrants’ fecundity may be negatively aected by the trophic mis-
match. Alternatively, it might be aresult of changes in the non–breed-
ing grounds that aect survival. Detailed study of the population dy-
namics, demographic parameters, and possible climatic drivers can
help to reveal these causes in dierent species. We used capture–
mark–recapture data from aconstant eort sites (CES) mist–netting
volunteer citizen science programme. These CES data provide good
coverage for 16 species since 2004 at more than 50 sites in the Czech
Republic. We developed anovel extension of the Pradel (1996) model
which opens anew avenue to analyze CES data, allowing the decom-
position of the population growth into survival and recruitment, facili-
tating the understanding of patterns in population dynamics. We also
related the demographic parameters to the climate in the breeding
(namely temperature, GDD5, and plant phenology) and non–breed-
ing grounds (water availability) and compared their importance in
dierent species.
Conservation biogeography of small
Mediterranean islands
Testolin R1,2, Zannini P1,2, Chiarucci A1
1Biome Lab, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma
Mater Studiorum University Of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, 2LifeWatch ERIC, Bologna,
Italy
Small islands represent ahotspot of plant diversity within the global
diversity hotspot of the Mediterranean basin. These areas are par-
ticularly vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbance, species invasions,
and the adverse eects of climate change. In this context, nano–hot-
spots (i.e., islands with higher species richness than expected simply
by area) can be identied and prioritized when planning conserva-
tion actions. In this study, we employed alarge dataset of about 5000
vegetation plots located in 53 central Mediterranean small islands of
dierent size, degree of isolation, morphology, geological origin, and
climate. By drawing on classical biogeographic theory, we used the
species–area relationship to identify alpha (plot–level) and gamma
(island–level) hotspots of plant species richness. To assess the drivers
underlying the observed patterns, we modeled species richness at the
two spatial scales against aset of environmental and biogeographical
predictors. Both alpha and gamma nano–hotspots are mainly located
in southern Italian archipelagos, although with some discrepancies
between the two spatial scales. After accounting for the area, gamma
diversity is mainly explained by island morphology, while alpha diver-
sity by island origin and local contingencies, with amarginal eect of
climate in both. Our work explores the conservation implications of
classical biogeographic theory across scales.
Bumble bee colony health and performance
vary widely across the urban ecosystem
Theodorou P1,2, Kühn O1, Baltz L1, Wil C1, Rasti S1, Bucksch C1, Strohm
E3, Paxton R1,2, Kurze C1,3
1Martin–luther–university Halle–wittenberg, Halle, Germany, 2German Centre for
Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle–Jena–Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, 3Uni-
versity of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
Urbanisation can aect tness and challenge the persistence of many
species, including wild bees. Yet, how and which urban environmen-
tal features aect bee health and tness remain unclear. Here, we
placed experimental Bombus terrestris colonies in sites spanning from
the edge into acity’score to investigate bee parasitism, foraging be-
haviour, energetic stress, colony growth and reproductive output. In
each site, ambient temperature was recorded, oral resources were
evaluated and landscape heterogeneity was characterized. We found
that Bombus terrestris parasitism levels increased across the season
in line with colony growth but was negatively related to the propor-
tion of impervious surfaces. Bombus terrestris foraging trip duration
decreased with increasing ecotones but increased in sites with hon-
ey bee hives present. Energetic stress increased with the proportion
of impervious surfaces. Furthermore, high ambient temperature
reduced colony growth and indirectly the production of gynes. Our
results highlight the importance of ecotones as well as minimizing
the intensity of urbanisation and urban honey bee beekeeping for
bumblebee colony health and foraging behaviour. They also point to
the importance of microclimate for bumblebee colony performance
and suggest that increasing temperatures could have anegative im-
pact in slowing colony weight gain, and indirectly in reducing colony
reproduction.
With experimental approach towards
sustainable forest management – upscaling
local multi–taxon experiments to European
level
Tinya F1, Čížek L2, Doerer I3, Heilmann–Clausen J4, Hédl R5, de Groot
M6, López R7, Ódor P1, Mårell A8, Nordén B9, Piqué M10, Šebek P2, Vild
O5
1Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hunga-
ry, 2Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic,
3Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University of
Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany, 4Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate,
GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 5Institute of Bot-
any, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic, 6Slovenian Forestry Institute,
Ljubljana, Slovenia, 7Departamento de Sistemas y Recursos Naturales, Universidad
Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 8INRAE, UR EFNO, Nogent–sur–Vernisson,
France, 9NINA, Oslo, Norway, 10Joint Research Unit CTFC–Agrotecnio, Solsona, Spain
Exploring the impact of management on forest biodiversity is acru-
cial step towards developing sustainable management methods. Ex-
perimental approaches help to directly compare the eects of dif-
ferent forest manipulations including innovative strategies. In this
project we mapped multi–taxon experiments in European forests, to
build a network with the potential to upscale from local results to
the continental level. We collected information on 28 experiments in
14 European countries covering arange of Mediterranean, temper-
ate and boreal forest types. Beech and oak dominated forests were
overrepresented among the experiments, while boreal, hemiboreal
51
and broadleaved evergreen forests were underrepresented. Most
treatments involved tree cutting (thinning, gap–cutting, and clear–
cutting) and/or microhabitat enrichment (deadwood and habitat tree
creation). Other treatments were: game–exclosure, forest oor ma-
nipulation, prescribed burning, and water manipulation. Altogether
29 organism groups were studied in the network, with woody regen-
eration, vascular herbs, fungi, beetles, bryophytes, birds, and lichens
being most commonly included, in descending frequency order. This
allowed us an in–depth study exploring the inuence of thinning and
gap–cutting intensity on forest biodiversity.
This presentation was supported by the BOTTOMS–UP COST Action
CA18207 and TAČR Kappa ROTATE project no. TO01000132. FT was
funded by the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund
PD134302.
Policies impact on forest multifunctionality
across Europe
Toraño Caicoya A1, Vergarechea M2, Blattert C3,4, Mönkkönen M3,4,
Burgas D3,4, di Fulvio F5, Klein J6, Antón–Fernández C2, Snäll T6, Po-
schenrieder W11, Pitzén S8, Lukkarinen J8, Eyvindson K3,10
1Technical University of Munich, Chair of Forest Growth and Yield Science, TUM
School of Life Sciences, Freising, Germany, 2Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy
Research (NIBIO), Division of Forest and Forest Resources, National Forest Invento-
ry, Ås, Norway, 3Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of
Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland, 4School of Resource Wisdom, University of Jyväskylä,
Jyväskylä, Finland, 5International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Inte-
grated Biosphere Futures (IBF) Research Group, Biodiversity and Natural Resources
(BNR) Program, Laxenburg, Austria, 6SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swed-
ish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 7Silo AI, Helsinki, Finland,
8Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Helsinki, Finland, 9SLU Department of Forest
Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden,
10Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian
University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway, 11Schriftzug der Bayerischen Landesanstalt
für Wald und Forstwirtschaft, Freising, Germany
The provision of forest ecosystem services (FES) has long been con-
sidered as aside eect of traditional production–oriented forestry.
However, increasing emphasis has then been placed in forest policies
to deliver public goods such as biodiversity, recreation, and carbon
sequestration, alongside timber production. Our is to, using multi–
objective optimization, estimate the optimal management that max-
imizes multifunctionality (MF), and evaluate the losses in MF arising
under dierent national policies in Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden
and Norway) and Germany. To construct the scenarios, we used na-
tional forest inventory data that was projected into the future. For
this, we estimated nine FES from nationally selected indicators. For
each country, the multifunctionality of each sectoral policy scenar-
io is calculated and compared with the maximum multifunctionali-
ty scenario. Our results show how the highest multifunctionality is
achieved for Germany and Norway by the Forest Strategy and for-
est laws (for Sweden), but in Finland it is achieved by the Biodiversity
strategy. In this way, we are able to evaluate the impact of each sce-
nario on the multifunctional provision of FES and impact on biodi-
versity, depending on the types of forests, specic management and
each country’sstrategy for forest policy implementation.
Timber demand eects on the
multifunctional management of Non–Woody
Forest Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity
Toraño Caicoya A1, Toraño Caicoya A1, Stephan J2, Klein J2, di Fulvio
F3, Forsell N3, Snäll T2
1Technical University of Munich (TUM), Chair of Forest Growth and Yield Science,
Department of Life Science Systems, Freising, Germany, 2SLU Swedish Species In-
formation Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden,
3International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Integrated Biosphere
Futures (IBF) Research Group, Biodiversity and Natural Resources (BNR) Program,
Laxenburg, Austria
Future demand for timber products will aect forest management
depending on the future climate and socioeconomic conditions and,
it will, therefore, aect the capability of landscapes to provide forest
ecosystems services and biodiversity (FESB). With the help of forest
growth simulations, we show the performance of management re-
gimes to provide FESB and the trade–os between preservation of
biodiversity, timber demands, and multifunctionality. We present
anovel approach that, using Bayesian modelling, predicts the future
provision of FESB. Moreover, using multi–objective optimisation, we
evaluate two scenarios that calculate the optimal combination of
management regimes to full the future demand of timber products
and achieve landscape multifunctionality. In general, high propor-
tions of harvest intensication would be needed to meet future tim-
ber demands, while continuous cover forestry contributes the best to
multifunctionality. However, the distribution of diverse management
regimes over the landscape oers the best solution in all optimised
scenarios. Finally, we show how some FESB are more resilient (e.g.
edible plants or bird diversity), while others are susceptible (e.g. myc-
orrhiza, temperature regulation or saprotrophic species) to manage-
ment regimes. Thus, we will contribute to the biodiversity and multi-
functional oriented management of landscapes accounting for future
timber demands and with ameasure of uncertainty.
Urbanization eects on insect pollinator
diversity: aglobal meta–analysis
Török E1, Riho M1, Batáry P1
1Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót,
Hungary
Human population growth leads to globalization and an increase in
urban areas. It is not clear how urbanization aects dierent insect
pollinator groups. For instance, urban areas can be an ecological trap
for pollinators because of habitat degradation (e.g. increase in con-
crete surface areas) and pollution. However, recent literature shows
dierent various, even contradictory results, as urban environments
can provide additional food resources, fewer predators, and further
nesting places in buildings. We performed a meta–analysis to in-
crease our understanding of urbanization eect on wild pollinators.
We extracted 131 eect sizes from 58 studies for abundance and
114 eect sizes from 51 studies for species richness. We used pol-
linator taxonomical groups, urban–suburban–rural gradients, global
urban heat island data, and river (as anatural element) presence as
moderators. Pollinator abundance and species richness signicant-
ly decreased with increasing urbanization, aclear sign of biotic ho-
mogenization. Temperature dierence (heat–island eect) between
urban and suburban areas of more than 2 °C signicantly amplied
the negative eect of urbanization on pollinators diversity. Cities with
rivers have a lower urbanization eect. For pollinator conservation
in urban areas, there is aneed to restore and maintain natural and
green areas in cities, which can alleviate the heat island eect.
Plant biodiversity is highly resistant to shrub
encroachment in loess steppe fragments
Török P1,2, Teleki B3, Sonkoly J1,2, Erdős L1,4, Prommer M2,5, Tóthmérész
B2,3
1MTA–DE Lendület Functional and Restoration Ecology Research Group, Debrecen,
Magyarország, 2University of Debrecen, Department of Ecology, Debrecen, Hungary,
3MTA–DE Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Research Group, Debrecen, Hungary,
4ELKH Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Vácrátót, Hun-
gary, 5Herman Ottó Institute Nonprot Ltd, Budapest, Hungary
We aimed to study the eect of native shrub encroachment on plant
biodiversity in grassland fragments by analysing the vegetation com-
position of grasslands subjected to increasing levels of encroachment.
Both ancient and spontaneously recovered grasslands were studied.
We set the following research hypotheses: (i) increasing levels of en-
croachment decreases total diversity and the species richness of dry–
grassland species; and (ii) the eect of woody cover on grassland bio-
diversity diers between ancient and restored grasslands. Altogether
in 63 grassland fragments the percentage cover of trees, shrubs and
herbaceous vegetation were recorded. Shrub encroachment aected
the total richness of the herb layer and the species richness of dry–
grassland species. For most of the studied variables, lowest values
were found for the highest encroachment groups. Species richness
of the herb layer and that of dry–grassland species were lower in re-
stored grasslands. In recovered grasslands, Shannon diversity and
species evenness were lower, while Berger–Parker dominance was
higher than in ancient grasslands. Species composition and richness
displayed arelatively high resistance to moderate shrub encroach-
ment. Our results suggest that moderately encroached loess grass-
lands can be easily restored by the suppression of woody species, as
their species pool still contains many dry–grassland species targeted
for restoration.
52
Beyond organic farming – harnessing
biodiversity–friendly landscapes
Tscharntke T1
1Agroecology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
We challenge the widespread appraisal that organic farming is the
fundamental alternative to conventional farming for harnessing bi-
odiversity in agricultural landscapes. Certication of organic produc-
tion is largely restricted to banning synthetic agrochemicals, resulting
in limited benets for biodiversity but high yield losses despite ongo-
ing intensication and specialisation. In contrast, successful agricul-
tural measures to enhance biodiversity include diversifying cropland
and reducing eld size, which can multiply biodiversity while sustain-
ing high yields in both conventional and organic systems. Achieving
alandscape level mosaic of natural habitat patches and ne–grained
cropland diversication in both conventional and organic agriculture
is key for promoting large–scale biodiversity. This needs to be urgent-
ly acknowledged by policy makers for an agricultural paradigm shift.
Tscharntke, T., Grass, I., Wanger, T.C., Westphal, C., Batáry, P., 2021.
Beyond organic farming – harnessing biodiversity–friendly land-
scapes. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 2877. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
tree.2021.06.010
Ponui Island and promising potential for
genetic rescue in along–loved, ightless
national icon
Undin M1, Hills S1, Lockhart P1, Castro I1
1Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden
One of the key challenges for biodiversity conservation is how to
manage species with severely fragmented distributions. Transloca-
tions are an important tool in these scenarios to increase the number
of individuals, and increasingly to deliberately boost genetic diversity
and thus population growth rate, aphenomenon known as genet-
ic rescue. However, uncertainty around such rescue remains. Here
Ipresent results from the North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli)
population on Ponui Island. Thanks to adual origin translocation in
1964, and close monitoring since 2004, we have recently been able to
show that 1) this is one of the densest A. mantelli populations within
the range, 2) birds from the two source populations interbreed, 3)
some birds breed in groups of more than two unrelated individuals,
and 4) this population is more genetically diverse than populations
with either asingle translocation origin, or no translocation history.
Together this suggests ahigh potential for genetic rescue in this na-
tional icon; importantly if genetic rescue is possible in agroup like
kiwi (which are extraordinarily long–lived, show high pair delity, and
do not y), this is eluding to agreatly understudied and underutilised
potential for genetic rescue in many other threatened taxa.
Dierences in assessment of relative
importance of certain ecosystem services
amongst stakeholders linked with aCentral
Hungarian forest
Vadász C1, Tormáné Kovács E2, Fejes Z1, Hajagos G1
1Kiskunság National Park Directorate, Kecskemét, Hungary, 2Hungarian University of
Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary
The OKAEYLIFE LIFE–Nature project targets the conservation of key
habitats/species and the restauration of key ecosystem services
(ES) in Peszér–forest, Central Hungary. Representatives of the main
stakeholders (state forestry company, national park directorate, na-
ture conservation NGO, local municipality, local hunting association,
in total 17 persons) were involved in face–to–face interviews and in
a two–round online questionnaire survey to identify dierences in
declared relative importance of certain ESs. Stakeholders were asked
to explain why the forest is valuable and what it provides to local in-
habitants/whole society (an indirect way to name ESs which they con-
sider the most valuable). These ESs were grouped following the MAES
protocol, and then stakeholders were asked to add other ESs they
were aware of. Finally, the stakeholders were asked to rate the rela-
tive importance of all ESs listed. Analysing the rate scores, we could
identify ESs not known by certain stakeholders (e.g. possibilities for
scientic research); mutually highly rated ESs (e.g. climate regulating
ESs); conicting ESs (e.g. hunting possibilities vs. forest resilience/nat-
ural regeneration); dierently rated but not conicting ESs (e.g. rec-
reation). Via identifying not conicting ESs, modications have been
applied in forest management that can lead to more ecient conser-
vation/restoration of ESs provided by the forest.
Can global biodiversity trends be detected
using local species richness?
Valdez J1, Callaghan C1, Junker J, Purvis A2, Hill S, Pereira H
1Idiv, Leipzig, Germany, 2Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom, 3UN
Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, Unit-
ed Kingdom
Quantifying biodiversity trends at the global scale remains largely
unresolved. This is because global analysis of biodiversity change is
typically based on acollection of locally monitored sites which are af-
fected by certain sampling biases and measurement errors. Here, we
assess the ability to detect global trends using local species richness
and the eect of time series length, site–selection biases, measure-
ment error, and taxa mobility (represented by spatial resolution). We
nd that even with error–free data thousands of sites are needed for
decadal times series and detecting trends within ayear was practical-
ly impossible. Measurement errors in local species richness trends
drastically reduced the ability to detect achange, with ten times more
sampling sites required with up to 5% measurement error. The ability
to detect change was lower at higher resolution. Additionally, spatial
sampling biases, such as failing to sample areas in the top 1% of larg-
est losses will not only reduce the ability to detect negative change
but can even result in a positive trend. We conclude that detecting
global trends using estimates from locally monitored sites is currently
unreliable, and requires implementing rened observation networks
combined with models to account for biases, measurement error,
and environmental drivers.
Eurasian crane (Grus grus) as ecosystem
engineer in grasslands ‒ conservation values,
ecosystem services and disservices related to
alarge iconic bird
Valkó O1, Borza S2, Godó L1, Végvári Z3, Deák B1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Lendület Seed Ecol-
ogy Research Group, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2University of Debrecen, Juhász–Nagy Pál
Doctoral School, Debrecen, Hungary, 3Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of
Aquatic Ecology, Budapest, Hungary
Large birds, such as cranes are involved in human–wildlife conicts
as they often forage in croplands. The Eurasian crane (Grus grus) is
alarge iconic bird species, protected across Europe, which, thanks to
conservation programs and its ability to utilize croplands for foraging,
shows astrongly increasing population trend. This exaggerates the
already existing conicts between farmers and cranes spilling over to
natural habitats, where foraging by large ocks can lead to land deg-
radation. Here we evaluated the eect of biopedturbation by cranes
on the vegetation of dry grasslands in Hungary. We used indicators of
vegetation naturalness, forage quality and oral resource provision
to evaluate the ecosystem state from multiple aspects. We sampled
100 quadrats in disturbed patches and 100 in intact grasslands in
two seasons and two years (800 observations). We found that cranes
created distinct early–successional habitat patches characterised by
increased the plant diversity and oral resources compared to intact
grasslands. Although crane–disturbed patches could provide forage
for livestock early in the season, the forage quality became poor later
in the year. Given the increase of the global crane population, moni-
toring the disturbed areas, and developing acomplex prevention and
mitigation strategy is important.
53
Comparing interest in nature across
culturomic and other digital sources
Vardi R1, Roll U2
1Tel–aviv University, Tel–Aviv, Israel, 2Ben–Gurion University, Midreshet Ben–Gurion,
Israel
Conservation culturomic enables the exploration of human–nature
interactions and cultural ecosystem services at scales unimaginable
until recently. Nonetheless, these tools and datasets entail inherent
biases and necessitate careful validation. Here, we analyzed various
digital data to construct aframework linking digital sources with spe-
cies’ cultural ecosystem services. We explored interactions with wild-
owers in Israel across dierent culturomic sources including social
media, search engines, online encyclopedias, and popular media ar-
ticles, as well as large online scientic databases, and citizen science
platforms. These sources represent dierent types of engagement
with nature, by dierent segments of society. We found that dierent
platforms highlight dierent species and traits with most discrepan-
cies between popular news media and anational scientic repository.
Furthermore, salience in Flickr, asocial media platform often used for
cultural ecosystem services analysis, does not correlate with any oth-
er source. Our results suggest that people’s digital interactions with
nature may be inherently dierent across sources and platforms.
Thus, analyzing multiple digital sources may allow better understand-
ing of the wealth, span, and value of dierent human–nature interac-
tions across the digital realm.
How supportive can deep learning be in
biodiversity research? Three tales of cultural
services, biological invasions, and wildlife
trade
Vaz A1,2, Cardoso A1,2, Bryukhova S1,2, Ladle R1,2, Renna F3, Reino L1,2,
Vicente J1,2, Tabik S4
1CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Lab-
oratório Associado, Vila Do Conde, Portugal, 2BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Bio-
diversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vila do Conde, Portugal, 3INESC TEC & Faculty of
Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, 4Department of Computer Science and
Articial Intelligence, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
The global spread of the internet has spurred the emergence of new
conservation approaches focused on the comprehension of biodiver-
sity patterns as well as on the interlinkages between people and their
environment. People increasingly create imagery and textual content
on the web, either through the search for topics of interest, the ex-
pression of opinions about newsworthy events, or the uploading of
photographs and videos in social media platforms. As such, internet
users passively oer huge amounts of data which can be used to get
real–time insights into amultitude of issues pertaining to ecology and
conservation. Inevitably, dealing with the massive amount of social
media data produced by an increasingly number of internet users,
becomes amajor technical (and ethical) challenge to extract mean-
ingful information for conservation. The recent technological advanc-
es from articial intelligence algorithms, and specically from deep
learning, have empowered social media analytics to become promi-
nent in conversation research. This talk will present recent advance-
ments associated to three case studies using deep learning tools over
social media imagery data to: (1) identify opportunities for cultural
ecosystem services, (2) detect invasive alien species and its distribu-
tion, and (3) identify protected species prone to wildlife trac.
Urban grassland habitats are valuable for
maintaining insect and plant diversity
Venn S1
1University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
Grasslands are the primary habitat of numerous threatened plant
and insect species. As elements of urban green infrastructure, grass-
lands have ahigh potential for supporting biodiversity in urban re-
gions. The city of Helsinki has anetwork of diverse grassland habitats,
some of which are managed primarily for biodiversity. Iinvestigated
the assemblages of vascular plant and selected insect taxa, of aset
of approximately 20 grassland sites in the Helsinki capital region. The
aim of this study is to determine the potential value of aset of urban
grassland habitats for supporting insect and plant diversity. Ialso
investigate what environmental factors determine the suitability of
these sites for dierent taxa. All of the taxa showed species–area ef-
fects, indicating that the small size and isolation of sites are amajor
challenge. The carabid assemblage is diverse and varies with habi-
tat type, indicating that habitat diversity determines carabid diver-
sity. The bee assemblage is diverse, though dominated by polylectic
and ground–nesting species. The buttery assemblage is poor and
included only one meadow species. I conclude that grasslands are
valuable for the conservation of urban plant and insect biodiversity
but measures should be implemented to enhance habitat provision
and reduce habitat isolation.
Conservation planning in acontext of land
use change and multiple sustainability targets
Verburg P1,2, Malek Z1, Venier–Cambron C1
1VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2Swiss Federal Institute WSL,
Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Conservation planning is often based on the current land use situa-
tion. However, land use is dynamic, either putting future constraints
on conservation through increasing pressures, or bringing new op-
portunities, e.g., due to agricultural land abandonment. Such pres-
sures and opportunities also arise through eorts to achieve other
sustainability targets at the same time, which might be conicting or
synergistic. Integrated land use planning at dierent spatial scales is
required to align the dierent demands on space and nd more opti-
mal solutions and/or make the tradeos explicit. However, the meth-
ods and tools available to support such integrated spatial planning
processes are still limited. In this presentation I will provide a num-
ber of approaches that go beyond conservation planning alone, ac-
counting for land use change dynamics and multiple claims on land
resources. The approaches can be oriented more top–down or more
bottom–up, leading to dierent solutions for the same region. Sce-
nario simulation of the implications of such solutions helps discuss-
ing future land use and the barriers towards implementation.
(In)Coherences of national forest policies in
Europe; examples from Norway, Finland and
Germany
Vergarechea M1, Astrup R1, Blattert C2,3, Toraño–Caicoya A4, Burgas
D2,3, Mönkkönen M2,3, Eyvindson K2,5, Di Fulvio F6, Øistad K1, Lukkarin-
en J7, Klein J8, Snäll T8, Forsell N6, Hartikainen M9, Antón–Fernández C1
1Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Division of Forest and Forest Re-
sources, National Forest Inventory, Ås, Norway, 2Department of Biological and En-
vironmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland, 3School of Resource
Wisdom, Jyväskylä, Finland, 4Chair of Growth and Yield Science, TUM School of
Life Sciences, Freising, Germany, 5Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural
Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway, 6Inter-
national Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria, 7Finnish
Environment Institute (SYKE), Helsinki, Finland, 8SLU Department of Forest Resource
Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden, 9Silo AI,
Helsinki, Finland
To mitigate the negative eect of climate change, the European Union
aims to achieve asustainable and climate–neutral bioeconomy. This
bioeconomy scenario implies increasing the use of wood to replace
GHG–intensive material, which may conict with other forest policies
domains, such as the EU biodiversity strategy or National sectoral
policies, which represent diverse interests. These incoherencies will
have a long–term impact on forest ecosystem services (FES) and bi-
odiversity conservation. Here, we investigated how consistent are
these forests policies and what are the eect on the provision of FES.
We used national forest inventory plots from Finland, Norway, and
Germany to simulate 100 years of forest development using dierent
combinations of management regimes. Then, we dened three dif-
ferent forest policy scenarios, according to the most relevant policy,
national forest policy (NFS), biodiversity (BDS), or bioeconomy (BES).
We used multi–objective optimization to identify the combination of
management regimes matching best with each policy scenario. We
found that in Finland aGermany, the NFS was the most detailed doc-
ument, while in Norway, the BES was the most comprehensive one.
Here (Norway) we also observed that the BDS scenario might not be
realistic, since it implies not including any objective related to harvest.
54
Naturalistic grazing by large herbivores in
awetland non–governmental Bird Reserve
Josefov Meadows, Czech Republic
Vermouzek Z1, Michálek B1
1Czech Society for Ornithology, Praha, Czech Republic
The Bird Reserve Josefov Meadows is the unique project of the Czech
Society for Ornithology, partner of BirdLife International. It has been
established on land purchased with the support of many donors –
organizations and the general public (mainly members and fans of
the Czech Society for Ornithology). The conservation project, imple-
mented on the outskirts of the town of Jaroměř in Eastern Bohemia,
is based on the restoration of ahistoric articial irrigation system.
Management measures include simulation of natural ood regime by
water level control, excavation of shallow pools and patches of ex-
posed substrate, shrub encroachment control, grazing by large herbi-
vores and/or mowing. The wide array of methods provides asuitable
environment for the most endangered birds in Czechia – the mead-
ow waders, rails and crakes and other birds requiring wet meadows.
During the rst ve years after introduction of large herbivores, pos-
itive response has been documented in 7 out of 10 priority species,
all of conservation signicance, i.e. snipe, redshank or spotted crake.
Biodiversa+, the new European–funded
biodiversity partnership
Vihervaara P1, Body G2, Naeslund M3, Basset A4, Dinesen L5, Rosen-
berg A6, Hendriks R7, Heck A8, Mandon C9, Eggermont H10
1Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Helsinki, Finland, 2Direction de la surveillance,
des évaluations et des données, Oce français de la biodiversité, Paris, France,
3Naturvårdsverket (SEPA), Stockholm, Sweden, 4Universitá del Salento, Lecce, Italy,
5Danish IPBES Oce, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Den-
mark, 6Ministry for Development and Investments, General Secretariat for Research
& Technology , Athens, Greece, 7Ministry of Economic Aairs and Climate Policy, The
Hague, The Netherlands, 8Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Brussels,
Belgium, 9French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity, Paris, France, 10Belgian
Science Policy Oce, Belgian Biodiversity Platform, Brussels, Belgium
Gathering 74 research programmers and funders and environmental
policy actors from 36 European and associated countries, Biodiversa+
works on ve interconnected objectives: plan and support research
and innovation on biodiversity; set up a network of harmonised
schemes to improve monitoring of biodiversity, building on existing
national/regional schemes and the work of EuropaBON (i.e. testing/
operationalizing relevant outcomes in dierent contexts and coun-
tries); contribute to deploying Nature–based Solutions and valuation
of biodiversity in the private sector; ensure ecient science–based
support for policy–making; and strengthen the relevance and im-
pact of pan–European research on biodiversity in aglobal context.
Biodiversa+ allocates 1/3 of over 800 M€ budget for biodiversity
monitoring. The work on this theme aims at three main outputs: i)
establishment of transnational network of harmonized biodiversity
monitoring schemes across Europe; ii) promotion and use of new
tools and approaches for biodiversity monitoring; iii) support and
enhance of biodiversity monitoring schemes better articulation with
R&Iand policy. The ultimate goal of Biodiversa+ regarding monitor-
ing activities is to improve monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem
services and to provide better knowledge on their status and trends.
NaturaConnect – Designing aresilient and
coherent Trans–European Network for
Nature and People
Visconti P1, Jung M1, Pereira H2, Fernandez N2
1International Institute for Applied System Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, 2German
Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany
The EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy aims to put biodiversity on the
path to recovery by 2030, as acontribution to the European Green
Deal goal of preserving and restoring Europe‘snatural capital. Akey
component of the EU Biodiversity Strategy is the development of
atruly coherent Trans–European Nature Network (TEN–N). While the
Commission has produced criteria and guidance for protected areas
designations for its 2030 protected area goals, there is no operation-
al framework to ensure these designations are spatially connected
and complementary to each other both at pan–European, national
and sub–national level. To address these challenges, the NaturaCon-
nect project aims to co–create with key decision–makers and other
key stakeholders, knowledge, tools and capacity building to support
Member States in realizing an ecologically representative, resilient
and well–connected network of conserved areas that contribute to
achieving the objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030. In
this presentation we will introduce the project, its approaches for
assessing the suciency of the network and how to address gaps
in TEN–N, and the 6 project case studies, where we expect direct im-
plementation of the project ndings. Finally, we will present how the
wider conservation community can engage with, and benet from the
project.
Impact of tracking devices on health and
animal welfare in Northern Bald Ibis
Voelkl B1,2, Fritz J2
1University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, 2Waldrappteam, Mutters, Austria
Amigratory population of Northern Bald Ibises (Geronticus eremita) is
currently reintroduced in Europe, in the course of aLIFE+ project (LIFE
NBI). GPS–tracking of the whole population is essential for overall
monitoring and management. Since 2016, we observed more than 30
birds with an opacity of the cornea in one eye, with varying intensity
up to blindness. While this condition could not be linked to infections,
we found astrong correlation between one–eye opacity and the use
of solar powered GPS–devices tted on the upper back of the birds.
We also found that birds with mild opacity recovered fast after we re-
moved their tags or changed the tag position to the lower back. Since
birds sleep with the head on the back and one eye placed close to the
device, the most parsimonious explanation for the symptomatic is
apermanent slight irritation of one eye during resting and sleeping.
The position of the devices on the upper back is also disadvantageous
from an aerodynamic perspective and released birds equipped with
such devices show reduced ight performance. We conclude that the
decision how to t the tracking devices on the animals can impact the
health and welfare of the birds.
Sustainable human–megafauna coexistence
potential and the role of willingness to
coexist
Vogel S1,2,3, Vasudev D4, Ogutu J5, Taek P6, Berti E, Goswami V4, Kaelo
M8, Munk M2,3, Li W2,3, Svenning J2,3
1Department of Environment Science, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, Netherlands,
2Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Aarhus Uni-
versity, Aarhus , Denmark, 3Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Aarhus
University, Aarhus, Denmark, 4Conservation Initiative, Shillong, Meghalaya, India,
5Biostatistics Unit, Institute for Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Hohenheim,
Germany, 6Basecamp Foundation Kenya, Talek, Kenya, 7EcoNetLab, German Centre
for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle–Jena–Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, 8Mara
Predator Conservation Programme, Talek, Kenya
We have to look beyond mere tolerance or survival of megafauna
and humans to assess if they can sustainably co–exist in an area. To
be able to assess sustainable coexistence potential, we thus need in-
tegration of social and ecological perspectives, and inclusion of peo-
ple’swillingness to coexist with megafauna. As an interdisciplinary,
international network working in elephant and rhino conservation,
we therefore apply Bayesian hierarchical occupancy modelling to
detect people’s willingness to coexist with megafauna. We present
our framework of sustainable human–wildlife coexistence potential,
and the results of several applications of our willingness to coexist
measure. We highlight the potential of combining this willingness to
coexist measure with Species Distribution Models, using 556 inter-
views with Masaai people across the Maasai Mara, Kenya, collected
January–March 2020, remote sensing data and aerial surveys. We
also show its possibility to track changes in willingness to coexist with
a second dataset of 280 interviews collected April–May 2021. Our
framework, and measurement of willingness to coexist are useful in
the eld of Human Wildlife Conict and Coexistence, as the meas-
urement appears realistic enough to represent people’ssupport for
living with megafauna, and reliable as quantitative component to be
included in existing habitat suitability assessments.
55
European Breeding Bird Atlases as atool to
study large–scale changes in biodiversity
Voříšek P1, Keller V2, Herrando S3
1European Bird Census Council/Czech Society for Ornithology, Praha 5, Czech Re-
public, 2European Bird Census Council/Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Swit-
zerland, 3European Bird Census Council/Catalan Ornithological Institute, Barcelona,
Spain
The rst European Breeding Bird Atlas (EBBA1) was published in
1997 and the second one (EBBA2) in 2020. Both atlases are based on
eldwork of skilled volunteers and professionals and document the
breeding occurrence and abundance for the whole of the European
continent in a standardised 50–km grid. They provide information
on the status and abundance of each species in each grid square in
categories of breeding codes and abundance. In addition, EBBA2 pro-
vides modelled maps of the probability of occurrence at aresolution
of 10x10 km. EBBA1 and EBBA2 allow to compare the distribution of
species and assess changes over the last 30 years. 35% of all native
species have increased the area where they breed since the 1980 s,
25% have contracted their breeding range and the rest did not show
achange or the trend is unknown. While the breeding ranges of spe-
cies moved on average to the north, there are range shifts in other
directions too. The observed range shifts are not always consistent
with results from predictive models using information on climate and
land use. Thus, real data on species distribution changes is needed
as abasis for research and conservation and particularly to validate
models.
The role of the Ramsar Convention on
Wetlands in conservation – areview of
wetland policy and practice
Wallnöfer I1, Salathé T1
1Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands, Gland, Switzerland
The Convention on Wetlands is an international legal treaty signed
by 172 countries with the mission to conserve and wisely use all wet-
lands through local and national actions and international coopera-
tion. It brings together scientists with policymakers and oers tools
for various topics, e.g. oodplain and peatland restoration or wet-
land management. Worldwide, anetwork of over 2,400 wetlands of
international importance has been established. The rst Global Wet-
lands Outlook, published in 2018, provided the opportunity to pro-
mote our increased understanding of wetlands, while reporting on
their status, trends and pressures. Findings, such as the fact that 25%
of over 19,500 wetland–dependent species are threatened with ex-
tinction, constituted aglobal wake–up call. For the Convention’s50th
anniversary in 2021, the Global Wetlands Outlook Special Edition
was prepared. It draws on more than 30 major global and regional
assessments and other recent scientic ndings, and underlines the
importance of wetlands for human health in light of the COVID–19
pandemic. Failure to meet the Aichi Targets and slow progress on
the Sustainable Development Goals show that new approaches are
needed. Researchers are encouraged to engage actively with the ex-
perts of the Ramsar Scientic and Technical Review Panel at national,
regional and international levels.
What urban ecology can learn from
agroecology and biodiversity research
Weisser W
1Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Urban ecology is a relatively young eld of research, as biologists
have long ignored the city as aproper habitat that is worthwhile to
study. Much of current urban ecology research is still descriptive and
focusses on explaining what species occur within the city, and on the
conditions that allow plants and animals to live within the urban en-
vironment. Urbanisation is aform of human land use and dierent
places within the city dier in land use intensity. As aresult of these
dierences in land use intensity, dierent places within the city dier
in species richness and composition. Ipropose that urban environ-
ments do not fundamentally dier from other habitats modied by
humans, hence urban ecology can benet from the progress made
by research on land use eects on biodiversity and ecosystem func-
tioning in these other habitats. Igive examples where urban ecology
can learn from the progress that has been made by agro–ecology and
functional biodiversity research, with respect to a) how land use ef-
fects on biodiversity can be investigated, b) what biodiversity–ecosys-
tem functioning relationships may be expected, and c) ways to nd
more sustainable land use strategies. Conversely, with its focus on
extreme cases of human land use, urban ecology can also contribute
to abetter understanding of land use– biodiversity –ecosystem func-
tion relationships in other habitats.
Integrating biodiversity into productive arable
agricultural systems
Woodcock B1
1Uk Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Abingdon, United Kingdom
Intensively managed arable farming systems are by necessity run as
commercial enterprises and farmers remain focused on both prof-
itability and eciency with the maintenance of biodiversity typically
being something that needs to t around these concerns. However,
the large area covered by these systems provide signicant scope
for altering practices to support biodiversity by altering the charac-
ter of these management practices across arange of spatial scales.
For farmers perspective it is the provision of ecosystem services, like
pollination and natural pest control, that may be of greatest interest
as it represents an intersection between biodiversity and agricultural
productivity. In this talk we will look at the potential and limitation
for modern intensive arable farming systems to be softened to sup-
port improved biodiversity and ecosystem service provision provid-
ed largely by invertebrate communities. We will look at the extent
to which eld scale yields can be supported by such biodiversity me-
diated ecosystem processes and consider the problems associated
with driving change in the farming community where harsh economic
decisions can limit shifts to more sustainable practices.
Moving towards sustainable agriculture
through transformational conict science
Young J1, Calla S, Skrimizea E, Lecuyer L
1Institut National De La Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation Et L’environne-
ment (inrae), Dijon, France
Agriculture provides essential goods and services supporting human
wellbeing, but in a changing world there is a need to transition to
sustainable food production systems, as highlighted in recent assess-
ments such as IPBES, and policies including the CAP. This process,
however, creates conicts between actors with dierent views on how
best to achieve such atransition. Reframing the agricultural crisis as
aconict oers the potential for achieving innovative and sustainable
solutions, implying fundamental changes in 1) individual perceptions
of the conict, 2) the approaches used to mitigate conict, and 3) the
relationship between people in conict. We present anovel transfor-
mation framework applied to conicts in agricultural contexts before
outlining results from three French case studies (around apiculture,
viticulture and water quality), where conicts exist over the reduction
of pesticides. Qualitative interviews from these case studies outline
arange of conicts and how conict and crisis across these case stud-
ies can act as positive tipping points for transformation towards more
sustainable agriculture.
The role of Sacred Natural Sites in Italy for
conserving biodiversity, forests and cultural
landscapes
Zannini P1
1Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Sacred Natural Sites (SNS) have demonstrated their capacity to con-
serve species and habitats, while being almost ubiquitous. Howev-
er, most of research has been focusing in tropical areas, neglecting
alarge portion of SNS and related biodiversity. Here Ipresent some
results of an Italy focused project, focusing on dierent facets of bi-
odiversity and land conservation. First, we created one of the rst–
ever georeferenced nation–wide survey of SNS and compared SNS
distribution with Protected Areas distribution in terms of landscape
and land use characteristics. Second, we analysed SNS and Protected
areas in respect with forest loss and forest gain. Third, we selected 30
56
SNS across Italy and sampled plant diversity therein and in control ar-
eas to evaluate their contribution to plant diversity conservation. SNS
showed asmall overlap with Protected Areas, being found in cultural
landscapes ofter undergoing land abandonment. We also found that
SNS were associated with increased forest gain and decreased for-
est loss. Finally, SNS showed slightly higher biodiversity values than
control areas, with patterns varying across habitats. Results underlie
the need for alegal recognition of SNS and innovative policies to help
conserve their cultural and natural values.
Meeting both conservation and animal
welfare goals in wildlife research
Zemanova M1
1Environmental Sciences and Humanities Institute, University of Fribourg, Fribourg,
Switzerland, 2Animalfree Research, Bern, Switzerland
Wildlife research remains crucial for increasing our knowledge and
improving species management and conservation amid the current
biodiversity crisis. However, obtaining information on population sta-
tus often involves the invasive or lethal sampling of acertain number
of individual animals. Marking and sampling practices include taking
blood and tissue samples, toe–clipping of amphibians and rodents,
or using implants and radio transmitters – all of which are techniques
that might negatively aect the animal. Wildlife research may then re-
sult in afundamental conict between individual animal welfare and
the welfare of the population or ecosystem that would be achieved
through conservation. This conict could be signicantly reduced if
non–invasive and non–lethal research practices were more broadly
applied. In this talk, Iwill provide an overview of the most common
research practices and discuss the potential animal welfare issues as-
sociated with them. Iwill then outline guidelines on available non–in-
vasive research alternatives, which can contribute to both improved
data collection and minimized impact on animal welfare. I will also
discuss the role of animal welfare science and the 3Rs principles for
animal use (Replace, Reduce, Rene) in guiding responsible research
in conservation biology.
57
Abstracts of oral
presentations
Graphics by: Sarah Maršíková
Cicindela campestris Linnaeus
58
Using presence–only points to model the
inuence of climate on the broad–toothed rat
(Mastacomys fuscus)
Alley C1, Guilbault E2, Hayward M3
1School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Newcas-
tle, Australia, 2Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty
of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland,
3School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Australia
and Centre for Wildlife Management, University of Pretoria, Tshwane, South Africa
Climate change is amajor threat to small mammals in cold wet envi-
ronments, particularly in alpine areas. The broad–toothed rat (BTR)
(Mastacomys fuscus) is asmall mammal found in alpine and sub–al-
pine areas of south–east Australia. We used aPoint Process Model
(PPM) to determine the impact of climate on the BTR using data from
biodiversity atlas schemes. These atlases are often unreliable, so data
cleaning is important. To determine the optimal data cleaning meth-
od, we employed three dierent methods, each of which produced
adataset that we used to run aseparate PPM. In the rst, we simply
removed duplicates (n = 1455). In the second, we removed records
that had amoderate chance of being unreliable (n = 1062). In the
third, we removed records that had any chance of being unreliable (n
= 574). The best tting model, based on AIC and IMSE, was that con-
ducted with the third dataset. Altitude, precipitation and temperature
all had asignicant impact on the BTR. This research exemplies how
species distribution modelling can be used to enhance our under-
standing of aspecies’ climatic niche.
Impact assessment study of wind energy
infrastructure spatial planning on large
birds of prey of Greece– Sensitivity mapping
methodological approach
Anagnostopoulou A1, Bourdakis E2, Kaltsis A2, Tsiopelas N2, Saravia
V2, Dimalexis A3, Sidiropoulos L4, Bousbouras D2, Tsiakiris R5, Rou-
sopoulos I2, Papandropoulos D2, Bounas A2,4, Boukas N2, Skartsi T6,
Kret E6, Xirouchakis S1
1Ecology & Environmental Management Laboratory, Natural History Museum of
Crete, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece, 2Hellenic Ornithological Society, Athens,
Greece, 3NCC – Nature Conservation Consultants Ltd, Chalandri, Greece, 4Biodiver-
sity Conservation Laboratory, Department of Biological Applications and Technolo-
gy, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece, 5Forestry Service of Ioannina, Epirus,
Greece, 6WWF Greece, Athens, Greece
The installation and operation of Wind Power Plants (WPP) has been
proven to have negative eects on biodiversity, especially on birdlife.
In the present work, we studied the interaction of WPP development
in Greece with nine large birds of prey that are particularly vulnerable
to collision and displacement due to wind energy infrastructure. Spe-
cically, we examined the spatial overlap of existing and planned WPP
with the reproductive distribution of these species and we produced
sensitivity maps. Overall, we found that 1027 (37.9%) of the existing
wind turbines are located in adistance of less than 5 km from known
breeding sites, while in the hypothetical scenario of implementing all
planned projects, 6070 (36.7%) wind turbines will be located at adis-
tance less than 5 km from 62.9% of all the species breeding sites in-
cluded in this study. The breeding distribution of Gyps fulvus, Gypaetus
barbatus and Aquila chrysaetos exhibit the greatest potential overlap
with WPP (i.e., 82.9%, 75% and 61.1% respectively). We conclude that
the development of wind energy in Greece can be extremely detri-
mental to the conservation status of the study species, if appropriate
spatial planning measures are not applied.
The White–backed Woodpecker as an
umbrella species for threatened saproxylic
beetles in Central Europe.
Angeleri R1,2, Kormann U4, Roth N2,3, Ettwein A4, Lanz M4, Pasinelli G4,
Arlettaz R1, Lachat T2,3
1Conservation Biology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern,
Switzerland, 2Forest Ecology, School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, Bern
University of Applied Sciences, Zollikofen, Switzerland, 3Forest Entomology, Swiss
Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland, 4Swiss Ornithological In-
stitute, Sempach, Switzerland
The umbrella species concept postulates that conservation schemes
targeting akey species, although often locally restricted, will simul-
taneously benet additional organisms of conservation concern.
The White–backed Woodpecker is an old–growth deciduous forest
specialist and has been proposed as an umbrella species for sap-
roxylic beetles in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Yet, whether this
link holds in Central Europe remains unclear. By combining White–
backed Woodpecker telemetry data with ight interception traps for
insects, we compared saproxylic beetle communities at sites with no,
low and high activity of the target bird species during its breeding
season. We found that species richness of threatened saproxylic bee-
tles paralleled the activity density of the woodpecker, with the highest
richness found in high activity sites. Further, amultivariate analysis
of community revealed that sites occupied by White–backed Wood-
peckers harbored a consistent subset of the threatened saproxylic
beetle community. This nding was corroborated by an indicator
species analysis, showing that several threatened saproxylic beetles
were associated to the woodpecker habitat. Overall, our results imply
that the White–backed Woodpecker is asuitable umbrella species for
the conservation of saproxylic beetles in beech dominated forests of
Central Europe, supporting geographic transferability of the umbrella
species concept in this study system.
Citizen science outperform standardized
Atlases as data source when predicting
narrow–ranged species
Arenas–Castro S1,2, Regos A2,3, Martins I2,5, Honrado J2,5, Alonso J2,4
1University of Cordoba (Spain), Cordoba, Spain, 2BIOPOLIS/CIBIO–InBIO–Centro de
Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Vairão, Portugal, 3CTFC–Cen-
tre Tecnològic iForestal de Catalunya, Solsona, Spain, 4Polytechnic Institute of Viana
do Castelo, Viana do Castelo, Portugal, 5University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
While data combinations from dierent sources proved to be auseful
tool in species distribution models (SDMs), there is still much to ex-
plore on the usefulness and/or uncertainty of each input data source
through the modelling process. We assessed the eects of uncertain-
ty in SDMs using dierent data sources in both response (citizen–
collected and standardized datasets) and predictor (macroclimate
and remotely sensed) variables on SDM performance across awide
range of bird species (236) with contrasting distributional ranges in
the Iberian Peninsula. We implemented aSDM ensemble–forecasting
approach by using the occurrences of bird species grouped in four
range size classes from the semi–structured eBird project and stand-
ardized Atlases, and by using three predictor types: climate, remotely
sensed ecosystem functional attributes (EFAs), and their combina-
tion. Based on generalized linear mixed–eects model results, data
source, size class and predictor showed signicant eects on SDM
performance. eBird–based models outperformed those built with
Atlas data for less widespread (rare) species, and the combined cli-
mate–EFA predictors yielded models with the best performance. Our
ndings conrmed that less widespread species with clear conserva-
tion concerns beneted from the inclusion of citizen science data and
other key environmental factors into SDMs, with strong implications
for species conservation.
Amphibians and reduced impact logging:
variable species but similar community
responses
Asad S1, Guharajan R2, Abrams J3, Lagan P4, Kissing J4, Sikui J4, Wilting
A2, Rödel M1
1Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany, 2Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife
Research, Berlin, Germany, 3Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter,
United Kingdom, 4Sabah Forestry Department, Sandakan, Malaysia
Although sustainable forestry methods such as Reduced Impact
Logging (RIL) may mitigate severe biodiversity declines, RIL’sdirect/
indirect impacts are poorly understood, particularly in taxa utilizing
multiple habitats, i.e. amphibians. To determine amphibian respons-
es to RIL and its direct/indirect impacts, we assessed amphibians in
stream and terrestrial habitats before/immediately after logging (<1
year) in Malaysian Borneo. We used multi–species community occu-
pancy models, to determine species and community responses to
direct/indirect RIL eects, followed by diversity proles to identify
shifts in post–RIL diversity. Indirect logging impacts (distance to log-
ging roads), proved abetter predictor of stream amphibian occupan-
cy, whereas direct logging impacts (leaf litter depth shifts), were more
59
associated with terrestrial species. Communities across habitats gen-
erally exhibited increased diversity metrics after logging compared
to control sites. These increases are likely due to temporary uxes
and/or delayed RIL impacts, as we previously identied adecline in
stream amphibian diversity 4–5 years post–RIL, followed by aswift
recovery over 20 years as habitats and amphibians returned toward
pre–logging states. These ndings, not only suggest that amphibian
communities respond similarly to RIL despite species level variation
in direct/indirect RIL impacts, but also supports the use of RIL for am-
phibian conservation within tropical timber concessions.
Why Do UNESCO Biosphere Reserves Get
Less Recognition than National Parks?
ALandscape Research Perspective on
Protected Area Narratives in Germany
Aschenbrand E1, Michler T
1Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Eberswalde, Germany
This presentation explores how landscape research can contribute
to our understanding of why integrated protected area concepts like
biosphere reserves get less recognition than national parks. In this
regard, we analysed policy documents and online communication
of biosphere reserves and national parks, conducted qualitative in-
terviews with conservation professionals and volunteers as well as
participant observation in order to identify and compare narratives
that guide the communication and perception of both protected area
categories. The results show how national parks oer a clear inter-
pretation of space by building on landscape stereotypes and creating
landscape legibility and experience–ability through touristication.
National Parks also experience conicts about proper management
and combine avariety of goals, often including regional develop-
ment. Nevertheless, their narrative is unambiguous and powerful.
Biosphere reserves, on the other hand, have an image problem that
is essentially due to the diculty of communicating their objectives.
They confront the dicult task of creating avision that combines de-
velopment and conservation while integrating contrarious landscape
stereotypes. We argue for afundamental engagement with protected
area narratives, as this improves understanding of protected areas’
transformative potential.
Spatial ecology of conicts: unravelling
patterns of wildlife damage at multiple scales
Bautista C1, Revilla E2, Berezowska–Cnota T1, Fernández N3,4, Naves
J2, Selva N1
1Intitute of Nature Conservation (IOP PAN), Kraków, Poland, 2Estación Biológica de
Doñana CSIC (EBD–CSIC), Seville, Spain, 3German Centre for Integrative Biodiversi-
ty Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany, 4Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University
Halle–Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany
Human encroachment into natural habitats is typically followed by
conicts derived from wildlife damage to agriculture and livestock.
Spatial risk modelling is a useful tool to gain an understanding of
wildlife damage and mitigate conicts. Although resource selection
is a hierarchical process operating at multiple scales, risk models
usually fail to address more than one scale, which can result in the
misidentication of the underlying processes. Here, we addressed
the multi–scale nature of wildlife damage occurrence by considering
ecological and management correlates interacting from household
to landscape scales. We studied brown bear (Ursus arctos) damage
to apiaries in the North–eastern Carpathians as our model system.
Using generalized additive models, we found that brown bears‘ ten-
dency to avoid humans and the habitat preferences of bears and
beekeepers determine the risk of bear damage at multiple scales.
Damage risk at ne scales increased when the broad landscape con-
text also favoured damage. Furthermore, integrated–scale risk maps
resulted in more accurate predictions than single–scale models. Our
results suggest that principles of resource selection by animals can
be used to understand the occurrence of damage and help mitigate
conicts in aproactive and preventive manner.
Persisting lineages in introduced species
Berggren Å1, Kanuch P2, Cassel–Lundhagen A1, Preuss S3, Nordlander
G1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Upsala, Sweden, 2Slovak Academy of
Sciences, Zvolen, Slovakia, 3County Administrative Board of Uppsala, Uppsala, Swe-
den
To understand colonization success of an invasive species we need
to know the origin of the founders, where and when they were intro-
duced, and spread from introduction site(s). Admixture of dierent
genetic lineages from multiple introductions is generally hypothe-
sized to be benecial thanks to adaptive variation and heterozygosity–
tness correlations. In this study, population genetic and landscape
data was gathered for Roesel’sbush–cricket currently expanding its
range in Europe. We examined how colonization history and land-
scape structure aect its spread and population genetic structure.
Using ecological and dispersal information with genetic structure
inferred from 29 locations, we found that two parapatric founding
lineages coexist with very little gene ow. Our ndings are in strong
contrast to the hypothesis that dierent genetic lineages will admix
when introduced to the same area. The presence of separate lineages
decades after introduction and without physical barriers shows some
mechanism prevents admixture. Lineages with dierent genetic set-
ups may have adapted independently to local conditions and their
admixture result in loss of locally adapted genotypes and less viable
hybrids. Our data indicate that human transportation of agricultural
goods may play an important role for the spatial genetic pattern of
the species by aiding the spread.
The Importance of Green Infrastructure for
Deadwood Dependent Beetles
Bergmark P1, Larsson Ekström A1, Hekkala A1, Hjälten J1, Svensson J1,
Neumann W1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umea, Sweden
Deadwood dependent species account for adominant proportion
of forest dwelling organisms and substantially contribute to forest
ecosystem functioning. Due to environmental changes induced by
modern forestry, many of these species are today threatened with
extinction. To halt this negative trend, the Swedish state owned for-
estry company Sveaskog, has established large forest areas through-
out the country, so called Ecoparks, which serve as multifunctional
landscapes aiming to combine forestry and nature conservation on
alandscape level. Throughout the years, many restoration measures
have been carried out in the Ecoparks in order to increase the habitat
quality for forest dwelling species. To study the eects of multifunc-
tional landscapes, we monitored saproxylic beetles for three con-
secutive years in two Ecoparks, one in southern Sweden, one in the
north, and two reference areas representing business as usual (BAU)
landscapes. We found that both Ecoparks sustained greater abun-
dance and richness of nationally red–listed beetles and contained
dierent beetle assemblages in comparison with BAU areas. Our re-
sults highlight the potential of multifunctional forests in conserving
biodiversity of saproxylic beetle species. It also shows of the impor-
tance of deadwood availability as well as the importance of landscape
conguration.
Behavioural ecology of reintroduced
Przewalski‘shorses in the Great Gobi
B Strictly Protected Area (Mongolia).
Implications for conservation.
Bernátková A1, Oyunsaikhan G2, Šimek J3, Komárková M1, Arenas–
Castro S4, Sillero N5, Bobek M3, Ceacero F1
1Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague,
Czech Republic, 2Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area, Takhin Tal, Mongolia, 3Zoo
Praha, Prague, Czech Republic, 4Area of Ecology, Department of Botany, Ecology
and Plant Physiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain,
5CICGE–Centro de Investigação em Ciências Geo–Espaciais, Faculdade de Ciências
da Universidade do Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
Reintroduction is one of the most eective conservation techniques,
but the risk of failure is high since the animals must adapt to aharsh
novel environment. Przewalski‘shorse, once listed as Extinct in the
Wild, is one of the best examples of successful reintroduction since
60
1992 (Gobi B). The current population, around 350 individuals, in-
volves wild–born, long–term and newly reintroduced individuals. By
direct observation of selected harems, we studied the eect of the
origin (wild–born vs reintroduced) on the response to environmental
conditions, social network and habitat use at harem and individual
levels. Signicant inuence of the origin was found for all these cat-
egories. Compared to long–term reintroduced harems/individuals,
wild–born groups showed clearer ethograms, well adapted to the
changing weather conditions, complex social networks, and selection
of habitats with higher NDVI values. Newly reintroduced groups (dur-
ing soft release) showed the less complex patterns. The results con-
rm a slow behavioural adaptation of the horses to anew environ-
ment, probably not total until the second generation comes. These
results may assist future reintroduction programs and the successful
conservation of the species. Future research may focus on captive
breeding conditions and their eects on subsequent adaptation to
reintroduction at the individual level.
Eects of sown wildower elds and strips on
wild pollinators in agricultural landscapes
Bihaly Á1,2, Kovács–Hostyánszki A2, Sárospataki M1, Piross I2, Pellaton
R2, Báldi A2
1Department of Zoology and Ecology, Institute of Wildlife Management and Nature
Conservation, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hun-
gary, 2Lendület Ecosystem Services Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany,
Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
In pollination, which is one of the most important ecosystem services,
the wild pollinator insects play an invaluable role beside the managed
honey bees. Agricultural landscapes can suer greatly from the lack
of these useful insects that can be enhanced in their number and di-
versity by providing oral resources such as owering strips or elds.
However, we do not know the optimal design and oral composition
of these owering elds in landscapes with dierent levels of heter-
ogeneity yet.
Therefore, we set up sown wildower parcels of dierent designs:
8 landscape pairs of one larger eld (half hectare) and three small-
er strips (total: half–hectare), sown with 32 native plant species, in
either homogeneous (4 pairs) or heterogeneous (4 pairs) agricultur-
al landscapes. We investigated their eects on wild pollinator insect
communities by transect sampling method supported by assessment
of ower resources.
Based on our results we expect to answer how diversity of owering
plant species, heterogeneity of the surrounding area and design of
the owering elds aect pollinator diversity, species richness and
abundance, and we can determine which owering plant species play
akey role.
Buttery and Moth Conservation: results
from aglobal synopsis of evidence
Bladon A1, Smith R1, Sutherland W1
1Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
In the last few years, global concern over the decline of insect pop-
ulations has increased, and eorts to assess trends have intensied.
Butteries and moths represent adiverse and popular insect Order
with a long history of ecological study and avital role in ecosystem
function, and have become aagship for insect conservation. But
despite agood understanding of their ecology and natural history,
how much do we know about the eectiveness of conservation ac-
tions for Lepidoptera? While there is an urgent need for conservation
action, it is vital that interventions are eective and evidence–based
to ensure the cost–eective allocation of resources and delivery of
results. We used the subject–wide evidence synthesis approach de-
veloped by Conservation Evidence to compile the global evidence for
buttery and moth conservation into asingle synopsis, which is freely
available online for practitioners and policymakers. Iwill present an
overview of the synopsis, including an introduction to the Conserva-
tion Evidence approach, adescription of the availability and quality of
evidence for global buttery and moth conservation, and an analysis
of the extent to which patterns and biases in the evidence match or
dier from other taxa covered by Conservation Evidence synopses.
How to add monetary value to degraded
rural landscapes through soil carbon
sequestration in natural regeneration?
Boeni A1,2, Rother D2, Nel L1, Centeri C1, Tormáné Kovács E1
1Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Godollo, Hungary, 2Ecology
and Forest Restoration Laboratory, University of Sao Paulo, Piracicaba, Brazil
Soils can contribute to climate regulation through forest restoration.
We present a case study which investigates the soil carbon stock
across land–use types in rural areas undergoing natural regenera-
tion seeking to determine the monetary value of carbon sequestered
in the landscape to support payments for ecosystem services pro-
grams. We collected soil samples from 0 to 30 cm from degraded pas-
tures, young natural regeneration, and conserved native forest in the
Doce river basin, in south–eastern Brazil. With the soil bulk density
and soil organic carbon we calculated each land–use carbon stock
and converted it to CO2. Based on the current “Amazon Fund” value
($5.00.Cton–¹.ha–¹), we estimated the monetary value of soil carbon
sequestration per hectare if degraded pasture areas were restored
with assisted natural regeneration in 8 years, with the dierence be-
tween carbon stocks averages. The main results show the average
carbon stock in forests is higher (79.0±16.0 C.Mg.ha–¹) than in nat-
ural regeneration sites (64.6±10.4 C.Mg.ha–1) and pastures (57.6±10
C.Mg.ha–¹). Considering only the soil, the conversion of apasture into
ayoung forest could represent an income increase of $128.00 ha–¹ in
8 years, enabling the creation of apublic payment scheme.
The fetish market of Lomé, Togo: An alarming
hotspot for the trade of globally threatened
species
Boissier O1, Su S1, Kolani Z1, Arcilla N1
1International Bird Conservation Partnership, Monterey, CA, United States
Direct wildlife harvesting is one of the most pressing threats to bio-
diversity, especially in the tropics. While in Asia the issue of wildlife
trade for uses other than food, such as traditional Chinese medicine,
has attracted a lot of international attention and scientic study, in
Africa the vast majority of research has been focusing on bushmeat
hunting and trade, which have led so many of the continent’sspecies
to population collapse if not to the brink of extinction. However, com-
paratively very little light has been shed on the extent and impacts of
wildlife trade for traditional uses other than food in Africa. The local
use of wildlife as fetish is prevalent along the coast of the Gulf of
Guinea. Here we report on the fetish market of Lomé, Togo, the larg-
est in West Africa. Market surveys were conducted in July 2021 and
February–April 2022. Globally threatened species were widely and
openly sold. These include many Hooded and African White–backed
Vulture (CR), pangolins (EN/VU), primates, hornbills, among many
other bird, mammal and reptile species. All vendors come from Be-
nin, and many species are unlikely to originate from Togo. Accurate
gures on numbers and prices will be given during the presentation.
Water management impacts on food
availability for wet grassland breeding waders
Bötsch Y1, Krahn L1, Remmers T1, Korossy–Julius L1, Zöckler C1, Hunke
P1, Hötker H1
1Michael–Otto–Institut im NABU, Bergenhusen, Germany
Agricultural intensication and drainage of wet grassland reduced
the breeding habitat of many grassland waders in Europe. There-
fore, re–wetting of drained grassland is the most applied conserva-
tion intervention in restoring the breeding habitat of waders. From
2019–2021 we assessed and compared rewetted (winter–ooded)
sites (n=28) with drained sites in terms of food availability. We sam-
pled transects at the sites for three dierent prey–items – benthos–
animals, soil–invertebrates and arthropods. Benthos organisms were
more abundant in longer ooded sections, whereas earthworms and
tipulidae–larvae strongly declined in ooded areas. Arthropods did
not show any preference, but were indirectly aected through inhib-
ited vegetation growth when ooded. Overall, re–wetting is benecial
for wet grassland breeding waders in many aspects, but amix relief
of ooded and dry sites should be favoured, as they serve as retreat-
ing sites for earthworms. It also speeds re–colonisation of ooded
61
sites after they dried out and dry sites are as well needed as breeding
ground for waders. Amosaic of wet and dry sites suits all the dierent
prey types, creates aheterogeneous vegetation structure and there-
fore suits many dierent grassland breeding waders, which all have
their own habitat preferences.
Potential dispersal pathways within the range
margins of ectotherms, can they move in
response to climate change?
Boyer I1, Pagano A1,2, Bertrand R3, Isselin–Nondedeu F1,4
1UMR 7324 – CNRS CITERES, Tours, France, 2University of Angers, Angers, France,
3UMR 5174 – Laboratoire Evolution & Diversité Biologique (EDB), Université de Tou-
louse Midi–Pyrénées, CNRS, IRD, UPS, Toulouse, France, 4Institut Méditerranéen de
Biodiversité et Écologie (IMBE), UMR Université AixMarseille Avignon, 7263–CNRS,
237–IRD IRPNC (Ingénierie de la Restauration des Patrimoines Naturels et Culturels),
Avignon, France
Ectotherms should move poleward in response to the changes in
temperature and precipitation regimes induced by climate change.
Consequently, species may reach new habitats in their northern
range–margin that become newly suitable. The ability of aspecies to
track isotherms depends both on its dispersal abilities and on the
landscape permeability. However, the current landscape is highly
fragmented by anthropogenic habitats such as crops and urban are-
as that impede or limit movement of individuals. In this context, we
seek to determine whether the current landscape allow species to
track climate changes in their range–margins? We run habitat suita-
bility models and landscape graphs that simulate ecological corridors
for Hierophis viridiavus, Lacerta bilineata, Natrix maura and Triturus
marmoratus in their north range margins. With the notable exception
of L. bilineata, all species are decreasing. Outputs of the models al-
low to locate explicitly areas lacking corridors therefore prone to limit
species range–shifts. For all species, highly cultivated areas are asso-
ciated with low density of corridors. Finally reachable areas for spe-
cies inhabiting wetlands are restricted. The restoration of wetlands
throughout anthropized landscape is therefore primordial because
they could act as steppingstones.
Testing the long–term outcome of agenetic
rescue attempt in asmall, genetically
depauperate population of the endangered
New Zealand hihi (Notiomystis cincta)
Nicholls S1,2, Ewen J1, Gottelli D, Grueber C4, Santure A3, Trask A1, Brek-
ke P1
1Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom, 2De-
partment of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Lon-
don, UK, 3School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zea-
land, 4School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University
of Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Translocations can facilitate gene–ow between fragmented popula-
tions, introducing new genetic variants that mask deleterious alleles
and relieve inbreeding depression (i.e., ‘genetic rescue’). Yet, genetic
rescue attempts in threatened populations are underutilised due to
uncertainties surrounding outbreeding depression, appropriateness
of donor and recipient populations and the duration of benecial
eects. The New Zealand hihi is a threatened passerine with low
levels of genetic diversity, whose recovery is hampered by disease
outbreaks and reproductive failure. We assessed the long–term (10
years) outcomes of gene–ow through the translocation of 20 im-
migrant hihi from the last remaining natural population to a rein-
troduced, pedigreed population on the island of Tiritiri Mātangi. Six
immigrants bred, two of these were closely related and only three
have descendants in the population 10 years on. One female immi-
grant left signicantly more descendants and is related to over 50%
of the breeding population, which was associated with an increase
in mean inbreeding level, but we found no evidence that inbreed-
ing depressed early–life survival. Genetic diversity across 18 micro-
satellite loci increased, but no detected changes in immunogenetic
heterozygosity across three Toll–like receptor genes. We highlight the
importance of long–term monitoring of translocations that attempt
genetic rescue.
Scanning alandscape for High Conservation
Value Forests with machine learning
Bubnicki J1, Angelstam P5,6, Svensson J2, Mikusiński G4,5, Jonsson B3
1Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Białowieża, Poland, 2De-
partment of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricul-
tural Sciences, Umea, Sweden, 3Department of Natural Sciences, Mid Sweden Univer-
sity, Sundsvall, Sweden, 4Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology,
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Riddarhyttan, Sweden, 5School for Forest
Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skinnskatteberg, Sweden,
6Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agri-
cultural Sciences and Biotechnology, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences,
Koppang, Norway
High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF) play an especially important
role as core biodiversity areas and functional components of Green
infrastructure (GI), providing habitats to alarge number of species
and multiple well–recognized ecosystem–level services. However,
identication of HCVF their importance for GI prioritization strategies,
usually requires costly and time–consuming eld surveys. In this work
we applied apredictive modelling approach to scan all forest land in
Sweden (divided into 5 ecoregions) for the (potential) occurrence of
HCVF. We used Random Forest (RF) machine learning algorithm and
available high–resolution (10x10m) wall–to–wall spatial datasets de-
scribing landscape conguration, topography, forest structural prop-
erties and various socio–economic factors. We trained our model and
tested its performance using acountry–wide HCVF inventory data-
base. The nal RF models generated high–accuracy predictions with
the results of the 10–fold spatial cross–validation indicating a good
predictive capabilities (ROC AUC in arange of 0.86 – 0.88 for all ecore-
gions). Using acomprehensive set of independent validation spatial
datasets we conrmed that the predicted high probabilities of HCVF
occurrence actually represent forests with high conservation values.
Long–term changes in bryophyte diversity of
central European managed forests against
the background of climate changes
Cacciatori C1, Tordoni E1, Muter E1, Czerepko J1, Lech P1
1University of Agriculture in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
Cryptogamic diversity is areliable indicator of the state of forest eco-
systems. We analysed the variations in bryophyte alpha and beta
diversity of central European managed forests over a20–year time
span, based on data collected in 132 plots scattered across Poland,
and related them to changes in climatic conditions. We tested dif-
ferences in species among sites grouped based on elevation,a.s.l.,
dominant tree species and stand age. Species richness exhibited no
signicant trend across years, while it signicantly increased along
with elevation, a. s.l., especially in broadleaved forests. Species
richness exhibited a slight, but not signicant increase over time in
broadleaved forests, no variations in pine dominated stands and sig-
nicant uctuations in spruce dominated stands. Number of hemero-
phobic and strongly hemerophobic species underwent no signicant
variations across years either. Species turnover remained quite con-
stant, despite adrop being observed between 2008 and 2013. These
results show that bryophyte ora of central European managed for-
ests has remained quite stable over the last two decades. This is relat-
ed to the fact that, despite the general temperature increase, climatic
patterns are not consistent across Poland, whose southern part has
undergone arainfall decrease, while its northern part exhibits aslight
rainfall increase.
Primary forest dynamics as atemplate for
forest management
Čada V1, Trotsiuk V1, Janda P1, Mikoláš M1, Bače R1, Vítková L1, Nagel
T2, Svoboda M1
1Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences,
Praha 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic, 2University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Forest management largely aect ecosystem services and biodiver-
sity. The ideas of considering nature as atemplate for forest man-
agement or “letting nature to do the job” of sustaining functions and
biodiversity is present for decades. However, quantitative estimates
of various characteristics of primary forests, including characteristics
of natural disturbances, are required but rare. We quantied prima-
ry forest dynamics including historical disturbance patterns derived
62
from tree–ring analyses on the large network of sample plots in the
primary mountain forests of Central and Eastern Europe. We found
continuous gradients from small to large disturbance events. Mod-
erate events (25–75% mortality, >10 ha) represented more than 50%
of the total disturbed area and their rotation periods ranged from
one to several hundred years. These results highlight aneed for suf-
ciently large and adequately connected networks of strict reserves.
In managed forest, natural heterogeneity should be acknowledged
by more complex silvicultural treatments that emulate the natural
disturbance spectrum in harvest rotation times, sizes, and intensities.
Disturbance severities rarely reaching 100% mortality, much longer
rotation periods, and high importance of biological legacy (dead-
wood) in primary forests calls for much higher level of tree and struc-
tural retention in managed forests including the restriction of salvage
logging.
Adaptive management of conservation risks
Canessa S1, Oneto F2, Ottonello D2, Rosa G2, Salvidio S2
1Bern University, Bern, Switzerland, 2Universita di Genova, Genova, Italy
Adaptive management is both a very valuable tool for conservation
and one of its greatest clichés. One of the most common miscon-
ceptions is that formal adaptive management is risky and requires
large–scale programs with considerable dedicated resources. Here,
we faced adecision problem when planning the reintroduction of en-
dangered Yellow–bellied toads Bombina variegata in northern Italy.
We sought to collect animals for release, but wished rst and fore-
most not to impact the source population. We used adecision tree to
set quantitative thresholds of acceptable risks, then used simulations
to plan monitoring, implemented actions, and matched monitoring
data to predictions to make decisions. Using this approach, we ef-
fectively minimized risks to the source, and although releases were
ultimately unsuccessful, it allowed us condence for future attempts.
Conservation projects that involve some level of risk can benet
greatly from being managed adaptively: the key is to truly understand
some key principles, to have adesire to act rationally and to do some
hard thinking.
Functional traits of plants and pollinators
explain resource overlap between honeybees
and wild pollinators
Cappellari A1, Bonaldi G1, Mei M2, Paniccia D3, Cerretti P2, Marini L1
1Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment
(DAFNAE), University of Padova, Legnaro, Italy, 2Department of Biology and Biotech-
nology “Charles Darwin”, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, 3Via Colle 13,
Frosinone, Italy
Managed and wild pollinators often cohabit in both managed and
natural ecosystems. The western honeybee, Apis mellifera, is the most
widespread managed pollinator species. Due to its density and behav-
iour, it can potentially inuence the foraging activity of wild pollina-
tors, but this eect is often context–dependent. We observed plant–
pollinator interactions in 51 grasslands and we explored whether the
resource overlap between wild pollinators and honeybees was aect-
ed by honeybee abundance, plant functional diversity, and trait sim-
ilarity between wild pollinators and the honeybee. Resource overlap
decreased with increasing honeybee abundance only in areas with
high functional diversity of plant communities, suggesting apotential
diet shift of wild pollinators in areas with ahigh variability of ower
morphologies. Moreover, resource overlap increased with increasing
trait similarity between wild pollinators and the honeybee. In particu-
lar, central–place foragers with proboscis length similar to the honey-
bee exhibited the highest resource overlap. Our results underline the
importance of promoting functional diversity of plant communities
to support wild pollinators in areas with ahigh density of honeybee
hives. Moreover, greater attention should be paid to areas where pol-
linators possess functional traits similar to the honeybee, as they are
expected to be more prone to potential competition.
Prevalence of anticoagulant rodenticides in
European polecats (Mustela putorius) from
agricultural areas
Carmona G1, Burgos T2, Barrientos R1, Martin–Garcia S2, Hernández J1,
Palacín C3, Quiles P1, Bandeira V4, Mateo R5, Virgós E2
1Road Ecology Lab. Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of
Biology. Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 2Department of Biology
and Geology. King Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain, 3Department of Evolution-
ary Ecology. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain, 4Depart-
ment of Biology and CESAM. University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal, 5Instituto de In-
vestigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC, UCLM, JCCM), Ciudad Real, Spain
Anticoagulant rodenticides can help to reduce rodent overpopula-
tions in agricultural areas, but they also produce harmful eects on
natural predators when ingest them directly or by consuming poi-
soned preys.
We aimed to study the presence of rodenticides in the European
polecat (Mustela putorius), arenowned rodent consumer. Ten livers
per area of roadkilled polecats were analyzed in 4 areas with dier-
ent intensive agricultural management: Jaén (olive groves), Madrid
(cereal elds in protected area), Valladolid (cereal elds with allowed
rodenticide use and frequent rodent pests) and Toledo (cereal elds
with low presence of rodent pests outbreaks). The samples were an-
alysed by liquid chromatography (HPLC–MS/MS).
Rodenticides were detected in 58% of the individuals in all areas.
Contrary to expectations, Jaén showed higher prevalence (70%), fol-
lowed by Madrid and Valladolid (60%) and Toledo (40%). Atotal of 4
compounds were detected: bromadiolone (38%), difenacoum (23%),
brodifacoum (28%) and ocoumafen (23%). No major dierences
were observed in the compounds detected between zones, except
for Valladolid, where ocoumafen concentration was higher than oth-
er areas.
The results reected a high exposure in all sampled areas regard-
less of agricultural management. This should be considering when
regulating these compounds to search less harmful alternatives for
biodiversity conservation.
Combining continuous measures of
moonlight and cloud coverage to assess the
inuence of real moon illumination over
wildlife–vehicle collisions
Cerri J1, Bužan E1,2, Pokorny B2,3
1University of Primorska, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information
Technologies, Koper, Slovenia, 2Environmental Protection College, Velenje, Slovenia,
3Slovenian Forestry Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Wildlife–vehicle collisions jeopardize wildlife conservation and hu-
man safety. Including environmental covariates aecting the spatial
behavior of wildlife can improve collision forecasts, and afew studies
have already focused on how moon illumination aects wildlife–ve-
hicle collisions. However, no study to date has quantied the inter-
play between moon illumination and cloud coverage, an atmospheric
phenomenon decreasing the amount of moonlight reaching terres-
trial ecosystems. We modeled the synergistic eect of moonlight and
cloud coverage over the number of collisions between vehicles and
European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), in Slovenia. Data included
complete nation–wide set of daily collisions (n = 49,259) collected
between 2010 and 2019 by citizen scientists. Moonlight was meas-
ured both as quarters and as the fraction of illuminated moon. Data
were modeled through bivariate Gaussian Processes with aNegative
Binomial distribution. Treating moonlight as a continuous covariate
makes its interaction with cloud coverage more interpretable than
using moon quarters, and it also reduced prediction errors. However,
the analysis of the NDVI suggests that at some times of the year it
could be hard to disentangle the eect of cloud coverage from that
of changes in animal behavior driven by vegetation development, as
these two components co–vary in time.
63
Mapping the remaining genomic diversity of
African elephants
Chrzanová Pečnerová P1, Ishida Y2, Meisner J1, Hanghoej K1, Dalen L3,
Heller R1, Roca A2, Siegismund H1
1University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2University of Illinois Urbana–
Champaign, Champaign, USA, 3Center for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm, Sweden
Genome–wide data is becoming an integral resource for conservation
of species. In African elephants, ahandful of genomes has been used
to strengthen the case of recognizing savanna and forest elephants
as two separate species. Here, we generate and analyse 165 genomes
from African savanna and forest elephants in 13 countries, covering
most of their current range. Compared to the previously–used tra-
ditional genetic markers like microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA,
this genome–wide data allows us to infer: 1) aner–scale popula-
tion structure and the main trajectories of gene ow, 2) dierences
in genetic make–up of elephant populations in the dierent parts of
the continent, and 3) demographic processes which resulted in the
present–day patterns of genetic diversity. Besides providing essential
insights for conservation genetics, this data serves as avaluable re-
source for conservation management. We identify and optimize aset
of standardized genetic markers that will be implemented in genetic
monitoring of wild elephant populations, thus, providing an example
of genetics can be incorporated in future research and conservation.
Alien and invasive woody plant pathogens
in the Czech Republic and predicting their
impact on Natura 2000 habitats
Chumanová E1, Černý K1, Haňáčková Z1, Brestovanská T1, Zýka V1
1The Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening,
Průhonice, Czech Republic
The number of alien and invasive plant pathogens and their impact
on natural ecosystems and biodiversity have been increasing in many
regions of the world in recent decades. Early knowledge of harmful
invasive species and identication of locations and habitats at the
highest as well as the lowest risk of invasion and damage are crucial
for eective management of invasions and protection of ecosystems
and their biodiversity and functions. We compiled alist of alien fun-
gal and fungal–like plant pathogens detected in the Czech Republic,
chose eleven species already or potentially harmful to autochtho-
nous woody plants and their communities and developed spatial pre-
dictions of i) the environmental suitability for these pathogens in the
country and ii) their potential impact on woody vegetation in NATURA
2000 habitats. Expert knowledge species distribution models with GIS
were used to solve the task. The maps show high variability in the
susceptibility to the invasions within the country, identify the most
endangered locations and habitats and suggest acombined eect of
the studied pathogens in many of them. We believe our results can
help to implement eective management strategies to monitor and
control invasions of these organisms and minimize their impact on
nature and biodiversity.
Biomonitoring sandy beach marine
biodiversity using environmental DNA.
Cook H1, Therkildsen N2, Bemis W1
1Department of Ecology and Evolution, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States,
2Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University, Ithaca,
United States
Sandy beach ecosystems make up over 70% of the world’s open–
ocean coastlines and provide important ecological, economic, recrea-
tional, and cultural services. Threats to these ecosystems continue to
accelerate including climate change, sea level rise, global population
growth, and coastal development. However, the traditional marine bi-
omonitoring method, the seine net has many problems, for example,
it is not eective in heavy waves, misses highly mobile large preda-
tors, and is challenging to deploy on acrowded beach. Emerging tech-
nologies may provide asolution and this study uses environmental
DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to survey the biodiversity of surf zone
fauna. eDNA metabarcoding is successful at detecting surf zone sh
and invertebrate species with some surprising detections. Though re-
sults are mixed in distinguishing species utilising dierent habitats
within the surf zone. Finally, this study aims to inform beach man-
agers of another potential tool for aiding the conservation of these
important but dicult ecosystems.
The consequences of biodiversity–oriented
management of forest structure on
the breeding success of forest birds –
asystematic review of experimental studies
Cordeiro Pereira J1, Mikusiński G2, Storch I1
1Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Management, Albert–Ludwigs Universität Freiburg,
Freiburg Im Breisgau, Germany, 2Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of
Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Riddarhyttan, Sweden
Recent decades have seen amove towards novel forest management
practices integrating biodiversity conservation with other forest uses.
Their eects on bird diversity and abundance are relatively well stud-
ied, but less is known about demographic processes underlying those
responses. To shed light in this issue and to highlight research gaps in
the eld, we gathered existing evidence on how breeding success of
forest birds responds to dierent experimental manipulations of for-
est structure. A comprehensive literature search, following astand-
ard systematic review protocol, was carried out on Web of Science,
returning 62 studies which fullled our criteria. Studied interventions
are very heterogenous and geographically biased towards North
America. Selective logging, partial logging and prescribed burning are
the most thoroughly researched interventions. Breeding success out-
comes vary highly across both bird functional groups and interven-
tion types. Interventions often resulted in improved breeding success
only for alimited set of species, and their benet may be hampered
by factors acting at the landscape scale (e.g. high nest parasitism).
If productivity of awide set of forest bird species is to be improved
beyond standard management practices, amosaic of management
strategies needs to be implemented and landscape–scale limiting fac-
tors must be addressed.
Costs and benets of grassland
reconstruction as an alternative to
landscaping in industrial areas
Csonka A2, Török K1, Halassy M1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2Eötvös Loránd University, Facul-
ty of Science, Budapest, Hungary
Restoration of unused urban–industrial areas has great potential for
nature conservation purposes. In this study we compare costs relat-
ed to implementation and maintenance of three dierent grassland
types (intensive park lawn, extensive grassland and reconstructed
native eco park) and we evaluate the established vegetation as an
indicator of local biodiversity. The implementation and maintenance
costs were more than ten folds higher for the intensive park than
the eco park despite the higher price of native plant material. The
construction of the eco park pays o in 12.5 years compared to the
extensive grassland taking into account the lower maintenance costs.
The eco park is the most species rich, hosting the highest number
of natural constituent species, but also high number of disturbance
tolerant species and the highest cover of weed species. The exten-
sive grassland harbour similarly high number of species, but mostly
of weedy character. Our results support that reconstructing native
grasslands as an alternative to traditional landscaping in urban–in-
dustrial areas can be economically and ecologically worthwhile. The
higher costs of planning, plant material and implementation pay o
in ashort time and can lead to a win–win situation for nature and
economy.
Planning for the experience of nature in
protected areas
Dan–Rakedzon N1, Lissovsky N1, Shwartz A1
1Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Urbanization threatens biodiversity and also separates people from
the experience of nature. This alienation from nature, also known
as “extinction of experience”, represents amajor concern due to the
connections between nature health, well–being, anity for nature,
and conservation support. Protected areas (PAs), which host unique
64
biodiversity and landscapes, have agreat potential to provide high
quality nature experiences, but to date research on nature experience
in PA is scarce. We explored how nature experience is considered in
the design and management of PAs. We conducted landscape archi-
tectural analysis of planning documents and semi–structured inter-
views with landscape architects and managers of 12 highly visited PAs
that contain waterscapes in Israel. Our results indicate that the ex-
perience of nature was not one of the themes considered important
when designing and managing PAs. Instead, the discourse focused
on reducing the conicts between nature conservation and devel-
opment, notably, promoting design and management solutions that
restrict visitors’ activity in PAs. These results highlight that attempts
to protect nature in PAs may contributes to the growing alienation of
people from nature. This has implications for practitioners related to
nding solutions that adequately balance providing opportunities for
meaningful nature experience and biodiversity conservation in PAs.
Evaluate the return of key–stone large
animals (megafauna) to restore European
biodiversity under dierent forecasted social
and climate scenarios.
Davoli M1, Svenning J1
1Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
Estimating the near–future distribution of European large animals
(i.e. megafauna) under forecasted perspectives predicts upcoming
opportunities and challenges for nature–based solutions in ecosys-
tems restoration and conservation science.
New ecological relationships that may be triggered by the future
coexistence of humans and large animals in shared landscapes can
indeed bring to one hand at the return of fundamental ecosystem
services to the European citizens, and on the other hand to the risk
of intensive conict with farmers, undermining tolerance for wildlife
and policymakers engaged in conservation. With the aim to devel-
op science–based support for the decision–making process on land-
scape management in Europe, I will collect and examine, through
forecasted modelling, data on the current distribution of European
megafauna and trends in land–use abandonment, wildlife tolerance,
current species (re–)introduction eorts, and climate change across
the continent. With the results, Iwill indicate future hotspots of meg-
afauna return, which would create potential for biodiversity rewiring
through trophic chains restoration, and future hotspots of conict,
thus where megafauna will roam into strategic areas for cropping
and farming.
The project is part of the TERRANOVA–ITN network, and will be an in-
ternational collaboration between Aarhus University (DK), Humboldt
University (GE), and iDiv Research Center (GE).
The forest that stands beyond: importance
of the landscape for mammal species in
adeforestation hotspot
Decarre J1,2, Jankowicz C3, Biganzoli F3
1National Institute of Agricultural Technology, IRB–CNIA, Buenos Aires, Argentina,
2Geography Department, Humboldt–Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 3School of
Agriculture, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Land–use change is a major threat to biodiversity globally, yet the
eects aside from habitat loss, such as the importance of the agricul-
tural matrix, remain poorly understood. The South American Chaco
is an environmentally diverse region holding exceptional biodiversity,
but experiences one of the highest deforestation rates worldwide.
Here, we examined how landscape features determine the occu-
pancy of two medium–sized mammal species: the three–banded ar-
madillo and the crab–eating fox. We tted single–season occupancy
models using camera–trapping records (1) to analyse how landscape
composition and conguration inuence these species; and (2) to as-
sess the impact of on–site and surrounding landscape elements at
multiple spatial scales. Our results indicate that forest cover is impor-
tant. Particularly large stands of old–growth forest, persisting away of
the deforestation frontier. However, its relevance varies by species
and, most interestingly, its eect is stronger at considerably great-
er distances than predicted. For species that have been historically
persecuted, big forest patches seem to be acting as the last refuges
from hunting. Contrarily, habitat–generalist species are less aected
by deforestation although responding to human presence and dis-
turbances. Information derived from this study could drive specic
management decisions fostering production and conservation alike.
Freshwater community shifts following war–
driven declines of large savanna mammals
Demare G1, Spieler M2, Grabow K3, Rödel M1
1Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiver-
sity, Berlin, Germany, 2Museumsschule Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander
Koenig, Bonn, Germany, 3Pädagogische Hochschule Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany
Tropical savannas are globally extensive and ecologically invaluable
ecosystems subject to serious anthropogenic stress. Defaunation,
and especially the loss of large mammals, is pervasive in tropical sa-
vannas and known to trigger wide–ranging ecological eects, from
vegetation changes to the loss of ecosystem function. However, virtu-
ally no research has investigated the eects of defaunation on small
adjacent water bodies. This research gap persists because 1) tropical
savannas have been historically neglected, 2) the ecological value of
small water bodies is only recently being recognised, and 3) empirical
baseline data is often lacking. In this study, we compared arare pre–
defaunation dataset with recently collected data on 213 freshwater
assemblages, to investigate community structure and composition
before and after amajor defaunation event. Our research focused on
adiverse species assemblage of amphibian larvae in temporary sa-
vanna ponds. Pond vegetation cover increased from 16.0% to 45.6%
post–defaunation, i.e. anear three–fold increase. While some species
have benetted from such habitat changes, others have declined.
These results shed new light on the potential role of large–bodied
mammals in shaping adjacent ecosystems, and raise important ques-
tions concerning the functioning of temporary aquatic systems in the
Anthropocene.
An alien pathogen fungus may alter the
natural regeneration dynamics of akeystone
forest tree species throughout Europe
Demeter L1, Molnár Á2, Kiš A3, Vadász C4, Horváth F1,5, Csóka G6,
Öllerer K1,6, Molnár Z1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Vácrátót, Hunga-
ry, 2Doctoral School of Biological Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and
Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary, 3Institute for Nature Conservation of Vojvodina
Province, Novi Sad, Serbia, 4Kiskunság National Park, Kecskemét, Hungary, 5Centre
for Ecological Research, GINOP Sustainable Ecosystems Group, Tihany, Hungary,
6University of Sopron, Forest Research Institute, Department of Forest Protection,
Sopron, Hungary, 7Institute of Biology Bucharest, Romanian Academy, Bucharest,
Romania
Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) is aEuropean keystone tree species,
hosting a great amount of biodiversity, but its future role in (near–)
natural forests is uncertain due to the lack of natural regeneration.
The scientic discourse on the main factors impeding its natural re-
generation is biased because knowledge from historical and non–
English literatures is unassessed and the real impacts of an intro-
duced pathogen fungus remain unknown. We reviewed historical
and recent ecological, pathological and forestry literature on topics
related to the impact of non–native oak powdery mildew (PPM) on
the success of advanced natural regeneration of pedunculate oak in
(semi–)natural forests. We propose the novel ‘oak powdery mildew’
hypothesis, to explain the failure of natural regeneration of peduncu-
late oak throughout its distribution range. PPM reduces shade toler-
ance and vertical growth in pedunculate oak seedlings and saplings,
so sapling vitality and competitiveness have diminished considerably
since PPM was unintentionally introduced to Europe in the early 20th
century. We found that forest ecologists and conservationists often
overlook the impacts of this ‘recent’ driver. Our study suggests that
nature conservation and forest ecology should pay greater attention
to the impact of introduced microorganisms and to the integration of
knowledge from historical and non–English literature.
Understanding the ne–scale, spatiotemporal
drivers of species distribution and abundance
for mobile species conservation.
Dobson R1, Jennings S1, Willis S2, Cheke R3, Challinor A1, Dallimer M1
1University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom, 2Durham University, Durham, United
65
Kingdom, 3University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom
Mobile species pose a unique challenge to conservation manage-
ment globally. Established techniques are inherently static and hence
are inadequate for monitoring and protecting mobile species with
dynamic distributions in space and time. State–of–the–art remote
sensing datasets oer high spatiotemporal resolution data covering
abreadth of ecoclimatic variables. Here, we demonstrate statistical
modelling methods that incorporate these variables, using an exam-
ple of an African nomadic bird species. The models accurately project
both inter– and intra– annual distributions and abundances at high
resolution across large spatial extents. We explore the applications of
these projections for mobile species conservation, such as assessing
species vulnerability by monitoring range and abundance changes
over time, or targeting priority sites and timing for action. Moreover,
utilising the Google Earth Engine cloud platform, we demonstrate
that these dynamic remote sensing variables can be easily incorpo-
rated into statistical models with minimal computing power, time
and storage demands. We suggest that the generalised methods pre-
sented should be readily applied to other taxa and systems, with the
potential to advance the conservation of mobile species worldwide.
Predicting support for conservation
regulations: Novel applications of the New
Ecological Paradigm in protected area
landscapes
Dorward L1,4, Agustin I2,4, Dwiyahreni A2, Kaduma J4, Kohi E3, Mawenya
R4, Mchomvu J4, Prayitno K2,4, Sabiladiyni H2,4, Sankeni S4, Supriatna J2,
Trywidiarini T2,4, Wijaya Saputra A2,4, St John F1,4
1School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom, 2Research
Center for Climate Change, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Jakarta, Indonesia, 3Tan-
zania Wildlife Research Institute, Arusha, Tanzania, 4Conservation and Human Be-
haviour Research Group, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
Understanding human beliefs in relation to the environment can help
predict support for conservation interventions and assess, a priori,
the likely success of policies. Protected areas are one of the most
widespread conservation interventions globally. However, they are
not always supported or received positively by people living in their
proximity. Here we present preliminary results from two large–scale
studies which used, for the rst time, the New Ecological Paradigm
to measure the pro–ecological orientation of people living around
protected areas within two study landscapes, one in Indonesia and
another in Tanzania. Preliminary results revealed very modest pro–
environmental beliefs at both sites, with marginally higher pro–envi-
ronmental beliefs in Indonesia compared with Tanzania. Additionally,
we found links between pro–environmental beliefs and the perceived
morality of illegally extracting resources from protected areas; those
with stronger pro–environmental beliefs viewed rule breaking as
somewhat more immoral than those with opposing beliefs. Whilst,
due to the many and varied barriers and opportunities inuenc-
ing behaviour in specic situations, we caution against expecting
astrong NEP–behaviour relationship, our ndings suggest that the
New Ecological Paradigm can be used to predict support for conser-
vation regulations.
Velocity and magnitude of global change in
mountain areas
Dragonetti C1, Visconti P2, Daskalova G2, Di Marco M1
1La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, 2International Institute for Applied Sys-
tems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
Mountain ecosystems are being rapidly transformed by global change
drivers such as climate change and human use, yet little is known
about how these anthropogenic pressures combine and interact to
reshape the planet‘smountains. Here, we quantify the spatial change
in climate, land use and human population density in global moun-
tain areas, identifying areas that might be most at anthropogenic risk
by 2050. We analyse multiple scenarios of socio–economic develop-
ment and resulting global change projections to estimate dierent
metrics of change: magnitude and velocity of change and change in
area of analogue conditions. Our analysis disentangles areas that are
exposed to dierent pressures or to asuite of simultaneously–oc-
curring pressures. We highlight areas where an acceleration in glob-
al change could pose athreat to mountain biodiversity. Alternative
emission scenarios mean priorities for policy intervention must be
dynamic and adapt to rapidly changing conditions. Yet, we found that
several tropical mountains are predicted to suer from accelerating
human pressure, regardless of the scenario considered. Aclassica-
tion of mountain areas in which climate change acts together with
direct human pressure in the future can highlight dierent manage-
ment possibilities, as well as how dierent emission scenarios are
projected to inuence mountain regions.
Should the biodiversity bank be asavings
bank or alending bank?
Drechsler M1
1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany, 2Branden-
burg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg, Cottbus, Germany
Conservation osets are increasingly used as an instrument for biodi-
versity conservation on private lands. Since the restoration of degrad-
ed land often involves uncertainties and time lags, conservation biolo-
gists have recommended that credits in conservation oset schemes
be awarded only with the completion of the restoration process. What
is ignored in these arguments, however, is that such ascheme design
may incur higher economic costs than adesign in which credits are
already awarded at the initiation of the restoration process. Ageneric
agent–based ecological–economic simulation model is developed to
explore dierent pros and cons of the two scheme designs, in par-
ticular their cost–eectiveness. The economic model compartment
considers spatially heterogeneous and dynamic conservation costs,
risk aversion and time preferences in the landowners. The ecological
compartment considers uncertainty in the duration and the success
of restoration, and the metapopulation dynamics of a species de-
scribed by rates of local population extinction and the colonisation
of empty habitat patches. It turns out that whether credits should be
awarded at the initiation or with completion of restoration depends
on the ecological and economic circumstances, such as the dynamics
of the conservation costs and the restoration uncertainty.
Aglobal overview of biodiversity osetting
governance
Droste N1, Alkan Olsson J1, Hanson H1, Knaggård Å1, Lima G2, Lund-
mark L1, Thoni T1, Zelli F1
1Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
We analyze the development of biodiversity osetting governance
through a research–weaving approach. Here, we combine infor-
mation from a systematic review of the literature with aqualitative
analysis of the institutional developments in dierent world regions.
Through this triangulation, we synthesize and map the dierent de-
velopments of biodiversity osetting governance around the globe
over the last few decades. We nd that there is aglobal mainstream-
ing of core principles such as avoidance, no–net–loss, and the mitiga-
tion hierarchy. Similarly, pooling and trading of osets for unavoida-
ble residual damages becomes more widespread. Furthermore, we
can observe an ongoing diversication of institutional designs, and
actors involved. Together this constitutes an emerging regime com-
plex of biodiversity osetting governance that comes with both aset
of shared norms and a growing institutional complexity. While this
may imply institutional innovation through diversication and policy
experimentation, it also raises questions regarding the eectiveness
of dierent osetting practices.
Genomic inbreeding and its consequences
for the hihi, athreatened endemic passerine
of Aotearoa New Zealand
Duntsch L1, Whibley A1, Bailey S1, Brekke P2, Ewen J2, Santure A1
1University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, 2Zoological Society of London, Lon-
don, United Kingdom
In small populations, inbreeding – the mating between close rela-
tives – can exacerbate the loss of genetic diversity and may reduce
the adaptive potential of the species. In addition, inbreeding can also
prompt areduction of tness in apopulation, termed inbreeding de-
pression.
66
One of Aotearoa’sspecies of conservation concern is the hihi (stitch-
bird; Notiomystis cincta), athreatened endemic passerine. In 1995, hihi
individuals were translocated onto Tiritiri Mātangi island, and since
then, awealth of life history, pedigree and genetic data has been
collected. Together with arecently developed genome assembly and
40k single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, these resources
provide aunique opportunity to measure the impacts of inbreeding
in hihi from the Tiritiri Mātangi population. Here, we present individ-
ual–based inbreeding levels and infer how severely the population
has been impacted by the eects of inbreeding depression. With
agenome–wide association approach, we examine whether eects
of many slightly deleterious variants across the genome are contrib-
uting to inbreeding depression in the hihi, if at all, rather than fewer
(but distinct) inbred regions.
My work draws a clearer picture of the adaptive potential of the
species to adapt to future challenges such as climate change, and
informs conservation management.
The ecological niche and conservation value
of Central European grassland orthopterans:
aquantitative approach
Dvořák T1,2, Hadrava J2,3, Knapp M1
1Department Of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life
Sciences, Kamýcká 129, Prague, Czech Republic, 2Department of Zoology, Faculty
of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, Prague, Czech Republic, 3Biology Centre
of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Branišovská 31, České
Budějovice, Czech Republic
The ongoing insects biodiversity decline is tightly related to land–use
changes and habitat degradation. To assess habitat quality and to
understand the role of anthropogenic activities in shaping habitat
characteristics, proper bioindicators are needed. Orthopterans have
been previously proposed as promising bioindicators for grassland
ecosystems; however, comprehensive quantitative information on
their habitat preferences is lacking, which hinders full utilization of
their bioindication potential. In this study, we surveyed orthopteran
assemblages and quantied local environmental conditions at 476
grassland sites in Central Europe. To model orthopteran habitat pref-
erences, the Maxent approach was employed, which allowed us to
detect continuous species responses to chosen habitat characteris-
tics. We calculated ecological niche indices describing niche widths,
species optima, and the relative importance of particular environ-
mental variables for atotal of 38 analysed species. Evaluation of nal
Maxent models showed that their predictive power was high for the
great majority of investigated species. Red–listed species had sig-
nicantly narrower niches compared to unlisted orthopterans. The
development of quantitative ecological niche indices coupled with
the existing time– and cost–eective survey methods, also allowing
adoption of citizen science approaches, makes orthopterans an op-
timal model insect group for assessment of grassland condition and
conservation.
Post–release survival of captive–bred
Egyptian vultures
Efrat R1, Mueller T2,3, Sapir N4, Berger–Tal O1
1Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Re-
search, Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben–gurion, Israel, 2Senck-
enberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK–F), Frankfurt am Main,
Germany, 3Department of Biological Sciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe–University
Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 4Department of Evolutionary and Environ-
mental Biology and Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Reintroducing species to their historic range is apopular conserva-
tion eort aiming to maintain long–term viable populations of ani-
mals. This eort requires proper monitoring of the fate of the animals
that are released to the wild to assess their success. Nevertheless,
eective monitoring is often missing in conservation translocations.
We assessed the eciency of dierent monitoring methods and esti-
mated survival of captive–bred Egyptian vultures Neophron percnop-
terus that were released to the wild during the rst 15 years of arein-
troduction project. First, we compared observations to location data
from GPS transmitters. Then, we used GPS data to estimate survival of
vultures that were released to the wild at dierent ages and dierent
seasons. Finally, we compared the survival of captive–bred and wild–
hatched Egyptian vultures. We show that GPS data was signicantly
better than observation data. We also show that release protocol and
origin (captive–bred or wild–hatched) did not alter survival during the
vultures’ rst migration or during their rst two years post release or
post edging. Our results show the importance of continuous and
eective monitoring and conrm the ecacy of captive–breeding and
release of Egyptian vultures as aconservation tool.
Elevated res during COVID–19 lockdown
reveal protected area vulnerability
Eklund J1, Jones J2, Räsänen M3, Geldmann J4, Jokinen A1, Pellegrini A5,
Rakotobe D6, Rakotonarivo O7, Toivonen T1, Balmford A8
1Digital Geography Lab, Department of Geosciences and Geography, Faculty of
Sciences,University Of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 2School of Natural Sciences, Col-
lege of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Bangor University, Bangor, UK, 3In-
stitute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki,
Finland, 4Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Globe Institute, University
of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 5Department of Plant Sciences, University of
Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 6Department of Geography, Universite d’Antananarivo,
Antananarivo, Madagascar, 7École Supérieure des Sciences Agronomiques, Univer-
sité d’Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar, 8Conservation Science Group, De-
partment of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
There is little robust, quantitative information on the impacts of the
COVID–19 pandemic on the extinction crisis. Focusing on Madagas-
car, one of the world’s most threatened biodiversity hotspots, we
explore if the cessation of on–site protected area management ac-
tivities due to the pandemic were associated with increased burning
inside protected areas. We identify monthly excess re anomalies
by comparing observed res to those predicted based on historical
and contemporary re and weather data for all of Madagascar’spro-
tected areas, for every month 2012–2020. Through to 2019 excess
re anomalies in protected areas were few, short in duration, and in
some years coincident with social disruption linked to national elec-
tions. By contrast in 2020, COVID–19 meant on–site management of
Madagascar’s protected areas was suspended from March to July.
This period was associated with 76–248% more res than predicted,
after which burning returned to normal. At atime when international
biodiversity conservation faces unprecedented challenges, our re-
sults highlight the importance of on–site management for maintain-
ing protected area integrity.
Non–target eects of Bti–based mosquito
control on dragonies
Entling M1, Ul Islam A1, Bundschuh M1, Gerken M1, Gerstle V1, Kolben-
schlag S1, Manfrin A1, Brühl C1
1University of Koblenz–Landau, Landau, Germany
In Europe, mosquitoes are widely controlled through applications of
Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) to wetlands. Although direct
eects of Bti seem to be restricted to dipteran larvae, eects on non–
target fauna are possible through trophic interactions. Field surveys
reported conicting results, partly nding no eects but sometimes
observing widespread eects of Bti on dipteran predators including
dragonies (Odonata), spiders (Araneae) and birds (Aves). To test for
acausal relationship between Bti and dragony populations, we set
up areplicated eld experiment with twelve articial ponds mimick-
ing permanent pools in river oodplains. Bti was applied to half of
the ponds three times per year over two seasons. Dragony exuviae
were collected, identied and prementum length measured for two
species. Numbers of dipteran larvae in benthos samples was reduced
in Bti–treated ponds, and emerging dragonies were smaller, indicat-
ing food shortage. Numbers of emerging Libellulidae, but not of the
larger–bodied Aeshnidae, were reduced in treated ponds, indicating
negative eects of Bti through food shortage and/or intraguild preda-
tion. Our results demonstrate aconict between Bit–based mosquito
control and dragony conservation. Since Bti is often applied in pro-
tected areas, its environmental safety should be reconsidered.
Ongoing eects of the salamander–
killing chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium
salamandrivorans on salamander populations
in northwestern Europe
Erens J1, Preißler K2, Speybroeck J3, Beukema W1, Spitzen–van der Slui-
js A4,5, Stark T4, Schmidt B6, Martel A1, Steinfartz S2, Pasmans F1
67
1Wildlife Health Ghent, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University., Ghent, Bel-
gium, 2Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany, 3Research Institute
for Nature and Forest (INBO), Brussels, Belgium, 4Reptile, Amphibian & Fish Conser-
vation Netherlands (RAVON), Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 5Institute for Water and
Wetland Research, Animal Ecology and Physiology, Radboud University, Nijmegen,
The Netherlands, 6Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies,
University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
The mass extinction of amphibians presents a major part of global
biodiversity loss, and anthropogenic pathogen spread is an increas-
ingly documented threat to the survival of amphibian populations.
While the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has been
implicated in worldwide declines of frog species and populations, its
sister species, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), has been
signalled as an emerging conservation threat to global salamander
diversity. We performed amultidisciplinary and international assess-
ment to the continued eects of Bsal invasion on wild re salaman-
der (Salamandra salamandra) populations, ahighly susceptible Euro-
pean species. For this purpose, we combined monitoring data from
citizen–science programs with novel survey eorts to evaluate: 1)
ongoing population dynamics and disease prevalence; 2) extant de-
mographic structure and recruitment; 3) spatial population patterns
and habitat associations; and 4) host resistance and population ge-
netic eects. Our results highlight variable population–level impacts,
indicating low–level population persistence but also an apparent ex-
tinction event. Additionally, we found enduring signs of age–structure
truncation, disparate population clustering and habitat associations,
while we found no indications of increased host resistance but also
no signs of marked genetic deterioration. Our results provide new
post–outbreak conservation prospects and avenues for ongoing re-
search in the midterm after Bsal invasion in Europe.
Multi–level habitat selection by aforest
specialist in aspatially heterogeneous
landscape
Ettwein A1, Korner P1, Lanz M1, Pasinelli G1,2
1Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland, 2Department of Evolutionary
Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Whether managed forests can serve as habitat for species that de-
pend on old–growth structures is still unclear. We investigated three
levels of seasonal habitat selection by the white–backed woodpecker,
aspecies typically found in deciduous and mixed old–growth forests,
in forests diering in age and structure. Based on data of 50 radio–
tracked individuals, we found that areas with a high proportion of
old deciduous stands were selected for establishing pre–breeding
and breeding home ranges. By contrast, the proportions of all forest
types within post–breeding, summer/fall, and winter home ranges
corresponded to their availability in the landscape, and during all sea-
sons, the forest types were used according to their availability within
the home range. Modeling foraging tree selection revealed that the
probability of use increased with the diameter of the tree and was
highest for snags; these relationships were similar in all habitat types
and seasons. Our results indicate that old deciduous forests should
be present as breeding habitat but that all other forest types can be
used during the non–breeding season when suitable foraging trees
are available. Managed forests can thus serve as non–breeding habi-
tat for this old–growth forest species as long as they contain large–di-
ameter trees and deadwood.
Identifying factors that inuence the
rediscovery of missing terrestrial vertebrate
species
Evans T1
1Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Some species that are lost to science are rediscovered. These species
are sometimes referred to as Lazarus taxon. The frequency of these
rediscoveries is increasing over time, which suggests there are more
missing species that may be rediscovered. As these missing species
tend to be highly threatened, it is important that we nd them and
develop measures to protect them before they disappear forever.
There has been no global review of the spatial, temporal and taxo-
nomic distribution of missing and rediscovered terrestrial vertebrate
species. Yet understanding their distribution may improve our ability
to nd missing species. Through aliterature review and consultation
with members of the IUCN SSC and Re:wild, we build a database of
missing and rediscovered species. We use this database to identify
broad patterns in their distribution. For each missing and rediscov-
ered species, we then collect data on aseries of variables in order
to identify factors that inuence the rediscovery of missing species.
Our global maps reveal regions which may be hotspots for future re-
discoveries. Larger species and those with broad habitat preferences
are more likely to be rediscovered, whilst those threatened by alien
species are less likely to be rediscovered.
Changes in aquatic macroinvertebrate
community in aprotected alpine pondscape
over a20–year period – Investigating
ngerprints of climate change impact
Fahy J1, Demierre E1, Piaudel A2, Oertli B1
1University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Western Switzerland, Jussy, Switzerland,
2Université Paris–Saclay, Orsay, France
As climate change increasingly threatens biodiversity, we need to
monitor closely the ecosystems at risk. Alpine waterbodies are par-
ticularly vulnerable to changes in temperature and precipitation, and
the rarefaction or extinction of boreo–alpine species is expected.
Located at high altitudes (>2600 m,a.s.l.) in the Swiss national park,
the pondscape of Macun is relatively well protected from most an-
thropogenic pressures and represents an ideal setting to study the
eects of climate change on alpine pond biodiversity. Given their
potential as sentinels of global environmental change, the ponds of
Macun have been regularly monitored since 2002, with aquatic mac-
roinvertebrate sampling and physico–chemical measurements.
Our investigations evidenced that the macroinvertebrate diversi-
ty has remained quantitatively stable between 2002 and 2021, with
no signicant trend regarding species richness (p>0.05). Communi-
ty composition has slightly changed (p<0.05), but with no expected
decline in boreo–alpine taxa. Long–term water temperature data
(2005–2021) were investigated and do not show aperceivable trend
towards warming, contrarily to the global pattern described for the
same period in the Alps.
In conclusion, our current data do not yet reveal impacts of climate
change on the biodiversity of Macun’spondscape. It remains there-
fore crucial to continue to monitor these sensitive and preserved eco-
systems.
Quantifying complex impacts of targeted
supplementary feeding for the conservation
of athreatened bird population
Fenn S1, Bignal E2, Bignal S2, Trask A3, McCracken D4, Monaghan P5,
Reid J1,6
1University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, 2Scottish Chough Study Group,
Isle of Islay, United Kingdom, 3Zoological Society of London, London, United King-
dom, 4Scotland’s Rural College, Auchincruive, United Kingdom, 5University of Glas-
gow, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 6Norwegian University of Science and Technology,
Trondheim, Norway
Eective conservation of threatened populations requires targeted
and evidence–based mitigation of key demographic constraints that
limit population viability. However, realised population–wide impacts
of conservation interventions may be complex, with conservation
outcomes depending on both temporal variation in impacts on tar-
get individuals, and impacts on non–target conspecics (e.g. dierent
age classes). Yet, such impacts are rarely quantied, hindering robust
assessment of conservation ecacy.
Using a long–term demographic dataset on the threatened Scottish
red–billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) population, we quanti-
ed the demographic consequences of a multi–year (2010–2018)
supplementary feeding programme on target juvenile survival, and
assessed collateral impacts on non–target adults. Multi–state mark–
recapture analyses show that management successfully increased ju-
venile survival, but that ecacy varied both within and among years.
Furthermore, before–after control–impact analyses showed that
feeding increased the probabilities of adult survival and successful re-
production, with substantial population–level benets. Consequently,
the supplementary feeding intervention substantially increased the
probability of population persistence. This case study of science–in-
formed conservation management demonstrates that supplementa-
68
ry feeding, awidely used conservation tool, can have strongly ben-
ecial conservation eects, and illustrates how full assessment of
intervention impacts can aect assessment of short–term ecacy
and thereby subsequent management decisions.
Climate connectivity modelling across
European terrestrial habitats
highlights movement corridors
for range–shifting species
Fourcade Y1, Sonntag S1, WallisDeVries M2,3, Kuussaari M4, van Swaay
C2, Heliölä J4, Öckinger E5
1Univ. Paris Est Créteil – iEES Paris, Créteil, France, 2De Vlinderstichting/Dutch But-
tery Conservation, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 3Plant Ecology and Nature Con-
servation Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 4Biodiversi-
ty Centre, Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland, 5Department of Ecology,
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
Climate change often make species to shift their range so that they
remain in their climatic niche. However, the intensity of climate
change, the intrinsic dispersal ability of species and the anthropiza-
tion of landscapes can impede species movements. In this context,
preserving and promoting climate corridors for species to migrate
from their current habitats to their future climatically similar habitats
is an important strategy for preventing species extinction. We mod-
elled connectivity between climate analogues across Europe under
various ecological assumptions and future climate change scenarios,
in order to identify areas of high potential connectivity and to quantify
variation in connectivity across arange of hypotheses. We also over-
lapped connectivity maps with protected areas to determine whether
climate connectivity was suciently protected. We showed that cli-
matic connectivity did not dier much between dierent scenarios of
climate change, but was strongly dependent on species’ dispersal as-
sumptions. Next, we constructed models that depict climate connec-
tivity between observed climate analogues during the past decades,
and confronted them to empirical changes in buttery communities.
Overall, our results have the potential to serve in the construction of
land cover change scenarios to identify the best strategies to improve
climate connectivity.
Landscape–scale connectivity
and fragment size aect species composition
of grassland fragments
Gallé R1, Korányi D1, Tölgyesi C2, Lakatos T1, Marcolin F3, Török E1,
Kuli–Révész K1, Szabó Á1, Szitár K1, Torma A2, Gallé–Szpisjak N1, Marja
R1, Deák B4, Batáry P1
1‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research,
Vácrátót, Hungary, 2Department of Ecology University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary,
3Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lis-
boa, Lisboa, Portugal, 4‘Lendület’ Seed Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology
and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
As a consequence of agricultural intensication, grassland biodi-
versity has declined considerably in Europe. We assessed how vari-
ation in fragment size (small vs. large) and landscape conguration
(connectivity index), aect plant and arthropod diversity. We studied
two threatened grassland ecosystems in the Hungarian Great Plain,
30 forest steppes, and 30 burial mounds (kurgans). Forest–steppes
are natural mosaics of undisturbed dry grasslands and small patch-
es of forests in amatrix dominated by plantation forests. Kurgans
are ancient burial mounds that harbour moderately disturbed nat-
ural grasslands surrounded by agricultural elds in the Eurasian
steppe and forest–steppe zone. We focused on the diversity pattern
of plants, spiders, true bugs, wild bees, and wasps. We found that
fragment size, connectivity, and their interaction aected species
and generalist species abundances of forest–steppes and kurgans.
Large fragments had higher species richness, and the eect of con-
nectivity was stronger positive for specialist arthropods and stronger
negative for generalists in large than is small fragments. However,
we also found astrong positive impact of connectivity for generalist
plants in large kurgans in contrast to smaller ones. We conclude that
enhancing connectivity between fragments by increasing the amount
of natural and semi–natural habitats via restoration would help main-
tain grassland biota.
Dierential eects of nitrogen addition
on terrestrial invertebrates: aglobal
meta–analysis
Gallego–Zamorano J1, de Jonge M1, Runge K1, Hulls S1, Wang J1, Hui-
jbregts M1,2, Schipper A1,2
1Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 2PBL Netherlands Environmental As-
sessment Agency, The Hague, Netherlands
Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) inputs not only alter soil and vegetation
characteristics, but may also aect terrestrial invertebrate communi-
ties. Local studies are, however, typically insucient to uncover gen-
eral response patterns. Here we performed ameta–analysis of 3,871
observations from 124 papers reporting the eect of N addition on
the abundance or richness of terrestrial arthropods or nematodes
worldwide. We explored how dierent N addition levels together with
environmental and trait moderators shape the response of inverte-
brates while controlling for the heterogeneity between studies and
phylogenetic relationships between invertebrate groups. We found
that arthropods performing afull metamorphosis decreased in abun-
dance with increasing N, while those with incomplete metamorpho-
sis may increase in response to N addition. Moreover, arthropods
without metamorphosis presented an optimum of N after which
they may decrease in abundance. Nematodes abundance increased
with N in wet areas (high precipitation) but decreased otherwise. Ar-
thropod richness was not aected by N, while nematodes richness
showed an optimum but negative response. These changes in inver-
tebrate’scommunities due to anthropogenic N can ultimately aect
their ecosystem services such as decreased pollination or increased
pests.
Eects of insect pollination on crop quality:
Aglobal analysis
Gazzea E1, Batáry P2, Marini L1
1Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment (DAF-
NAE), University of Padova, Legnaro (Padova), Italy, 2“Lendület” Landscape and Con-
servation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research,
Vácrátót, Hungary
Insect pollination directly benets the reproduction of awide share of
crops. Despite the importance of pollinators in contributing to global
food security and health, much of the research has focused on quan-
tifying their contribution to crop yield, while acomprehensive assess-
ment of their role in enhancing food quality is still lacking. We focused
on investigating the eects of the pollination service provided by in-
sects on crop quality by applying asystematic literature review, and
by summarising relevant studies through aset of multi–level meta–
analyses. We included 112 articles studying the eects of pollination,
and extracted over 800 eects sizes about more than 30 dierent
crops worldwide. Results indicate that pollinating insects signicantly
contribute to increasing quality of all crop types. Physical attributes,
such as crop size, shape, and commercial grade signicantly improve
with pollination, while nutritional and biochemical composition does
not seem to be aected. The positive eects on crop quality were ob-
served independently of pollinator species, biome and methodolog-
ical approach. Our results highlight the need for implementing polli-
nator conservation and management actions, to ensure crop quality
and improve food marketability.
Keep it or leave it – the role of reversible
conservation investments in optimal reserve
design under climate change
Gerling C1, Schöttker O1, Hearne J2
1Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus – Senftenberg, Environmental Eco-
nomics, Cottbus, Germany, 2RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Climate change causes range shifts of species and habitats, mak-
ing existing reserve networks less suitable. Reserve networks may
be adapted in two ways: by providing additional funds and/or by
allowing for the sale of sites to liquidate funds for new purchases.
However, due to general negative ecological consequences, selling
is often regulated, thus rendering the optimal reserve site selection
aproblem of irreversible investment. On the other hand, allowing for
sale may be interpreted as an investment with costly reversibility, as
involved transaction costs do not allow for full recovery of the initial
69
investment. Whether allowing for sale to increase exibility under
climate change outweighs the costs remains an open question. We
develop aconceptual climate–ecological–economic model to nd the
optimal solution for the reserve site selection problem under chang-
ing climatic conditions and dierent policy scenarios. These scenarios
dier in terms of whether and when additional funds are provided,
and whether selling of sites is allowed. Our results show that the ad-
vantage of allowing for sales is large when no additional funds are
available and decreases as the amount of additional capital for adap-
tation increases. Finally, providing aone–o payment initially instead
of regular payments improves habitat protection.
Eect of microclimate on
deadwood organisms
Gossmann A1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
It has been hypothesized that certain wood–dependent organisms
are decreasing due to increased competition from species favored by
forestry or warming climate. If so, species assemblages on clear–cuts
in the north are becoming more similar to managed forests in the
south, while species favored by clear–cuts may spread also to other
forests and compete with northern species. By calculating “Commu-
nity temperature indices” and measuring inner–log temperature, we
test in this research project for the rst time hypotheses related to
this. We expect that i) southern species are in the north favored by
the increased level of light induced by clear–cuttings, and ii) that in-
ner–log temperature aects saproxylic beetle assemblages. In 2021,
we installed 450 eclector traps along a1200 km long latitudinal gra-
dient in Sweden. These traps consisted of 1.5 m long spruce logs and
caught all emerging beetles from April until September. They were
set up under three dierent light levels and their inner–log tempera-
ture was measured hourly. Now, we are analyzing the collected data
and at the conference we will be ready to present our newly acquired
knowledge on how microclimate alters wood–dependent species
composition.
SYSTEMATIC CAMERA–TRAPPING AND
OCCUPANCY ANALYSIS TO ASSESS
OCCURRENCE AND CONSERVATION STATUS
OF CRYPTIC MAMMALS IN TROPICAL FORESTS
Greco I1, Rovero F1
1University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentio, Italy
The tropical forest biome contains adisproportionally high number of
mammals with high levels of endemism. However, these forests are
undergoing severe human encroachment. Considering the current
extinction crisis, monitoring often little–known endemic or threatened
populations is vital for assessing their vulnerability and identifying pri-
ority areas for conservation. To this purpose, camera–trapping repre-
sents acritical tool and by analyzing detections in occupancy frame-
work it is possible to assess variations in occurrence in relation to
anthropogenic factors. We applied asystematic camera–trapping pro-
tocol (minimum of 60 sites sampled per area) in three areas of great
conservation importance in Tanzania. In the rst area we detected for
the rst time in Tanzania the IUCN–Vulnerable African golden cat, while
in the other areas we studied the Endangered Sanje mangabey. We
modelled occupancy with anthropogenic and environmental factors to
assess habitat preferences and vulnerability; for the mangabey we also
predicted occupancy across its entire distribution range. Both species
displayed vulnerability to humans, with occurrence clearly decreasing
in proximity to forest edges nearing human settlements. Systematic
camera–trapping coupled with occupancy analysis is an ecient tool
to study cryptic species in remote areas and can provide solid informa-
tion to support management decision–making.
Amphibian detection dog reveals the secret
life of newts on land to support
their conservation
Grimm–Seyfarth A1,2, Harms W1,2
1Helmholtz–Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany, 2Wildlife
Detection Dogs e.V., Bordesholm, Germany
Amphibians are important to research, conservation and landscape
planning. Their aquatic detection is well established, but terrestrial
detection remains complicated. One possibility is the use of trained
detection dogs. While reptile detection dogs are well documented in
science, the use of amphibian detection dogs remains understudied,
especially in Europe. We trained adetection dog to search for crested
(Triturus cristatus) and pond newts (Lissotriton vulgaris) in their terres-
trial habitats. First, we assessed the dog in 101 blind tests, where he
had to nd and safely alert at apreviously hidden newt. Second, the
dog was deployed six times on each of seven natural transects and
compared to visual surveys of those transects and articial retreats.
In the assessment, the dog achieved a detection rate of 92%. De-
tection rates were temperature and habitat dependent and slightly
higher for crested newts and for males. On the natural transects, the
dog detected 163 retreats, while no other method was able to detect
newts on land. Newts preferred high vegetation cover, small burrows
and roots of large trees. When environmental factors are considered,
the use of professionally trained amphibian detection dogs will im-
prove data collection for research, conservation and management.
Implementation of amodern sampling design
for the revision of the red list of fungi for
Switzerland
Schlegel M1, Ecker K1, Gross A1
1Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research Wsl, Birmensdorf,
Switzerland
The rst red list of the fungi for Switzerland is currently being revised.
For the three–year eld campaign to gather new fungi record data,
we implemented an innovative sampling design encompassing both
forested and grassland areas and aiming at eciently covering fun-
gi occurring in common and rare habitats. The study–site selection
process was based on modern sampling techniques, such as unequal
probability sampling, balancing across several abiotic and biotic varia-
bles, and geographical spreading. Habitat information from the Swiss
National Forest Inventory and from a novel high–resolution habitat
map were incorporated. Additional sites were chosen from ‘hotspot’
areas with previous knowledge of fungal diversity. Furthermore, we
will integrate data from dierent environmental DNA sources. Dur-
ing the rst sampling year, 46 professional and volunteer mycologists
contributed nearly 10000 fungi records originating from 108 plots.
There was atrend towards higher diversity in grassland ‘hotspot’ sites
compared to grassland sites from the Switzerland–wide selection. No
such pattern could be detected for forest sites. Apreliminary compar-
ison of the data to the rst red list campaign revealed that the new
design led to higher relative numbers of red listed fungi. The new
sampling design can help other countries to implement similar fungal
monitoring programs.
Training citizen scientists for invasive species
monitoring with wildlife detection dogs
Haack N1, Harms W2, Grimm–Seyfarth A2
1Independent Institute for Environmental Issues, Halle (Saale), Germany, 2Helm-
holtz–Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany
Wildlife detection dogs (WDD) are often used to survey biodiversity,
especially to detect particularly hidden and cryptic species. However,
training WDDs is costly and time–consuming, thus the amount of ex-
perts is low. Contrastingly, many private dog owners are looking for
meaningful activities for their dogs. The project IGAMon–Dog there-
fore aims at enabling dogs and their owners to become voluntary
WDD–teams to help monitor invasive species.
We chose three invasive plant species as targets: Fallopia japonica,
Impatiens glandulifera and Ambrosia artemisiifolia. The program aims
to make training and eld methods understandable to dog owners to
enable independent training and, after validation, eld surveys.
70
After ve months, half of the rst 15 participants have been able to
train their dogs to detect their target scent. Participants state they
beneted by deepening their bond to their dog and by gaining knowl-
edge. We thus assume that the program is rewarding enough to bind
dog–owners as long–term participants.
The training benets both scientists and citizens and seems to oer
great potential. However, it requires asubstantial eort, precision
in training and supervision of the volunteer WDD–teams by experts.
Thus, the cost–benet ratio must now be examined to draw conclu-
sions about its wider applicability.
Recent range shifts of birds, moths and
butteries are driven by the width of their
thermal niche
Hällfors M1,2, Heikkinen R1, Kuussaari M1, Lehikoinen A3, Luoto M4,
Pöyry J1, Saastamoinen M2, Virkkala R1, Kujala H3
1Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland, 2Research Centre for Environmen-
tal Change, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty
of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland,
3Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 4De-
partment of Geosciences and Geography, Helsinki, Finland
A warming climate drives species to move towards the poles and
higher elevations. There is, however, large between–species varia-
tion in the success of range shifting, highlighting the importance of
identifying what characterizes species’ ability to track the changing
climate. Ecological traits like size, dispersal propensity, overwintering
mode, and habitat use have been theorized to explain these dier-
ences. However, such traits only sporadically coincide with range
shifts and provide insucient means for explaining species range
shift responses. Recently, the adaptive capacity of species, dened by
their plasticity in utilizing environmental space, has been suggested
to provide akey for distinguishing between species that are more
prone to move versus those that stay and adjust to new conditions.
In our study, we related the realized changes in northern range edg-
es of 87 bird, 45 buttery, and 242 moth species across a1100–km
latitudinal gradient over 20 years to the species thermal niches. We
nd that species occupying amore narrow thermal niche across their
European distribution show stronger shifts towards the north. This
result was largely consistent among the species groups and point to
similar drivers, which are likely connected to thermal niche mean and
breadth as opposed to direct ecological traits.
Landscape–level habitat amount aects the
species density of deadwood–dwelling lichens
Hämäläinen A1, Fahrig L2, Strengbom J1, Ranius T1
1Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Swe-
den, 2Geomatics and Landscape Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Carle-
ton University, Ottawa, Canada
Habitat loss is amajor threat for biodiversity, but the scales on which
its eects occur are poorly understood: is the amount of available
habitat important for species occurrence on both local and landscape
scale? Recognizing the correct scale is critical for successful nature
conservation. We studied the importance of local and landscape–
scale habitat amount for deadwood–dwelling lichens in Swedish
boreal forests. We surveyed lichen assemblages in 90 forest stands
that diered in the local (stand–scale) dead wood amount, and in the
landscape–scale habitat amount (estimated as the amount of dead
wood or old–growth forests, on scales 300 m – 5 km). Lichen species
density increased with the landscape–scale, but not with the local
habitat amount, whereas species composition was not aected by
the habitat amount on any scale. The best measure for landscape–
scale habitat amount was the proportion of old (> 100 years) forests
on 5 km scale. The results indicate that to benet the studied species,
the amount of old forests in managed forest landscapes should be
increased and dead wood restoration or retention should be directed
to landscapes with ahigher proportion of old forest. Increasing only
the local dead wood amount would not benet the species.
Tracking animal movement to inform the
design of eective ecological corridors in
agroecosystems
Handel M1, Spiegel O2, Shwartz A1
1Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion – Israel Institute of Technolo-
gy, Haifa, Israel, 2School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel
Aviv, Israel
Ecological corridors are akey solution for enhancing landscape con-
nectivity and mitigating biodiversity loss due to fragmentation. Yet,
empirical evidence on the factors facilitating viable wildlife move-
ments within areas designated as corridors is scarce. Here, we aim to
explore how dierent landscape attributes and agricultural manage-
ment practices interact to inuence species movement along a pro-
posed national corridor within an intensive agriculture area. Using
acutting–edge animal tracking technology (ATLAS), we monitored at
high–resolution (8 seconds x interval) the regional movements of 16
bird species (with atotal of 157 individuals, 10,000 days, and over 57
million localizations). This massive dataset revealed that species dif-
fer substantially in their movement behavior and corridor usage. For
instance, both white–spectacled bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthopygos) and
Syrian woodpecker (Dendrocopos syriacus) strongly avoided cultivated
elds within the suggested corridor, while traveling exclusively along
uncultivated (wild–growth) eld margins. In contrast, other species
like the european greennch (Chloris chloris) and common kestrel
(Falco tinnunculus) readily crossed open elds, resulting in higher con-
nectivity through the landscape. Our ndings emphasize the impor-
tance of various landscape features for facilitating species–specic
movements within the agro–ecosystem and the benet of high–reso-
lution movement tracking for improving the design and management
of eective ecological corridors.
Towards Sustainable Fisheries: Forgotten
Catch of Small–Scale Bottom Set Nets in
Northern Adriatic
Hanžek–Turnšek H1, Tomažič M1, Benussi M1,2, Jančič M1,2, Lazar B1,3
1Department for Biodiversity, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Infor-
mation Technologies, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia, 2Blue World Institute
of Marine Research and Conservation, Veli Lošinj, Croatia, 3Faculty of Natural and
Health Sciences, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula, Croatia
Fisheries discards, disposed catch of unwanted species or sizes, pose
asignicant threat to marine ecosystems. While global and regional
estimates are available, assessments of macrobenthic invertebrate
discards in small–scale sheries are scarce. In this study, we quanti-
ed discards and their taxonomic composition in small–scale bottom
set net sheries in the Northern Adriatic Sea. The total catch of sin-
gle–layer gillnets and three–layer trammel nets was monitored by on-
board observers during regular shing operations in 2019 and 2020.
Target catch and discarded vertebrate species were determined and
weighed on board. Arandom quarter of disposed invertebrates was
subsampled for detailed laboratory analysis. Preliminary analysis in-
dicates an average discard rate of 75.4% (SD: ± 16.7%). Organisms
belonging to the Porifera, Mollusca (Gastropoda, Bivalvia), Echinoder-
mata, Chordata (Tunicata) and Arthropoda (Crustacea) have jointly
contributed 98.3% (IQR: 97.4 – 99.1) of wet weight. We estimate that
amedian of 47.2 kg (IQR: 25.6 – 65.5) of discards are produced per
gross revenue of 100 €. Our results show that regional discard rates
can be up to three times higher than global estimates and suggest
that the small–scale sheries impact on marine ecosystems may be
underestimated.
Selective eect of sh farming management
on freshwater diversity
Harabiš F1, Šigutová H2, Šípková H1, Hronková J1, Dolný A2, Vojar J1,
Šigut M2, Poskočilová A1
1Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague,
Czech Republic, 2Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic
Many studies have indicated the negative eects of high sh stocks
on the diversity of macroinvertebrates. Nevertheless, the eect of
sh predation on invertebrate communities could be strongly inu-
enced by the behavior of individual species as well as other factors,
such as the structural complexity of aquatic vegetation. Consequent-
71
ly, we aimed to analyze the habitat selection behavior and the eects
of environmental–trait interactions on the responses of amphibians,
odonates, aquatic true bugs, and diving beetles that are directly or in-
directly related to pond management. No congruence between habi-
tat specialists and generalists was observed, but asimilar response to
sh and vegetation structure dened both semiaquatic and aquatic
organisms. Moreover, each monitored group reected very dierent
variables. Odonates were sensitive to variables reecting the qual-
ity of the aquatic environment and the overall landscape structure,
and accurately reected dierences in the management intensity of
ponds. Our results highlight the signicance of habitat selectivity for
structuring freshwater ecosystems. However, sh farming manage-
ment is aselective mechanism that operates with such intensity that
there is no morphological or phenological variability among species.
,
The attractiveness of bird species to humans
– the iratebirds.app citizen science project
tells us which birds are the most likable to us
Haukka A1,2, Lehikoinen A1, Mammola S1,5, Morris W3, Santangeli A4
1Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), Zoology Unit, University of Helsin-
ki, Helsinki, Finland, 2Doctoral Programme in Wildlife Biology (LUOVA), University of
Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 3Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (FinBIF), Univer-
sity of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 4Research Centre for Ecological Change, Organis-
mal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki,
Finland, 5Water Research Institute (IRSA), National Research Council (CNR), Verbe-
nia–Pallanza, Italy
Humans are fascinated by the astounding diversity of forms and
colors of wildlife species. There are many examples of the cultural
importance of wildlife species. Yet, understanding the attractiveness
of species is of importance also from ascientic standpoint. Amidst
aglobal biodiversity crisis, shedding light on the factors that make us
like aspecies or another can inform conservation actions, e.g. lever-
aging agship potential, and help identify threats. Despite many at-
tempts to quantify bird species‘ attractiveness to humans, there is so
far no global database on bird species‘ attractiveness to humans. We
present adata set on the attractiveness of bird species to humans
using visual appearance. The data are based on an internet brows-
er–based questionnaire (iratebirds.app) where people were asked to
evaluate the spontaneous attractiveness of bird species based on the
best quality photographs from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Ma-
caulay Library database. The rating was done on ascale of 1–10 and
the scores were modeled to create the nal database. The data set
covers all the bird species and subspecies globally, with respondents
from 78 home countries, and it is the rst such attempt to quantify
the overall attractiveness of all the bird species to humans.
Exposure of ape habitat to extreme events
and climate change impacts
Heinicke S1, Ferreira J2, Carvalho J3, Lange S1, Ordaz–Németh I4, Men-
gel M1
1Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany, 2University of
Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, 3Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United
Kingdom, 4Re:wild, Austin, USA
Despite increasing awareness of climate change impacts on ecosys-
tems, climate change is still often not considered in conservation
planning. To support evidence–based conservation decision–making
at site level (that is, the spatial scale at which conservation interven-
tions are typically implemented), we created the A.P. E.S. Wiki (wiki.
iucnapesportal.org). This open–access platform provides site–level
information on ape conservation status, threats, and conservation
activities based on information compiled from papers, reports and
experts. Here, we compared information from 59 sites across West
Africa to better understand the extent to which climate change has al-
ready been taken into account. For only three sites, we found that cli-
mate change is listed as athreat, such as the occurrence of droughts
and extreme temperatures. Conservation measures to mitigate the
impact of climate change have only been implemented at one site.
Additionally, we extracted climate and climate impact data from the
Inter–Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP, www.
isimip.org), which provides data products modelled consistently
across impact sectors, time and space, to address the lack of data
at site level. We then mapped the exposure of each site to climate
impacts and climate extremes, and provide the results in the A.P.E.S.
Wiki to make information accessible to conservation decision–mak-
ers.
Combining pure and mixed beech stands
to maximize biodiversity and conservation
value in temperate European beech forest
landscapes
Heinrichs S1, Leidinger J2, Weisser W2, Schall P1
1Silviculture and Forest Ecology of the Temperate Zones, University of Goettingen,
Goettingen, Germany, 2Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Ecology
and Ecosystem Management, Technische Universität München, Freising, Germany
Diversifying forests is regarded benecial for productivity, stability,
and biodiversity. In Central Europe, mixed forests with the naturally
dominating European beech are currently promoted. However, ef-
fects of tree species diversity can vary among species groups and can
lead to shifts in species composition challenging natural communi-
ties. By combining 41 mature forest stands of pure beech, beech/oak,
beech/spruce and beech/pine, we investigated the eect of distinct
combinations of these forest types on gamma–diversity of 12 species
groups ranging from vertebrates to belowground fungi. Using ares-
ampling approach, we searched for landscapes that integrate overall
multidiversity and the diversity of beech forest specialists.
Besides tree species identity eects, we found that highest gam-
ma–multidiversity was reached in virtual landscapes exclusively
composed of the three mixed stand types, while landscapes of pure
beech forests were least diverse. The diversity of rare species fol-
lowed this pattern. Pure beech forests, however, best conserve beech
forest specialists of dierent fungi groups that were most sensitive to
admixing other tree species to pure beech forests. Thus, landscapes
favoring multidiversity and rare species may not be able to conserve
the natural species composition of beech forests to the same degree,
indicating trade–os when it comes to dening conservation priori-
ties.
Native expansive dominants threaten the
diversity of plant communities in away
comparable to alien invasive species
Hejda M1, Sádlo J1, Kutlvašr J1,2, Petřík P1, Vítková M1, Vojík M1,2, Pyšek
P1,3, Pergl J1
1Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Průhonice, Czech Republic, 2Faculty
of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Repub-
lic, 3Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech
Republic
Invasive alien plants reduce the local diversity and contribute to the
homogenization of plant communities on larger scales.
In this study, we selected 10 native and 9 invasive dominants and
compared their impacts on the within–community scale. We identi-
ed populations with these target dominants and recorded plots with
their varying cover (~dominance) within each population. The impact
was then estimated using LMM regressions, relating the species rich-
ness and diversity to the dominants‘ cover. The impacts were com-
pared using the slope/intercept ratios of LMM regressions, account-
ing for apriory dierent species richness and diversity of recipient
communities.
Native dominants, such as Calamagrostis epigejos, Phalaris arundina-
cea or Urtica dioica reduce the diversity in amagnitude similar to in-
vasive dominants, such as Fallopia sp. div.
Furthermore, we compared the impacts of native versus alien domi-
nants, selected as to occupy the same habitats. Native Calamagrostis
epigejos, Phalaris arundinacea and Cirsium oleraceum had stronger im-
pacts than alien Aster novi–belgii, Impatiens glandulifera and Lupinus
polyphyllus, respectively. However, Aster novi–belgii and Rumex alpinus
had larger impacts than native Tanacetum vulgare and Cirsium heter-
ophyllum.
Our results support the idea that management eorts should aim to
suppress dominant species in general, regardless of their origin.
72
Asimple measure of habitat
heterogeneity is agood proxy of species
of conservation concern
Hekkala A1, Sjögren J1, Jönsson M2, Kärvemo S2, Strengbom J2
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Enviromental
Studies, Umeå, Sweden, 2Swedish University of Agricultural sciences, Department of
Ecology, Uppsala, Sweden
Biodiversity assessment is afundamental part of sustainable forestry
and biodiversity conservation. Nevertheless, measuring biodiversity
is far from simple and remains achallenge for practitioners who must
make management decisions and report the national state of biodi-
versity at the EU–level. We tested if habitat heterogeneity or aset of
habitat amount measures could predict biodiversity in Swedish bore-
al forests. We used 77 mature coniferous forest stands varying from
simple production forests to valuable woodland key habitats to eval-
uate the relationships between habitat diversity, habitat amount and
richness and abundance of species of conservation concern (SoCC)
belonging to fungi, bryophytes, lichens and vascular plants. We found
stand level habitat heterogeneity to be the best measure to explain
the richness of SoCC, but when only red–listed species were includ-
ed, deadwood volume and age of the oldest tree proved to be more
precise proxies. However, the more intensively managed southern
region revealed an alarming species loss; despite the habitat avail-
ability, the average species richness was only half of the richness in
the north. We conclude that habitat heterogeneity can be used as
areliable proxy of the species of conservation concern, but it must
not be used to prioritize conservation between geographical regions.
The importance of remotely sensed
forest structural variables for identifying bat
habitats and habitat restoration sites
in forests
Hendel A1, Winiger N1, Zielewska–Büttner K2, Adler P2, Ganz S2, Brau-
nisch V2,3
1University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 2Forest Research Institute of Baden–
Wuerttemberg, Freiburg, Germany, 3University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Enhancing structural complexity in multifunctional forests, e.g.
through retention forestry, is an important strategy to support for-
est biodiversity, yet its evaluation requires area–wide and suciently
precise information on key structural elements and associated spe-
cies’ habitats. As bats respond to forest structures at multiple spatial
scales, we tested the importance of forest structure variables derived
from stereo–aerial photographs in relation to topographic, climatic
and land–use variables for studying bat habitat selection inside for-
ests.
Acoustic data was collected on 135 plots in the Black Forest, Germa-
ny. Species distribution models were calibrated for 8 bat species or
acoustic groups, thereby identifying the best–performing scale (step-
wise increasing radii between 50 – 1000 m around each location) for
each predictor and species (group). Forest structural variables such as
the percentage of standing dead trees, tree volume and forest height
heterogeneity best explained bat habitat selection, mostly at small
scales (50 – 100 m), contributing on average 46% to overall model
performance. To assess the benet of retention forestry for bats, we
nally compared key structural variables and the predicted habitat
suitability across forests with and without retention measures. The
results highlight the value of remotely sensed structural variables to
identify areas for bat conservation.
The socio–ecological extinction vortex as
anovel concept for conservation science
Herzon I, Raatikainen K, Aveliina Helm, Rūsiņa S, Wehn S, Eriksson O
1Department of Agricultural Sciences, Helsinki, Finland, 2Department of Biological
and Environmental Science, School of Resource Wisdom, University of Jyvaskyla, Fin-
land, 3Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia,
4Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, 5Milti-
consult Renewable Energy, Trondheim, Norway, 6Department of Ecology, Environ-
ment and Plant Sciences. Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Aconcept of the species extinction vortex is well–established in con-
servation biology, and proved to be useful in addressing multiple pro-
cesses that reinforce each other creating together avicious cycle lead-
ing to extinction. We propose to upscale the concept to habitat level
for habitat types that are essentially socioecological systems. We il-
lustrated the concept application to semi–natural habitats, *hotspots
for biodiversity in agricultural environments. We identify four highly
interlinked and mutually reinforcing socio–economic processes for
semi–natural habitats: (i) agricultural production, (ii) policy, research
and development; (iii) vocational education in the elds of agricultur-
al sciences and (iv) public’sexperiences with semi–natural habitats.
We review evidence from six countries in the boreal region to demon-
strate how the socio–economic vortex might lead to the continuous
declines in such habitats area and ecological quality, despite aconsid-
erable eort into their conservation. We suggest research directions
to ascertain the phenomenon, monitor its development and develop
proactive actions to weaken the vortex.
Do protected areas work as ´safe havens´
for avian communities in awarming climate?
Hintsanen L1, Lehikoinen A1, Marjakangas E1
1Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Conservation of biodiversity relies heavily on protected areas but
their role and eectiveness under warming climate is still debat-
ed. We estimated the climate–driven changes in avian community
structure inside and outside of protected areas. To study communi-
ty changes, we used large–scale survey data of breeding birds from
Canada. To describe the temperature preference of bird communi-
ties, we calculated the community temperature index (CTI) annually
for each bird community inside and outside protected areas. Ahigh
CTI value represents acommunity dominated by warm–dwelling spe-
cies. We modelled temporal changes in CTI as a function of protec-
tion status using linear mixed eect models. In addition, we studied
which species contributed most to the temporal changes of bird com-
munities. Our results show that CTI is lower inside protected areas.
However, against our hypothesis, CTI increased faster inside protect-
ed areas compared to outside areas, and the warm–dwelling species
contributed most to CTI change within protected areas. These results
highlight the ubiquitous impacts of climate change. Currently, pro-
tected areas can aid cold–dwelling species by providing suitable hab-
itats, but the community compositions inside protected areas quickly
approach those outside the protected areas, potentially erasing the
conservation benets of protected areas for cold–dwelling species.
Mapping roadless areas: mission impossible?
Homann M1,3, Bartoń K1, Ostapowicz K2, Ibisch P3, Selva N1
1Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland, 2In-
stitute of Geography and Spatial Management, Faculty of Geography and Geology,
Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, 3Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Man-
agement, Faculty of Forest and Environment, Eberswalde University for Sustainable
Development, Eberswalde, Germany
Roadless Areas (RAs) continue to be underestimated in their contri-
bution to protecting ecosystem functionality and biodiversity. Amain
constraint for the take–o of RAs research is the lack of open–source
road datasets that are complete enough to identify RAs of conserva-
tion value. We conducted acomparison of RAs using OpenStreetMap
in the Canadian boreal biome and the temperate biome of Central
Europe. Using a1 km buer for all OpenStreetMap roads, we identi-
ed in total 16,786 RAs in Canada (4,560,608 km², representing 84%
of the area) and 3,524 RAs in Central Europe (2,160.6 km², only 0.41%
of the area). Then, we tested the accuracy of RAs identication in the
boreal biome in Canada using two methods (1)1000 random points
buered with 1 km radius, and (2)30 randomly selected RAs; both
were visually–manually checked for unmapped roads. In Canada,
26.1% of the buered points contained roads, of which 23.2% con-
tained unmapped roads; 68% are RAs and were predominantly locat-
ed in the northern region of Canada. We documented aloss of 68% of
roadless surface after manual road–mapping in boreal Canada, are-
gion considered largely unfragmented. This study aims to emphasize
the importance of accurate road mapping to identify remaining RAs
of ecological value.
We gratefully acknowledge support by the National Science Centre
Poland, project TRACE [no. 2018/29/B/ST10/02979]. Global Land Pro-
gramme contributing project.
73
Beetle community response to commercial
thinning in boreal forests
Holmström L1, Sjögren J1, Hekkala A1, Lindberg E2, Hjältén J1
1Department of wildlife, sh and environmental studies, Swedish University of Ag-
ricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden, 2Department of Forest Resource Management,
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden
The global need for renewable energy has led to an increasing in-
terest in bioenergy from boreal forests. While having alarge poten-
tial for renewable energy, these forests also host awide variety of
species, several of which are red listed. The harvest of biomass for
bioenergy may cause structural homogenization, potentially increas-
ing the threat to biodiversity. In this project we have investigated the
question if biomass extraction for bioenergy can be combined with
biodiversity conservation in managed forests. Most research on ef-
fects of biomass harvest on biodiversity has taken place in nal fell-
ing operations. In this study we turn our eyes toward thinning opera-
tions. We sampled the beetle community using ight intercept traps
to evaluate how understory retention in thinning operations aect
the beetle community in managed hemi boreal forests. Preliminary
results indicate that the beetle community in plots that were thinned
dier from plots that were left unharvested. Interestingly, species
diversity increased after both thinning methods. This indicates that
reduction of tree density aects both species composition and rich-
ness. We found no dierences between the two dierent thinning
methods, indicating that retention of understory has little or no eect
on beetle assemblage.
Pressures on boreal riparian vegetation:
insights in interactions between
anthropogenic pressures.
Hoppenreijs J1, Lind L1, Eckstein L1
1Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
Riparian zones are species–rich and functionally important ecotones
that sustain physical, chemical and ecological balance of ecosystems.
While scientic, governmental and public attention for riparian zones
has increased over the past decades, knowledge on the eects of
the majority of anthropogenic disturbances is still lacking. Given the
increasing expansion and intensity of these disturbances, the need
to understand simultaneously occurring pressures grows. We have
conducted aliterature review on the potential eects of anthropo-
genic pressures on boreal riparian zones and the main processes that
shape their vegetation composition. We visualised the observed and
potential consequences of ow regulation for hydropower genera-
tion, ow regulation through channelisation, the climate crisis, for-
estry, land use change and non–native species in aconceptual mod-
el. The model shows how these pressures change dierent aspects
of the ow regime and plant habitats, and we describe how these
changes aect the extent of the riparian zone and dispersal, germi-
nation, growth and competition of plants. Main consequences of the
pressures we studied are the decrease of the extent of the riparian
zone and apoorer state of the area that remains. This already results
in aloss of riparian plant species and riparian functionality, and thus
also threatens aquatic systems and the organisms that depend on
them. We also found that the impact of apressure does not linearly
reect its degree of ubiquity and the scale on which it operates. Hy-
dropower and the climate crisis stand out as major threats to boreal
riparian zones and will continue to be so if no appropriate measures
are taken. Other pressures, such as forestry and dierent types of
land uses, can have severe eects but have more local and regional
consequences. Many pressures, such as non–native species and the
climate crisis, interact with each other and can limit or, more often,
amplify each other’seects. However, we found that there are very
few studies that describe the eects of simultaneously occurring and,
thus, potentially interacting pressures. While our model shows where
they may interact, the extent of the interactions thus remains largely
unknown.
Understanding the inuence
of numerous urban environmental factors
on avian physiology
Jensen J1,2, Ziegler A1, Isaxon C3, Jiménez Gallardo L4, Garcia Dominguez
S1, Rissler J3,5, Nilsson J1, Isaksson C1
1Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2Centre for Environmental
and Climate Science (CEC), Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 3NanoLund, Lund Univer-
sity, Lund, Sweden, 4Department of Biodiversity, Complutense University of Madrid,
Madrid, Spain, 5Bioeconomy and Health, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Lund,
Sweden
Urbanization is rapidly altering habitat characteristics across the
world, with signicant eects on wildlife. However, we still lack under-
standing of which urban environmental factors cause what eects,
especially on aphysiological level. Here, quantied several environ-
mental factors linked to urbanization: air pollution (PM2.5 and NO2),
ambient temperature, articial light and tree composition within 29
territories of breeding Great tits (Parus major). We linked these en-
vironmental factors to the physiology of the nestlings using three
biomarkers: circulating fatty acid composition, antioxidant capacity
and an oxidative damage marker (malondialdehyde), in addition to
mass and wing length. Through this novel approach, we could con-
nect several physiological responses to urban environmental factors,
including a signicant reduction of antioxidant capacity of nestlings
with increased levels of PM2.5 but also number of oak trees, and an
interaction between the local number of non–native trees and arti-
cial light sources on nestling mass. Moreover, by performing aprinci-
pal component analysis (PCA), we show that these results would likely
not be detected if the common method of urbanization indices were
to be used instead of specic environmental factors. Taken together,
we show the need for detailed, mechanistic studies to fully under-
stand the eects of urbanization on wildlife health.
The Scandinavian Mountains Green
Belt – aunique intact forest landscape
of European importance
Jonsson B1,2, Angelstam P3,5, Bubnicki J4, Mikusinski G5, Svensson J2
1Mid Sweden University, Dept of Natural Sciences, Sundsvall, Sweden, 2Swedish Uni-
versity of Agricultural Sciences, Dept of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies,
Umeå, Sweden, 3Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Evenstad, Norway,
4Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Science, Bialowieza, Poland, 5Swed-
ish University of Agricultural Sciences, School for Forest Management, Skinnskatte-
berg, Sweden
The European Union’slast large intact forest landscapes occur along
the Scandinavian Mountain range in Sweden with 2.5 million hectares
boreal to sub–alpine forests. Harboring ahigh proportion of well con-
nected natural forests, it represent aregion with unique opportuni-
ties for conservation of biodiversity, maintained ecological integrity
and rural development based on multiple value chains. Additional-
ly, it represents acore dispersal source for many species currently
threatened in the strongly fragmented landscape east of the moun-
tain range. With wall–to–wall land–cover data, we explored opportu-
nities for maintaining intact forest landscape values through regional
spatial planning. The area includes ahigh proportion of protected
high conservation value forests, covering almost 2 million ha, but ad-
ditionally over 500,000 ha remains unprotected. Of the unprotected
area, non–industrial private landowners own more than 40% in more
than 40.000 individual holdings – representing amajor planning chal-
lenge. The area is also part of Sapmi, the traditional land of the in-
digenous Sami people, and critical for their reindeer husbandry. Our
results provide input into ongoing policy implementation and green
infrastructure planning in the context of securing intact forest values
and integrative opportunities for rural livelihood.
74
Quantifying eects of wetland
restorations on bird communities
in agricultural landscapes
Kačergytė I1, Pärt T1, Berg Å2, Arlt D3, Żmihorski M4, Knape J1
1Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala,
Sweden, 2Swedish Biodiversity Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,
Uppsala, Sweden, 3SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of
Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 4Mammal Research Institute, Polish Acade-
my of Sciences, Białowieża, Poland
Restoring wetlands to improve habitats for birds has become an im-
portant conservation tool as many species are in decline due to vast
habitat loss and deterioration. To what extent such restorations are
eective is not well known because surveys usually either lack data
before the restoration or means of correcting for background trends.
We gathered all available Before–After survey data on birds from
Swedish wetland restorations in agricultural landscapes. We then
quantied the eectiveness of 30 wetland restorations for 75 bird
species from the resulting heterogeneous survey data, and used na-
tional survey data to correct for background population trends. While
restoration measures seemed to benet about half of the breeding
wetland bird community, many species did not show aclear positive
response to wetland restorations and some declined. Estimated spe-
cies responses to restorations were highly site–dependent and vari-
able, which we attribute partly to variability in methodology and lack
of robust survey designs. We argue that if policymakers and environ-
mental protection agencies set clear instructions and provide sup-
port for proper survey designs to assess eects of restorations, our
ability to learn about the eectiveness of restoration actions could be
greatly improved.
Human–elephant conict mitigation as
apublic good: what determines fence
maintenance?
Kamdar A1,2, Smith D1, Nagendra H3, Baishya H1, Ratnam J2, Sekar N1
1WWF–India, Tezpur, India, 2National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, In-
dia, 3School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bangalore, India
With hundreds of human and elephants deaths in India annually, re-
ducing human–elephant conicts (HEC) is essential for elephant con-
servation as well as social justice. Non–lethal electric fences placed
around villages are awidely used intervention to mitigate HEC. In or-
der for such barriers to work, beneciaries have to act collectively to
maintain the fence, making it a‘public good’. However, despite their
eectiveness when maintained, amajority of these fences are poorly
maintained. Thus, our central question was why some fences in the
landscape are well–maintained and others poorly–maintained. We
studied 19 such fences in northeast India using an interdisciplinary
approach, combining qualitative comparative analysis, Ostrom’sso-
cial–ecological systems (SES) framework, and agrounded theory ap-
proach incorporating ecological and qualitative social science tools.
We nd that contrary to our hypothesis, there are three potential
pathways of maintenance; (1) acommunity maintainer, (2) the com-
munity self–organizes, and (3) the forest department. Maintenance
occurs when there is acongruence between perceived costs and ben-
ets for any one of these entities. These include not just material ben-
ets but also intangibles like goodwill, sense of safety, social standing,
and afeeling of fairness. We highlight these factors and provide rec-
ommendations for practitioners and policy.
Genomic divergence and alack of
introgression between commercial and wild
bumblebees, Bombus terrestris
Kardum Hjort C1
1Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Human–mediated movement of non–native commercial bumblebees
used for pollination services can aect local pollinator populations
via hybridization. However, the extent of genomic introgression and
evolutionary divergence between wild and commercial bumblebees
has yet to be fully explored.
A deeper understanding about the consequences of introgressive
hybridization is important since wild populations could be faced
with the potential disruption of locally adapted genes through intro-
gression of maladapted alleles originating from escaped commercial
bumblebees. Thus, aecting the wild population’sability to adapt and
withstand future environmental change.
We compared whole genome sequencing data from wild (WB) and
commercial (CB) Bombus terrestris from sites in southern Sweden
with long–term exposure to imported B. terrestris and sites without
such exposure. We examined evidence of introgression, dispersal
and genome–wide selection signatures between the two groups. De-
spite the detection of CB individuals in natural environments at sites
where CB where used, we found no evidence of genomic introgres-
sion among WB and CB in southern Sweden, suggests that the use of
CB does not pose agenetic threat to local B. terrestris populations. We
identied ahighly divergent region on chromosome 11 of CB, which
provided evidence for dierential evolutionary processes operating
on WB and CB.
Untangling the climate vs biodiversity crisis
dilemma: sustainable windfarm development
at aglobal biodiversity hotspot
Kassara C1, Tampouratzi L1, Gotsis D1, Tzortzakaki O1, Petridou M1,
Psaralexi M, Sidiropoulos L, Vasilakis D, Galani A, Mpoukas N, Kati V1
1Biodiversity Conservation Laboratory, Department of Biological Applications and
Technology, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
Renewable Energy Sources (RES) are listed high in the EU and nation-
al environmental policy agendas, embracing ambitious climate goals,
though on atight schedule, for the upcoming years. However, arapid
expansion of RES without adequate spatial planning could jeopard-
ize biodiversity conservation eorts and consequently undermine
climate change mitigation actions. In this study, we focus on wind
energy in a biodiversity hotspot, namely Greece, where the invest-
ment interest exceeds sixfold the 2030 national target, while exist-
ing legislation and the current spatial RES planning framework allow
windfarm development even within the Natura 2000 network. At
anational scale, we showed that by excluding windfarm installation
from Natura 2000 sites and areas of low fragmentation the 2030 na-
tional target can be met without compromising biodiversity conserva-
tion. Moreover, with acurrent threefold higher land take per unit of
power compared to generic estimates, we found that windfarms con-
sume more land as their size increases and when installed at areas
without other infrastructures and/or with more rugged topography.
Therefore, such areas should not be opted for sitting windfarms at
alocal scale. If incorporated in spatial RES planning, our results could
minimize the ecological footprint of windfarms, while meeting both
climate and biodiversity goals.
Greece shows the way for aroadless policy
in Europe: links with the European
biodiversity strategy
Kati V1, Kassara C1, Tzortzakaki O1, Petridou M1, Psaralexi M1, Galani
A1, Gotsis D1, Papantoniou S1, Papaioannou H1
1Biodiversity Conservation Lab, Department of Biological Applications and Technol-
ogy, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
Road sprawl is akey catalyst of land–use change, the greatest threat
to biodiversity worldwide, and its negative impacts on biodiversity
and ecosystem function are well documented. Although Europe is
the most fragmented continent of the world, the reduction of frag-
mentation from roads and articial land does not appear in the key
commitments of the European Biodiversity Strategy. In January 2022,
Greece has endorsed the rst national roadless legislation in the
EU. The “Untrodden Mountains” governmental project has used sci-
entic evidence to impede road and articial land expansion in six
large mountainous roadless areas (0.74% of Greek land) aiming at
fragmentation mitigation and eective biodiversity conservation. Re-
search is ongoing, involving extensive road mapping using satellite
imagery. We have identied 55 roadless areas over 10 km2 (2.42%
of Greek land), whilst over 60% of the 774 smaller candidate areas
(1–10 km2) and 90% of the 3642 islands evaluated are expected to
be added to the national roadless map when completed. We suggest
roadless policy expansion in Greece and the EU, by integrating road-
less areas in the criteria of (a) dening strictly protected zones, (b) ex-
panding and interconnecting Natura 2000 sites, (c) dening rewilding
restoration targets in the European Biodiversity Strategy.
75
Temporal changes in grassland bumblebee
communities are buered by local and
landscape–level oral availability
Kendall L1, Nicholas K2, Brady M1,3, Olsson P1, Smith H1,4
1Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden,
2Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, Lund, Sweden, 3Department of
Economics, AgriFood Economics Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
(SLU), Lund, Sweden, 4Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
With bumblebees facing an uncertain future under global climate
change, systematic monitoring can improve their conservation by
indicating vulnerable species, such as through changes in species
distributions. In this study, we assessed temporal changes in bum-
blebee communities in semi–natural grasslands throughout Sweden
over the last 15 years. The structure of bumblebee communities (i.e.,
density and richness) exhibited considerably temporal variability,
aresult driven by directional changes in the distributions of common
species. In particular, the occurrence of the long–tongued species, B.
hortorum, has declined considerably in the north of Sweden, where-
as several short–tongued species (B. jonellus, B. lapidarius, B. prato-
rum and B. soroeensis), show the opposite pattern. Our results also
demonstrate temporal phenological changes in several species’ ac-
tivity periods. Floral resource availability was the key determinant of
bumblebee densities in semi–natural grasslands. All species respond-
ed positively to increased local oral abundance, but the landscape–
level availability of late–season oral resources aected bumblebee
communities more so than early season resources. Ensuring diverse
oral resources throughout the year, alongside species–specic con-
servation plans, are needed to protect threatened bumblebee pop-
ulations.
Assessing the eects of
abrowneld–like substrate aggregate mound
on plant and ground arthropod communities
in Cambridge, United Kingdom
Ki T1,2, Smith V3, Turner E1
1Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom,
2Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity, University of York, York, United
Kingdom, 3Cambridge City Council, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Browneld sites can harbour rich and rare biodiversity, but these
sites are increasingly lost to redevelopment. Mitigation measures
recreating ‘browneld–like’ habitats are proposed, however there
is little evidence evaluating their eectiveness. We outline abrown-
eld–like substrate aggregate mound habitat creation project, and
describe the variation in environmental characteristics and plant and
arthropod communities. Our results from the rst two years of the
creation show the potential of asmall substrate aggregate mound to
signicantly alter the environmental characteristics of an area. In par-
ticular, the presence of the mound increased canopy openness, low-
ered vegetation height, increased inorganic material cover, lowered
bare ground cover, and reduced temperature, as well as increasing
species richness and altering plant and arthropod community com-
position. Most plant species at the site were found on the mound, the
majority of these being self–colonised and over half of the species
being early successional. We found that environmental conditions
and plant and arthropod communities also varied between years and
across the mound. Our ndings provide strong evidence that sub-
strate aggregate mounds can increase site heterogeneity and total
species counts, as well as harbouring early successional communi-
ties, and might thereby be useful in mitigating the wider ongoing loss
of browneld sites.
Balancing the varying eects of functional
connectivity provided by landscape green
infrastructure habitats for grassland plant
communities
Kimberley A1, Hooftman D2, Bullock J3, Escribano–Avila G4, Honnay
O5, Krickl P6, Lara–Romero C4, Plue J1,5, Poschlod P6, Santamaria S4,
Traveset A4, Cousins S1
1Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden, 2Lactuca, Diemen, Netherlands, 3Centre
for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, United Kingdom, 4Institut Mediterrani d’Estud-
is Avançats, Esporles, Spain, 5KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, 6University of Regensburg,
Regensburg, Germany
Conservation policy aims to mitigate eects of habitat loss by cre-
ating networks of natural and semi–natural features (green infra-
structure) which support threatened species and connect isolated
habitats. Despite this, the extent to which dierent habitats provide
connectivity for dierent species and how this inuences biodiversity
across scales and varying landscape contexts remains unclear. We
investigated eects of landscape connectivity on plant community
composition, genetic diversity and plant–pollinator interactions in
arange of grasslands and grassland–type green infrastructure hab-
itats in 36 landscapes in Belgium, Germany and Sweden. We found
that the presence of green infrastructure supports various aspects
of biodiversity, contributing to greater local–scale species richness
and ecosystem functions and facilitating the transfer of species and
genetic diversity between large, highly diverse populations in core
grassland patches and surrounding habitats. However, dierent hab-
itats support very dierent sets of species, the conservation value of
which depends on environmental conditions and proximity to core
grassland sites. This is particularly the case for poorly dispersed and
specialised species, which do not benet from spatial links between
isolated or lower quality green infrastructure. Hence large, long–
established grasslands are key for many species. As such, multiple
requirements must be balanced when managing landscape–scale
green infrastructure networks.
Improving agricultural life cycle assessment
for biodiversity conservation
Klein N1,2, Herzog F1, Grêt–Regamey A2, Jeanneret P1, van Strien M2,
Kay S1
1Agroscope, Zurich, Switzerland, 2ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Pressured by urbanisation and growing consumption, agricultur-
al production has become more intensive in Europe. Through in-
creasing eciency, landscapes have become more homogenous,
which has been linked to the recent biodiversity loss. National and
international strategies aim to combat this loss, but halting it re-
mains a challenge. Thus, we need to increase our understanding of
agricultural management strategies that can benet wildlife. In our
study, we collected data of birds and butteries in two agricultural
landscapes in Switzerland. We mapped land use/cover and ranked
the importance of dierent landscape features for species groups.
We then investigated the role of surrounding landscape congura-
tions for patch–level biodiversity using statistical models. The results
highlight the importance of extensively managed and non–crop hab-
itats. Our models improved when including spatial congurations of
patch–surroundings. Next, we used this knowledge to enhance the
validity of SALCA–BD (Swiss Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment), an
expert–based biodiversity model predicting the impact of agricultural
management on dierent species groups, through adding the spa-
tial context. Including spatial dimensions in biodiversity models will
help to overcome shortfalls for the prediction of mobile species. Such
models are valuable tools for prioritization of land–use management
options through sophisticated spatial planning that favours both hu-
mans and wildlife.
Pollinators, pests and yield – multiple
trade–os from insecticide use
in amass–owering crop
Knapp J1, Bates A1, Jonsson O2, Klatt B1, Sahlin U1, Svensson G1,
Widhalm T1, Rundlöf M1
1Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsa-
la, Sweden
Multiple trade–os are likely to occur between insecticide use, pol-
linators and yield (via crop owers) in pollinator–dependent, mass–
owering crops (MFCs), causing potential conict between agronomic
and conservation goals. However, to date, no studies have looked at
both outcomes within the same system, meaning ‘win–win solutions’
for pollinators and yield can only be inferred. Here, we outline anew
framework to explore these trade–os, using red clover (Trifolium
pratense) grown for seed production as an example. Our focal insec-
ticide improved clover yield with no adverse eect on its key pollina-
tor, and the presence of clover in the landscape benetted pollinator
76
populations; thus, growing clover under integrated pest and pollina-
tor management (IPPM) is likely to sustain pollinator populations. In
abroad context, we discuss our ndings and consider how toxicity,
spatiotemporal patterns of insecticide use, the pollinator dependen-
cy and pest susceptibility of the crop, the surrounding landscape, and
the life history of the focal pollinator and pest species may change
the shape of the relationships that underpin these trade–os. This
framework applies to all insecticide–treated MFCs and can be adapt-
ed to include other ecological processes. We believe this holistic ap-
proach is essential to achieve conservation and agronomic goals and
fundamental for IPPM.
Eects of dierent forest management
on microclimate: eld experiments
in oak–hornbeam forest stands
Kovács B1, Horváth C1,2, Tinya F1, Németh C1, Ódor P1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Vácrátót, Hungary,
2Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Science, Doctoral School of Biology, Hungary,
Budapest, Hungary
Stable below–canopy microclimate of forests is essential for biodiver-
sity and ecosystem functionality. Forest management modies the
buering capacity of woodlands but comparative studies focusing on
the eects of dierent silvicultural treatments on microclimate or the
recovery after interventions are still scarce.
With two eld experiments, the eects of four dierent forestry treat-
ments (clear–cutting, retention tree group, preparation cutting, gap–
cutting) and gap attributes (shapes and sizes) on microclimate were
studied in Hungarian oak–dominated stands.
We found that microclimate changed immediately after the harvests;
the eect sizes among treatment types were consistent throughout
the years; the climatic recovery time for variables appeared to be far
more than three years and the applied silvicultural methods diverged
mainly among temperature maxima. By establishing gaps with dier-
ent sizes (small, large) and shapes (circular, elongated) we revealed
that size was the primary driver of light, soil moisture was determined
by shape, while temperature changes were inuenced by both irra-
diation and soil moisture. Spatial analyses identied circular patterns
for diuse light and opposing north–south gradients in the case of
direct light and soil moisture across gap types.
Spatially heterogeneous and ne–scaled treatments of continuous
cover forestry are recommended for maintaining the local climate
mitigating capacities of forests.
Public payments for private actions
in German forests against the biodiversity
and climate twin crises
Kreft S1, Benndorf A2, Hennenberg K2, Reise J2, Welle T1, Eberl J, Endres
E, Günther–Dieng K, Unseld R3, Böttcher H2
1Natural Forest Academy, Lübeck, Germany, 2Öko–Institut, Germany, Germany, 3Un-
seld–Forstconsulting, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Humanity needs to nd quick mitigation solutions against rampant
climate change. In important parts of the public discourse, biodiver-
sity loss may look less urgent, and indeed a‘carbonisation’ of envi-
ronmental policies can be observed. In an attempt to conciliate these
potentially competing societal goals, the new German government, in
power since December 2021, announced an ambitious payment for
ecosystem services programme for forest owners. The Ministry for
Environment has asked our team of biologists and forestry experts to
formulate and evaluate options for apayment scheme. This scheme
shall give monetary incentives only to those forest owners who con-
sent to increase forest naturalness, thus also improving the capacity
to adapt to climate change. Targets range from improving deadwood
reservoirs and free–willed forest regeneration to exemption of old
trees or even contiguous areas from harvest. At the same time the
scheme shall pay these forest owners for reducing forest manage-
ment intensity and thus supporting forests in their capacity as carbon
sinks. This talk will report on the results of this research project that
is currently ongoing.
One Park, Two Owners – Inconsistencies
in Forest Stewardship
Křenová Z1,2, Janík T3,4, Romportl D3,4
1Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic, 2Charles University,
Faculty of Science, Institute for Environmental Studies, Prague, Czech Republic,
3Charles University, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geography and
Geoecology, Prague, Czech Republic, 4The Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Land-
scape and Ornamental Gardening, Department of Spatial Ecology, Průhonice, Czech
Republic
Appropriate management of European spruce forests in this time of
climate change is asignicant challenge. Uniform principles of quality
forest practice must be applied, essentially in forests of high conser-
vation value. However, as we demonstrate, this is problematic in pro-
tected areas with mixed ownership and disparate priorities. Manage-
rial decision–making is often based on personal knowledge, priorities
other than conservation, or political inuence.
In this paper, we compare forest management practices of the state
and private municipal owners in Šumava NP, where many valuable
Natura 2000 habitats occur. We used high resolution aerial photo-
graphs to evaluate the eects of forest management measures, and
compared the status of spruce habitats before and after a major
windstorm and bark beetle outbreak. We found that follow–up forest
management measures have signicantly aected forests in Šumava
NP negatively. Forest ownership was important for the type and in-
tensity of changes. We compare our ndings with experiences from
other national parks with similar forest management challenges. Ex-
amples of appropriate practice applied in state owned forests togeth-
er with well–targeted nancial incentives are recognized as the most
eective tools to reduce the disparities between private and state
owners in management of protected areas.
Understanding and predicting climate change
induced vegetation shifts in atemperate
grassland based on long–term monitoring
and eld experiments
Kröel–Dulay G1, Orbán I1, Kertész M1, Mojzes A1, Szitár K1, Ónodi G1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
Since climate is amajor determinant of both the distribution of ma-
jor vegetation types and the delicate pattern of coexistence in plant
communities, changing climate will inevitably lead to shifts in plant
species composition. Despite substantial increase in temperature
(>1 °C) and changes in precipitation in many regions, well–document-
ed changes in vegetation composition associated with changing cli-
mate are rare, and future changes have high uncertainties. By com-
bining along–term monitoring study and precipitation manipulation
experiments, we investigated the eects of extreme weather events
(drought) and chronic precipitation change on species dominance in
an endemic sand grasslands in Central Hungary. Extreme drought
events in the last 20 years led to gradual shift in species dominance
from one perennial grass (Festuca vaginata) to another one (Stipa bo-
rysthenica), while the prolonged lack of drought allowed recovery.
Drought and watering experiments reproduced these patterns, but
went beyond and highlighted that recurring summer droughts lead to
adecline of both perennial grasses and induce ashift to annual spe-
cies. Our results indicate that these grasslands are prone to amajor
dominance shift in response to repeated summer droughts predicted
for the future, with major consequences on ecosystems functioning
and conservation of its endemic species.
No evidence that hunting wolves reduces
livestock damages in Slovakia
Kutal M1,2, Duľa M1,2, Royer A1, López–Bao J3
1Mendel University Brno, Brno, Czech Republic, 2Friends of the Earth Czech Republic,
Olomouc, Czech Republic, 3Biodiversity Research Institute (CSIC, Oviedo University)
Oviedo University, Mieres, Spain
Lethal actions are among the most controversial issues within large
carnivore management and conservation. Variation in the legal sta-
tus of grey wolves (Canis lupus) between European countries provides
good opportunities to test if current lethal management practices
reduce the number of livestock losses. In this study, we aim to eval-
uate the inuence of awolf–hunting scheme (i.e., annual hunting
77
quotas) on livestock depredation levels in Slovakia at the district lev-
el. We analyzed the relationship between livestock damages caused
by wolves (all livestock species pooled) in individual districts in the
years 2014–2019 and the number of wolves killed, factoring in the
estimated total number of wolves in each district. We also considered
two potential covariables that could inuence depredation levels: the
number of livestock and the available biomass of wild ungulates. We
did not nd arelationship between the proportion of wolves killed
from the total number of wolves estimated in adistrict and cases of
livestock depredation. Astrong negative relationship was observed
between biomass of wild prey and the number of damages caused
by wolves. If the justication for district–level hunting quotas was to
reduce livestock depredations, our results indicate that the action did
not accomplish its goal.
The eects of visitor´sload on vegetation
in 20 nature trails across Estonia: negative
eects on diversity prevail independently
of habitat type
Laanisto L1, Härm L1, Jaksi P1
1Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Despite the growing popularity of nature tourism, we have very lim-
ited comparable knowledge of how tourism aects nature, and what
are the eects in dierent habitats and trail types. Tourism related
eects on nature are typically studied in single locations or only for
afew specic, typically local agship species. This approach makes it
dicult to compare the eects in dierent locations, and examine the
role of potential mechanisms of how human activities aect nature
in nature tourism context. The focus of our study was on the vegeta-
tion in nature trails – we wanted to know whether the visitor´sload
on nature trails has aected the diversity and composition of vege-
tation. We selected 20 trails from all over Estonia, representing trails
in forest, wetland and grassland habitats. The results show that plant
diversity along the trails is negatively aected by visitor´s load in
both forest and open habitat trails, and there were also considera-
ble changes in vegetation composition. Thus, the negative eects on
plant diversity appear even in boardwalk trails that go through spe-
cies–poor wetlands, where stepping outside the trail is unlikely. Ge-
ographically and culturally wider sampling in dierent habitats and
trails would show whether such trends are universal.
Eects of isolation on bird communities
and their functional traits
in fragmented grasslands
Lakatos T1,2, Marcolin F3, Gallé R1, Batáry P1
1“Lendület” Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany,
Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2Doctoral School of Biology, In-
stitute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, 3Centro de Estudos
Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portu-
gal
Habitat fragmentation is critical for global biodiversity. To understand
its eects, we investigated how local and landscape–scale variables,
such as habitat fragment size (small vs large) and landscape congu-
ration (isolated vs well–connected), aect bird species richness, abun-
dance and functional diversity. We surveyed 60 threatened grassland
fragments classied into two endangered grassland types: forest–
steppes and kurgans. Forest–steppes are natural mosaic habitats oc-
curring in the contact zone between grassland and forest. Kurgans are
ancient burial mounds built of earth, spread across Eurasian steppes.
In our research area, forest steppes were embedded in forest planta-
tions, while kurgans were surrounded by an agricultural matrix with
gradients of size and connectivity. We found that bird communities in
large, well–connected forest–steppes had higher diversity and abun-
dance than small, isolated fragments. Isolation negatively aected
ground–nesting species in small forest–steppe fragments. Trait simi-
larity of birds on well–connected kurgans was higher than on isolated
kurgans. Species with small home range and ground feeding habits
were more abundant on well–connected kurgans. Specialist birds had
ahigher abundance on highly isolated kurgans. These ndings sug-
gest that large, well–connected grassland fragments can signicantly
contribute to the persistence of grassland specialist birds in modied
landscapes, thereby maintaining the ecological functionality of these
habitats.
Disentangling the eect of forest
management decisions and emergent forest
structure on forest heterogeneity
Landivar C1, Pereira J, Hendel A, Dormann C
1Albert–Ludwigs–Universität Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Modern forestry is aiming towards conserving natural elements and
improving forest heterogeneity to conserve biodiversity. Forestry can
directly aect forest structure through target–oriented decisions or
indirectly by the interaction of the local environment on stand growth
and structures development (such as canopy cover, diuse light or
disturbances regime). The mechanism for forestry‘s direct and indi-
rect eect on forest heterogeneity is not precise and may leave space
for open interpretation. This study evaluates the eect of direct and
indirect management on forest heterogeneity in temperate mixed
managed forests.
We used astructural equation model to analyze the mechanism and
compare forestry‘sdirect and indirect eect on forest heterogeneity
on observed data, simulated mature forest and simulated young for-
est. Our analysis found that direct management has astronger inu-
ence than the indirect eect on forest heterogeneity in observed data
and simulated young forest. However, we found astronger eect of
indirect management eects on heterogeneity for the simulated ma-
ture forest.
Our study shows how forest management directly increases forest
heterogeneity in the early stages of forest development. This high-
light the importance of forest management in the early stages, while
indirect eects of forest management are manifested only in mature
forests.
Prioritising management action
for biodiversity conservation in Catalonia
Lanzas M1, Salgado J3, Pla M1, Pou N1, Bota G1, Hermoso V1,2
1Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia, Solsona, Spain, 2Dep. Biología
Vegetal y Ecología Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain, 3Universidad Politecnica de
Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
The periodic monitoring report of the State of the Nature (2013–2018)
in the European Union (EU) shows that biodiversity continues to de-
cline, despite eorts carried out in the last decades. Therefore, im-
proving adequacy of conservation action is urgently needed.
We aimed to identify conservation gaps in Catalonia in period 2013–
2018. We collected information on management measures imple-
mented, including allocation, budget, pressures aimed, and habitats/
species that potentially benet. We also mapped the spatial distribu-
tion of pressures, species and habitats, and compiled information on
the sensitivity of each species/habitat to each pressure. We crossed
the information on the distribution of pressures, species/ habitats
and measures to identify management gaps (pressures not covered
by measures).
We then identied priority areas for lling those management gaps,
by using the prioriactions R package, which aims to identify an opti-
mal allocation of management actions to reduce the impact of multi-
ple pressures on multiple species and habitats simultaneously.
We found that in many cases resources are not adequate distributed
across species/habitats with duplicities of conservation investment
a common issue. The gaps identied could be eciently covered
through our spatial prioritisation approach that could help improve
adequacy of management eorts across the EU or elsewhere.
Conservation of deadwood dependant
lichens in pine forests
Larsson Ekström A1, Sjögren J1, Djupström L2, Thor G3, Löfroth T1
1Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Ag-
ricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden, 2Forestry Research Institute of Sweden, Uppsala,
Sweden, 3Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsa-
la, Sweden
Intensive forestry has led to adecline of important substrates such
as deadwood and its associated biodiversity. Deadwood dependent
lichens are of great conservation concern due to their dependency of
deadwood as well as poor dispersal ability. In aeld experiment in
central Sweden, we studied deadwood dependent lichens for 8 years,
their association to dierent types of deadwood and their response
78
to environmental change caused by variable retention forestry, dead-
wood creation and prescribed burning. We found that red–listed spe-
cies were completely dependent on old, hard deadwood. Deadwood
that was created in the experiment was only colonised by common
species. Prescribed burning had a negative eect on deadwood de-
pendant lichens throughout the study period. Conservation action
should focus on high quality deadwood that can persist for a very
long time. The type of deadwood inhabited by red–listed lichens is
rare and takes very long to create. When planning for prescribed
burning, special concern should be taken to the risk of causing local
extinctions of e.g. deadwood dependent lichens.
Contrasting responses of trophic
guilds to forest decline reshape canopy
insect communities
Le Souchu E1, Parmain G2, Bankhead–Dronnet S1, Brand M1, Damoi-
seau S3, Sallé C3, Bouget C2, Sallé A1
1Université d‘Orléans, Laboratoire de Biologie des Ligneux et des Grandes Cultures,
INRAE, Orléans, France, 2INRAE, UR EFNO, Domaine des Barres, Nogent–sur–Vernis-
son, France, 3CERCOPE, Orléans, France
Climate change is increasing the frequency and spatial extent of
forest declines and diebacks in Europe. This leads to major shifts in
trophic resources and microhabitats, especially in the canopy layer,
which is enriched in deadwood resources, but depleted in foliage.
We assessed the eects of oak decline on the community of canopy–
dwelling insects. To do this, we sampled insects in the canopy of 21
oak stands with contrasting levels of decline, located in three forests,
using green multi–funnel and ight–interception traps. We collected
more than 129,000 individuals belonging to 1,359 species and 16 lar-
val trophic guilds. Oak decline signicantly reshaped the community
composition but did not aect the overall species richness and abun-
dance. Decline had contrasted eects depending on the larval troph-
ic guilds considered. Surprisingly, no eect was detected concerning
xylophagous and saproxylophagous guilds, but decline negatively
aected gall–inducers. However, decline promoted several guilds de-
pending on ground–related resources like rhizophagous and pollini-
vorous/nectarivorous insects. This suggests that the impact of cano-
py opening on ground microclimates and resources may be amajor
driver of compositional change in canopy–dwelling communities dur-
ing declines. These results also highlight that declining stands shelter
peculiar communities and can be an asset for biological conservation
purposes.
eDNA for terrestrial arthropods: state
of the art and perspectives for management
and conservation
Leandro Rivel C1,2, Jay–Robert P1,2, Pétillon J3
1Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle Et Evolutive, Montpellier, France, 2Université Paul–
Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France, 3Laboratoire Ecobio, Rennes 1, Rennes,
France
Arthropods is by far the phylum that has the most species and the
most individuals–rich of all the animal kingdom. Nevertheless, their
eectives have dramatically decreased these last decades. Due to
technical diculties to survey and relatively few taxonomists, ter-
restrial arthropods have drawn little attention in the eld of envi-
ronmental DNA (eDNA). Nonetheless, some pioneer studies and ap-
proaches have shown the many promises of arthropod eDNA surveys
per se or to achieve terrestrial species distributions knowledge gath-
ering through arthropods. Such methods have bypassed some of the
inherent diculties of eDNA surveys in non–aquatic environments
by creative approaches. They have also pointed to diculties and
bias, such as the lack of completeness of barcode libraries that we
assessed for spiders, springtails and some insect orders. In addition,
such techniques not only address data acquisition and methodolog-
ical questions but also have the potential to address management
and conservation questions. In this systematic review of the litera-
ture, we acknowledge and discuss the models, methods and aims of
the available literature on eDNA targeting terrestrial arthropods. We
also assed arthropods‘ barcode coverage by public repositories of
genetic data. Moreover, we illustrate astep–by–step procedure with
data from aprogram conducted in French national parks.
Exploring the role of agricultural trade
in the future of nature and people
Leclere D1, Janssens C1,2, Valin H1,3, Hill S4, Escobar N1, Boere E1, Havlìk
P1
1IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria, 2KU Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium, 3OECD, Paris, France,
4UNEP–WCMC, Cambridge, UK
Agricultural trade has been identied as aleverage point to reverse
global biodiversity declines. It however plays acomplex role in bio-
diversity declines from land use change, with heterogeneous net
land use impacts across commodities and regions, leaving unclear
the potential for amore positive contribution. We explore with the
GLOBIOM global land use model the role of agricultural trade in
achieving ambitious biodiversity goals. We estimate the environmen-
tal (biodiversity, GHG emissions) and socio–economic (food security,
value added) impacts of scenarios combining alternative assump-
tions about trade (exacerbated liberalization, frictions and recong-
urations) and broader eorts to bend the curve of biodiversity loss
(ambitious conservation, supply–side and demand–side eorts). Pre-
liminary results show positive socio–economic impacts and negative
environmental impacts in ascenario prolongating historical trends.
Exacerbated liberalization worsens environmental impacts for mixed
socio–economic impacts, while trade restrictions have mild environ-
mental gains and negative socio–economic impacts. High levels of
trade could be maintained with much lower environmental impacts
if assuming additional conservation and supply–side eorts, pointing
to asignicant potential for sustainable trade. Assuming additional
demand–side eorts is more disruptive, with much larger environ-
mental gains but also large declines in value added and trade ows.
Mapping the impact range of trac noise
on animal behavior in non–urban
environments and in protected habitats
reveals alarming consequences
Lehnardt Y1, Murali G1, Roll U1, Berger–Tal O1
1Ben Gurion University, Midrshet Ben Gurion, Israel
Roads have many environmental impacts, but the consequences of
road trac noise are underappreciated, despite studies showing that
trac noise has substantial negative impacts on wildlife. By reviewing
existing literature, we explored the impact ranges of trac noise on
dierent animal behaviors. We then used these ranges to quantify
and map the impact of trac noise on wildlife in non–urban environ-
ments in Israel, with an emphasis on sensitive habitats and nature
reserves.
Within 200 m from roads, noise aect hunting eciency, communica-
tion and habitat selection. Over athird of the natural and open areas
in Israel are exposed to noise eects in this range, ahigh value com-
pared to other countries. In addition, about aquarter of the protect-
ed areas are within this range. Arange of 1,500 m from roads, where
most of the impact on habitat selection in birds is expected, repre-
sents 76% of the open areas in Israel and 63% of the protected areas.
Consequently, for many species, the non–urban and protected areas
in Israel are not asafe refuge from the deleterious eects of roads.
Our review on the negative eects of noise pollution on animal be-
havior can be used in other countries to improve conservation ef-
forts.
Value versus values: Drivers of attitudes
towards wildlife
Lehnen L1, Arbieu U1, Böhning–Gaese K1,2, Bunnefeld N3, Glikman J4,
Kaczensky P5, Mehring M6, Reinhardt I1,7, Mueller T1,2
1Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, Frankfurt Am Main, Germa-
ny, 2Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 3University of Stirling, Stirling,
UK, 4Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados (IESA–CSIC), Córdoba, Spain, 5Inland
Norway University of Applied Sciences, Stor–Elvdal, Norway, 6ISOE – Institute for So-
cial–Ecological Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 7LUPUS – German Institute
for Wolf Monitoring and Research, Spreewitz, Germany
Support for wildlife protection hinges on attitudes towards the target
species. Consequently, drivers of attitude have been studied exten-
sively. While traditionally focusing on risks/costs, studies have recent-
ly highlighted the importance of wildlife–associated benets or emo-
tive and normative aspects. Those dierent factors have not been
79
considered together, however, and their relative importance remains
unclear.
We hypothesized amodel of attitude formation that combines those
and additional potential drivers. We tested it for data from an online
survey on wolves in Germany using partial least squares structural
equation models.
Wolves’ benets were the most important driver of attitude, followed
by risks, emotive valence, and normative beliefs. Emotive valence had
a pronounced eect on perceived risks and benets, while knowl-
edge had amarginal and no eect, respectively. Social identity inu-
enced attitude indirectly via both normative beliefs and risk/benet
perception.
Our study demonstrates the importance of perceived wildlife benets
for strategies seeking to improve wildlife–related attitudes. The im-
portance of aective valence suggests that purely education–based
approaches may be ineective. Recognizing social identity, in con-
trast, seems crucial regarding its central role in attitude formation.
Our unifying model combining previously isolated drivers highlights
emotive valence and social identities as promising targets for strate-
gies towards attitudinal change.
Farmland bird decline reversed by grassland
restoration: alandscape–scale
before–after–control–impact experiment
Lengyel S1, Nagy G2, Tóth M3, Nagy C1, Mizsei E4, Szabolcs M1, Mester
B5, Mérő T1
1Centre For Ecological Research, Debrecen, Hungary, 2Ministry of Agriculture, Bu-
dapest, Hungary, 3University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary, 4Kiskunság National
Park Directorate, Kecskemét, Hungary, 5Hortobágy National Park Directorate, De-
brecen, Hungary
Farmland bird populations have declined in Europe for decades now,
yet farmland birds have not been targeted by ecosystem restoration.
We studied farmland bird responses to landscape–scale grassland
restoration by grass sowing, alfalfa sowing, and hay transfer in for-
mer croplands in aBefore–After–Control–Impact experiment. Point
count data of 2589 individuals of 12 farmland and 5 common bird
species in 78 sites on 910 hectares showed that farmland bird rich-
ness increased in both restored grasslands and in extensive crop-
lands, whereas abundance and diversity increased only in restored
grasslands but not in extensive croplands. Abundance increased in
restored grasslands for ve farmland and two grassland species, and
in extensive croplands for one farmland and one grassland species.
Grass sowing increased both richness and diversity, while alfalfa sow-
ing increased richness and decreased abundance, and hay transfer
increased abundance. Extensive croplands had four–ve times more
species and individuals than intensive croplands. Our results suggest
that landscape–scale grassland restoration can locally reverse region-
al bird declines and is an eective tool in farmland biodiversity con-
servation. Restored landscapes may also serve as population sources
to sink populations in neighboring areas under intensive agriculture.
Distribution, growth and feeding studies
of two invasive cichlids (Vieja sp. and
Parachromis sp.) in anatural thermal water
habitat of temperate Central Europe
Lente V1, Staszny Á1, Weiperth A1, Hegedűs A1, Keszte S1, Urbányi B2,
Ferincz Á1
1Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Aquaculture
and Environmental Safety, Department of Freshwater Fish Ecology, Agárd, Hungary,
2Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Aquaculture and
Environmental Safety, Department of Aquaculture, Gödöllő, Hungary
The outow of the natural thermal Lake of Hévíz (Hungary) is habi-
tat of several sh species, with nature conservation relevance. In the
past few years, numerous thermophile (tropical originated) shes
were reported from this waterbody, from which two taxa (Parachro-
mis hybrid, Vieja hybrid), characterized with strong, self–sustaining
population have been studied. Our aims were (1.) to explore their
seasonal dispersal dynamics and (2.) to perform basic population bi-
ology (feeding and growth) studies. Our results show that distribution
of these species are restricted to the thermal water outow area dur-
ing the winter, however they spread rapidly in the spring as the water
warms. The Bertalany growth equation, compared to other habitats,
shows slower growth for both species. The Fulton condition factor val-
ues were K=2.23±0.24 for Vieja and K=1.69 ±0.20 for Parachromis. In
the dietary analysis, we found that detritus (58.1%) and macrophytes
(18.9%) constituted amajor proportion of the stomach contents of
Viejas hybrides. Regarding Parachromis hybrides, the main food items
were macroinvertebrates and sh (31.5%, 30.2% respectively). From
our results, it can be assumed that these species have aconsiderable
seasonal impact on the native fauna in the whole watercourse sec-
tion due to their competitive feeding and predation pressure.
Spatiotemporal interactions of anovel
mesocarnivore community in an urban
environment before and during
SARS–CoV–2 lockdown
Louvrier J1,2, Planillo A1,3, Stillfried M1, Hagen R1, Börner K1, Kimmig S1,
Ortmann S1, Schumann A1, Brandt M1, Kramer–Schadt S1,2,3
1Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany, 2Institute of Ecolo-
gy, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 3Berlin–Brandenburg Institute of
Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Gartenhaus, Berlin, Germany
Studying species interactions and niche segregation under human
pressure provides important insights into species adaptation, com-
munity functioning and ecosystem stability. Due to their high plastici-
ty in behaviour and diet, urban mesocarnivores are ideal species for
studying community assembly in novel communities.
We analysed the spatial and temporal species interactions of an
urban mesocarnivore community composed of the red fox and the
marten as native species, the raccoon as invasive species, and the
cat as adomestic species in combination with human disturbance
modulated by the SARS–CoV–2 lockdown eect.
We found that species were more often detected and displayed
ahigher use intensity in gardens during the SARS–CoV–2 lockdown
period. All three wild species spatially co–occurred within the urban
area. We found that all wild species showed overlapping nocturnal
activities. All species displayed temporal segregation based on tem-
poral delay. According to the temporal delay analyses, cats were the
species avoided the most by all wild species. To conclude, we found
that although the wild species were positively associated in space, the
avoidance occurred at asmaller temporal scale, and human pressure
in addition led to high spatiotemporal overlap.
The use of lethal methods in arthropod
conservation research
Lovei G1,2, Ferrante M2,3, Moeller D2, Moeller G4
1Aarhus University Flakkebjerg, Slagelse, Denmark, 2Azorean Biodiversity Group, De-
partment of Environmental Sciences, University of the Azores, Angra do Heroísmo,
Azores, Portugal, 3Functional Agrobiodiversity, Department of Crop Sciences, Univer-
sity of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, 4Hobrechtsrasse 11, Berlin, Germany
Arthropods are in decline, and several species are threatened. We
surveyed the methods used in the two journals devoted to arthro-
pod conservation (Insect Conservation and Diversity, ICD, Journal of
Insect Conservation, JIC). Out of the 244 primary papers published
in 2014–2018 by ICD, 161 employed lethal methods, and 80 (33.2%)
non–destructive ones. When the focus of study was asingle species,
57.4% of the papers used non–lethal study methods, while only 24.9%
did so when multiple species were studied. In non–tropical regions,
37.0% of studies used non–lethal methods, while only 13.2% did so
in tropical studies. Of the 451 articles published by JIC, 51.2% used
lethal methods, and 45.2% non–lethal ones. When studying more
than asingle species, 66.1% used lethal methods, while with single
species focus, 25.9% (44/170) did so. Fourty–four % (154/349) of the
349 articles from non–tropical areas, vs. 77.3% (75/97) of the 97 arti-
cles from tropical areas used lethal methods. We contend that even
if the damage done is negligible, using lethal methods when pursuing
research aimed at conserving arthropods puts entomologists in an
ethically undefensible position. Non–lethal methods should be used
whenever possible.
80
Evaluating the use of irreplaceability to
identify Key Biodiversity Areas, and the
eects of geographical scale
Lumbierres M1, Nania D, Dahal P, Schuster R, Butchart S, Donald P,
Rondinini C, Di Marco M
1Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, 2University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) are ‚sites contributing signicantly to the
global persistence of biodiversity‘ and they represent an indispensa-
ble tool for eective site–based conservation. Sites qualify as KBA un-
der Criterion E if they have avery high irreplaceability value derived
from aquantitative spatial prioritisation analysis. The irreplaceability
of asite is determined by both the biodiversity found within it and the
biodiversity contained in the other sites considered in the analysis,
meaning irreplaceability values and patterns change depending on
the scale. We found that under the current formulation of Criterion
E, the 47% of regionally irreplaceable planning units were not repre-
sented in country–level analyses, while country–level analyses main-
ly represented asubset of the regional ones. This indicated that at
the regional level, irreplaceability was driven by endemic species and
species richness, while at the country level, exclusively by endemic
species. For some areas, the analysis produced very few or no high-
ly–irreplaceable planning units. This could indicate that the current
targets were too low for these countries. The KBA Standards and Ap-
peals Committee could take some actions to make the analysis more
robust, such as setting the scale of application at the regional level
and revising the targets.
The role of sheries management in
conservation of freshwater sh species
in the Czech Republic
Lyach R1
1Institute for Evaluations and Social Analyses, Prague, Czech Republic
Freshwater shes are among the most threatened organisms world-
wide. Fishing restrictions such as bag and slot limits are often used
as aconservation tool. They aim to reduce the number of sh caught
by anglers. We analyzed the eect of sheries restrictions and regu-
lations on the harvest rates (yields) of the following freshwater sh
species: mainly common carp Cyprinus carpio, Eurasian perch Perca
uviatilis, European grayling Thymallus thymallus, and European eel
Anguilla anguilla. This way, we analyzed data regarding several million
sh caught by several hundreds of thousands of anglers in central
Bohemia over 16 years. The result was that the angling restrictions
such as bag and slot limits worked like acharm. They almost always
resulted in an immediate signicant plummet in the harvest rates of
the targeted sh species. However, the shing eort (the number of
shing trips) kept increasing over time, meaning that the anthropo-
genic pressure on the sh populations was only partially removed
by the shing restrictions. In conclusion, we vigorously recommend
using the shing restrictions since they usually do their job.
Overcoming implicit bias in ecology
and conservation publishing
Maas B1, Pakeman R2, Godet L3, Smith L4, Devictor V5, Primack R6
1University Of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 2The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler,
Aberdeen, UK, 3CNRS, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France, 4German Centre for In-
tegrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany, 5ISEM, Univerity of Montpell-
ier, Montpellier, France, 6Biology Department, Boston University, Boston, USA
The global scientic community needs diverse perspectives and lead-
ership to address challenges of international scope such as the bio-
diversity and climate crises. While there are increasing eorts and
successes toward diversity, equity, and inclusion in academia, it is
largely unknown if this development is also reected among top–
publishing authors and potential scientic leaders. We surveyed 13
leading journals in ecology, evolution, and conservation to investigate
the diversity of the 100 top–publishing authors in each journal be-
tween 1945 and 2019. Out of 1051 individual top–publishing authors,
only 11% are women. The United States, the United Kingdom, Aus-
tralia, Germany, and Canada account for more than 75% of top–pub-
lishing authors, while countries of the Global South were strikingly
underrepresented. The number of top–publishing authors who are
women and/or are from the Global South is slowly increasing over
time, and positively correlates with population size and GDP per cap-
ita. We outline transformative actions that scientic communities can
take to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion at author, leadership,
and society level. The resulting promotion of scientic innovation and
productivity is essential for the development of global solutions in
conservation science.
Assessing species’ exposure to climate
change to support extinction risk
assessments for the IUCN Red List
Mancini G1, Cazalis V2, Lucas P1, Santini L1, Di Marco M1
1Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies ‘Charles
Darwin’, Rome, Italy, 2German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv),
Leipzig, Germany
The IUCN Red List is a central tool in biodiversity conservation. To
best inform policies, it is crucial that it monitors drivers of extinction
consistently, especially those of growing concern, as climate change.
However, assessors are currently not able to properly evaluate cli-
mate change impact across groups, due to the lack and uncertain-
ty of climate change information and worsened by the discrepancy
between “well studied” and “less studied” taxa. For example, 28% of
threatened birds are considered threatened by climate change vs 10%
of reptiles, despite the latter is agroup of ectotherms highly sensitive
to temperature. Here, we propose astandardized measure of climate
change exposure to improve climate change risk assessment. Using
terrestrial mammals as study group, we measure the exposure as the
dierence between the current and the future species climatic niche,
dened using current and future bioclimatic variables. Assuming ar-
eas outside the future climatic niche are less likely to be suitable, this
measure can directly inform Red List Criterion Aon population trends
and thus allows to identify species that are likely to be threatened by
climate change and should be reassessed. Our measure is potentially
applicable to all species within the IUCN with range maps.
Resilience of bird communities
to alien species in ahighly
human–dominated landscape
Marcolin F1, Chamberlain D2, Segurado P1, Reino L3
1Centro de Estudos Florestais (CEF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade
de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, 2Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sis-
temi, Università di Torino, Turin, Italy, 3CIBIO (Centro de Investigação em Biodiversi-
dade e Recursos Genéticos)/InBIO, (Rede de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Biolo-
gia Evolutiva), Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal
Alien bird species often negatively interact with native bird species
leading to local biodiversity loss and trait homogenisation. Our aim
was to assess bird communities resilience to alien bird species in
highly human–modied landscape. We surveyed 190 randomly dis-
tributed points (stratied sampling: urban, agricultural and forest ar-
eas) using point counts around the Tagus Estuary area (Portugal). We
ran Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities models to infer
bird co–occurences response to landscape composition, phylogeny
and species traits. Urban and intensive agricultural areas showed
lower species richness compared to forested and extensively man-
aged agricultural areas. Urban and intensive agricultural areas were
more suitable for alien bird species, whereas forest areas negatively
aected alien bird species presence. We found that extensively man-
aged agricultural areas negatively aected abundance of alien bird
species, favouring ground feeding specialist species (e.g. Calandrella
brachydactyla). Our results suggest that alien and generalist native
species are favoured in anthropic disturbed areas, whereas forest
and extensively managed agricultural areas favour native special-
ist species richness and abundance. Future management strategies
should focus on enhancing habitat quality in more anthropized areas
to promote avian diversity and improve resilience of bird communi-
ties to alien species.
81
Organic farming and environmentally–
friendly management practices enable
complementary diversication of plant–
bumblebee food webs
Marja R1, Klein A, Viik E, Batáry P
1Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
Plant and pollinator diversity has declined concurrently in Europe
in the last half–century. We studied plant–bumblebee food webs to
understand the eects of two Estonian agri–environmental schemes
(AES; environmentally–friendly management and organic farming) vs.
conventional farming, landscape structure (homogeneous, hetero-
geneous) and seasonality (June–August) interactions. We found that
both AES and landscape structure inuenced the generality (redun-
dancy in the use of ower resources) of food webs. In homogeneous
landscapes, environmentally–friendly management, including restric-
tions on the application of glyphosates, enhancement of bumblebee
habitats (permanent grassland eld margins), the allocation of amin-
imum of 15% of arable land to legumes, contributed to ahigher num-
ber of visited plant species in July, whereas organic farming did so in
August. Therefore, both AES are important to support plant–bumble-
bee food webs. Food webs generality and Shannon index are aected
by asignicant interaction between seasonality and landscape struc-
ture: food web diversity varied in homogeneous landscapes between
the three survey months, whereas food webs were more diverse in
heterogeneous landscapes. In homogeneous landscapes, resource
limitation is an issue for bumblebees in certain time periods. For sup-
porting bumblebees, avoiding resource limitation is important and
this can be secured with a combination of AES management prac-
tices.
Identifying ‘climate keystone species’ as atool
for conserving ecological communities under
climate change
Marjakangas E1, Santangeli A2,3, Lehikoinen A1
1Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 2Re-
search Centre for Ecological Change, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research
Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 3FitzPatrick Institute of African
Ornithology, DST–NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Cape Town,
South Africa
Climate change aects ecological communities via their species. The
community’sresponse to climate change can be represented as the
temporal trend in aclimate–related functional property that is quan-
tied using arelevant functional trait. However, some species inu-
ence this response more strongly than others. Following a general
denition of akeystone species, species that have astrong eect on
the community’sfunctional response to climate change beyond their
relative abundance can be considered as ‘climate keystone species’.
We develop astepwise tool to determine the species’ eects on the
community–level response to climate change and identify climate
keystone species. We quantify the dierence between communi-
ty’sclimate change responses including and excluding the species of
interest to obtain the species–specic eect on the community’sre-
sponse. Then, we identify as climate keystone species those species
with astrong residual eect after weighting with their relative abun-
dances in the community. To illustrate the use of the stepwise tool
with empirical data, we identify climate keystone species that have
astrong eect on the change in the average temperature niche in
North American bird communities over time. Identication of climate
keystone species can serve as an additional conservation method to
protect ecosystem functions eciently.
Richness and Redundancy: Spider and Plant
Function in Buered Riparian Systems
Marker J1, Eckstein L1, Bergman E1, Lafage D1
1Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
It is commonly assumed that forested riparian buers protect and
enhance aquatic systems through nutrient ltration, erosion reduc-
tion, biodiversity refuge, and habitat connection. However, the eec-
tiveness of buers around aquatic systems is dependent on many
factors including size, condition, and upland pressures. Further,
buer eectiveness is rarely quantied through functional diversity
measurements of animal and plant species within the system. We cal-
culated functional richness, functional redundancy, and α–diversity of
spiders and plants along 15 streams in southern Sweden using ava-
riety of traits driven by environmental variables and forestry prac-
tice. We investigated the eects of buer size, distance from streams,
and abiotic variables regulated by each, against functional measures
for spider and plant communities using structural equation models.
SEMs showed buers up to 40 m had higher spider α–diversity, driv-
ing spider functional richness. Plant functional richness was driven by
α–diversity, buer density, and canopy closure but had anegative ef-
fect on redundancy. To maintain high functional diversity in buered
riparian systems, forested buers should be large enough to support
high species diversity. However, fully forested systems showed low-
er overall species diversity and may benet from selective thinning
to regulate buer density and canopy closure to enhance riparian
function.
Man vs. Machine – Cost Comparison of
Bird–Monitoring Techniques for Result–Based
Payments in Agriculture
Markova–Nenova N1, Engler J2, Wätzold F1, Cord A2
1Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg, Chair of Environmen-
tal Economics, Cottbus, Germany, 2Technische Universität Dresden, Chair of Compu-
tational Landscape Ecology, Dresden, Germany
Result–based payments (RBP) can improve the cost–eectiveness
of agri–environment schemes (AES), but are rarely applied due to
a major diculty: substantial monitoring costs. Within the CAP, so
far RBP have been implemented mainly for the conservation of indi-
cator plant species in grassland. Bioacoustics and information tech-
nology provide apromising opportunity for extending RBP to wildlife
species, such as birds. We compare monitoring costs of RBP for bird
conservation in agriculture using either human observation or audi-
omoths (the least–cost bioacoustics devices on the market) in com-
bination with machine learning using dierent cost scenarios for the
status–quo and future technological development.
Hatching failure and conservation
management of threatened birds –
ameta–analysis and systematic review
Marshall A1,2, Balloux F3, Hemmings N4, Brekke P1
1Institute Of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom, 2De-
partment of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Lon-
don, United Kingdom, 3UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, London,
United Kingdom, 4Department of Animal & Plant Sciences, University of Sheeld,
Sheeld, United Kingdom
Avian hatching failure is awidespread phenomenon, aecting around
10% of eggs that are laid and not lost to predation, damage, or de-
sertion. While it is acknowledged that rates of hatching failure are
often higher in threatened species and captive populations relative
to wild, non–threatened populations, these dierences have rarely
been quantied and any broader patterns remain unexplored. We
conducted a phylogenetically controlled multilevel meta–analysis
across 234 studies and 246 species. We found the mean overall rate
of hatching failure to be 17%, with threatened species experiencing
signicantly higher rates than non–threatened species. Across man-
agement levels, wild populations experienced the lowest rates of
hatching failure, followed by wild managed populations, with captive
populations experiencing the highest rates. Similarly, populations
undergoing articial incubation, supplementary feeding, and arti-
cial nest provision displayed signicantly higher rates of hatching
failure than populations without these interventions. This is the most
comprehensive comparative analysis of hatching failure conducted
to date, and the rst to quantify the associations with threat status
and management. We discuss the implications of our results, such as
their potential use as atool for conservation managers when assess-
ing the eectiveness of applying various interventions and determin-
ing the best conservation strategy for aspecies.
82
Catapulting nature onto the agenda:
governance opportunities and barriers
of nature–based solutions
Martin J1, Bayer J1, Scolobig A2
1International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, 2University
of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Nature–based solutions (NBS) have emerged as a critical umbrel-
la concept encompassing all actions and measures that use na-
ture’sproperties to systemically address societal challenges, simul-
taneously providing a variety of benets for nature and people.
Among their manifold co–benets, there is great potential for NBS
to contribute to human wellbeing, climate change adaptation and
biodiversity conservation. However, despite the signicant political
traction NBS have gained, their implementation often remains too
fragmented or context–specic for their wider operationalisation and
upscaling. Based on ameta–analysis of grey– and peer–reviewed lit-
erature, workshop results and semi–structured interviews, we identi-
fy and discuss the institutional, legal, regulatory, social and economic
opportunities (N=252), as well as barriers (N=264) to NBS in various
contexts. Based on our ndings, we suggest innovative new institu-
tions, policies and instruments that can enhance the adoption and
mainstreaming of NBS for conservation.
Local and landscape drivers of long–term
arthropod trends in Switzerland
Martínez–Nuñez C1, Ne F1, Obrist M2, Gossner M2,3, Bollmann K2,
Herzog F1, Knop E1,4, Luka H5, Cahenzli F5, Albrecht M1
1Agroscope, Zurich, Switzerland, 22 Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and
Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland, 3Department of Environmental
Systems Science, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH, Zürich, Switzerland, 4De-
partment of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies. University of Zürich,
Zürich, Switzerland, 5Department of Crop Sciences, Research Institute of Organic Ag-
riculture FiBL, Frick, Switzerland
There is growing concern about the human–induced loss of arthro-
pod diversity, abundance and biomass. However, we still know little
about the main drivers of long–term changes across dierent arthro-
pod groups, land–use types and spatial scales.
Here, we analysed data of 1.73 million arthropods (i.e., carabid bee-
tles and spiders) belonging to 877 species that were collected using
51,250 pitfall traps across 44 years (1974‒2018) in Switzerland. We
examined inter–annual trends in their diversity, abundance and bio-
mass at dierent spatial scales and across six major land–use types,
and we explored the potential drivers (i.e., climate change, land–use
intensity and urbanization) causing these trends.
We found fundamentally distinct trends across land–use types that
were relatively consistent for both groups. There were moderate lo-
cal arthropod diversity declines in ruderal habitats and croplands,
increases in grasslands and woody linear structures, and non–signif-
icant changes in forests or wetlands. Importantly, regional richness
in ruderal habitats and croplands declined sharply, highlighting com-
munity homogenization as amajor process threatening arthropod di-
versity. Furthermore, urbanization was an important landscape–scale
driver of the observed declines.
Our results show that local land–use as well as urbanization at land-
scape scale drive long–term arthropod changes, and that regional
community processes contribute signicantly to its decline.
Towards aHolistic Approach to Rewilding
in Cultural Landscapes
Massenberg J1, Schiller J1, Schröter–Schlaack C1
1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
In recent years, rewilding has been attracting growing attention as
novel, process–oriented concept supporting ecosystem restoration
and biodiversity conservation. Rewilding aims to strengthen the
adaptive capacity of ecosystems by restoring natural processes and
withdrawing anthropogenic interventions. Yet, diverging understand-
ings, conceptions and denitions of rewilding result in asomewhat
fuzzy concept. So far, the scientic discussion focused primarily on bi-
ological and ecological eects and success factors of rewilding. How-
ever, it is argued that, particularly in Europe, which is characterised by
densely populated areas and along history of landscape cultivation,
rewilding incorporates also asocio–economic and socio–cultural di-
mension which are important from both atheoretical and practical
perspective. The aim of this paper is therefore to elaborate on the
socio–economic and socio–cultural aspects relevant for rewilding. On
the basis of asynthesis of current scientic publications, we identify
research gaps and derive recommendations for future areas of re-
search. The need for an inter– and transdisciplinary understanding of
rewilding is emphasised in order to provide aholistic perspective on
the topic and to support the uptake of rewilding in disciplines related
to conservation sciences, decision–making and practice.
Linking landscape–scale conservation
to regional and continental outcomes for
amigratory species
Mattsson B1, Devries J2, Dubovsky J3, Semmens D4, Thogmartin W5,
Derbridge J6, Lopez–Homan L6,7
1Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, Department of Integrative Bi-
ology and Biodiversity Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences,
Vienna Austria, Vienna, Austria, 2Ducks Unlimited Canada, Stonewall, Canada, 3Divi-
sion of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lakewood, Colo-
rado, USA, 4Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, U.S. Geological
Survey, Denver, Colorado, USA, 5Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, U.S.
Geological Survey, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA, 6School of Natural Resources and En-
vironment, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA, 7Udall Center for Studies
in Public Policy, The University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona, USA
Land–use intensication on arable land is expanding and posing
athreat to biodiversity and ecosystem services worldwide. We pre-
dicted population trajectories of amigratory bird species at a con-
tinental scale under varying levels of landscape–scale conservation
investments while accounting for hunting regulation. In particular, we
linked habitat conservation at landscape scales to equilibrium abun-
dance of amigratory species at the continental scale. To achieve this,
we combined a landscape habitat model, fecundity model, harvest
model and afull–annual–cycle population–projection model. We ap-
plied this novel approach to the northern pintail duck (Anas acuta),
aspecies valued by birders and hunters in North America, and well
below its population goal. Based on empirical observations from
2007–2016, realistic scenarios for harvest and habitat conservation
costing an estimated $588M (2016 USD) led to predicted pintail pop-
ulation sizes < 3M when assuming average parameter values. Given
competing needs for remaining lands and scal limitations on con-
servation funding, our ndings indicate that achieving the continen-
tal population goal of 4M individuals is unlikely. Using our work as
a starting point, we propose continued development of modeling
approaches that link conservation funding, habitat delivery, and pop-
ulation response to better integrate habitat conservation and harvest
management of migratory species.
ABinational Course–based Undergraduate
Research Experience as amodel for
Sustainability Education
Mclaughlin J1, Postolache C1
1Penn State University, Center Valley, United States
Anthropogenic realities in the Danube River and its Delta include but
are not limited to climate change; pollution; improper plastic dispos-
al; habitat destruction from excessive tourism, urban and industri-
al sprawl; international shipping; invasive species; and over–shing.
Taken independently or in combination, at the ecosystem level, these
disturbances are threatening life (species extinction) while decreas-
ing ecosystem services. For the Danube River and its Delta to be
sustainable then, it is imperative that we begin to shift the way we
train scientists as our future researchers and environmental leaders.
The proposed work will provide ECCB participants with abinational
undergraduate research instructional model that not only prepares
students for rigorous STEM research through online and eld expe-
riences, but also prepares them to take action to address environ-
mental sustainability issues confronting the Danube delta or similar
ecosystems throughout their lifetimes through the blueprints of the
UN SDGs. Evidence from Romanian and American student assess-
ment research, providing both qualitative (artifacts) and quantitative
(CURE Survey) data, will also be presented showcasing how blending
course–based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), short–
term study abroad, and sustainability education through our instruc-
tional model benets student learning, especially agentic learning.
83
Who and where: Wildlife traits as
predictors of roadkills of birds and mammals
in Latin America
Medrano–Vizcaino P1,2, Grilo C3,4, Pinto F5, Carvalho W6,7, Melinski R8,
Schultz E9, Gonzalez–Suárez M1
1Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University Of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom,
2Red Ecuatoriana para el Monitoreo de Fauna Atropellada (REMFA), Quito, Ecuador,
3CESAM – Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar, Universidade de Lisboa, Lis-
boa, Portugal, 4Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Brazil, 5Federal University of
ABC, Santo André, Brazil, 6Programa de Pós–Graduação em Biodiversidade e Meio
Ambiente, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, Grande Dourados, Brazil,
7Programa de Pós–Graduação em Biodiversidade Tropical, Universidade Federal
do Amapá, Macapá, Brazil, 8Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA),
Manaus, Brazil, 9Programa de Pós–¬Graduação em Biologia (Ecologia), Instituto Na-
cional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil
Roads are amajor threat for wildlife degrading habitat and causing di-
rect mortality via wildlife–vehicle collisions. In Latin America, the con-
junction of high biodiversity and arapidly expanding road network is
reason for concern.We compiled data from 86 roadkill surveys from
Latin America that provided 1682 roadkill rate estimates for 346 bird
and 159 mammalian species. We applied Random Forest models to
predict roadkill rates considering species’ traits, habitat preferences,
and the geographic coordinates of each study. Fitted models were
used to predict spatial risks for roadkilled species across their areas of
habitat. We found higher mortality in larger birds and medium–sized
mammals. Birds and mammals with shorter life expectancies, wider
habitat breadths, and early maturity ages that occur in anthropized
areas showed higher mortality. Diet was the most important trait pre-
dictor for mammals, with higher rates among scavengers and those
with diets based on invertebrates. Our spatial predictions revealed
higher roadkill rates across Central America, northern Andean re-
gions, the Atlantic Forest of Brazil and Argentina, and southern Chile.
This rst comprehensive assessment for Latin America oers asyn-
thesis of drivers of roadkill risk for birds and mammals and identies
species and areas where existing roads can impact wildlife.
Local adaptation to climate anomalies relates
to species phylogeny
Melero Y1,2, Evans L2, Kuussaari M3, Schmucki R4, Stefanescu C5, Roy
D4, Oliver T2
1CREAF, Bellaterra, Spain, 2University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom, 3Finn-
ish Environment Institute (SYKE), Helsinki, Finland, 4UK Centre for Ecology & Hy-
drology, Wallingford, United Kingdom, 5Museu de Ciències Naturals de Granollers,
Granollers, Spain
Climatic anomalies are increasing in intensity and frequency leading
to higher extinction risk for many species. The impacts of anomalies
are likely to vary between species due to dierent degrees of local
adaptation. Here, we used long–term buttery monitoring data of
143 species across six European bioclimatic regions to show how
species’ population dynamics have responded to local or globally–
calculated climatic anomalies, and how species attributes mediate
these responses. Contrary to expectations, the degree of apparent
local adaptation showed no associations with species mobility or re-
productive rate but did contain astrong phylogenetic signal. The ex-
istence of phylogenetically–patterned local adaptation to climate has
important implications for forecasting species responses to current
and future climatic conditions and for developing appropriate con-
servation practices.
Global changes in terrestrial,
freshwater, and coastal ecosystem extents
over three decades
Meyer C1, Remelgado R1
1German Center For Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany
Land use, climate change, and other pressures cause changes in dif-
ferent ecosystems’ extents, altering species’ habitats and survival.
The IPBES Assessments reported globally and regionally declining ex-
tents of most (semi–)natural ecosystems, and the Post–2020 Frame-
work seeks general increases in extents, with associated monitoring
burdens. Yet, for most ecosystems and regions, systematic data on
change direction and magnitude are lacking. Integrating three dec-
ades of environmental Earth observations (>50 satellite–based and
in–situ datasets), we provide an unprecedentedly comprehensive re-
cord of global dynamics of land, freshwater, and coastal ecosystems
over ~30 years. We nd ecosystem extents to be highly dynamic. Arti-
cial ecosystems like pastures, plantations, or mining areas increased
substantially, mainly displacing sub–/tropical lowland moist forests.
Yet, surprisingly, dierent (semi–)natural ecosystems’ global and re-
gional extents did not decline systematically, exhibiting regional gains
and losses and shifts between upward and downward trends, but no
net loss on average. This paradox is explained by few, globally ex-
tensive and declining ecosystems making room for areal increases in
many less extensive (semi–)natural ecosystems, notably many wet-
land types, as well as in articial systems. Our results support ecosys-
tem monitoring capacity in data–scarce regions, inform questions on
sensible targets and baselines for Post–2020 monitoring, and enable
diverse conservation applications.
Rewilding – the farmers perspective.
Perceptions and attitudinal support for
rewilding among the English farming
community.
Mikolajczak K1,2, Jones N3, Sandom C4,5, Wynne–Jones S6, Beardsall A2,
Burgelman S2, Ellam L2, Wheeler H2
1Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics, London, United King-
dom, 2School of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom,
3Institute for Global Sustainable Development, School for Cross–Faculty Studies, Uni-
versity of Warwick, UK, Coventry, United Kingdom, 4School of Life Science, University
of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom, 5Sussex Sustainability Research Programme
(SSRP), University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom, 6School of Natural Sciences,
University of Bangor, Bangor, United Kingdom
As an increasingly common conservation approach, rewilding has
the potential to profoundly change landscapes and people–nature
relations. Farmers are some of the key stakeholders who stand to be
aected by and to inuence the trajectory of rewilding initiatives. Us-
ing thematic analysis of semi–structured interviews with 36 farmers
and farming representatives in England, we show that the diversity
of farmers‘ attitudes towards common rewilding scenarios (beaver
release, farm–level rewilding, and landscape–scale rewilding) can be
understood through the prism of perceptions on ve core issues.
These include 1) the perceived need for restoration action, 2) the eco-
logical eectiveness of rewilding, 3) rewilding‘scompatibility with en-
suring food security, 4) rewilding‘scompatibility with rural lifestyles,
livelihoods and economies, and 5) multidimensional justice of rewild-
ing initiatives. Farmers‘ perceptions on these issues are inuenced by
individual and collective values, environmental beliefs, and the per-
ceived social and ecological impacts of rewilding initiatives. Diverse
perceptions result in arange of attitudes, from enthusiastic to strong-
ly opposed. We argue that where opposition is based on common,
value–based preferences, e.g. for ‚tidy‘ landscapes, accommodating
for them to increase rewilding‘sacceptability risks compromising re-
wilding‘sown goals, whereas pursuing rewilding ambitions that clash
with those values may risk social conicts.
Simple but massive conservation action leads
to landscape–scale recovery of amphibians
Moor H1, Bergamini A1, Vorburger C2,3, Holderegger R1,3, Bühler C4,
Egger S5, Schmidt B5,6
1Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research Wsl, Birmensdorf,
Switzerland, 2Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology Eawag,
Dübendorf, Switzerland, 3ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, 4Hintermann & Weber, Re-
inach, Switzerland, 5info fauna karch, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 6University of Zürich,
Zürich, Switzerland
Conservation science should provide the tools to halt and reverse
population declines. While it is known that habitat creation can ben-
et declining populations, reports of positive conservation outcomes
are few. We showcase aconservation success story from the canton
of Aargau in Switzerland, where hundreds of new ponds have been
built over the last decades, mainly for the benet of amphibians. Am-
phibians are the most threatened vertebrate group worldwide, and
habitat loss is amajor driver of population declines. Fitting dynamic
occupancy models for 12 amphibian species to 20 years of monitor-
ing data, we show that persistent conservation action reverses neg-
ative population trends and leads to landscape–scale stabilization
or increases in metapopulation sizes of amphibian species. While
there were regional and species–specic dierences in the use of
84
constructed ponds, all species colonized new ponds, which compen-
sated or even overcompensated for declines in old ponds. Testing
for eects of local and landscape–scale variables on colonization
probability enabled us to make species–specic recommendations
to improve pond creation, regarding pond (surface area, water ta-
ble uctuations) and landscape characteristics. Simple, but massive
conservation action lead to population recovery of threatened am-
phibian species, and easily implementable rules of thumb can help
maximise conservation ecacy.
Better seabirds bycatch data collection
can help to identify problems and suggest
mitigation measures
Morkunas J1, Morkūnė R2, Rouxel Y3
1Lithuanian Ornithological Society, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2Marine Research Institute,
Klaipeda University, Klaipėda, Lithuania, 3The Royal Society for the Protection of
Birds Scotland, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Bycatch – the incidental capture of non–target species in sheries
– has been identied as one of the major threats aecting seabird
populations worldwide. In the Baltic Sea, aglobally important area
for wintering seabirds, bycatch in gillnets represents an important
cause of human–induced mortality for seabird species. Countries are
required by European law to report ocial bycatch data, mostly done
in avery irresponsible way. This study presents data collection im-
provements on the total seabird bycatch in the small–scale coastal
shery for the entire Lithuania, in the Baltic Sea, during the winter
period from 2015–2020. An average of 19.3% of the total shing eort
were observed each winter season, resulting in observations of 909
bycaught birds from 15 species vs 6 bird in ocial data. Two species
comprised two–thirds of the total bycatch, Long–tailed Duck, Clangula
hyemalis (42.1%), and Velvet Scoter, Melanitta fusca (35.4%). We esti-
mate that between 1,500 and 3,000 seabirds were bycaught annually
in the Lithuanian small–scale coastal shery during the study period.
Our study highlights deciencies and inadequate the country’scur-
rent bycatch reporting. Alongside improved data collection, eective
ways to mitigate seabird bycatch should be developed, starting from
alternative shing gears or mitigation.
Demographic patterns of fertility and embryo
mortality in athreatened bird population
Morland F1,2, Hemmings N1, Brekke P2
1University of Sheeld, Sheeld, United Kingdom, 2Institute of Zoology, London,
United Kingdom
Monitoring reproductive success is an important part of species re-
covery and reproductive failure can hinder conservation eorts. In
birds, small, threatened populations often experience high rates of
egg hatching failure, which can be due to either fertilisation failure
or embryo mortality. The mechanisms behind these two causes of
hatching failure dier, as it is likely that the factors inuencing them
do. However, distinguishing between fertilisation failure and embryo
mortality is not commonplace in the monitoring of bird populations.
Using adataset of over 1,000 failed eggs, laid by 187 females across 8
years, we examine long–term patterns of infertility and embryo mor-
tality, and their association with population demographic factors in
a reintroduced, managed population of athreatened bird species,
hihi (Notiomystis cincta). We nd that although average hatching fail-
ure rates are stable over time, fertilisation rates vary across years.
Variation in egg fertilisation rates is signicantly related to population
size and sex ratio, which are intrinsically linked; with more females re-
sulting in alarger overall population size. We nd that birds lay more
unfertilised eggs in years when the population is smaller and the sex
ratio more male biased. We discuss these results in the context of
conservation management.
Aquasi experimental analysis of the
impact of new mining developments on
deforestation in Zambia
Morley J1, Buchanan G2, Mitchard E1, Keane A1
1University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2RSPB Centre for Conservation
Science, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Mining is vital part of the global, and many national, economies and
it is integral to the transition to renewable energy. However, mining
also presents asignicant risk to the conservation of biodiversity as it
has the potential to drive extensive deforestation with impacts reach-
ing far from the mine itself. Accurately quantifying the deforestation
impact of mining is important for anumber of stakeholders yet the
existing literature is limited. To address this gap, we applied statistical
matching methods, a quasi–experimental causal inference method-
ology, and spatiotemporal generalized linear models to assess the
impact on deforestation of new mining developments in Zambia from
2000. Zambia is aglobal signicant producer of minerals and is home
to miombo woodlands which are vital for biodiversity and the liveli-
hoods of millions of people. We found no evidence that new any of 22
new mines we analysed had increased deforestation compared with
matched controls. Measuring the environmental impacts of mines
and other development activities requires the application of robust
impact evaluation methodologies.
Invader–pollinator paradox: Invasive
goldenrods benet from large size pollinators
Moroń D1, Marjańska E1
1Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals Polish Academy of Sciences,
Kraków, Poland
Mutualistic interactions between alien plants and native pollina-
tors are needed to enable plant invasions. Although the increasing
abundance of invasive plants in ahabitat causes adramatic decline
of native pollinators, pollination services received by invaders are of-
ten sustained. This invader–pollinator paradox might be attributed
to dierences in pollination eectiveness and varying vulnerability to
invasion among pollinators with dierent life history traits. In an ex-
perimental study, we explored the relationships between pollinator
body size, pollination eectiveness and abundance of invasive spe-
cies. Body size of oral visitors was structured along with the gold-
enrod cover so that pollinators‘ size increased with the cover. Also,
the seed set of the potted plants, as well as goldenrod seed viability,
depended positively on the body size of visiting pollinators. Invasive
goldenrods did not suer from pollinator shortage and ineective
pollination, especially in habitats densely covered by the invader, due
to the presence of large–bodied pollinators. Our study highlights that
pollination and reproduction of invasive plants might be sustained
through ecological ltering, aecting the composition of pollinators
with traits increasing pollination eectiveness.
Pesticides cause an unexpected
silent spring in oak forests
Müller J1, Mitesser O1, Hochrein S1, Weisser W2
1University Würzburg, Rauhenebrach, Germany, 2TU Munich, Freising, Germany
Rachel Carson‘swarning of asilent spring by an absence of songbirds
due to pesticides led nally to aUS–wide ban on DDT in the 1970 s.
Nevertheless, multiple anthropogenic stressors have continued to in-
crease in global ecosystems, which makes the identication of mech-
anisms for population declines in observational studies increasingly
dicult. We tested the eect of aerial tebufenozid–applications to
control adefoliating moth in hyper–diverse oak forests on birds, us-
ing autonomous sound recorders in alarge replicated full factorial
eld experiment. Over the period of our three–year study, we found
signicantly reduced acoustic complexity in early summer during the
rst two years because of pesticide–application. However, adeeper
evaluation showed that this reduction in acoustic complexity was
not related to birds, but to a reduction in the caterpillars‘ chewing
sounds. The several year approach showed that the legacy of the pes-
ticide treatment lasted for asecond year, but occurred consistently in
the same phenological time window. Our study show that continuous
measurements of sound diversity are able to identify even cryptic
changes in the environment just by acoustic changes. However, the
pesticide application did not aect the sound activity of birds as orig-
inally expected.
85
Eects of agri–environmental payments
on the diversity and functionality
of asemi–natural grassland habitat
Napoleone F1, Probo M2, Mariotte P2, Ravetto Enri S3, Lonati M3, Ar-
genti G4, Burrascano S1
1Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, 2Grazing
Systems, Agroscope, Posieux, Switzerland, 3Department of Agricultural, Forest and
Food Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy, 4Department of Agriculture, Food,
Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
Semi–natural grasslands are among the species–richest European
habitats. Their conservation, however, is not granted by the meas-
ures included in the European Union Common Agricultural Policy,
and often requires specic conservation projects (e.g., LIFE projects).
Here we link agri–environmental payments, grazing regimes and the
conservation of the habitat composition and forage provisioning ser-
vice, accounting also for site conditions.
We sampled 98 plots in 19 farms and unmanaged control areas in ve
regions across Italy and Switzerland, partly included in the LIFE Shep-
ForBio project. We assessed habitat conservation state and forage
yield and quality and tted piecewise structural equation models to
infer the direct and indirect eects of the payments.
Payments did not aect stocking rates, but increased the evenness
of grazing intensity, and, in turn, habitat composition and functions.
Site conditions had relevant inuence, especially elevation, soil car-
bonates and slopes. Agri–environmental payments contributed to
maintain grazing management and in turn to preserve the habitat
biodiversity and functions. However, the eectiveness of payments
largely depended on the scale of measures’ implementation. Farm–
level grazing contracts and periodic eld monitoring similar to the
activities usually implemented in conservation projects would allow
to inuence the ne–scale grazing intensity and support aresult–ori-
ented approach.
Astep back on the conservation of ahighly
threatened species: opposite signs of
recovery on Pinna nobilis population from
Mar Menor lagoon
Nebot–Colomer E1, Deudero S1, Mourre B2, Fraile–Nuez E3, Álvarez E1,
Albentosa M4, Ruiz J4, Vázquez–Luis M1
1Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO, CSIC), Centro Oceanográco de Baleares,
Palma De Mallorca, Spain, 2SOCIB, Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Fore-
casting System, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 3Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO,
CSIC), Centro Oceanográco de Canarias, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, 4Instituto
Español de Oceanografía (IEO, CSIC), Centro Oceanográco de Murcia, San Pedro
del Pinatar, Spain
The endemic species Pinna nobilis is the most endangered Mediterra-
nean bivalve, facing nearly extinction all over the Mediterranean Sea,
hosting its last reservoirs in highly impacted coastal lagoons. Thus,
knowledge about the populations‘ conservation status in these eco-
systems is essential. In 2019, the Mar Menor lagoon’spopulation was
considered as ahighly vulnerable population (Nebot–Colomeretal.,
2021) due to several ecological disasters. The present study repre-
sents acontinuation of the previous work, which aims to evaluate the
resilience of the population, by assessing its reproductive capacity
and maintenance of population. To do so, between 2019 to 2022, we
installed between 23–45 larvae collectors, monitored 7 permanent in-
dividual plots, and conducted visual searches and censuses. None of
the methodologies carried out detected the incorporation of recruits
in the population. Moreover, adecrease in densities was observed,
results agreeing with an increase in the number of dead individuals in
the permanent plots. Our results pointed out to opposite signs of re-
covery of the species, increasing its vulnerability to future disturbanc-
es. Therefore, urgent management and conservation actions focused
on restoring the ecosystem and protecting P.nobilis individuals are
needed to avoid this population extinction.
Climate warming is linked to insect
declines and increases in Switzerland
in the last 40 years
Ne F1, Korner–Nievergelt F2, Rey E3, Martínez–Núñez C1, Herzog F1,
Knop E1,4
1Agroscope, Zürich, Switzerland, 2Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzer-
land, 3info fauna, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 4University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
Reports on insect decline have raised considerable concerns in the
scientic community and the public. Climate change and land–use
change are considered to be main drivers of insect decline, but their
combined and interactive eects on insect populations are poorly
understood. Studies of adequate temporal, spatial and taxonomic
scale are largely missing. We used almost 1.5 million species records
to analyze insect occupancy trends (butteries, grasshoppers, drag-
onies) in Switzerland across aperiod of 40 years (1980–2019). We
disentangled main and interactive eects of climate and land–use
change on species trends, which was possible because Switzerland
can be divided into dierent climatic regions and along an elevational
gradient. Our results show considerable declines but also increases of
species occupancies. Changes at regional scale were best explained
by climate warming, showing the predominant role of climate change
in driving insect community changes in the last 40 years. Land–use
change was less strongly linked to species trends, indicating that re-
cent eorts to reduce negative land–use impacts had little large–scale
eects. Along with interactive climate and land–use change eects,
this shows that further eorts in large–scale land–use management
are indispensable to halt biodiversity loss in the coming, further
warming century.
Rescue an invisible mammal: Fighting for the
highly specialized but extremely threatened
subterranean blind mole rats in Central
Europe
Németh A1,2, Moldován O3,4
1University of Debrecen, Department of Nature Conservation, Zoology and Game
Management, Debrecen, Hungary, 2BirdLife Hungary – Hungarian Ornithological
and Nature Conservation Society, Budapest, Hungary, 3University of Debrecen, Doc-
toral School of Animal Science, Debrecen, Hungary, 4Hortobágyi National Park Direc-
torate, Debrecen, Hungary
Subterranean blind mole rats of Central Europe were once consid-
ered as pests, now facing extinction. They have unparalleled taxon
diversity within Europe and ve endemic chromosomal species can
be found even in the Pannonian Basin. These taxa have particularly
unfavourable conservation status having only afew small, isolated
populations with low population numbers and restricted distribution,
many of them facing serious threats. However, the conservation of
the populations often dicult, as they are typically located in terri-
tories not under protection, rather in places of investment, develop-
ment, construction or agricultural use. These situations are unusual
and dicult to manage for nature conservation authorities. We show
the current conservation status of all the endemic species of the Pan-
nonian Basin based on the researches and eld data collections of
the last 20 years. We also present the challenges caused by the most
problematic localities. The conservation eorts made so far, the ap-
plied solutions and the lessons we learned might contribute to the
successful conservation management of other species or similarly
sensitive situations.
Diving into aworld of data: Marine and
freshwater shes in zoos and aquariums
Nielsen R1,2, Juergens J1,2, Conde D1,2
1University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, 2Species360, Minneapolis, USA
This study investigates species from the ve sh classes (Actinoptery-
gii, Elasmobranchii, Holocephali, Myxini, Sarcopterygii) recorded in
the Species360 Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS)
which provides information on ex–situ populations from over 1,300
zoos and aquariums (Z&A) worldwide. Data from the IUCN Red List,
representation in the international trade and general type of use for
each species were analysed.
Z&Ahold 955,645 individuals of 3177 sh species across 533 member
86
institutions. Of these species, 10.6% are threatened and seven ex-
tinct in the wild. Moreover, 139 species are data decient, and several
hundred species have not yet been assessed by the IUCN Red List.
Breeding success has been reported for 3.3% of those species within
the last year.
Species360 institutions hold many heavily traded and species not as-
sessed by IUCN such as the Green Chromis and the Ocellaris Clown-
sh, with thousands of imports into the EU and US every year. While
A. ocellaris had 492 births recorded in 2021, no breeding success was
reported for C. viridis despite apopulation of over 10 000 individuals
held by 104 institutions. By highlighting such discrepancies our study
can highlight species in need of ex–situ management and support
collection planning.
Impacts of agricultural land use on genetic
diversity in generalist and specialist blue–
winged buttery species
Nolen Z1, Jamelska P1, Torres S1, Rundlöf M1, Wahlberg N1, Runemark A1
1Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Human–induced land use changes can dierentially aect species
depending on factors such as habitat preference, dispersal anity,
and specialization. While census size and distribution are important
measures of aspecies response to land use change, these measures
do not capture the impacts on genetic diversity and their long–term
implications. Here, we examine the genomic eects of agricultural
intensication on apair of blue–winged buttery species that vary
in habitat specialization and mobility. Populations come from sites
featuring either a predominance of cropland, production forest, or
suitable grassland habitat in the surrounding landscape. When pos-
sible, we have sequenced museum specimens collected in the early
20th century from nearby localities to establish historical measures
of diversity. We measure nucleotide diversity, heterozygosity, and
runs of homozygosity, as well as reconstruct past eective population
size changes in these populations to examine how diversity is being
impacted by land use changes. We examine population structure to
determine if habitat fragmentation is abarrier to gene ow and if it
has resulted in increased inbreeding within populations. Combining
these results, we aim to determine the diering evolutionary eects
land use may have on species with varying life histories and their im-
plications for conservation practice.
Grasslands along linear infrastructure are
species–rich but only partly support species
of conservation concern
Öckinger E1, Dániel–Ferreira J1, Fourcade Y2, Bommarco R1, Wissman
J1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 22Univ Paris Est
Creteil, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, Creteil, France
Grassland habitats along linear infrastructure, such as road verges
and power–line corridors, cover vast areas and constitute an oppor-
tunity for conservation of species associated with declining semi–nat-
ural grasslands. It is however unclear to what extent infrastructure
grasslands harbour these species. We surveyed plant, buttery and
bumblebee communities in semi–natural pastures of high nature val-
ue, road verges and power–line corridors in 32 landscapes in Sweden.
We compared alpha and beta diversity among these habitats, and
tested how their area in the landscape contributed to alpha, beta and
gamma diversity. The alpha diversity of all three species groups was
as high in power–line corridors and verges of small roads as in semi–
natural pastures, regardless of landscape composition. Although
there were large similarities in the community composition among
habitats, there were important dierences between infrastructure
habitats and semi–natural pastures. Landscapes with power–line cor-
ridors had higher plant alpha and gamma diversity than other land-
scapes, but there was no such eect for butteries or bumblebees.
Novel grasslands along infrastructure cannot replace semi–natural
grasslands as habitat for the most specialized grassland plants and
insects, but especially in landscapes with low area of semi–natural
grasslands they can be important habitats and should be managed
to promote biodiversity.
Discovering the role of habitat characteristics
on saproxylic insects using arapid
assessment of feeding galleries and
boreholes
Oettel J1, Braun M1, Connell J1, Hoch G1, Gschwantner T1, Lapin K1, Essl
F2, Gossner M3,4
1Austrian Research Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW), Vi-
enna, Austria, 2University Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 3ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland,
4Swiss Federal Research Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL),
Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Knowledge of habitat characteristics and preferences of saproxylic
insects and their response to variation in availability is critical for
assessing the ecological impacts of deadwood management. The
relationship between deadwood amount and saproxylic insects is
evident. Further, many studies report the importance of host spe-
cies, albeit with contrasting results regarding the degree of special-
ization, which decreases with increasing deadwood decomposition.
Yet, adierence between deciduous and coniferous species is rec-
ognized. Habitat diversity, expressed as a variability of deadwood
dimension and decomposition, shows a positive inuence on insect
diversity. However, quantitative studies of species succession along
the decomposition process are lacking. We tested arapid assessment
based on feeding galleries and boreholes to investigate habitat char-
acteristics for saproxylic species and the underlying drivers for their
occurrence, richness and community composition. We tested factors
at dierent spatial scales that inuence the occurrence of individual
saproxylic insect families, assessed their inuence on family richness,
and the community composition. This is one among few studies test-
ing if arapid assessment method at family–level is appropriate for
deriving habitat preferences and thresholds.
Eects of forest res on the composition of
vascular plants and bryophytes in hemiboreal
Estonia
Orumaa A1, Tullus T1, Tullus A2, Köster K3, Metslaid M1
1Institute of Forestry and Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu,
Estonia, 2Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University
of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia, 3Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Uni-
versity of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
Since forest res frequency is expected to increase, it is important
to understand eects of res to forest ecosystems. We investigated
the impacts of forest re on understorey vegetation that accounts
for alarge part of the total plant species richness of forest ecosys-
tems. Our research was carried out in northwestern Estonia, where
six dierent stands dominated by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) were
burned 12, 21, 38, 69, 80 and 183 years ago. Eects of time since re
and environmental factors (soil and light variables) on the richness,
diversity and cover of vascular plant and bryophyte layers, and on the
richness of dierent species groups were evaluated. Compositional
variation was analysed with non–metric multidimensional scaling,
Multi–response Permutation Procedures, and Indicator Species Anal-
ysis. In vegetation plots, 70 species (31 vascular plant and 39 bryo-
phytes) were found. The cover of the bryophyte and vascular plant
layers increased with longer time since re. There were also compo-
sitional dierences in the recently burned vs long–time ago burned
areas. In conclusion, time since re impacted compositional patterns
of understorey vegetation, although time–related trends in species
richness were less evident.
Urban horticulture for biological conservation
Ossola A1, Farrell C2, Williams N2, Leishman M3
1University of California Davis, Davis, United States, 2The University of Melbourne,
Melbourne, Australia, 3Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Among threats to global plant diversity, urbanization has been akey
driver of species loss and extinction. Trade among urban areas has
further fueled the spread of exotic and invasive species, impacting
native plant communities globally. New evidence, however, recog-
nizes cities as unexpected repositories of biological diversity. For in-
stance, up to 15% of the global tree ora is estimated to live in the
world’scities. Urban areas contain hundreds of species that are con-
sidered either extinct in the wild, critically–endangered, endangered,
87
rare, or vulnerable to extinction. Rather than viewing urban horticul-
ture as a threat to biodiversity, we argue that this practice – along-
side the landscape plantings it delivers – have unrealized potential
for meaningful plant conservation at large scales. Urban areas have
resources, space, technologies and human capacity to sustain plant
conservation at the wide scale needed to limit further loss of plant
diversity. In this contribution we present aframework and roadmap
that seeks anew nature–positive vision for urban horticulture to sig-
nicantly contribute to the UN’sDecade on Ecosystem Restoration
(2021–2030) and UN Sustainable Development Goals 11 Sustainable
Cities and Communities, and SDG 15 Life on Land.
Understanding the drivers and consequences
of global insect biodiversity change
Outhwaite C1, Newbold T2
1UCL, London, United Kingdom, 2UCL, London, United Kingdom
In recent years, several studies have investigated changes in insect
biodiversity. Biodiversity changes are driven primarily by land–use
change, and increasingly by climate change, but no study has as-
sessed the eect of these drivers on insect biodiversity globally
nor, importantly, the potential for interactions between these driv-
ers. Here, we show that the interaction between rapid historical cli-
mate warming and intensive agricultural land use is associated with
areduction of almost 50% in abundance and of 27% in numbers of
species within insect assemblages, compared to less–disturbed hab-
itats with lower rates of historical climate warming. These patterns
are particularly evident in the tropical realm, whereas some positive
responses of biodiversity to climate change are seen in non–topical
regions in natural habitats. Importantly, ahigh availability of nearby
natural habitat often buered the reductions in insect abundance
and richness associated with agricultural land use and rapid climate
change, but only in low–intensity agricultural systems. Our results
show that insect biodiversity will likely benet from mitigating climate
change, preserving natural habitat within landscapes, and reducing
the intensity of agriculture.
Habitat availability explains recent range
losses in terrestrial mammals
Pacici M1, Cristiano A2, Lumbierres M1, Mallon D3, Tognelli M4, Belant
J5, Lucherini M6, Meijaard E7, Solari S8, Rondinini C1
1Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy, 2Department of Geography and Environ-
mental Sciences – Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom,
3Division of Biology and Conservation Ecology, Manchester Metropolitan University,
Manchester, United Kingdom, 4Conservation International, Arlington, United States,
5SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, United States, 6Uni-
versidad Nacional del Sur, Bahia Blanca, Argentina, 7Centre of Excellence for Envi-
ronmental Decisions, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 8Universidad de
Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
The average rate of loss of vertebrates is now up to 1000 times high-
er than background rates, with mammals being particularly aected
by human activities. Broad–scale destruction of natural habitats, in
particular tropical forests, is one of the primary sources of species
loss. However, the lack of data on species’ distribution and ne–scale
changes in habitat for the recent past have prevented comprehensive
threat assessments. We collected data on the distribution of >450
mammals in the 1970 s–80s that lost at least part of their range in
the past 50 years, then we calculated the amount of habitat current-
ly available within the lost and retained portions of the range. We
found anet discrepancy between the habitat available in retained ar-
eas compared with lost areas, where the latter contained signicant-
ly less habitat. This trend was particularly evident in large mammals
and in almost all land regions identied by IUCN. Understanding the
role of habitat degradation in recent range dynamics and identifying
species and areas most aected can help prioritize conservation in-
terventions.
Dutch landscapes are losing
insect–pollinated plants
Pan K1, Marshall L2,3, Biesmeijer K1,2, R. de Snoo G1,4
1Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands, 2Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Neth-
erlands, 3Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, 4Netherlands Institute of
Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands
The interruption of plant–pollinator interactions may threaten global
plant diversity, food security, ecosystem stability and human well-
being. Recent reports of strong declines of both insects and plants
seem to point to insect decline as adriver of plant decline. However,
it is still unknown whether these trends are linked and to what extent
plant declines are related to insect pollination, as plants often pro-
duce seeds without the need for insect pollinators. Here we combine
626,229 Dutch vegetation plot data from 1930 to 2017 and plant traits
to show that the proportion of obligately insect pollinated plants
has declined ~10.4% while obligately wind pollinated plants have in-
creased ~9.6% over the last 87 years. The proportion of facultatively
insect pollinated plants has declined ~6.4% while facultatively wind
pollinated plants have increased ~9.6%. This proportional change re-
ects an absolute decline in the number of insect pollinated species
and increase in the number of wind pollinated species over time in
the Netherlands. In conclusion, Dutch landscapes are losing insect
pollinated plant species, which are being replaced by wind pollinated
species. Based on our results, we encourage policies to address the
conservation of insect pollinators to mitigate the decline of plants.
Human–Nature Relationships in East Asian
Animated Films
Pan Y1
1School of Agriculture, Policy and Development (University of Reading, UK), Reading,
United Kingdom
Our relationship with nature is complex and exploring this extends
beyond academia. Animated lms with powerful narratives can con-
nect humans with nature in ways that science cannot. Narratives can
be transformative and shape our opinions. Nevertheless, there is lit-
tle research into non–Western lms with strong conservation themes.
Hayao Miyazaki is aJapanese lmmaker that is acknowledged as one
of the greatest animated lmmakers and master storytellers globally.
The themes of environmentalism, feminism and pacism resonate
throughout his lms. His underlying message is that humans must
strive to live in harmony with nature, whilst presenting us with the so-
cio–cultural complexities of human–nature relationships. Ireview ve
of Miyazaki’slms that explore human–nature relationships. One lm
was released with aspecial recommendation from the World Wildlife
Fund for Nature (WWF) and the other won an Oscar. I explore the
lessons that we can learn from these lms regarding human–nature
relationships, and how to create powerful narratives that resonate
with audiences and transcend cultural barriers.
Human disturbance disrupts home range
dynamics in alarge carnivore.
Parres A1, Bartoń K1, Sergiel A1, Zięba F2, Zwijacz–Kozica T2, Selva N1
1Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland, 2Ta-
tra National Park, Zakopane, Poland
Most studies on home range (HR) properties variation have focused
on large–time scales. However, individuals often show strong behav-
ioural plasticity, an aspect that cannot be captured without incorpo-
rating adynamic approach, which uses short–time scales, to HR anal-
yses. Human disturbance has been shown to alter animal’s spatial
behaviour, yet its eects on animal HR dynamics have not been eval-
uated. Using abrown bear (Ursus arctos) population as abiological
model, we examined the dynamic HR properties and assessed how
they are aected by human disturbances. We estimated HR areas at
adaily scale using the 95% T–LoCoH method. Bears exhibited asea-
sonal pattern in the HR properties. HR size and location varied daily,
with the HR being largest and displacing furthest distances during the
summer solstice. Females showed more pronounced seasonal pat-
terns than males. Human disturbance disrupted the seasonality of
brown bears’ HR properties, with females being more aected. We
propose the dynamic approach as a more meaningful measure for
describing space–use, particularly in species with large spatial re-
quirements. Assessing the seasonal and dynamic nature of the HR
may improve our predictions of space–use and the associated be-
havioural implications for species that have to adapt to the ongoing
human expansion.
88
Time to skip causal claims and to be more
transparent in conservation evaluations
Pärt T1, Josefsson J1, Hiron M1, Kačergytė I1, Rubene D1, Knape J1, Auf-
fretetal. A1
1The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
The delivery of rigorous and unbiased evidence on the eects of in-
terventions lies at the heart of the scientic method. We examine
scientic papers evaluating agri–environment schemes, the princi-
pal instrument to mitigate farmland biodiversity declines worldwide.
Despite previous warnings about poor study designs in this eld, we
found that the majority of studies published between 2008 and 2017
still lack robust study designs required to evaluate intervention ef-
fects. Potential sources of bias that arise from the correlative nature
of data are rarely mentioned, and results are still promoted by using
acausal language. This lack of robust study designs likely results from
poor integration of research and policy, while the erroneous use of
causal language and an unwillingness to discuss bias may stem from
publication pressures. As these violations to the scientic method
can have serious repercussions on the general view concerning con-
servation research we propose some practices to improve scientic
reporting and discussion of study limitations in intervention research.
Population genomics of acephalopod
species reect oceanographic barriers and
inbreeding patterns
Pereira R1, Bein B1, Lima F2, Leite T3, Lima S2
1LMU–munich, Munich, Germany, 2Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Norte,
Natal, Brazil, 3Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil
Temporal variation of population size and genetic connectivity deter-
mine current patterns of genetic diversity within species, and hence
their capacity to respond to natural selection. Yet, these demographic
processes remain largely unknown in oceanic systems, where many
species are still being described and are exploited. Here, we present
one of the rst population genomic studies in acephalopod, Octopus
insularis. Using genomic data, we identify the South Equatorial cur-
rent as the main barrier to gene ow between southern and northern
parts of the species range, followed by discontinuities in the habi-
tat associated with depth. We nd that genetic diversity of insular
populations signicantly decreases after colonization from the con-
tinental shelf, also reecting low habitat availability. We nd astrong-
er population expansion for coastal relative to insular populations,
consistent with increases in habitat availability since the Last Glacial
Maximum. The direction of gene ow is coincident with currents and
eddies between isolated populations. Together, our results show that
oceanic currents and habitat breaks are determinant in the diversi-
cation of marine species, shaping standing genetic variability within
populations. Moreover, our results show that insular populations are
particularly vulnerable to current human exploitation and selective
pressures, calling the revision of their protection status.
Using eDNA presence/non–detection data
to characterize the abiotic and biotic habitat
requirements of arare, elusive amphibian
Perl R1, 2, Avidor E2, Roll U3, Malka Y4, Geen E2, Gafny S5
1Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt, Germany,
2School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 3Mitrani Department of Desert
Ecology, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes of Desert Research, Ben–Gurion University of
the Negev, Midreshet Ben–Gurion, Israel, 4Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Jerusa-
lem, Israel, 5Faculty of Marine Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, Mikhmoret, Israel
The environmental DNA (eDNA) approach has already been estab-
lished as avaluable tool for the detection and monitoring of rare and
elusive species. However, its application is not limited to assessing
whether or not aspecies is present in agiven area. In this study, we
collected environmental data from 48 aquatic locations that had
previously been investigated in an eDNA–based study. We sought to
determine the abiotic and biotic factors that could explain the pres-
ence or non–detection of Hula painted frog DNA at those locations, in
order to characterize this rare species’ little studied habitat require-
ments. We found that the detection probability of this species de-
creased substantially with increasing phosphorus loads as well as in
the presence of the wetland plant Lythrum salicaria. By contrast, the
detection probability increased markedly when Phragmites australis
or Ludwigia stolonifera constituted part of the dominant aquatic vege-
tation. Our results expand the knowledge on this elusive frog species
and contribute valuable information for future habitat restoration
plans. They further show that eDNA data can also be used to charac-
terize the putative habitats of species where such data are scarce or
even totally lacking.
Reclaiming vacant land for green
infrastructure to provide ecosystem services
Pham M1, Spring M2, Sivako F3, Gardiner M1
1Ohio State University, Department of Entomology, Columbus, OH, United States,
2Ohio State University, Ohio Bee Survey, Newark, OH, United States, 3Ohio State
University, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Marion, OH,
United States
Urban green spaces provide important habitat and ecosystem ser-
vices. In post–industrial legacy cities like Cleveland, Ohio (USA), built
structures are demolished as people leave these cities, resulting in
newly vacant land. Vacant land constitutes an opportunity to estab-
lish low–cost green infrastructure (GI) that provides ecosystem ser-
vices. Our objective was to determine whether investments in GI
can support stormwater management and pollinator habitat. 2 GI
treatments were implemented in Cleveland, Ohio from 2014 to 2016:
rain gardens (low–cost) and bioswales (high–cost). Rain gardens were
mulched depressions containing water tolerant forbs. Bioswales
were created by constructing channels seeded with avariety of per-
ennials. We hypothesized that investments in low and high–cost GI
could enhance local bee biodiversity. Pollinators were sampled for
three years (June–August) using bee bowls and yellow sticky card
traps. Vegetation variables were also measured. Generalized linear
mixed models evaluated if pollinator species varied with treatment,
habitat variables, and observation date. Preliminary analyses demon-
strate asimilar abundance and species richness of pollinators across
treatments. Further analyses will examine whether pollinator func-
tional diversity varies with treatment. Our results suggest that GI can
improve stormwater management without endangering urban bee
biodiversity.
EDGE Zones revisited: spatial priorities for the
conservation of tetrapod evolutionary history
Pipins S1, Pollock L2,3, Baillie J1, Owen N1, Gumbs R4,5
1On The Edge Conservation, London, United Kingdom, 2Quebec Centre for Biodiver-
sity Sciences, Quebec, Canada, 3McGill University, Quebec, Canada, 4The EDGE of
Existence Programme, London, United Kingdom, 5Imperial College London, London,
United Kingdom
The biodiversity crisis is set to prune the Tree of Life in away that
threatens billions of years of evolutionary history. To secure this
heritage along with the benets it provides to humanity, there is
a need to understand where the greatest losses are predicted to
occur. We therefore present the rst study mapping threatened
evolutionary history for all tetrapod groups, globally and within Bi-
odiversity Hotspots, as well as revealing patterns of Evolutionarily
Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) tetrapod species. We found
that threatened evolutionary history peaks in the Guinean Forests of
West Africa, whilst EDGE richness shows high endemism and peaks
in Madagascar. We then revisited the EDGE Zone concept for spatial-
ly prioritising phylogenetic diversity, using a novel complementarity
procedure with uncertainty incorporated for 33,628 tetrapod species.
This resulted in 25 priority areas, which are insuciently protected
and disproportionately exposed to high levels of human pressure.
Together, they occupy less than 1% of the world’ssurface but harbour
one–third of threatened evolutionary history, half of which is found
nowhere else. We believe these EDGE Zones can highlight areas of
immediate concern to the researchers, practitioners, policy makers,
and communicators looking to safeguard the Tree of Life.
89
Gender and caregiving inuences academic
performance of ecologists
Piquer–Rodríguez M1,2, Lomascolo S2, Novillo A3, Sandoval–Salinas
M4,5, Fontanarrosa G3, Núñez Montellano G2, Alvarez M6,7, Aschero
V8,9, Chillo V10, Fanjul M11, Martínez–Gálvez F12, Pero E3, Rodríguez D13,
Schroeder N13, Zarbá L2
1Freie Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2Instituto de Ecología Regional CCT
CONICET–UNT , Tucumán, Argentina , 3Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical CCT
CONICET–UNT, Tucumán, Argentina, 4Instituto de Investigación en Luz, Ambiente y
Visión (ILAV), CONICET–UNT, Tucumán, Argentina, 5Instituto de Investigaciones en
Biodiversidad Argentina (PIDBA), UNT., Tucumán, Argentina, 6Universidad Nacion-
al de Tucumán, Argentina (UNT) , Tucumán, Argentina, 7Universidad Nacional de
Santiago del Estero (UNSE) , Santiago del Estero, Argentina, 8Instituto Argentino de
Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA), CCT–CONICET , Mendoza,
Argentina, 9Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo,
Mendoza, Argentina, 10Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias de
Bariloche (IFAB), INTA – CONICET El Bolsón, , Rio Negro, Argentina, 11Instituto Verte-
brados, Zoología, Fundación Miguel Lillo; Fac. Cs. Nat. e IML UNT , Tucumán, Argen-
tina, 12Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA, Laboratorio de Ecología Aplicada ala
Conservación, Universidad Nacional de Salta , Salta, Argentina, 13Instituto Argentino
de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas (IADIZA). CCT CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina
In science, greater dedication leads to higher performance. Conse-
quently, scientists with caregiving responsibilities will suer downfalls
in productivity. Caregivers are mainly women, so their career is highly
aected. Based on aself–perception survey among Argentinean ecol-
ogists, we studied the distribution of caregiving responsibilities, time
use distribution at work, and perception of researchers’ own work in
relation to gender. We found that alarger percentage of women carry
caregiving duties, dedicate less uninterrupted time to work, and more
to non–work–related tasks, than their male’scounterparts. We found
no eect of caregiving on age at promotion, although women tend to
start earlier stages of their careers younger than men. Women tend
to value their own work more poorly than men. Moreover, the work–
family balance is perceived negatively by women in early career stag-
es. We claim that caregiving duties must be considered worldwide
when evaluating aresearcher’sperformance, especially for women.
Public policies must help relieve women from heavy caregiving tasks
and facilitate leaving their home space to detach from not–work–re-
lated tasks. Greater peer recognition of women’sresearch should in-
crease their participation as advisers and referents, as well as their
own work recognition and that of other women.
Long–term eects of prescribed re and
dead wood manipulations on boreal polypore
communities
Ramberg E1, Berglund H2, Penttilä R3, Strengbom J1, Jönsson M2
1Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Swe-
den, 2Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Scienc-
es, Uppsala, Sweden, 3Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), Helsinki, Finland
Intensive management of boreal forests has resulted in even–aged
stands with little dead wood and few natural disturbances such as
re. Since dead wood, both burned and unburned, provides critical
habitat for many threatened wood–inhabiting species there is aneed
for restoration. Here, we report the long–term eects of prescribed
re and coarse woody debris (CWD) additions, on polypore commu-
nity diversity in spruce dominated boreal forests in Finland. The ex-
periment has afactorial design (n=3) including three levels of creat-
ed CWD (5, 30 and 60 m3 ha–1) crossed with re or no re. In 2018,
16 years after the initiation, we inventoried polypores on 20 logs
per stand. We found that overall polypore community composition
diered between burned and unburned stands. However, only red–
listed species abundances and richness were positively aected by
prescribed re. We found no eects of CWD additions. We concluded
that the long–term eects of re for threatened polypore commu-
nities are benecial. Additionally, our results suggest that although
addition of CWD does not inuence species diversity per dead wood
item, re does. This demonstrates that re, besides the well–known
eect of increasing habitat amount, may also favour red–listed poly-
pores by changed habitat quality and continuity.
Adapting biodiversity conservation to
awarming climate: asynthesis
Ranius T1, Hämäläinen A1, Widenfalk L1, Seedre M2, Felton A2, Filyush-
kina A1, Öckinger E1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 2Swedish University of
Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden
It is a challenge to adapt conservation strategies to achanging cli-
mate. We systematically compiled recommendations from scientic
literature reviews regarding adapting biodiversity conservation to
climate change in boreal and temperate regions. Most recommen-
dations belonged to eight dominating categories: (i) Promote both
connectivity that facilitates dispersal through landscapes and con-
nectivity that maintains populations within landscapes; (ii) Focus on
sites acting as climate refugia, (iii) Protect afew large areas rather
than many smaller; (iv) Consider the regional location, especially by
locating conservation measures at sites predicted being important in
the future; (v) Protect areas also temporarily, as a response to ex-
treme events or changes in range distributions; (vi) Increase habitat
diversity over landscapes by protecting many dierent habitats; (vii)
Mitigate habitat deterioration caused by climate change and restore
degraded habitats in production landscapes, and (viii) Decrease land
use intensity and adapt practices to climate change, for example by
increasing the ecological resilience to climatic stresses.
Climate change implies that more conservation eorts are required
to reach conservation goals. To protect biodiversity, both traditional
conservation strategies and strategies adapted to climate change are
needed; moreover, novel approaches developed as aresponse to cli-
mate change will become relevant.
Phenological shifts in pear owering
predicted under all future climate scenarios
Reeves L1, Garratt M1, Fountain M2, Senapathi D1
1Centre for Agri–Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy and Develop-
ment, University Of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom, 2NIAB EMR, Kent, UK
Climatic warming has shifted owering times in multiple plant species.
Changes in owering phenology could have signicant implications
for ecosystems; impacting pollination services, pest populations and
community interactions. Furthermore, there is lack of information on
how crop owering times will react to future climate scenarios. Us-
ing 60 years of data from pear (Pyrus communis L.) orchards in Kent,
UK we explored temporal changes in owering phenology, identied
weather variables driving this change, and predicted how owering
times may be altered with respect to future emissions scenarios. We
show pear owering (1990–2020) in the last 30 years has advanced
11.44 days compared to historical data (1960–1989). Moreover, this
shift is apparent in all twelve pear cultivars and four phenological
stages analysed. Our results indicate this advancement began after
1982; that air temperature and frost days signicantly impact ow-
ering; and this change in phenology is likely to continue under future
climate scenarios. Four Representative Concentration Pathways from
the UK Climate Projections 2018 report were used to model future
climate impacts, under all scenarios aphenological advancement in
owering time was predicted by 2080. Methods used could be easily
applied to other plant species, making broader predictions about the
impact of climate change.
Disentangling the eects of management,
eld structure of fallows and surrounding
landscape composition to promote steppe
bird conservation
Revilla–Martín N1, Giralt D1, Bota G1, Sanz–Pérez A1,2,3, Sardà–Pal-
omera F1
1Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), Solsona, Spain, 2Departa-
ment de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia iCiències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona,
Barcelona, Spain, 3Department of Ecological Dynamics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and
Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany
Fallow lands provide a crucial habitat for steppe birds, and their
reduction has been related to steppe bird population declines. In
north–eastern Spain, aregional conservation measure that promotes
90
the management of 3000 ha of fallow land has been proven to fa-
vour steppe bird populations by increasing the abundance of target
species and other farmland birds. Nevertheless, its positive eects
are variable within the steppe bird community. This study explores
which are the characteristics that make fallow elds successful. We
used variance partitioning methods to separate the eects of man-
agement (e.g. fallow age) from intrinsic eld characteristics (e.g. eld
size) and landscape composition (e.g. amount of farmland area) on
the presence of target species. Fallow management and landscape
composition played dierent roles depending on the studied species.
For Tetrax tetrax and Melanocorypha calandra landscape had the big-
gest eects, while management was the most important for Burhinus
oedicnemus. Our results point out the importance of both dimensions
when managing fallow elds for steppe bird conservation and high-
light the importance of objective driven management. Knowing the
keys of successful management at eld level and optimal planning at
landscape level would help improve the design of targeted conserva-
tion plans and future Agri–environment–climate measures.
Understanding the drivers of common bird
populations decline in Europe.
Rigal S1,2, Devictor V1, Dakos V1, PECBMS W3
1Institut des Sciences de l‘Evolution de Montpellier, Montpellier, France, 2Swedish
University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 3PanEuropean Common Bird
Monitoring Scheme Working Group, Prague, Czech Republic
The dynamics of European bird populations have been reported for
decades, showing a general decline in bird abundances. However,
the direct eect of the main anthropogenic pressures on bird pop-
ulations remains dicult to identify as pressures may interact at dif-
ferent spatial scales and bird responses may vary between species
and be delayed in time. Our objective is to quantify the inuence of
four widespread anthropogenic pressures (agricultural intensica-
tion, change in forest cover, urbanisation and climate change) on the
dynamics of bird populations and to identify the traits of the most
impacted species. We therefore analyse time–series of 170 common
bird species monitored in 28 European countries over 37 years in
relation to each of the four pressures. Agricultural intensication
appears to be the main negative factor in the decline of most bird
populations, while forest cover is associated with apositive eect,
urbanisation with anegative eect and species’ thermal preference
determines the eect of temperature change on each species. Our
results rank and quantify the eects of anthropogenic pressures on
European common bird population, highlighting the urgent need for
transformative changes in agricultural practices, landscape manage-
ment and climate change mitigation to eectively conserve these
populations.
Unpacking links between ad–hoc
management and demography
in an endangered tropical wild bird
Robinson T1
1University Of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom, 2Institute of Zoology, London, Unit-
ed Kingdom
Current conservation research is insuciently focused on designing
and testing management interventions for species of conservation
concern. Due to practical limitations and diculties of experimenting
on endangered populations, testing impacts of conservation inter-
ventions is frequently retrospective, and can be confounded by con-
current inuences of natural background processes also impacting
vital rates.
Here, we use long–term individual–based data on the endangered
island endemic Mauritius Fody Foudia rubra, to explore the impacts
of supplementary feeding on individual productivity. Our informa-
tion–theoretic approach allows the impacts of this intervention to be
separated from natural processes which also inuence productivity
for both sexes.
We establish that nesting frequently is akey component of individual
productivity. We show that supplemental feeding increases produc-
tivity across aspatial gradient; individuals who have territories near-
er feeding stations are able to nest more frequently than their more
distant peers. This impact applies to both sexes, and regardless of
mating strategy.
We show that long–term data on endangered species can be used to
test the impact of management, and hence contribute to population
recovery; and we recommend that agreater focus on conservation
interventions can only be delivered if species recovery programmes
invest in long–term monitoring which generates such data.
The potential of ower strips to enhance
biocontrol in conventionally managed
cereal elds
Rodenwald N1, Leuschner C1, Batáry P2
1University of Göttingen – Plant Ecology and Ecosystem Research, Göttingen, Germa-
ny, 2“Lendület” Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Bota-
ny, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
The recent decline of semi–natural habitats in European agricultural
landscapes has led to atremendous biodiversity loss. Awidespread
tool to halt any further decline are agri–environmental measures
such as ower strips. To date, the potential benecial eect of ower
strips on ecosystem services such as biocontrol has predominantly
been studied in organic farmland, even though the majority of ag-
ricultural land is farmed conventionally. We investigated the poten-
tial of perennial ower strips (compared to grassy eld margins) to
enhance spill–over of natural enemies into adjacent conventionally–
managed cereal elds. We used cereal tiller counts and D–Vac sam-
pling to quantify aphids, cereal leaf beetles and their natural enemies
at increasing distances from each habitat type.
Our results suggest a contrasting eect of habitat type on the two
investigated pest species at peak infestation point. However, the ratio
of enemies to pest individuals tends to be slightly higher with adja-
cent ower strips compared to grass strips for both pest species.
We conclude that perennial ower strips have weak benecial eects
on biocontrol at peak infestation, even in conventionally–managed
agricultural systems. This eect may vary during the course of in-
festation. Therefore, we propose that future investigations consider
temporal pest–enemy dynamics.
Does regional context inuence the
eectiveness of Agri–environment Measures
in protecting the habitat of farmland birds?
Roilo S1, Cord A1
1Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Agri–environment schemes, ecological focus areas and organic farm-
ing are the main tools of the Common Agricultural Policy to counter-
act the dramatic decline of farmland biodiversity in Europe. However,
their eectiveness seems to vary depending on the regional environ-
mental and land–use context. Using ensemble species distribution
models and eld–level land–use information from the Integrated Ad-
ministration and Control System, we investigated the eects of ve
groups of measures (buer areas, cover crops, extensive grassland
management, fallow land and organic farming) on the occurrences of
11 farmland bird species in three study regions in the Czech Republic,
Germany and Spain. Despite dierences in environmental conditions
and land–use context among the three study regions, the majority of
species were positively associated with all measures in all regions,
except for the German case study, where organic farming had con-
trasting responses across species. Variable importance scores were
low in all regions for all measures compared to climatic, topographic
and land–cover variables; and the dierence in modelled habitat suit-
ability between scenarios with and without agri–environment meas-
ures was limited. We argue that the low uptake of these measures
by farmers, despite their overall positive eects on habitat quality,
compromises conservation eorts for farmland birds in European
agroecosystems.
91
Understanding the relative impact
of dierent threats to large carnivores
in aglobal deforestation hotspot
Romero–Muñoz A1, Bleyhl B1, Camino M2, De Angelo C3, Decarre J4,
Giordano A5, Maei L6, Nanni S7, Noss A8, Nuñez–Regueiro M9, Quiro-
ga V10,12, Thompson J11, Torres R12, Villalba L13, Weiler A14, Kuemmerle
T1,15
1Geography Department, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2Proyecto
Quimilero, and Laboratorio de Biología de la Conservación, Centro de Ecología
Aplicada del Litoral, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientícas y Técnicas
(CONICET), Corrientes, Argentina, 3Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad
y Ambiente (ICBIA) Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientícas y Técnicas (CON-
ICET – Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto), Rio Cuarto, Argentina, 4Instituto de Re-
cursos Biológicos – Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Buenos
Aires, Argentina, 5S.P. E.C.I.E.S. – The Society for the Preservation of Endangered
Carnivores and their International Ecological Study, Ventura, CA, USA, 6Biosfera Con-
sultores Ambientales SAC, Lima, Peru, 7Instituto de Ecología Regional, Universidad
Nacional de Tucumán, Consejo Nacional de Inestigaciones Cientícas y Técnicas
(CONICET), Yerba Buena, Argentina, 8Department of Geography, University of Flor-
ida, Gainesville, USA, 9Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA (IBIGEO), Consejo Na-
cional de Investigaciones Cientícas y Técnicas (CONICET). Universidad Católica de
Salta, Salta, Argentina, 10Proyecto Yaguareté–Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque
Atlántico, Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, 11Guyra Paraguay – Consejo Nacional de Cien-
cia y Tecnología, Asunción, Paraguay, 12Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal
(IDEA – CONICET/Universidad Nacional de Córdoba), Córdoba, Argentina, 13Wildlife
Conservation Society – Paraguay, Asunción, Paraguay, 14Departamento de Biología,
Universidad Nacional de Asunción, San Lorenzo, Paraguay, 15Integrative Research
Institute on Transformation in Human Environment Systems, Humboldt–University
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Large carnivore populations are declining globally due to the impacts
of multiple threats, particularly habitat destruction and direct perse-
cution. Understanding the relative contributions of dierent threats
to population declines is important to set eective conservation in-
terventions, but for most species, this remains poorly understood.
Here, we assess the individual and combined impacts of habitat de-
struction and persecution on jaguar and puma populations across
the 1.1 million km2 South American Gran Chaco. We reconstructed
species–specic habitat suitability, as well as the spatial footprints of
each threat for the period 1985–2020. We then used these data in
spatially explicit, individual–based modelling frameworks to analyze
population dynamics under dierent threats. We found that persecu-
tion contributed more strongly to population declines of both jaguar
and puma than habitat destruction. Furthermore, where both threats
interacted, declines were much stronger than for any single threat.
Our analyses also uncovered where remaining population sources
and sinks for each species are in the Chaco. These results highlight
the key areas where threat–specic interventions could eectively
contribute to conserving large predator populations across the re-
gion. Our study underlines the urgent need for considering multiple
threats together to design and implement more eective conserva-
tion strategies.
Predator avoidance behaviour of large
carabids revealed by non–destructive
methods in amanaged oak–hornbeam forest
Růžičková J1, Elek Z1
1MTA–ELTE–MTM Ecology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
Animal behaviour can be agood proxy for any habitat alteration and
can act as early warning signallers indicating the changes in commu-
nity structures. The previous radio–tracking underlines the adverse
eect of certain forestry treatments on carabid movement and also
revealed that there is ano–movement phase in all trajectories. None-
theless, there is no direct estimation for taxon–specic predation
pressure on carabids which can be a proxy for the risk in habitat
utilisation, often referred to as an ecological trap. In our study, we
explored the predation pressure on carabids using 3D printed de-
coys installed in two types of forestry treatments, preparation cuts
and clear–cuts, and control plots in a Hungarian oak–hornbeam
forest. We estimated the seasonal, diurnal and treatment–specic
aspects of the predation pressure on carabids as a complementary
study of apreceding radio–tracking on the same experimental setup.
Our results revealed asignicantly higher predation risk in forestry
treatments than in the control, especially for nights. In addition, the
predator avoidance behaviour based on the non–movement phases
in recorded trajectories also revealed the high predation pressure in
the treatments. These ndings clearly showed that amodied forest
environment can shift ecological interactions between species.
Multi–Action Conservation Planning across
realms: AMixed Integer Programming
Model approach
Salgado–Rojas J1, Hermoso V2, Álvarez–Miranda E3
1Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain, 2University of Sevilla, Sevilla,
Spain, 3University of Talca, Talca, Chile
Spatial connectivity is essential when planning eective conservation,
especially for species that depend on dierent realms during their life
cycle. Traditionally, most of eorts have focused on working on dif-
ferent realms independently, overlooking the propagation of threats
across realms, the cumulative impacts of threats or tackled the prob-
lem using heuristic optimization models.
We present amathematical programming model that identies pri-
ority areas for the implementation of management actions for mul-
tiple threats across four realms (terrestrial, freshwater, estuary, and
marine) to benet multiple species simultaneously. We use the Tagus
River (Iberian Peninsula) as acase study, where we integrate three
dierent types of connectivity: longitudinal along rivers, and multidi-
mensional in the estuary and marine realms. We simulate the prop-
agation of threats across the study area using four types decay func-
tions: two exponential decays (medium and high), one linear, and no
decay. We then compare the allocation of management actions un-
der two alternative scenarios: multi–realm planning vs single–realm
planning. The results show that the multi–realm planning outper-
forms the single–realm, especially for species that depend on multi-
ple realms and that the greater the propagation of threats, the larger
the dierences between scenarios. This model could help better ad-
dress complex conservation management problems elsewhere.
ARE WE SPECTATORS, CURATORS, OR
CARETAKERS? NATURALNESS AND APPLYING
PRINCIPLISM TO CONSERVATION
Saltz D1
1Ben Gurion University, Lehavim, Israel
The concept of ‘Naturalness’ in conservation remains polysemic.
Some believe ecosystem naturalness is the extent of freedom from
anthropogenic inuence (autonomy), others contend that natural-
ness should be determined by structure (integrity), Apristine ecosys-
tem is both autonomous and has 100% integrity. The problem begins
when needing to decide how to treat an impacted ecosystem. The
autonomy school advocates hands–o, the integrity school promotes
benchmark–based restoration by active management. Alternatively,
expected global changes suggest enhancement of ecosystem resil-
ience should be prioritized. Iargue that integrity, autonomy, and re-
silience are all morally valid. Their incompatibility can be tolerated if
we recognize that: (a) full naturalness is an unattainable abstraction
to strive for; (b) restoration processes are not an act of curation but
rather a „contrary–to–duty” obligation; and (c) integrity, resilience,
and autonomy are mid–level moral principles of applied ethics. Mid–
level principles are ‘Prima facie’ and are used to construct aworking
protocol responsive both to the case details and high–level principles.
The principles may conict, and are prioritized based on existing con-
ditions. Ecosystem conservation mid–level principles should include:
(1) minimize anthropogenic footprint; (2) manage for integrity based
on areliable and feasible benchmark; (3) enhance future resilience to
projected global change.
92
Long–term changes in insect diversity under
moderate human activity in aUNESCO
biosphere reserve
Schafstall N1, Kuosmanen N1,3, Svitavská–Svobodová H2, Kuneš P5,
Clear J4
1Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, 2Czech Academy of Sci-
ence, Pruhonice, Czech Republic, 3University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 4Hope
University, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 5Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
In general, conservation practices are based on historical records
of species distribution which do not extend further back than 200
years. Palaeoecology can be used as atool to explore baselines fur-
ther back in time, to create abetter understanding of the history of
dierent species. This research focuses on the foothills of the High
Tatra Mountains in Slovakia, part of the Tatra Transboundary UNES-
CO reserve. A1000–year high–resolution record of subfossil beetles
(Coleoptera) was extracted from peat sediment, and changes in spe-
cies composition and diversity were counted by identifying fossils to
genus, or species level. By comparing the fossil beetle record with
afossil pollen record for vegetation, interactions between the local
insect fauna and surrounding landscape were reconstructed. Signi-
cant declines in insect diversity occur from AD 1600 and are partially
related to acontinuous desiccation of the peat bog. These changes
coincide with increased human activity in the region. Our results
challenge the assumption of the High Tatra Mountains as a largely
pristine environment and the focus on saproxylic beetles for nature
protection of mountain areas in central Europe.
The Birds@Farmland Initiative: enhancing
farmland bird conservation by the CAP
Schindler S1, Stockhammer K1, Moreira F2, Barov B3, Morelli F4, Giralt
D5, Herzon I6, Hristoskova S7, Krall A8, Luoni F9, Rakowski J10, Roume
A11, Zamecnik V12, Bota G5, Celada C9, Pe‘er G10, Sarazin B11, Schwaiger
E1, Toth P8, Zehtindjiev P7, Catry I2, Lomba A2, Marquez T2, Metodiev T3,
Santana J2, Wezel A11, Baldi A8, Gaugitsch H1
1Environment Agency Austria, Vienna, Austria, 2CIBIO/InBIO, Vairão, Portugal, 3Pen-
soft Publishers, Soa, Bulgaria, 4Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague,
Czech Republic, 5Concorci Centre de Ciencia itecnologia Forestal de Catalunya, St.
Llorenc de Morunys, Spain, 6University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 7Dicon Group,
Soa, Bulgaria, 8BirdLife Hungary, Budapest, Hungary, 9LIPU–BirdLife Italy, Rome, It-
aly, 10UFZ Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, 11ISARA, Lyon, France, 12BirdLife Czech Republic,
Prague, Czech Republic
The Birds@Farmland Initiative is aconservation eort, aiming at im-
proving the weak performance of the CAP in relation to farmland
birds by increasing number, diversity, volume, uptake and eective-
ness of farmland bird conservation schemes. For this purpose, we
selected ten EU Member States (MS), i.e. Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Re-
public, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, and Spain,
and dened the most relevant ten agricultural systems and fteen
farmland bird species. In each of the ten MS, demand for conserva-
tion schemes for these systems and birds was assessed based on
published evidence and stakeholder consultations. Based on this as-
sessment, 22 conservation schemes (4 in Portugal, 2 in each of the
other nine MS) were co–developed with relevant stakeholders (e.g.
authorities, farmers associations, NGOs, academia) with the aim to
get them considered by the National Strategic Plans for the CAP that
were submitted to the European Commission by December 2022.
The developed conservation schemes dealt e.g. with crop rotation,
extensive grasslands, eld margins, grazing intensity, mixed farming
systems, rice cultivations, steppe habitats, and the particular species
corncrake, great bustard, grey partridge, lapwing, and Montagu’shar-
rier. Indeed, several of the developed schemes were taken up into
CAP Strategic Plans (related negotiations are ongoing).
Fungal diversity monitoring through the air? –
acase study on awaxcap grassland
Schlegel M1, Panziera J1, Zengerer V1, Zani D1, Brännhage J1, Gross A1
1Swiss Federal Research Institute Wsl, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Fungi are indispensable for most ecosystems, but strikingly little is
known about their diversity, distribution and consequently about
their threat status and extinction risk. This is partly owed to the fact
that fungi are dicult to monitor. Therefore, we evaluated the use of
eDNA analysis of airborne spores to aid in the revision of the fungal
red list of Switzerland. We collected spores on a species–rich wax-
cap grassland site using three dierent methods and analysed their
genetic composition with metabarcoding. In parallel, all fruitbodies
from typical grassland genera were located. The spore samples were
highly diverse and contained many macrofungi with a previously
evaluated conservation status. We found that threatened and data
decient categories were underrepresented compared to non–
threatened categories. Precipitation had astrong inuence on spe-
cies composition for sampling methods that also collected rainwater.
Spore analysis detected 18 of 30 locally occurring grassland species,
and 17 additional putative species from the selected genera. Mode-
ling of spore dispersal provided evidence for rapidly decreasing spore
concentrations already within afew meters distance from the source
fruitbodies. We conclude that spore sampling is able to capture the
surrounding local diversity and contributes valuable insights in the
distribution and abundance of fungi.
Urban re salamander monitoring – arace
against the plague
Schlindwein X1
1Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tuebingen, Germany
The invasive Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) chytrid fungus
rapidly eats its way through re salamander (Salamandra salamandra)
populations in Europe. However, monitoring is particularly lacking in
southern Germany. This master‘sthesis examines apopulation in an
urban forest in Tuebingen, Baden–Wuerttemberg, that was healthy
and estimated at over 600 individuals at the beginning of this mil-
lennium. Standard larvae removal sampling and non–invasive noc-
turnal larval counting methods are compared in population size es-
timation. Furthermore, acapture–recapture approach of the (semi–)
adult, terrestrial salamanders using the individual black and yellow
pattern repeats the population count from 2005. Recapturing an in-
dividual from that study would conrm an impressive age for these
small amphibians, that are tested for Bsal at this opportunity. Fur-
thermore, due to the urgent monitoring needs, an implementation of
the re salamander to acitizen–science pattern recognition project is
envisioned. These approaches provide valuable information on the
southern expansion of the salamander plague which might provide
asolution to save this charismatic species.
Monitoring costs for result–based payments:
Will remote sensing technologies be the
game–changer?
Schöttker O1, Hütt C2, Jauker F3, Witt J1, Bareth G2, Wätzold F1
1Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–senftenberg, Cottbus, Germany,
2University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, 3Justus–Liebig University, Gießen, Germa-
ny
Paying landowners for conservation results rather than paying for the
measures intended to provide such results is apromising approach
for biodiversity conservation. However, akey roadblock for the wide-
spread implementation of such result–based payment schemes are
the frequent diculties to monitor target species for whose presence
alandowner is supposed to receive aremuneration. Until recently,
the only conceivable monitoring approach would be conventional
monitoring techniques, by which qualied experts investigate the
presence of target species on–site. With the rise of remote sens-
ing technologies, in particular increased capabilities and decreased
costs of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), technological monitoring
opportunities enter the scene. We analyse the costs of monitoring
an ecological target of ahypothetical result–based payments scheme
and compare the monitoring cost between conventional monitoring
and UAV–assisted monitoring. We identify the underlying cost struc-
ture and cost components of both monitoring approaches and use
ascenario analysis to identify the inuence of factors like UAV costs,
area, and monitoring frequency. We then estimate future cost devel-
opments considering equipment, analysis and labour costs. We nd
that although conventional monitoring is the cost–eective monitor-
ing approach today, future cost developments are likely to render
UAV–assisted monitoring more cost–eective.
93
Does urban wild food foraging create
negative ecological impacts?
Amixed–methods study in Vienna, Austria
Schunko C1, Brandner A1
1University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Urban wild food foraging can enhance health and well–being of ur-
ban residents and educate them about food, nutrition and biodiver-
sity conservation. However, public authorities in charge of managing
public urban green spaces tend to be sceptical about potential neg-
ative ecological impacts of foraging on urban plant populations. We
conducted amixed–methods study in Vienna, Austria, to understand
whether this scepticism can be shown to have an empirical basis.
First, we conducted twenty–one semi–structured expert interviews
with urban foraging stakeholders and then 458 structured interviews
with Viennese residents. Stakeholders reported that many urban
foragers apply a range of practices that prevent and limit negative
ecological impacts. The predominant share of Viennese foragers in-
deed had good knowledge about foraging with care. However, forag-
ing rare species and inconsiderate foraging in foraging hotspots by
some foragers can still be problematic. These ndings suggest that,
in Vienna, ageneral skepticism towards foraging is unjustied. How-
ever, monitoring of foraging activities and targeted information to
raise awareness about good foraging practices are needed. If this is
done, public authorities can use urban foraging to strengthen urban
residents’ interaction with nature, and to educate them about biodi-
versity conservation.
Novel neonicotinoid–like insecticides and
food stress: synergistic threat for wild bee
pollinators? – Evidence from laboratory and
semi–eld experiments
Schwarz J1,2, Knauer A1, Alaux C3, Allan M4, Dean R5, Klein A6, Michez
D7, Tamburini G6,8, Wintermantel D6, Albrecht M1
1Agroscope, Zürich, Switzerland, 2ETH, Zürich, Switzerland, 3INRAE, Avignon, France,
4Atlantic Pollination, Eastleigh, United Kingdom, 5Red Beehive Company, Bishops
Waltham, United Kingdom, 6University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 7University of
Mons, Mons, Belgium, 8University of Bari, Bari, Italy
Wild bee pollinators in agricultural landscapes are threatened by var-
ious – potentially interacting – stressors, including exposure to pesti-
cides and loss of oral food resources. Since the recent partial ban of
neonicotinoid insecticides, novel alternatives such as sulfoxaor and
upyradifurone are increasingly used. Potential negative eects of
eld–realistic exposure to these new insecticides and their interactive
eects with commonly co–applied fungicides or food stress on soli-
tary wild bees remain largely unknown. We investigated the impacts
of sulfoxaor and upyradifurone, as well as their interactions with
the common fungicide azoxystrobin and food stress, on the solitary
bee Osmia bicornis under laboratory and semi–eld conditions. Pre–
owering application of sulfoxaor, alone or combined with the fun-
gicide, did not have signicant negative eects on tness under semi–
eld conditions. Application of upyradifurone during crop owering
and food stress, however, caused pronounced synergistic negative
impacts on survival, reproduction and foraging behaviour. Under
laboratory conditions, worst–case eld–realistic doses of both insec-
ticides negatively aected developing O. bicornis bees. Our results
highlight the need for improving pesticide risk assessment schemes
by considering interactions with further stressors in order to better
protect bees and their invaluable pollination services.
Using butteries as abioindicator for
pollinator communities
Segre H1, Kleijn D1, Bartomeus I2, WallisDeVries M1,3, Fijen T1
1Wageningen University and Reserach, Wageningen, Netherlands, 2Estación Biológi-
ca de Doñana (EBD–CSIC), Sevilla, Spain, 3De Vlinderstichting – Dutch Buttery Con-
servation, Wageningen, Netherlands
Monitoring population trends is essential for conservation, but
long–term high–intensity monitoring is required to reliably calculate
trends. Consequently, we have poor understanding of insect popu-
lation trends, except for butteries. Buttery diversity is considered
indicative for other pollinators’ diversity such as bees or hoveries,
but this has never been tested. We sampled 42 of the Dutch buttery
association monitoring sites during April–August 2020 and recorded
species richness and abundance of butteries, bees and hoveries,
and ower cover and richness. Using the same methods, we sampled
one site in Spain for six years. To test whether pollinators with similar
functional traits show similar trends, we categorized bees and butter-
ies according to their diet breadth, larval resources nitrogen–anity
and body size. Only hovery richness was correlated with both but-
teries (R² = 0.05) and bees (R² = 0.14), and may be more suitable as
abioindicator of pollinator diversity. Abundance of all three groups
showed no signicant correlation, except for non–polyphagous spe-
cies. Despite the weak correlation among pollinators, all groups were
highly aected by ower richness, yet, they respond to dierent host
plant families. Monitoring schemes aiming at pollinator conservation
should also monitor habitat quality and vegetation resources as bi-
oindicators for multi–taxa pollinator diversity.
Predicting mammal occupancy in tropical
protected areas from species characteristics:
apantropical analysis
Semper–Pascual A1, Bischof R1, Milleret C1, Beaudrot L2, Vallejo–Var-
gas A1, Ahumada J3, Akampurira E4, Bitariho R4, Espinosa S5, Jansen P6,
Kiebou–Opepa C7, Guimarães Moreira Lima M8, Martin E9, Mugerwa
B10, Rovero F11, Salvador J12, Santos F13, Uzabaho E14, Sheil D1,6
1Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway, 2Rice University, Houston, USA,
3Moore Center for Science, Conservation International, Arlington, USA, 4Mbarara
University of Science and Technology, Kabale, Uganda, 5Universidad Autónoma de
San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico, 6Wageningen University, Wageningen, The
Netherlands, 7Wildlife Conservation Society – Congo Program, Brazzaville, Congo,
8Institute of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal do Pará, Pará, Brazil, 9College
of African Wildlife Management, Moshi, Tanzania, 10Leibniz Institute for Zoo and
Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany, 11University of Florence, Florence, Italy, 12Wildlife
Conservation Society, Quito, Ecuador, 13Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Bra-
zil, 14International Gorilla Conservation Programme, Musanze, Rwanda
The structure of forest mammal communities appears surprisingly
consistent across the tropics, presumably due to convergent evolu-
tion in similar environments. We do not yet know whether this con-
sistency extends to mammal occupancy, and this is particularly the
case when assessing habitat specialization. Here we ask whether
species characteristics predict occupancy patterns and, if so, wheth-
er these relationships are consistent across biogeographic regions.
We assessed how feeding guild, body mass and ecological special-
ization relate to mammal occupancy in protected areas across the
tropics. We used standardized camera–trap data (1,002 camera–trap
locations and 10 years) and ahierarchical Bayesian occupancy model.
Herbivores consistently had the highest occupancy. However, only in
the Neotropics did we detect asignicant eect of mass on occupan-
cy: large mammals had lower occupancy than medium–size mam-
mals. Importantly, habitat specialists generally had ahigher occupan-
cy than generalists, though this was reversed in the Indo–Malayan
sites. We conclude that considering habitat specialization is key to
understanding variation in mammal occupancy across regions, and
that protected areas may be crucial for increasing specialist occupan-
cy. However, this is not the case in the Indo–Malayan region, where
specialists had the lowest occupancy, likely reecting the higher an-
thropogenic pressure that protected areas experience there.
Translating agro–ecological approaches from
one region to another – the importance of
context–based solutions and multi–sector
knowledge exchange.
Senapathi D1, Willcox B1, Dhandapani S1, Prasad G2, Rajaraman R2,
Pakkirisamy M2, Garratt M1, Potts S1, Raj R2
1University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom, 2M.S. Swaminathan Research
Foundation, Chennai, India
Agro–ecological approaches to enhance benecial insects is increas-
ingly being adopted in agriculture systems to support both biodiversi-
ty conservation and sustainable production. Interventions to enhance
pollinator communities or natural enemies of crop pests are well
studied, and form an integral part of agri–environmental schemes,
particularly across Europe and North America. However, implement-
ing such interventions in small holder farming systems without policy
support, poses specic challenges, particularly when there is adearth
of collated local evidence or knowledge, further compounded by
94
alack of nancial incentives for implementation.
Here we present case studies from two projects in Tamil Nadu, In-
dia, funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund. 1. Find-
ing the right oral interventions to enhance pollinator communities
in Moringa elds – acrop of economic importance and an emerging
„superfood“ and 2. Enhancing benecial insects and natural enemy
populations in the border of rice paddy elds for improved pest con-
trol. Both case studies are founded on eective knowledge exchange
and interactions with local small holder communities, to co–develop
context specic solutions that can enhance their livelihoods. Our pro-
jects provide a conservation evidence narrative of how established
research approaches can be modied and successfully translated
into an ODA context.
Evidence of quadratic eects of trac volume
on roadkill probability
Denneboom D1, Bar–Massada A2, Shwartz A1
1Human and Biodiversity Research Lab, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning,
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, 2Department of Biology and
Environment, University of Haifa at Oranim, Kiryat Tivon, Israel
Wildlife–vehicle collisions are considered the predominant direct
negative eect exerted by roads on many species. The probability of
roadkill is aected by the level of trac volume, and theory suggests
that the eect should be unimodal. However, empirical evidence
of this theory is lacking. We studied the eects of trac volume on
roadkill probability for 20 species in Israel using nation–wide data,
encompassing 2846 road km, while controlling for the eects of road
attributes, landscape features, and species abundance (using habitat
suitability as aproxy). The unimodal eect was empirically support-
ed for the striped hyena and gray wolf. Aquadratic U–shaped eect
was identied for six other species. We suggest that the U–shaped ef-
fect is caused by intra–species variability in road avoidance behavior,
which may be related to high tolerance of anthropogenic disturbanc-
es, causing reduced avoidance of high trac roads. Our research
shows that high mortality rates occur at all levels of trac volume,
and that low trac roads pose amajor risk of mortality for many spe-
cies. These insights, together with the gleaned eects of road attrib-
utes (e.g., lighting, median separation, verge vegetation) on roadkill
probability are valuable for reducing wildlife–vehicle collisions, con-
tributing to road safety and nature conservation.
Species habitat suitability increased during
COVID19 lock–downs
Sillero N1, Arenas–Castro S2
1CICGE/University of Porto, VILA NOVA DE GAIA, Portugal, 2University of Córdoba,
Córdoba, Spain
COVID19 lock–downs had astrong eect on the environment and bi-
odiversity. The most visual eect was the occurrence of wildlife in the
middle of urban settlements. However, the true eects on species is
not well known. Our questions are: Were lock–downs long enough to
increase habitat suitability? Which is the temporal lag for detecting
signicant habitat suitability improvements? Here, we applied a re-
cent developed framework to analyse trends on species‘ habitat suit-
ability over time by modelling the species distributions with tempo-
ral series of environmental variables obtained from satellite remote
sensing. We analysed the trends on habitat suitability for several spe-
cies of vascular plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, be-
fore, during, and after the rst lock–down in Portugal and Spain, from
01/12/2019 a31/08/2020. We modelled the species distribution with
Maxent presence–background algorithm. We obtained ve environ-
mental variables (Albedo, Evapotranspiration, LST, NDVI, and Surface
reectance) from MODIS with periodicity of 8 days. We analysed the
habitat suitability trends with the Mann–Kendall test. Preliminary re-
sults show an increment on habitat suitability around March of 2020,
approximately at the middle of the lock–down, with asubsequence
decrease, for most of the species.
Economic growth and extinction threat of
short–ranged species
Sol J1
1University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The heightened rate of global biodiversity loss is both alarming and
well documented. Several drivers are clear (e.g., habitat loss, harvest-
ing, climate change), but there remains debate about how income
growth contributes to biodiversity loss. While popular theories (e.g.,
Environmental Kuznets Curve and Ecological Modernization) have
environmental damage increase with income at early stages of de-
velopment, green growth posits that economic growth may reduce
environmental damage once a certain threshold level of wealth is
reached. This paper explores how socioeconomic variables relate
to regional variation in the endangerment and population trends
of small–ranged species using asubsample of the IUNC Red List of
Threatened Species assessments of 3,508 species. Regression anal-
ysis suggests no indication of an Environmental Kuznets Curve for
biodiversity loss. Rather, GDP per capita is negatively associated with
both species endangerment and decreasing population trends. This
negative association between per capita income and species threat is
estimated over asample of largely low–income regions, and opposite
to the positive partial correlation found for the larger IUCN sample.
Taken together, the results suggest the inverse of an Environmental
Kuznets Curve and that possibilities for green growth may be limited
to low–income regions.
An overlooked type of the long–distance
dispersal of plants: The trade of commercial
potting substrates
Sonkoly J1,2, Takács A2,3, Molnár V. A3, Török P1,2
1Department of Ecology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary, 2MTA–DE
Lendület Functional and Restoration Ecology Research Group, Debrecen, Hungary,
3Department of Botany, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
Humanity intentionally spreads several species, accompanied by
other plant species dispersed accidentally. Although the global trade
of horticultural plants and substrates may disperse large quantities
of propagules, it has hardly been studied from an ecological point
of view. We studied the viable seed content of potting substrates to
assess (i) the seed content and composition of substrates, (ii) the ef-
fect of substrate composition on seed content, and (iii) whether there
are common characteristics of the dispersed species. We found 438
seedlings of 66 taxa and found that 1 litre of substrate contains an av-
erage of 13.27 seeds of 6.24 species. Seed content of the substrates
was highly variable and substrates containing manure contained
asubstantially higher number of species and seeds than substrates
without manure, indicating that this pathway is an interplay between
endozoochory and accidental human–vectored dispersal. Our results
demonstrate that potting substrates can disperse large quantities of
seeds of awide range of species over large distances. We conclude
that this kind long–distance dispersal may have complex eects on
plant populations and communities; however, as this dispersal path-
way is largely understudied and has hardly been considered as atype
of LDD, its ecological and conservational consequences are unknown.
Atool for the Ethical Assessment of the
application of Assisted Reproduction
Technologies (ART) in conservation.
de Mori B1,2, Pollastri I1,2, Spiriti M1,2, Biasetti P2,3, Galli C4,5, Goeritz F3,
Hermes R3, Holtze S3, Stejskal J6, Hildebrandt T3,7
1Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, Università degli Studi
di Padova, Padova, Italy, 2Ethics Laboratory for Veterinary Medicine, Conservation
and Animal Welfare, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy, 3Department
of Reproduction Management, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Ber-
lin, Germany, 4Avantea, Laboratory of Reproductive Technologies, Cremona, Italy,
5Avantea Foundation, Cremona, Italy, 6ZOO Dvůr Králové, Dvůr Králové nad Labem,
Czech Republic, 7Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Ger-
many
Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) are a powerful tool for
wildlife conservation, yet little attention is paid to their ethical evalua-
tion. ART, however, pose ethical challenges related to animal welfare,
safety of the people involved, quality of the procedures, and preser-
vation of the biomaterial of endangered species. Lack of attention to
the ethical assessment of the application of ART can compromise the
acceptability of conservation projects with otherwise commendable
goals. Here, we present an ethical self–assessment tool (ETHAS) de-
signed for mammalian conservation breeding programs employing
ART. ETHAS is designed from current regulations, veterinary and lab-
95
oratory best practices, and scientic literature, and it is iteratively im-
proved by experts in the elds. It consists of customizable checklists
adaptable to the dierent ART procedures employed in conservation
and used to assess their specic applications. It is currently employed
in the complex eorts for conserving the Northern White Rhino (Cer-
atotherium simum cottoni), which make use of dierent ART, including
transrectal ovum pick–up, in vitro fertilization via intracytoplasmic
sperm injection, and embryo transfer. After briey describing the
tool, we present the results of its application. Consistent application
of ETHAS helped to keep procedures under scrutiny, identify critical
issues, and improve communication among partners.
Mapping socio–political networks as atool to
manage human–carnivore interactions
Srivastava N1,2, Linnell J3,4, Sattler C1, Schröter B1,5, Krishnamurthy R6,
Fürst C2, König H1
1Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany,
2Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany, 3Inland Norway University of Applied
Sciences, Evenstad, Norway, 4Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim,
Norway, 5Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), Lund, Sweden,
6Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India
Increasing evidence from around the world points to the need for
landscape–level governance for large carnivores’ conservation. This
expands the spectrum to other inter–connected governance institu-
tions, for ex. agriculture, tourism, rural development, etc. who need
to collaborate with conservation institutions to create eective gov-
ernance solutions. However, due to competing and segregated objec-
tives, human–human conict hampers eective governance of large
carnivores in multi–use landscapes. Therefore, eective collabora-
tions through networking between dierent institutions (formal and
informal) has been recommended. Although it has ahuge potential,
the dynamics of each institutional system, coupled with the complex-
ity of scales and hierarchies, implies that achieving one in reality is
challenging. In our study, we identify challenges in governance of
carnivore conservation by interviewing experts from inter–connected
institutions in India and Germany. Based on existing literature, and
case studies on social networks in socio–political–ecological systems,
we develop aframework that aims to map existing networks of gov-
ernance and informal actors (such as stakeholders), with their moti-
vation and interests, at dierent scales and levels of functionality of
inter–connected institutions. This framework will be able to provide
information on the power dynamics and collaborations, and identify
possible points of intervention to generate better measures for an
eective governance.
Looking for some shade? The importance
of rocks compared to vegetation as
athermoregulatory refuge for desert lizards
Stark G1, Levy O1, Ma L2,3, Zeng Z3, Du W3,4
1Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2Princeton School of Public and International
Aairs, Princeton University, Princeton, USA, 3Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and
Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing,
People’sRepublic of China, 4Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, People’sRepublic of China
The availability of cool microhabitats in the desert is limited but crit-
ical for the ability of ectothermic species to perform behavioural
thermoregulation. Although most studies focus on vegetation cover
as a thermal shelter, we still lack adeep understanding of the im-
portance of other microhabitats for thermoregulation, especially in
hot and dry deserts where vegetation is scarce. We measured the
preferred body temperature of lizards and recorded temperatures
oered by dierent bushes and rocks of various sizes and we devel-
oped a biophysical model that simulates a thermoregulating lizard
and calculates the percentage of microhabitat usage. Our empirical
data suggest that large and medium rocks oer much cooler temper-
atures than bushes (by 9 °C) and that the open microhabitat, bushes,
and small rocks, are often too warm for lizards. Moreover, our simu-
lation predicted that lizards should spend most of their activity time
under medium and large rocks (~35%) than under bushes (~4%) or
in the open (~25%), suggesting that rocks have acritical role as aref-
uge from high temperatures during the summer. Our research sheds
light on the importance of medium–to–large rocks as an ecological
resource, which may provide many animals protection from the ex-
treme temperatures of the desert.
Buttery functional diversity is not only
determined by grassland type, but also
by the presence of management
and landscape context
Szabó Á1,2, Ernst L3, Gallé R1, Batáry P1
1“Lendület“ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany,
Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2Doctoral School of Biology, In-
stitute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, 3Thünen Institute of
Biodiversity, Braunschweig, Germany
Degradation and disappearance of semi–natural habitats became
aglobal conservation problem. Our study aims were to explore the
complex processes that aect buttery functional diversity and func-
tional community composition in less productive and threatened
grasslands. We examined the functional characteristics of buttery
communities with three contrasting design factors: habitat type (cal-
careous grassland vs. orchard meadow), management (managed vs.
abandoned), and landscape context (forested vs. agricultural land-
scape). We surveyed butteries of 20 calcareous grasslands and 20
orchard meadows in Central Germany. To test the eects of our de-
sign variables, we selected six functional traits (overwintering, voltin-
ism, wing length, diet, ight period, territoriality) for each buttery
species, and we assigned values to them from the literature. Our re-
sults showed that habitat type had the strongest ltering eect on
buttery functional traits of the three design variables. Functional
diversity indices, such as functional richness and divergence values,
were higher in calcareous grasslands than in orchard meadows. We
found that calcareous grasslands are characterised by butteries
having more specialist traits, which were moderated by the presence
of management and landscape context. Therefore, to maintain the
threatened buttery fauna of calcareous grasslands, extensive man-
agement should focus on calcareous grasslands in forested land-
scapes.
Urbanization decreases species richness
of soil invertebrates but increases their
abundance until climate gets wetter:
ameta–analysis
Szabó B1, Korányi D1, Gallé R1, Lövei G2, Bakonyi G3, Batáry P1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, ‘Lendület’ Land-
scape and Conservation Ecology, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2Aarhus University, Department
of Agroecology, Flakkebjerg Research Centre, Slagelse, Denmark, 3Hungarian Univer-
sity of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Zoology and Ecology, Gödöllő,
Hungary
Soil invertebrates are important decomposers, but urbanization mod-
ies soils heavily too. There are several contradicting results and the-
ories in the literature on how urbanization aects soil invertebrates.
Therefore, the main question of our research was to investigate how
urbanization aects soil fauna, and how this is inuenced by annual
precipitation or mean annual temperature. We performed asystem-
atic review using the Web of Science and Scopus databases (103 pa-
pers) and then performed ameta–analysis. Abundance showed an in-
creasing trend, whereas species richness decreased signicantly with
urbanization, implying biotic homogenization. Abundance of Myria-
poda and Isopoda increased signicantly with urbanization. This is
probably due to adaptation of some generalist species to urban con-
ditions resulting in population increases. Species richness in general
showed anegative trend, which was signicant for Collembola, An-
nelida and Gastropoda. Most likely these animals are sensitive to soil
compaction associated with urbanization. Mean temperature had no
eect, but precipitation signicantly modied the eects of urbaniza-
tion on density. In drier regions, urbanization increases soil moisture
because of irrigation, which can cause population increases. In humid
regions, the urban environment is drier compared to surroundings
leading to population decreases. Thus, as discussed above, climatic
variations signicantly aect the impact of urbanization.
96
Developing the rst result based
agri–environmental scheme in Hungary:
acase study from the Őrség National Park
Szentirmai I1, Czibik E1, Kelemen E2, Megyesi B2, Pataki G2
1Őrség National Park Directorate, Őriszentpéter, Hungary, 2Environmental Social
Science Research Group Nonprot Kft, Budapest, Hungary
Several studies revealed that action based agri–environmental
schemes are ineective in preserving biodiversity. Result based pay-
ments oer apossible solution by exactly dening the objectives of
the subsidy and allowing farmers to choose their own approach to
meet them. In the Contracts2.0 project, we started to develop aresult
based scheme in the Őrség National Park, Hungary with the partici-
pation of local stakeholders and experts. Grasslands were chosen as
the broader biodiversity target, and then it was narrowed down to
species–rich hay meadows. Conservation objectives were identied
in terms of species composition and diversity, structural diversity and
the availability of nectar sources for pollinators. To measure the re-
sults of the management, 21 positive and 8 negative indicator species
and two indicators for species composition and 6 for habitat struc-
ture were selected. Indicators were tested in the eld in 7 selected
meadows, partly with the participation of the farmer. Our preliminary
results show that (i) plants are more reliable indicators than butter-
ies, (ii) farmers are willing and capable to measure indicators and
(iii) the values of most indicators are in correlation with plant and
buttery species richness measured by more intensive methods in
the same elds.
Is land sparing or land sharing
better for the conservation
of disturbance–dependent species?
Tälle M1, Öckinger E1, Löfroth T2, Pettersson L3, Smith H3,4, Stjernman
M3, Ranius T1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology, Uppsala, Swe-
den, 2Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Wildlife, Fish and
Environmental Studies, Umeå, Sweden, 3Lund University, Department of Biology,
Lund, Sweden, 4Lund Univeristy, Centre for Environmental and Climate Research,
Lund, Sweden
Large–scale disturbances like re or grazing by herbivores are often
suppressed or absent in production landscapes. Conservation of spe-
cies adapted to these disturbances require maintenance or reintro-
duction of disturbances, which can be achieved through land sparing
or land sharing approaches. Land sparing implies that disturbances
occur in protected areas, and land sharing that they occur within the
production system. We compared the benets of these approaches
for re in forests and grazing or mowing in semi–natural grasslands.
We reviewed empirical studies comparing the outcome of disturbanc-
es in protected and non–protected areas, as well as information from
Swedish authorities and companies responsible for governing and
implementing disturbances in protected and non–protected areas.
We found that for several aspects aland–sparing approach is better:
the temporal continuity as well as the method and intensity of distur-
bances, and the post–disturbance treatment. However, land sharing
may be more cost–ecient, and increase the spatial extent of distur-
bances. Together, this suggests that combining land sparing and land
sharing in multifunctional landscapes is most eective for preserving
disturbance–dependent species. Such an approach emphasize con-
sideration of the location, protection status and disturbance regime
of areas across landscapes, and demands cooperation across admin-
istrative levels.
Eects of logging intensity on species and
functional composition in the national park
„Fruška gora“
Tarčak S1, Župunski M2, Borišev M2
1BioSense Institute, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia, 2Department of Biology
and Ecology, University Of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
Conservation of forests in Serbia almost entirely relies on protect-
ed areas where biodiversity preservation and wood production are
simultaneous goals. The real outcomes of this strategy, however,
are still under question. The present work examined the ecological
impacts of logging in the national park “Fruška gora”. We analysed
whether and how plant species and functional composition varies
with gradient of logging intensity over the period of 20 years. Spa-
tial and temporal changes in forest cover were analyzed by means of
remote sensing techniques. Functional composition maps were gen-
erated through up–scaling of in situ data on functional traits of dom-
inant tree species. Logging intensity gradient was obtained through
forest canopy density model. Linear mixed models were used to ana-
lyse the inuence of logging intensity on functional composition. Re-
sults show intensication of logging in the national park from 1994
to 2015, with eect on changes in functional composition. Signicant
eect occurred when forest canopy density lowered from > 65% to
50–65%. Functional composition changed towards species with more
acquisitive traits, largely driven by expansion of more competitive
species Tilia tomentosa. We argue that current management prac-
tice in forest protected areas may not be supportive of conservation
goals.
The role of socio–economic factors in range
lling of European alien mammals
Tedeschi L1,2, Essl F2, Capinha C3, Rondinini C1,4
1Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy, 2University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria,
3Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, 4State University of New York, Syracuse,
New York, United States of America
Biological invasions are amongst the main drivers of biodiversity
change and decline; despite increasing eorts, the spread of invasive
species continues unabated. We present an analysis on propagule
pressure (introduction eort) for 71 alien mammal species in Europe,
whereby we predicted each species‘ range size based on points of
introduction, dispersal distance, generation length, and residence
time. We then calculated the lling ratio for each species (observed/
predicted range size) and used it as aresponse variable in agener-
alized mixed model, to quantify the eect of awide array of event–,
species–, and location–level predictors on lling ratio. Predictors in-
cluded, among others, propagule pressure, points of introduction,
human footprint index, and climate matching.
We found that many alien mammals’ predicted ranges were signi-
cantly broader than their observed ranges, suggesting that environ-
mental or biotic factors may limit species’ spread. Nonetheless, we
found that propagule pressure and pathway of introduction played
amajor role in determining alien mammals’ range sizes. Both factors
ultimately depend on human behaviour rather than species or envi-
ronmental characteristics. Our results indicate that alien mammals’
distribution in Europe is largely shaped by anthropogenic activities,
conrming that preventing future introductions is key to limit further
alien species’ spread.
Noise pollution from wind turbines and its
eects on wildlife: across–national review
of current policies and planning regulations
Te–seker Y1, Berger–Tal O2, Lehnardt Y2, Teschner N2
1UC Davis, Davis, California, United States, 2Ben Gurion University, Be‘er Sheva, Israel
The quest for cleaner energy has caused governments to expand
renewable energy infrastructure, including the proliferation of wind
turbines. However, wind turbines (WTs) can also pose arisk to certain
wildlife species, with research predominantly focusing on the poten-
tial harm caused to birds and bats from impact injuries. New evidence
suggests that WT noise (WTN) impacts on wildlife can be detrimental,
but rarely receive attention from planners and scientists. Potential
types of impact include damage to wildlife physical wellbeing, vital
survival mechanisms, social and reproductive processes, and habitat
continuity. The current study examined the planning guidelines relat-
ing to WTN and wildlife in three locales where WT infrastructure is be-
ing expanded: California, USA, Germany, and Israel. Findings indicate
that none of them have clear zoning limitations or even obligatory en-
vironmental impact assessment (EIA) guidelines that require address-
ing the specic issue of WTN eects on wildlife. However, some steps
taken by planning authorities suggest apotential for improvement.
These include language in California planning recommendations ad-
dressing the potential eects of WTN on wildlife; aGerman survey of
local bird species’ sensitivity to noise (including aWTN section); and
increasing recommendations in Israel and Germany that encourage
distancing WT from protected areas.
97
Body size response to local and global
climate variables, acase study on reptiles
from southern Danube Delta
Biosphere Reserve
Telea A1,2, Vlad S1,2, Cogălniceanu D2,3, Fănaru G2,3, Carlsson M4, Iosif
R2,3, Drăgan O1,2, Plăiașu R1, Băncilă R1
1“Emil Racoviţă” Institute of Speleology of Romanian Academy of Sciences, Bucha-
rest, Romania, 2Ovidius University of Constanta, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural
Sciences, Constanta, Romania, 3Association Chelonia Romania, Bucharest, Romania,
4Unaliated, Uppsala, Sweden
Reduction in body size in response to global warming has been widely
documented under experimental conditions. However, it is uncertain
whether the response extends to wild populations, as it varies across
dierent taxa and is inuenced by other variables. We used adata set
collected over the span of 16 years (2006–2021), on body sizes (i.e.,
body length and body mass) of one tortoise and three snake species
from southern Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, Romania. The aim of
the study was to examine whether body size changed over time and
which climate variables can explain the variation. The results showed
asignicant increase over time in body length of Dolichophis caspi-
us and Natrix tessellata, while for Testudo graeca it was astatistically
nonsignicant increase. Body mass signicantly increased over time
only in D. caspius and T. graeca. Decrease in body mass was explained
by an increase of temperature only in the two Natrix species, while
adecrease in body length only in Natrix natrix. Overall, our results
suggest that climate warming aects body sizes in reptiles dierently
and does not support the hypothesis that declining body size as are-
sponse to warming is auniversal response.
Plant diversity and the conservation role
of three indigenous agroforestry systems
of South–eastern Rift– valley
Landscapes, Ethiopia
Tesfay H1, Tesemma M2, Hager H3
1Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape,
Seckendor–Gudent–Weg 8, Vienna, Austria, 2Hawassa University, Wondogenet col-
lege of Forestry and Natural Resources, Shashemene, Ethiopia, 3University of Nat-
ural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Peter–Jordan–Straße 82, Vienna, Austria
Woody and non–woody tree/shrub species conservation is one of
the ecosystem services provided by agroforestry (AF) systems across
the agricultural landscapes. The study was aimed to investigate plant
species diversity, structure, and composition of three AF systems.
Twenty farms were randomly selected, and vegetation inventory was
employed in a10×10 m farm plot. Atotal of 52 perennial woody and
enset species belonging to 30 families were recorded. Of all species
identied, 63.5% were native and two species were registered as en-
demic. The highest proportion of native species was recorded in En-
set based (93.3%) and the least was in Coee–Fruit tree–Enset based
(59%). According to IUCN Red Lists and local criteria, 13 species were
recorded as of interest for conservation in all AF systems. Prunus afri-
cana was identied as both vulnerable by IUCN Red Lists and rare for
25% of species that least occurred. In terms of diversity and richness
Coee–Fruit tree–Enset based AF systems were signicantly dierent
from the two remaining systems. However, the species abundance
and evenness did not show signicant dierence. In general, own-
ing higher number of species under AF systems of the present study
showed agood potential to serve as aheaven for biodiversity con-
servation.
New Evidence on the Linkage of Population
Trends and Species Traits to Long–Term
Niche Changes
Tirozzi P1, Orioli V1, Dondina O1, Bani L1
1University of Milano–Bicocca, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
Milano, Italy
Despite the assessment of long–term niche dynamics could pro-
vide crucial information for investigating species responses to envi-
ronmental changes, it is a poorly investigated topic in ecology. We
present acase study of multi–species niche analysis for 71 common
breeding birds in Northern Italy, exploring long–term niche changes
from 1992 to 2017 and their relationship with both population trends
and species traits. We (i) quantied the realized Grinnellian niche in
the environmental space, (ii) compared variations in niche breadth
and centroid, (iii) tested niche divergence and conservatism through
equivalency and similarity tests, (iv) calculated niche temporal over-
lap, expansion and unlling indices, and (v) investigated their associa-
tion with both population changes and species traits. Results support-
ed niche divergence (equivalency test) for 32% of species, although
two–thirds were not supported by the similarity test. We detected
a general tendency to adjust the niche centroids towards warmer
thermal conditions. Increasing populations were positively correlated
with niche expansion, while negatively correlated with niche overlap,
albeit at the limit of the signicance threshold. We found moderate
evidence for anon–random association between niche changes and
species traits, especially for body size, clutch size, number of broods
per year, inhabited landscape type, and migration strategy.
Avoiding the trade–o between carbon
gain and water loss in tree–based climate
mitigation.
Tölgyesi C1, Hábenczyus A1, Török P2, Bátori Z1, Tóth B1, Valkó O3,
Deák B3, Kelemen A1
1Department Of Ecology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary, 2MTA–DE Lendület
Functional and Restoration Group, Debrecen, Hungary, 3MTA–ÖK Lendület Seed
Ecology Research Group, Vácrátót, Hungary
Tree planting campaigns are spreading globally to mitigate climate
change by sequestering carbon. Aorestation, however, can have ad-
verse eects in formerly open landscapes, including the loss of native
biodiversity and water shortage. Here we assessed the strength of
the trade–o between tree cover and water loss on contrasting soil
types in temperate semiarid regions. With an intensive, year–round
monitoring of soil moisture, we found that forests on sand retain
topsoil moisture throughout the year but below this athick dry layer
develops during the vegetation period, which gets lled up to eld
capacity only in the winter, hindering groundwater recharge. Grass-
lands on the other hand have drier topsoil throughout the vegetation
period due to direct insolation but the moisture reserves below are
not aected and allow deep percolation. In contrast, deep soil des-
iccation has not been encountered in the forests of cohesive soils.
Topsoil heavily dries out in the grasslands of cohesive soil, so the wa-
ter balance seems to be more negative in them. We conclude that in
at semi–arid areas, where landscape–wide water regime depends
on deep percolation, sandy soils should be avoided for aorestation,
while the trade–o between water and carbon is not so severe on
cohesive soils.
DNA barcoding provides new insights into
the drivers of earthworm species diversity
in old Swedish grasslands
Torppa K1, Engelbrecht Clemmensen K2, Glimskär A1, Skånes H3, Ros-
lin T1, Viketoft M1, Taylor A1, Maarou N2
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology, Uppsala, Swe-
den, 2Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Mycology
and Plant Pathology, Uppsala, Sweden, 3Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Old semi–natural grasslands are important for plant conservation in
Sweden, but it is uncertain if they also benet belowground biodiver-
sity, such as earthworms. Traditional methods for earthworm species
determination make use of morphological characteristics and there-
fore fail to determine juveniles that still lack certain morphological
features and cryptic species that are morphologically similar. In this
study, we describe the earthworm diversity, species composition and
densities, determined by species barcoding, in 28 old semi–natural
grasslands in Uppland, Sweden. We also characterize the drivers of
earthworm community composition in these grasslands, by linking
environmental variables to species densities using joint species distri-
bution modelling. The environmental variables determined for each
grassland include vegetation (diversity, plant functional group cover-
ages, vegetation height), soil properties (texture, SOC, total N, total
P, pH), management (fertilization, grazing intensity) and landscape
heterogeneity around sampling locations.
We specically ask the following questions: 1) Does DNA barcoding
reveal patterns that are undetectable with traditional determination
98
methods, such as higher species richness or diering patterns in
adult and juvenile densities within aspecies? 2) Which environmental
parameters best explain earthworm species richness and diversity in
old grasslands? 3) Do earthworm species and ecological groups re-
spond dierently to environmental parameters?
Genetic diversity of wild olives in Greece:
adiverse resource in danger of erosion
Tourvas N1, Ganopoulos I2, Koubouris G3, Kostelenos G4, Manthos I5,
Aravanopoulos F1
1Laboratory of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Aristotle University of Thessalon-
iki, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Hel-
lenic Agricultural Organization ‘Demeter’, Thessaloniki, Greece, 3Institute for Olive
Tree, Subtropical Crops and Viticulture, Hellenic Agricultural Organization ‘Demeter’,
73134 Chania, Greece, Chania, Greece, 4Kostelenos Olive Nurseries, Poros Troizini-
as, Greece, 5Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Hellenic Agricultural
Organization ‘Demeter’, Neo Krikello–Lamia, Greece
The genetic diversity of wild olive (Olea europaea subsp. europaea var.
europaea) populations in the Mediterranean is endangered primarily
due to the expansion of olive groves. In this study the genetic relation-
ships between Greek wild olive populations sampled in nature and
Greek cultivars originating from reference collections, were investi-
gated. Atotal of 209 wild samples and 67 cultivar samples including
all ocially recognized Greek cultivars were analyzed by employing
10 microsatellite loci. Wild populations exhibited high levels of genet-
ic diversity, while 39% of the number of alleles detected was found
only in the wild germplasm. Inbreeding was observed within popula-
tions, probably as aconsequence of their fragmented spatial distribu-
tion. Three gene pools of wild olive were revealed corresponding to
the geographical areas of: Northeastern Greece, Peloponnese–Crete,
and Epirus. Most cultivars clustered in aseparate group, while the
rest of them formed aheterogeneous group with membership coe-
cients akin to the three wild olive clusters. Furthermore, bidirectional
gene ow was detected between populations of Peloponnese–Crete
and one cultivar gene pool. Ex situ conservation and in situ protection
in areas isolated from cultivar gene ow is proposed for the preserva-
tion of this diverse resource.
Harmonising forest management terms and
denitions for eective biodiversity studies
Trentanovi G1, Campagnaro T2, Ammer C3, Bravo–Oviedo A4, Chia-
nucci F5, D’Andrea E6, del Río M7, Doerer I8, Fotakis D9, Kepfer Rojas
S10, Matteucci G11, Munzi S12,13, Paillet Y14, Perovic M15, Poetzelsberger
E16, Sitzia T2, Svoboda M17, Vacchiano G18, Burrascano S19
1Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems–national Research Council (IRET–CNR),
Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy, 2Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and For-
estry, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy, 3Silviculture and Forest Ecology
of the Temperate Zones, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, 4Department
of Biogeography and Global Change. National Museum of Natural Sciences, Madrid,
Spain, 5CREA – Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, Arezzo, Italy, 6Institute for
Agricultural and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean National Research Coun-
cil (CNR–ISAFOM), Portici (NA), Italy, 7Forest Research Center (INIA, CSIC), Madrid,
Spain, 8Institute of Biology and Environmental science, Vegetation science & Nature
conservation, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany, 9Forest Research Insti-
tute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization Dimitra, Thessaloniki, Greece, 10Department
of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Co-
penhagen, Denmark, 11Institute of BioEconomy, National Research Council of Italy,
(CNR – IBE), Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy, 12Center of history and technology, faculty of
science, Lisbon University, Lisbon, Portugal, 13Centre for Ecology, Evolution and En-
vironmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Por-
tugal, 14University Grenoble Alpes, Lessem, INRAE, Grenoble, France, 15Faculty of For-
estry, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, 16University of Natural Resources and
Life Sciences, Institute of Silviculture, Wien, Austria, 17Czech University of Life Scienc-
es, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, 18Department of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (DISAA), University of Milan, Milan, Italy,
19Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy
Amyriad of forest management denitions are used in scientic lit-
erature. Their inconsistent use within biodiversity–oriented investiga-
tions hampers result comparability, and impedes conclusions on the
eects of forest management on biodiversity. By using abottom–up
approach we provide shared denitions of silvicultural and manage-
ment terms to be used in forest multi–taxon biodiversity studies. We
collected and synthesised information of forest management deriv-
ing from the publications of 29 multi–taxon studies across Europe
backing the COST Action “BOTTOMS–UP”. We asked the researchers
involved to enter their management and silvicultural data in astand-
ardised format. The results highlight the strengths and weaknesses
of the terminology used in the selected studies. While data on forest
stand biomass are frequently reported, information on the silvicultur-
al regime is often lacking or fragmentary. We found broad and heter-
ogeneous denitions of the silvicultural system and forest vegetation
classications. We propose acommon framework of denitions and
forest management data to be recorded with the aim of increasing
the comparability of multi–taxon forest diversity studies. This work
helps in bridging the gap between practice and science in the eld of
sustainable forest management.
Nature through the AI lens: questioning how
scientists shape individual’sexperience
of natural environments in algorithm–driven
citizen sciences
Truong M1, van der Wal R1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
Automatic species identication algorithms are increasingly common
in citizen science programs in ecology. They complement or replace
active individual experiments previously done with identication keys
or books. Yet, this mediation by articial intelligence raises questions
about the individual experience of using these tools compared to
atraditional naturalist experience that implies amore extensive em-
bodied and cognitive commitment. It also raises the question of the
environmental knowledge acquired and the eco–citizen involvement
that can result from it.
In this qualitative study, we interviewed 20 scientists in charge of or
having taken part in a citizen science program involving these algo-
rithm–driven identication tools. We asked them about the process
of creating their programs, their motivations for using these algo-
rithms, and their thoughts on how they created the experience for
their participants.
An inductive content analysis allows us to highlight that the inter-
viewees have envisioned several ways of individual empowerment
through participation in these programs, in the way individuals ac-
quire environmental knowledge, make the tools their own and use
them in their eco–citizen implication. We also highlight signicant
dierences in perception regarding the stakes and perspectives of
the use of AI in the short and long term in these programs involving
citizens.
Species wished to protect: poor
convergence between knowledgeable
farmers and conservationists
Ulicsni V1, Babai D2, Szentirmai I3, Molnár Z1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary, 2Research Centre for the Hu-
manities, Institute of Ethnology, Budapest, Hungary, 3Őrség National Park, Őrisze-
ntpéter, Hungary
Both professional conservation, and communities with traditional
knowledge of landscape management protect animal species, al-
though not with the same purpose and not the same species.
We investigated which animal species do the local traditional ecolog-
ical knowledge holders and conservational rangers consider impor-
tant to protect, which species are common and dierent between the
two lists, and which are the key features when they include certain
species in the list.
Our research was conducted in Slovenia and Hungary, in two neigh-
bouring protected areas. In the two landscapes, we conducted 20+20
structured interviews with local knowledgeable traditional farmers
and 20 with conservationists.
Conservationists mentioned the conservation of only slightly more
taxa than farmers. The most frequently mentioned taxa diered sig-
nicantly, but there was also a one–third overlap between the two
lists. Birds were more while invertebrates were less represented in
farmers‘ lists than in conservationists’. The rangers had previously
thought that prot motive and conspicuous appearance were the
main factors in conservation by locals, although species knowledge,
morphology and emotional involvement were actually the main fac-
tors.
Dierent knowledge systems focus on the protection of dierent
species. Communication between these knowledge systems and un-
derstanding each other’smotivations are essential for eective con-
servation.
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Using spatiotemporal models to understand
the drivers of res regimes and impact
of anti–deforestation policies
in the Brazilian Amazon
Valette M1,2, Mills M1,2, Woods J1,2, Kountouris Y1,2, Singh M1
1Centre of Environmental Policies, Imperial College of London, London, United King-
dom, 2Leverhulme Centre for Wildres, Environment and Society, London, United
Kingdom
While ambitious environmental policies have decreased deforesta-
tion rates in the Brazilian Amazon over the 2005–2015 period, wild-
res remain common in the region and led to pervasive forest deg-
radation and associated carbon emissions. The authors developed
aspatiotemporal model using Bayesian inferences for assessing the
drivers of re regimes in the State of Pará for the period 2006–2020.
Agricultural land use, ranching, deforestation and rural settlements
supporting the agrarian reforms were the most prominent drivers
of re regimes. While indigenous land and integrally protected areas
(IUCN categories Ito III) strongly inhibit re occurrence, sustainable
use areas (IUCN categories IV to VI) slightly favour re occurrence.
Among other inhibitory eects were the percentage of rainforest
cover, the intensity of law enforcement eorts, budget to institutions
charged with environmental protection, and also the intensity of beef
ranching plausibly because of the higher asset value of agricultural
land. Results suggest that maintaining a large tract of indigenous
land and integrally protected areas, and supporting local landholders
switch towards more intensive and less re–dependant agricultural
systems, are essential for reducing forest degradation in the Brazilian
Amazon.
Landscape type and oral resources modify
plant–pollinator network structure and
stability: implications for pathogen exchange
Vanbergen A1, VOODOO consortium,1
1INRAE Agroécologie (& partners), Dijon, France
Pollinators face multiple, potentially interacting threats from human
activities. The Biodiversa VOODOO project (https://voodoo–project.
eu/) seeks to understand how landscape–use, through its impact on
oral resources, aects plant–pollinator communities and the trans-
mission of viruses between pollinator species. We present initial re-
sults to show how the architecture of plant–pollinator networks var-
ies among agricultural, habitat mosaic, and urban landscapes, with
consequences for co–extinctions. We show how modication of oral
resources can aect network structure to shape interspecic trans-
mission of viral pathogens and we provide early results that show
how niche overlap among species governs the degree of viral patho-
gen sharing among wild and managed bees.
Quantifying ecosystem services and
disservices derived from biodiversity in cacao
agroforestry: Socio–ecological opportunities
for smallholder farming
Vansynghel J1,2, Ocampo–Ariza C2,3, Maas B3,4, Martin E5, Thomas E2,
Hanf–Dressler T3, Schumacher N1, Ulloque–Samatelo C6, Yovera F2,7,
Tscharntke T3, Stean–Deweneter I2
1Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocentre, University Of
Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany, 2Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT,
Lima, Peru, 3Agroecology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, ,
Göttingen, Germany, 4Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University
of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 5Zoological Biodversity, Institute of Geobotany, Leibniz
University Hannover, Hannover, Germany, 6Universidad Nacional de Piura, Piura,
Peru, 7Norandino Ltds., Piura, Peru
Animals provide crucial ecosystem services such as pollination and
pest control in cacao agroforests, but also disservices. Yet, the com-
bined contribution of animal groups to cacao yield, and the trophic
interactions that drive them, remain poorly understood. An accurate
quantication of biodiversity–driven (dis–)services in cacao helps to
identify key management strategies that maximize smallholder ben-
ets. We used a full–factorial experiment to exclude ying insects,
birds, bats, ants and squirrels from cacao trees in Peruvian agrofor-
ests. We quantied the contribution of each animal group to cacao
fruit set and crop yield and monitored arthropod populations si-
multaneously. Flying insects, as well as birds and bats contributed
to a signicant increase in cacao fruit set. Notably, cacao crop yield
increased by 114% in the presence of birds and bats, which translates
in gains of USD $497/ha/year for smallholders. Ants and aphids, but
no other arthropods, were negatively associated to cacao yield. Final-
ly, we identied alarge disservice from squirrels, leading to losses of
USD $84/ha/year.
Our results show an unprecedentedly high contribution of birds and
bats to cacao yield. We also warn that these benets may be under-
mined by disservices from other animals and discuss the relevance of
wildlife–friendly management of cacao agroforests.
Assessing the contribution of cities to
regional biodiversity – insights from
alarge–scale systematic bird survey across
urban, rural, and natural areas
Ventura L1, Strubbe D2, Shwartz A1
1Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, 2Ghent University, Gent, Bel-
gium
Urbanization is a major driver of biodiversity decline globally, but
a growing body of research indicates that cities can retain consid-
erable biodiversity. Therefore, we still lack an understanding of the
relationship between urban biodiversity and the regional species
pool, which is needed for planning cities that optimize contribution
to nature conservation. In this study, we carried out an extensive
bird point–count survey across a300 km2 region in Israel, including
amajor metropolitan area comprising 12 municipalities, and adjacent
agricultural and natural land. Nearly 2,200 points were surveyed, ran-
domly located across the region, in avariety of urban and non–ur-
ban habitats. Each point was visited twice during the spring season
of 2021. Overall, the species pool of urban and non–urban areas in
the region was surprisingly similar, with an 80% overlap. Mean local
species richness and diversity were similar in urban and non–urban
points as well, but these indices diered between species groups (e.g.,
migrant, non–native, and rare). Turnover among non–urban points
was higher than among urban points, both spatially and temporally.
Our results suggest that cities are not necessarily species–poor, with
aconsiderable representation of the regional species pool, but com-
munity composition is more homogenized, compared to non–urban
areas.
How to grow pulses as ameans to enhance
biodiversity and ecosystem services in
rainfed annual farming systems in the
Mediterranean? Ameta–analysis.
Vollheyde A1, Cebrián–Piqueras M1,2, von Haaren C1
1Leibniz University Hannover, Institute of Environmental Planning, Hannover, Ger-
many, 2Georg August University Göttingen, Chair of social–ecological interactions in
agricultural systems, Göttingen, Germany
Legumes get increasing awareness as multi–talents in sustainable
agri–food systems. Even in Mediterranean regions, their share on ar-
able land is very low due to the specialisation on cash crops. Knowl-
edge and recommendations for growing pulses considering non–
market outputs in alternative cropping systems are scare. To this end,
we synthesized the empirical evidence about the eects of dierent
sustainable management practices on on–eld biodiversity (OFD), soil
quality (SQ) and yield (Y) in alternative pulse–based cropping systems
in Mediterranean climate areas. We conducted asystematic literature
review and quantied the impact of alternative management prac-
tices and biophysical moderators on ES output using meta–analysis
methods. We found signicant positive impacts of organic farming
on OFD, no–till on SQ and diversied rotations on Y. In multi–service
trials, no–till tended to be synergistic for both, Y and SQ. Also, our
models showed signicant inuence of soil pH on OFD, soil texture on
OFD and Y, and row spacing on Y and SQ. In conclusion, elements of
organic and conservation agriculture seem promising techniques for
service–enhancing pulse management; But empirical evidence about
dierent alternative pulse practices and multi–service studies, espe-
cially with focus on OFD, are still scarse and yet too few to deduce
concrete growing recommendations.
100
Could forest restoration initiatives hinder
rather than help biodiversity loss and climate
change mitigation?
Warren–Thomas E1,2, Arbaleaz Gaviria J2,3,4, Chavarro J5, Jones J1,6, Le-
clère D2, Peña A5, Rosa I1, Visconti P2
1Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom, 2International Institute for Applied Sys-
tems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria, 3Global Change Research Institute of the
Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic, 4Mendel University in Brno, Brno,
Czech Republic, 5Independent researcher, Bogota, Colombia, 6Utrecht University,
Utrecht, Netherlands
Reversing trends in forest degradation and deforestation is essential
for tackling climate change and preventing ecosystem service and bi-
odiversity decline: critical if the Sustainable Development Goals are
to be met. Political support for forest restoration at global, region-
al and national levels is high, but set against abackdrop of contin-
ued demand for cultivated land and ongoing deforestation. There is
arisk that meeting nationally–determined restoration targets could
displace land demand to active deforestation frontiers, generating
net biodiversity and carbon losses. Focussing on Colombia, acoun-
try that hosts 10% of global biodiversity, we use the spatial partial–
equilibrium model GLOBIOM to ask whether restoration targets (1
million ha by 2030) could be achieved in congruence with increasing
demand for agricultural, bioenergy and wood products. We also pro-
ject forest cover change using aprobabilistic model based on historic
biophysical, demographic, market and non–market drivers of land
cover change. Contrasting these results suggests that while there is
substantial space for forest restoration to occur on degraded pas-
tureland without displacing market demand for agriculture to forest
frontiers, land use change drivers such as conict, illicit crops and
land speculation that are not captured in market–focussed models
might determine success in generating net benets from restoration.
Cost–eective biodiversity conservation
under climate change: land purchase versus
conservation contracts
Wätzold F1, Gerling C1, Keuler K1, Sturm A1, Leins J2, Drechsler M1,2
1Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg, Cottbus, Germany,
2Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
Under climate change, current conservation eorts may become less
eective and cost–eective as the eectiveness and costs of conser-
vation sites and measures may change. Flexible conservation policy
instruments that allow for the adaptation of conservation measures
(“local exibility”) and sites (“spatial exibility”) may improve the cost–
eectiveness of conservation under climate change. However, trade–
os between local and spatial exibility may exist depending on the
policy instrument. Here, we analyse land purchase and long–term in-
dividual conservation contracts. We develop amodel that integrates
ecological, economic and climated data and considers the dierent
degrees of exibility of the two policy instruments. We apply the
model to the conservation of the large marsh grasshopper (Stetho-
phyma grossum) on agricultural grasslands in acase study area (parts
of Schleswig–Holstein, Northern Germany) and consider climate sce-
narios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 for the periods 2020–2039 and 2060–2079.
In the case study, land purchase has ahigher cost–eectiveness than
conservation contracts if the conservation agency is able to gener-
ate prots from extensive land use. Local exibility only plays asmall
role, but spatial exibility is important when the available budget is
small and only allows for small extensions of the conservation net-
work to adapt to climate change.
Nesting behavior drives contrasting
responses of wild bee communities
to management and local conditions
in vineyards
Wersebeckmann V1, Entling M2, Leyer I1
1Hochschule Geisenheim University, Geisenheim, Germany, 2University of Koblenz–
Landau, Landau, Germany
Viticulture on steep slopes has shaped both landscape and biodi-
versity in wine growing regions. However, viticultural area suered
strong declines in recent decades due to insucient protability.
Asolution to reduce further abandonment and maintain cultivation
economically viable could be vineyard terracing. However, little is
known about the eects of vineyard abandonment and achange of
vineyard management type on biodiversity.
We determined the eects of vineyard management types in contrast
to vineyard fallows, local conditions and the surrounding landscape
on wild bee diversity in 45 study sites along the Upper Middle Rhine
Valley in Germany. Alongside the Rhine environmental conditions al-
tered slightly i.e. soil shifted from fertile loess to schistose soils which
in turn was correlated with increased vineyard abandonment.
Although oral resources were higher in managed vineyards, overall
wild bee species richness was highest in vineyard fallows. Ground–
nesting bees decreased alongside the Rhine with altering site, es-
pecially soil conditions irrespective of vineyard types. In contrast,
above–ground nesting bees showed stronger responses to vineyard
management and were more closely associated with vineyard fallows.
Our results show that suitable nesting conditions rather than oral
resources structured wild bee communities. Therefore, conservation
eorts need to consider both foraging and nesting requirements.
“Show me the money!”: Poor reporting
of costs of conservation interventions
hampers ability to prioritize funds for nature.
Christie A, Martin P, Petrovan S, Sutherland W, White T
1University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Wildlife conservation is severely limited by funding. Therefore, to
maximize biodiversity outcomes, assessing nancial costs of inter-
ventions is as important as assessing eectiveness. We reviewed the
reporting of costs in studies testing the eectiveness of conservation
interventions and nd very low levels of cost reporting (8.8% of stud-
ies reported total costs). Even fewer studies broke down these totals
into constituent costs, making it dicult to assess the relevance of
costs to dierent contexts. We investigate trends in reporting by ge-
ography and type of intervention to see if some areas of conservation
may be better. Without standardized, transparent information on
costs, we risk misallocating conservation resources on suboptimal,
or at worst ineective, action. Yet our research is also highlighting the
importance of nancial costs and benets in decision–making. Iwill
nish by discussing opportunities for conservationists to improve fu-
ture practice through encouraging systematic reporting and collation
of intervention costs, using economic evaluation tools, and increasing
understanding and skills in nance and economics.
Biodiversity and the resilience
of nature’sbenets to people: acase study
of pollination and pest management
in South Africa
Williams J1, Groner V2, Ferguson–Gow H1, Spooner F3, Shen D4, Mun-
yai C5, Mabhaudhi T5, 6, Slotow R5, Pearson R1
1University College London, London, United Kingdom, 2Imperial College London, Lon-
don, United Kingdom, 3Our World in Data at the Global Change Data Lab, Oxford,
United Kingdom, 4Yale University, New Haven, USA, 5University of KwaZulu–Natal,
Durban, South Africa, 6International Water Management Institute, Anand, India
Anthropogenic pressures are leading to shifts in community composi-
tion, which can lead to declines in ecosystem functioning and impact
the benets that nature provides for people. One major question
within this ongoing biodiversity crisis is how resilient are ecosystem
services to these community shifts? We combined species distribu-
tion modelling, Bayesian networks, and risk assessment approaches
101
to investigate the potential impact of climate and land–use change on
two key ecosystem services in South Africa: pollination and pest con-
trol. By incorporating multiple methods, we were able to include the
impacts of abiotic drivers and biotic interactions on species distribu-
tions, as well as account for species’ diering contributions towards
ecosystem services. Our results show that future changes to climate
and land use have the potential to signicantly inuence the capaci-
ty of ecological communities to provide pollination and pest control,
with impacts diering across scenarios and space. We also demon-
strate that incorporating biotic interactions is key to understanding
species range shifts and the provision of ecosystem services. Our
study presents an important step forward in our understanding of
how resilient ecosystem services are to species turnover, which is
crucial if we are to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
under future environmental changes.
Wildlife behavioral responses
to anthropogenic disturbances around
natural water sources in the desert
Zahabian E1, Saltz D1, Berger–Tal O1
1Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Re-
search, Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben–Gurion, Israel
In desert ecosystems, water is a critically limiting factor for both
wildlife and humans, which can result in human–wildlife conict. We
examined the eects of human disturbance at desert water sources
on medium–large mammals and birds. We placed motion–activated
camera traps around ten natural water sources along agradient of
desert tourism from high to low pressure. We found that human dis-
turbance reduced both species richness and abundance at the wa-
ter sources. Furthermore, next to the highly disturbed water sources
there was little overlap between the activity times of humans and oth-
er mammals, with mammals arriving before or after humans‘ activity
hours. Interestingly, the mammal‘sactivity at a distance of ~500 m
from the water source showed a similar pattern, even though there
were no humans at these sites. At sites where human disturbance
was low, there was amuch greater overlap between humans‘ and
mammals‘ activity times. This suggests that the impact of high distur-
bance next to desert water sources on mammals‘ behavior extends
way beyond the water–source itself.
Birds and intensive fruit production in
Brazilian Caatinga: how farming changes bird
communities and what impact this could
have for production?
Zielonka N1, Muñoz–Sáez A3, Arellano E4, Oliveira da Silva F5,8, Re-
bouças P6, Silva Ferreira V7, Butler S1, Dicks L1,2
1University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom, 2University of Cambridge, Nor-
wich, United Kingdom, 3Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile, 4Ponticia Universidad
Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, 5Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Sergipe, Brazil,
6Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Juazeiro, Brazil, 7Universidade Federal do Vale do
São Francisco, Petrolina, Brazil, 8INCT–IN–TREE, Sergipe, Brazil
There is no hiding from the fact that much of the world’s food is
produced unsustainably and agricultural expansion threatens many
species with extinction. To bend the biodiversity loss curve, we need
evidence–based solutions that help us conserve species, whilst pro-
moting sustainable and fruitful production. Here, we take aclos-
er look at the bird communities within intensive fruit farms in one
of the most diverse but understudied dry tropical forest regions of
the world, Caatinga in North–eastern Brazil. This region has been
undergoing rapid agricultural expansion and intensication, largely
producing fresh fruit for export to global markets. Whilst this has im-
proved local livelihoods, what price is biodiversity paying? We pres-
ent an analysis of bird communities monitored over two years in and
around intensive grape and mango farms in the states of Bahia and
Pernambuco. We explore how farming impacts these bird commu-
nities and identify winners and losers from agricultural expansion at
eld scale. We consider how the altered bird communities may af-
fect production and how evidence–informed farm practices could be
used to promote species benecial for production and help manage
those that come into conict with farmers.
Validation of the MAES–HU forest condition
assessment with ne scale data
Zoltán L1, Tanács E1,2, Standovár T1
1Department of Plant Systematics, Ecology and Theoretical Biology, ELTE Eötvös
Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, 2Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of
Ecology and Botany, Vácrátót, Hungary
The examination of biodiversity at the multiscale level requires too
many resources, so proxy indicators from other (e.g. forestry) data-
bases are commonly applied. Considering the spatial scale and meth-
odological dierences, the appropriate application of indicators from
dierent monitoring systems may be questionable without indicator
validation. The results of the MAES–HU forest condition assessment
(based on the Hungarian NFD – National Forestry Database) were
compared with ner scale data. We applied the MAES–HU scoring
system on the ne–scale database and we validated some MAES–HU
indicators. The MAES–HU scoring was similar to the ne–scale score
results in the case of tree species composition indicators, however,
it was dierent for structural indicators. The NFD contains averaged
values with sub–compartments as spatial units, which resulted in
discrepancies in the structural indicators. This highlights the poten-
tial loss of important conservation–related information. We suggest
integrating some key conservation indicators into NFD monitoring,
so the involvement of other databases becomes unnecessary. The
validation of structural indicators showed that old and large–diam-
eter trees indicate more xylophil microhabitats and the presence of
large–diameter standing dead trees. Our study highlights that apply-
ing indicators as proxies requires the full knowledge of monitoring
methods and validated indicator–indicandum relationships.
Conservation and public participation
in IUCN‘secosystem governance
Zuklin T1
1University Of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands, 2IUCN – International Union for
Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland
This presentation not only introduces principles of conservation and
participation as understood in the IUCN’s ecosystem governance
theory, but also oers the rst glance on the results of the currently
nished research on prioritization of conservation in integrated envi-
ronmental solutions and related decision–making processes.
Although the ecosystem governance theory has been gradually de-
veloped within IUCN since 2015, it has gained more signicant trac-
tion in the past three years. In the 2020 research, participation and
conservation were identied as two of the six ecosystem governance
principles. Although listed separately, their inherent interconnectivity
and inseparability makes them one of the cornerstones of the eco-
system governance theory. Since ecosystem governance is about the
processes which eventually (should) lead to an on–site management
practice, we asked, among other questions, stakeholders in coastal
areas how they wish to be represented in environmental decision–
making (contrasting with how they are represented now), and exam-
ined tendencies within regional and local decision–making with re-
spect to conservation priorities. Results are presented here.
102
How does climate change inuence
the pressures on Austria’sthreatened
species and habitats?
Zulka P1, Milasowszky N2,3, Oberleitner I1, Baumgartner C4, Bieringer
G5, Diry C6, Enzinger K7, Gilli C8, Gollmann G9, Grabenhofer H10, Gross
M11, Höttinger H12, Hüttmeir U13, Machowetz C7, Moser D8, Paternos-
ter D1, Reischütz A14, Reischütz P14, Reiter G13, Schratt–Ehrendorfer L8,
Weber A15, Schindler S1
1Environment Agency Austria, Vienna, Austria, 2 V.I.N.C.A. – Vienna Institute for
Nature Conservation & Analyses, Vienna, Austria, 3IFABU – Verein „Institut für an-
gewandte Biologie und Umweltbildung“, Vienna, Austria, 4schlossORTH National-
park–Zentrum, Orth, Austria, 5Consulting Engineer in Biology, Leobersdorf, Austria,
6Biosphärenpark Wienerwald Management GmbH, Tullnerbach, Austria, 7KnowWhat
e.U., Consulting Engineer in Biology, Berndorf, Austria, 8Department of Botany and
Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 9Department of Evo-
lutionary Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 10Forschung, Monitoring &
Citizen Science, Nationalpark Neusiedler See – Seewinkel, Apetlon, Austria, 11Natur-
schutzbund Niederösterreich, Vienna, Austria, 12Private Researcher, Raiding, Austria,
13Koordinationsstelle für Fledermausschutz und –forschung in Österreich (KFFÖ),
Leonding, Austria, 14Private Researcher, Horn, Austria, 15Biosphärenpark Großes
Walsertal Management, Sonntag, Austria
Biodiversity is currently being lost at an accelerated pace. Climate
change has emerged as novel direct pressure, but it also indirectly
aects species and habitats by modifying other pressures. To under-
stand climate–related changes of the pressure structure acting on
threatened species and habitats, experts assigned pressures from
apre–compiled non–hierarchical list of 221 pressures to 1109 spe-
cies and 57 habitat types. We conducted aliterature review on overall
trends triggered by climate change. Experts then evaluated wheth-
er these trends will cause specic pressures to increase, decrease
or remain unaltered during climate change. In a similar procedure,
managers of ve protected areas analysed 10 characteristic species
or habitat types of their areas applying the same methodology. Ag-
ricultural pressures are currently aecting 597 out of 1109 species
(54%), followed by climate change (direct eects, 354 species, 32%).
Hydrological pressures (216 species), energy production (115 spe-
cies), aliens (71 species) and forestry pressures (259 species) will be-
come substantially more pronounced during climate change, where-
as pressures from mixed–source pollution (352 species) will become
alleviated in the transformation towards non–fossil energies and
electric propulsion. Assessment by conservation managers provided
asimilar ranking of pressures and measures despite being restricted
to selected conservation targets and protected areas.
103
Abstracts of speed
presentation
Graphics by: Sarah Maršíková
Papilio machaon, Linné
104
Exploring links between local knowledge,
values and livelihoods in the land–sea
interface: Insights on emerging tradeos
and change in sher communities
Barceló M1,2, Tengö M3, Gelcich S1,2
1Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Departamento de Ecología,
Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Ponticia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago,
Chile, 2Instituto Milenio en Socio–Ecología Costera (SECOS), Santiago, Chile, 3Stock-
holm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Diversication of livelihoods is astrategy to build adaptive capacity
but may also negatively aect the transmission of local knowledge
and values. Diversication and mobility of livelihoods in land–sea
interface is relevant for communities to decrease vulnerability. How
people relate to and manage nature based on knowledge and values
matter for responses and adaptation to change as well as innovation
and identication of new pathways. Here we assess the links between
local knowledge, values and livelihoods in order to identify emerging
tradeos associated to actors and communities’ livelihood responses
to change. Using semi–structured interviews, we assessed knowledge
and values associated with terrestrial and marine species and diversi-
ty of income sources, in six communities in Chile. We probed the rela-
tionships between income source diversication and human–nature
relationships, classied as relational, intrinsic, and instrumental, and
discuss implications for place–based adaptation and transformation.
Our ndings indicate that there are communities losing knowledge
and values when they expand their income sources and communities
that do not. Certain livelihood diversication may result in time limi-
tations that can impact knowledge transmission. Thereby, we discuss
the implications for transformative change that may allow for pro-
tection and development of local knowledge and values despite the
livelihood diversication.
Social information alters the eect
of habitat fragmentation on bird diversity
and its stability
Bełcik M1, Lenda M1,2, Amano T3,4, Pustkowiak S1, Skórka P1
1Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland,
2Department of Health and Environmental Sciences at Xi’an Jiaotong–Liverpool in
Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, 3School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland,
Brisbane, Australia, 4Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The Universi-
ty of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Habitat fragmentation is considered to be one of the greatest threats
to biodiversity of our time. However, there are few studies address-
ing how the dierent biodiversity metrics (namely – taxonomic, phy-
logenetic and functional diversity) react to the habitat fragmentation
when comparing one to another, and how the impact of habitat frag-
mentation on biodiversity could be mediated by the social public in-
formation. Our goal was to examine how the biodiversity metrics of
bird communities in forest patches change with the increasing isola-
tion of those patches, and how those changes could be mediated by
manipulating social information. To answer that, we have inspected
over 150 forest patches in Central Europe. For each bird communi-
ty inhabiting agiven patch, measures of phylogenetic and functional
diversity were calculated. After that we have conducted alarge scale
behavioral landscape experiment, where we have broadcasted adif-
ferent types of social information on those stands. Dierent meas-
ures of diversity reacted in adierent way to changes in the param-
eters describing habitat patch fragmentation. Social information was
able to mediate the eects of patch size and isolation. Our research
helps to understand the importance of individual patches of forest
habitats in the farmland for the preservation of biodiversity.
How does Citizen Science help in monitoring
protected neglected species?
Campanaro A1, Gisondi S1, Blandino C1, Lenzi A1
1Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Plant Protec-
tion and Certication, Firenze, Italy
Species and habitats listed in the EU Habitats Directive (HD) have not
been widely targeted by citizen science projects even though these
species require major monitoring and conservation eorts. The use
of volunteers could increase the amount of distributional data on
these target species, resulting in a better denition of the species
conservation status as required by HD national reports. Results from
InNat, a6–years citizen science initiative (born under the LIFE MIPP
project and continued under Italian National fundings), targeting pro-
tected neglected species and habitats, are presented here. This initi-
ative has involved more than 1.400 volunteers, gathering over 6.000
records. The potential of citizen science for the monitoring of protect-
ed species and habitats is here addressed: analyses show ayearly
increment of volunteers and records as well as agrowth of spatial
data coverage for the target species. In this context, the distribution-
al pattern of the records for the given period has been investigated,
focusing on the inuence of dierent factors (e.g., proximity to infra-
structures or protected areas, human population density).
Wood–inhabiting fungi in rocky pine forests
in the High Coast Region in Sweden
Carlsson F1, Sandström J1, Jonsson B1, Edman M1
1Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden
The amount of old growth forests has dramatically decreased during
the last century. Many threatened species such as saproxylic fungi,
are connected to forests with long continuity and old–growth charac-
teristics. Open rocky pine forests in northeast Sweden are examples
of forests with low human impact and old–growth characteristics.
Abundance and richness of wood–inhabiting fungi in rocky pine for-
ests was investigated in eight study sites. In addition, we specically
studied the presence of ve red–listed species using species specic
primers. The fruitbody inventory yielded 48 species in total, including
the red–listed species, Cinereomyces lenis and Hyphodontia halonata.
Additionally, four red–listed species, Antrodia inrma, A. albobrunnea,
Crustoderma corneum and Anomoporia kamtschatica was found with
species specic primers. We found no relationship between species
and dead wood characteristics. Red–listed species were found on
avariety of log types, indicating that every piece of dead wood can
be of high importance in these unique low productive habitats and
that extraction of dead wood should be avoided as much as possible
Inuence of organic farming on the ecological
resilience of plant communities to drought
Carrié R1, Ekroos J1,2, Smith H1,3
1Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2De-
partment of Agricultural Sciences, Plant Production Sciences, University of Helsinki,
Helsinki, Finland, 3Department of Biology, Lund University, Sweden, Lund, Sweden
Studying the impact of farming practices on the resilience of biodiver-
sity to extreme climatic events is key to design sustainable farming
systems in a changing climate. However, longitudinal studies moni-
toring the response and recovery of biodiversity to extreme climatic
disturbance such as droughts are lacking in real–world farms. Here,
we monitored 10 organic and 9 conventional farms over aperiod of
5 years covering an extreme drought event in 2018. We surveyed in–
eld owering plant communities over the years (in cereals, leys and
semi–natural grasslands). We expected that organic farming would
promote resilience against drought due to higher levels of pre–
drought plant diversity and practices promoting water holding capac-
ity of soils, due to higher soil organic matter. We detected adecrease
in plant species richness of 34% and 24% in leys and semi–natural
grasslands respectively during the drought compared to the previous
year, while species richness remained stable in cereals. Rare plant
species were more likely to be lost than common (abundant) species.
Organic farming did not aect the loss of plant species relatively to
pre–drought levels of species richness. Practices such as soil tillage,
not bound to organic management, might drive plant species loss to
ahigher extent.
105
From Endangered Plant Species Conservation
to Use Conict Management: an Application
of Volunteered Geographic Information in
Wetland Protected Area Management
Chao C1
1Dept. of Environmental and Cultural Resources, National Tsing Hua University,
Hsinchu, Taiwan
Many wetland protected areas systems worldwide have adual statu-
tory mandate both to provide for visitor enjoyment and for the con-
servation of natural or cultural heritage. Therefore, the distribution
of tourists is acritical component of visitor management in wetland
protected areas. Gaomei Wetland, awildlife protected area are not
only famous for the largest of the salt marsh habitat of tuberous bul-
rush grass–Bolboschoenus planiculmis in Taiwan, but is also one of the
favorite tourism destinations to visit in Taiwan. In order to release the
conicts between trail overuse and endangered plant species conser-
vation in wetland, the eects toward tourist distribution should been
discussed. In this study, the Flickr platform was captured the data of
Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). There were atotal of 544
visitor spatial position and 9,907 geographic coordinates recorded
from 2006 to 2016. It serves to manage visitor distributions in relation
to park infrastructure and landscape features. In order to provide the
relevant management unit for tourism planning and create amodel
of protected areas reference, this study attempts to establish amap
in conjunction with VGI information and demonstrates the applica-
tion of visitor management to respond the need of protected area in
wetland resources management.
The absolute value of genetic diversity
in the genomic era
Da Fonseca R1
1Globe Institute, CMEC, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Genetic diversity is widely used to understand general processes in
evolutionary biology. When applied in biodiversity monitoring and
conservation, its absolute value can be converted into risk of extinc-
tion. In the context of food production, including agriculture, animal
farming and sheries, low levels of genetic diversity are seen as as-
sociated with ahigher risk of food insecurity because of e.g. higher
susceptibility to disease. Most studies to date have assessed genetic
diversity in dierent species by using asmall number of molecular
markers (mitochondrial loci and microsatellites) and, more recently,
SNP panels. Direct comparisons between such studies are challeng-
ing because of ascertainment bias, dierences in the sampling de-
sign, and variation caused by the specic evolutionary history of the
markers, which does not always reect the overall history of the pop-
ulation/species. Using whole genome sequencing data can potential-
ly provide aplatform for unbiased results allowing for comparisons
across independent studies. However, the varying quality and avail-
ability of genome assemblies across the tree of life requires careful
bioinformatics ltering of both assemblies and resequencing data
for reproducible results. Here Iwill discuss the impact of dierent
ltering strategies on the assessment of genetic diversity using whole
genome data of non–model organisms.
The inuence of trac and owering plant
diversity on the movements and mortality
of ower–visiting insects along roads
Dániel–Ferreira J1, Berggren Å1, Bommarco R1, Wissman J1, Öckinger E1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
Targeted management of road verges has agreat potential to benet
biodiversity, but there is growing concern that road verges can act
as ecological traps for pollinators. Roads and road verges also have
the potential to inuence the movements of ower–visiting insects by
acting as barriers or corridors. We selected 10 pairs of road verges
diering in the number of owering plant species (rich vs poor) and
agradient in trac intensity. Here, we explored the movements of
ower–visiting insects by marking owers with uorescent dye, and
observed the behaviour and mortality risk of bumblebee queens.
Road verges were corridors for ower–visiting insects, and roads
were barriers to movement independent of trac intensity. Insects
avoided crossing the road more frequently when there was ahigher
density of owers in the road verge, indicating that ower–rich road
verges could decrease the mortality risk. For bumblebee queens, the
mortality risk dramatically increased with increasing trac independ-
ent of the ower density in the road verge. Our study suggests that
the role of road verges as barriers and ecological traps for ower–vis-
iting insects depends on their behaviour, and could be modied by
adapting the road verge management.
UAV–Based Wildlife Survey: Methodology
and Ethical Considerations
De Kock M1,2, Hejcmanová P1
1CZU, Prague, Czech Republic, 2University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Unmanned Areal Vehicles (UAV) equipped with image sensors can be
an eective tool for large animal surveys depending on species and
the environment in which it is used. Arange of research in the last
decade focused on the application of UAVs as asurvey tool for wild-
life. Most discuss the methodology focus on the ight path and image
acquisition setup and have asingle species of interest.
The lack of research on the development of abest practice and stand-
ard operating procedure when using UAVs for the survey of wildlife,
resulted in gaps, not only when this method is used, however, also on
anational and regional legislation level.
Secondly, limited research was done on the ethical use of UAVs for
wildlife census and surveys. The cases where ethics was discussed
in this research are usually focused on asingle species and in most
cases fail to address the environmental impact associated and the
eect on non–targeted species that coexist in the same area. This
lack of research results in unclear legislation on national level with
ageneral question on minimum standards and ethical considerations
when these techniques are used.
FRAMEwork – Experiences from the rst
year of the Czech Farmer Cluster to improve
biodiversity in the agricultural landscape
Bohnet I1, Janeckova Molnarova K1, Zagata L1, Drhlíková K1, Travnicek
J2, Trakalova E1
1Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, 2Czech Organics,
Stare Mesto, Czech Republic
FRAMEwork is a H2020 funded transdisciplinary research project
(2020–2025) that builds on the UK Farmer Cluster (FC) approach to
increase agrobiodiversity across Europe. Eleven FCs have been estab-
lished as part of FRAMEwork; one of them in southern Moravia. How-
ever, this was not an easy task. To identify potential farmers willing to
support establishment of aFC, the research team worked closely with
AMPI (Association of Local Food Initiatives) and met with adiversity of
farmers in dierent geographical locations. Despite being supportive
of the FC idea, establishment of a FC in southern Moravia seems to
have been achievable only due to the following: (1) some farmers al-
ready had established business relationships, and (2) perceived syn-
ergies between the FC approach and the farmers’ long–term goals
regarding their farms. Further, building on the reputation and trust
of awell–established organic farmer, who is now leading the FC, nine
farmers, who manage 3,000 ha, could be recruited into the FC. Facili-
tated by apart–time professional advisor, the FC has collectively pro-
gressed ideas on how to improve agrobiodiversity in their landscape.
Arst project to support kestrels and barn owls is being implemented
and amonitoring system established with professionals and the wid-
er public.
106
Assessing the assemblage level impacts
of micropollutants on stream–dwelling shes
in an urbanized area
Ferincz Á1, Weiperth A1, Lente V1, Hegedűs A1, Keszte S1, Kondor A3,
Pirger Z2, Molnár É2, Maász G4, Urbányi B5, Staszny Á1
1Department of Freshwater Fish Ecology, Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental
Safety,Hungarian University Of Agriculture And Life Sciences, Agárd, Hungary, 2Bala-
ton Limnological Research Institute, Tihany, Hungary, 3Research Centre for Astrono-
my and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Budapest, 4Soós Water Technology Research and
Development Center, University of Pannonia, Nagykanizsa, Hungary, 5Department of
Aquaculture, Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety,Hungarian Universi-
ty of Agriculture And Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary
High quantity of drugs and other personal health care products
emitted to natural surface waters through the municipal wastewater
treatment plants. The eect of this diverse mixture of compounds on
the living organisms occurring these habitats is completely unknown.
Our main goal was therefore to assess this potential eect on the
level of sh assemblage. For this, all permanent watercourses of the
Budapest (Hungary) metropolitan area were surveyed (altogether
64 sites). Fish assemblage composition and parallel environmental
variables (landscape and local scale), water quality parameters and
drug residuals were determined. Fish were caught at 40 sites, there-
fore further analyses were carried out using this ltered database.
Additional ltering, regarding the drug residuals has been made:
compounds with minimal (<10 ng/l) concentration or frequency of
occurrence (<3 sites) were excluded. Data analyses were based on
ordination techniques, variable selection and variation partitioning.
Signicant eect of ve, mostly psychoactive drug residuals were
identied by the variable selection. Relative eectiveness of the dif-
ferent background variables was determined, which called the atten-
tion on the high potential importance of drug residuals in the sh
assemblage composition of urbanized areas.
Interspecic competition between mice and
voles induced by ad libitum food resources:
asimulation of climate change eects
on sympatric species?
Ferrari G1,2,3, Devineau O1, Tagliapietra V3, Cagnacci F2
1Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agricultur-
al Science and Biotechnology, Koppang, Norway, 2Unit of Animal Ecology, Research
and Innovation Center, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all‘Adige, Italy, 3Unit
of Applied Ecology, Research and Innovation Center, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San
Michele all‘Adige, Italy
How resources are partitioned among sympatric species is condi-
tional to extrinsic (e.g. climate driven) and intrinsic (e.g. demogra-
phy–dependent) factors. To analyse these eects, we carried out
atreatment–control experiment with supplemental ad libitum food
accessible to the community of wild rodents, throughout seasons at
two latitudinal extremes. We intensively live–trapped woodland ro-
dents in north–eastern Italian Alps (2019–2021) and in south–east-
ern Norway (2013–2015), and applied multistate open robust design
models to estimate the variability of demographic parameters under
the experimental settings. Rodent assemblage was dierent at the
two latitudes, with yellow–necked mouse, wood mouse (Apodemus
spp.) and bank vole (Myodes glareolus) living in sympatry in Italy,
whereas only bank vole occurred in Norway. In Norway, food scarcity
and harsh climate seemed to limit rodent survival and abundance. In
Italy, supplemental food promoted mice abundance, which in turn
seemed to depress voles survival and abundance, most likely due
to inter–specic behavioural and exploitative competition. The com-
petitive mechanisms which we induced by providing ad libitum food
resources may simulate population responses under climate change
scenarios, with generalist species (e.g. Muridae) becoming prevalent
part of the assemblage and overriding specialist species (e.g. Arvicoli-
nae), also at the current extremes of their distribution range.
Assessing cost–eectiveness advantages of
state–dependent agri–environment schemes
Hecker L1, Sturm A1, Wätzold F1
1Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU), Cottbus, Germany
Agri–environment schemes (AES) that perform state–dependent
conservation measures are commonly associated with higher eco-
logical impact, but also with higher monitoring costs than AES that
perform state–independent conservation measures. As a result, it
is unclear whether state–dependent or state independent AES are
more cost–eective. In this paper, we investigate whether adjusting
payments to farmers for dierences in the impact of state dependent
and independent conservation measures on harvest yields leads to
cost–eectiveness advantages of state–dependent AES. To analyse
this aspect we apply ecological–economic modelling to the case of
endangered meadow birds’ conservation in the Aller valley in Germa-
ny. Our results suggest that state dependent AES outperform state
independent AES by far. However, cost–eectiveness gains are large-
ly driven by higher ecological impacts and to alesser extent by lower
compensation payments to farmers.
Determinants of domestic cats (Felis catus)
presence in natural landscapes of Spain:
Implications for the role of domestic cats
in ecological interactions
Hernandez Hernandez J1, Sánchez–Cerdá M4, Cabezas–Díaz S6, Gil–
Sánchez J3, Rodríguez–Siles J5, Virgós E2
1Road Ecology Lab. Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of
Biology. Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 2Department of Biology
and Geology. King Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain, 3Department of Zoology,
University of Granada, Spain, Granada, Spain, 4Conservation and Evolutionary
Genetics Group, Doñana Biological Station (EBD–CSIC), Sevilla, Spain, 5Harmusch,
Study and Conservation of Wildlife, Ciudad Real, Spain, 6 Area of Conservation of
Species and Spaces, SEO/BirdLife, Madrid, Spain
Domestic cats are considered one of the main threats to biodiversity
conservation worldwide. Most of the evidence was based on studies
where the impact of predation was not based on prey demographic
models or oceanic islands scenarios. We aimed to model the drivers
of domestic cat presence in natural landscapes of Spain based on 12
camera–trapping over 60–day period surveys in 50 plots (2000 ha),
covering all habitat and conditions. We estimated anumber of vari-
ables around each camera (500 m buer). As predictor variables, we
used land–use variables, estimated the number and distance to the
houses and the presence of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and wildcat (Felis
silvestris). We analyzed the 17 plots with the presence of domestic
cats, using these as the response variable with the plot as arandom
factor applying GLMM with binomial errors. The nal model revealed
domestic cat was negatively related to wildcat presence and distance
to houses and positively related to pasture cover. From this study,
we can argue the potential impact of domestic cats on wild fauna
is probably negligible, and because wildcats appeared to negatively
aect domestic cats the potential scenario for hybridization between
both species can be suggested as of minor relevance.
Designing reintroduction strategies
in Cinereous vultures
Izquierdo P1
1Grefa, Majadahonda, Spain
By the ends of the XX century, the European scavengers populations
had dramatically decreased and the cinereous vulture could only be
found in the Iberian peninsula.
Release projects were developed in France in the 90‘sand it became
clear that communication between this new populations and the re-
maining Spanish ones was crucial.
After afeasibility study, GREFA developed areintroduction program
in the Pyrenees during the early 2000‘sin order to build this connec-
tion and, later on, asecond reintroduction in Burgos to increase the
movement within the new colonies.
During the last decade, the number of individuals that travel within
this brand new meta–population have increased, giving relevant in-
formation that will allow GREFA and other organizations to design
new estrategies and release programs.
107
Assisting Rangers to Halt Poaching Activities
with Green Stochastic Games
Kiam J1, Sabbadin R2, Ponzoni Carvalho Chanel C3, Harder B1, Schulte
A1
1Universität der Bundeswehr München, Neubiberg, Germany, 2INRAE, MIA, Castanet
Tolosan, France, 3ISAE–SUPAERO, Toulouse, France
Given the scarcity of available information on poachers’ activities in
vast conservation areas, game theoretical methods can assist rang-
ers in devising strategies to curb illegal poaching, while considering
the poachers’ decision–making behaviours. We introduce aformal
stochastic game model, along with asolution approach interleaving
dynamic programming and Nash equilibrium computation. Rangers
and poachers are assumed to be non–cooperative players who make
decisions simultaneously. Dierent from previous works (some use
for example Stackelberg game), our stochastic game model considers
the probabilistic dynamics of the game situation, modelled as aMark-
ov decision process. Furthermore, we analyse results obtained from
benchmarking against an iterative strategic game approach, in which
normal–form games are solved at each decision–making round, with-
out considering the probabilistic dynamics. We also analyse the per-
formance of our solution method on games of varying size, rewards
denition, game topology (considering sites with dierent geographi-
cal and ecological features) and players’ mixed capabilities (e.g. aerial
support for rangers). Finally, we outline possible extensions of our
work, aimed at lifting some assumptions by considering i) imperfect
state observation, ii) more complex interactions between poachers,
rangers and animals‘ dynamics, as well as iii) players‘ dierent sub-
jective preferences.
Eective restoration of species–rich
grasslands: the importance of timing
in sowing target species seeds
Kiss R1, Deák B1, Tóth K2, Lukács K1,2, Rádai Z1, Kelemen A1,3, Miglécz T4,
Tóth Á3, Godó L1,2, Valkó O1
1Lendület Seed Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre
for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2University of Debrecen, Department of
Ecology, Debrecen, Hungary, 3University of Szeged, Department of Ecology, Szeged,
Hungary, 4Hungarian Research Institute for Organic Agriculture, Budapest, Hungary
The abandonment of agricultural lands is aglobal problem but it also
provides an opportunity for grassland restoration and halting eco-
system degradation. Low– or high–diversity seed–mixtures applica-
tion is afrequently used method to restore species–rich grasslands.
When applying both, the timing of seed–mixtures sowing is essen-
tial. We aimed to identify the most ecient timing of seed–mixture
sowing to maximize restoration success. We applied grass–seeds,
divers forb seed–mixtures (DM) and the combination of the two in
arecently abandoned cropland. Grass–seeds were sown in the rst
year of the experiment. DM was sown simultaneously or 1, 2 or 3
years after the sowing of grass–seeds, in plots previously sown with
grass–seeds or in empty plots (fallows). The results highlight the ef-
ciency of both grass–seeds and DM in covering bare soil and su-
pressing weeds. Sown forbs performed better when sown in fallows,
especially in younger ones. DM sowing with grass–seeds was eective
only in simultaneous sowing or with one–year delay. Later introduc-
tion of forbs was less successful, and can be costly as needs the se-
vere disturbance of the existing vegetation. Based on our results, we
recommend restoration shortly after cropland abandonment and the
introduction of target species simultaneously to the area.
Putting drylands on the map: denitions,
designations, and conservation status
of global arid landscapes
Lewin A1,2, Rachmilevitch S3, Roll U2
1Jacob Blaustein Center for Scientic Cooperation, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes
for Desert Research, Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben–gurion,
Israel, 2Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert
Research, Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben–gurion, Israel, 3French
Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein
Institutes for Desert Research, Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben–
gurion, Israel
Drylands encompass alarge part of Earth’sland surface, supporting vital
human and natural environments. These unique and fragile desert
ecosystems are especially vulnerable to increasing land conversion
to agriculture and other land uses. Yet drylands are often neglect-
ed as regions for conservation concern, predominantly from aglob-
al perspective. Amajor barrier facing conservation planning in such
regions is the application of several classications and designations
(e.g., dryland, desert, arid landscape, etc.) – comprising similar, broad
and non–overlapping regions. We examined several dryland desig-
nations, categorizations, denitions, and mapping initiatives to eval-
uate the degree of global congruence among desert regions. We nd
that relative to other biomes, deserts are among the least protected
by designated conservation areas aimed at protecting biodiversity
(i.e., IUCN categories I–IV). We also identify ‘core’ regions of drylands
identied as such across all designations, in addition to many regions
falling under one or few dryland designations. These attributes were
further highlighted in major dryland regions separately, revealing
regions of very low protection and high human land–use pressures
(e.g., Asia). Clarifying and identifying dryland classications and their
spatial distributions is integral to determing potential threats and
requisite conservation interventions in desert regions globally.
Microclimate in hollow trees and how
it aects an inhabiting beetle species,
Osmoderma eremita
Lindman L1, Öckinger E1, Ranius T1
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
While climate warming has sparked the studies of microclimatic con-
ditions in many habitats, knowledge on the role of microclimate for
insects inhabiting hollow trees, the severely decreasing habitat type,
is still lacking. We explored relationships between tree characteristics
and microclimate in tree hollows, and how these aect the occur-
rence and body size of an endangered beetle Osmoderma eremita.
We placed data–loggers in wood mould and surveyed O. eremita
with mark–recapture in south–eastern Sweden. Tree diameter and
entrance height were especially important for the microclimate in
tree hollows, while wood mould volume, direction and angle of the
entrance were also included in several models. Trees with larger di-
ameter were warmer in autumn and winter but colder in summer
with lower temperature uctuations in summer. Hollows with higher
entrances were warmer in spring and summer, but colder in autumn
and winter.
O. eremita occurred more frequently in hollows situated higher from
the ground with warmer and stable microclimate. Beetles were larger
in trees with south–facing entrances with colder and had more stable
microclimate. In summary, the occurrence and body size of O. eremita
were strongly correlated with microclimatic conditions, which may be
especially important near the northern range margin of the species.
Modelling population viability analysis
of isolated green lizard populations
as an implication for translocation
Loumová P1, Vlček M2, Svobodová J1
1Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Ecology, Czech University of Life
Sciences, Praha–Suchdol, Czech Republic, 2Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech
Republic, Litoměřice, Czech Republic
The aim of our study is to use the information about long–term chang-
es in abundance and genetic diversity of two populations of Lacerta
viridis to prevent the possibility leading towards extinction. Those two
populations are located in the Czech Central Highlands, which is one
of the northernmost place from European distribution of this species.
We found out that the population size and the genetic diversity of one
population are signicantly lower than the other one. The low abun-
dance and genetic diversity of the weak population are the results of
the eect of inbreeding and lack of migration. One possibility to force
the threatened population is atranslocation of some individuals from
the stable population. Our idea is to use the population models to
get knowledge about some key variables from several scenarios. The
key questions are: what is the minimum size of the viable population,
how many individuals can we translocate to support abundance and
genetic diversity of the threatened population, but not to hurt the sta-
ble population, and what would be the predicted genetic variability
of both populations. Our goal is also to gain better knowledge about
future management which would keep those two populations viable.
108
Human–vectored seed dispersal: Apotential
threat to the ora of protected areas
Lukács K1,2, Tóth Á3, Tóth K1, Kiss R1, Kelemen A1,3, Bátori Z3, Tölgyesi
C3, Hábenczyus A3, Deák B1, Valkó O1
1Lendület Seed Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for
Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2University of Debrecen, Juhász Nagy Pál
Doctoral School & Department of Ecology, Debrecen, Hungary, 3University of Szeged,
Department of Ecology, Szeged, Hungary
In our daily lives, we often notice alarge number of seeds and fruits
attached on our clothing and footwear. There are several studies that
highlight environmental problems caused by the human–vectored
seed dispersal (HVD) and subsequent establishment of non–native
seeds in protected areas. In amulti–site eld experiment we collected
propagules from socks and shoes from volunteer participants. In the
analyses we used variables related to the movement of people, their
clothing and the visited habitats. Atotal of 250 samples were collect-
ed from 87 people in Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic. We
have identied 219 species of 35933 fruits/seeds. We also conduct-
ed a questionnaire survey, which showed that most people already
clean their footwear from diaspores in the eld, while others prefer
to leave these propagules in their footwear. According to our results,
HVD can support the dispersal of many plant species, especially dis-
turbance–tolerants and weeds in Central–Europe. Therefore, it is very
important to minimize the chances of these species spreading in the
nature reserves. Furthermore, it is essential to keep visitors properly
informed about this phenomenon.
Where agri–environment schemes
do not exist
Nikolić T1, Tarčak S1, Lugonja P1, Marković M1, Brdar S1
1BioSense Institute, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
The loss of agrobiodiversity due to agricultural intensication led to
designation and implementation of environmentally friendly meas-
ures such as EU agri–environment schemes (AES). While in Serbia
there are designated un–managed areas and Zones of conservation
importance there are no AES to combat continual diminishment of
species and their habitats in agricultural settings. Here, we took aset
of landscape elements recognized as surrogates to EU agri–environ-
ment measures and examined their importance for 4 selected species
present in highly productive Bačka region. We estimated the eect of
these semi–natural elements on species habitat suitability, the spatial
scale at which the surrogates are most eective and distribution of
habitat suitability to propose adequate conservation measures with-
in designated conservation areas and Zones. We used high resolu-
tion land use/cover data (10x10m), multi–scale ensemble SDM and
species data. Our results show that the eects vary across species.
The most benecial measures in combination with grassland pres-
ence are grassland maintenance, linear elements, and crop diversity
at local and landscape scale. Since the eects vary across species and
scales, we need to diversify agricultural landscape through adequate
spatial targeting and farmers–collaboration to ensure varied mix of
habitat types and agricultural practices in existing conservation areas
and Zones.
Eects of indiscriminate poaching on the
population persistence of anon–target
species of conservation concern
Montgomery R1, Mudumba T1,2, Wijers M1
1University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2Makerere University, Kampala,
Uganda
The conservation of biodiversity represents aprofound challenge for
global society in a dynamic 21st century. The threats to biodiversi-
ty are many including habitat loss, climate change, disease, invasive
speciation, conict, and hunting. Illegal animal harvest, acontributor
of biodiversity loss, occurs along arelative selectivity spectrum from
indiscriminate to highly selective. Extensive research has evaluated
the impacts of selective harvest on animal populations. In contrast,
the ways in which indiscriminate harvest pressure shapes popula-
tions of non–target species is unclear. We used simulation modelling
to predict the persistence of an African lion population (Panthera
leo) subject to indiscriminate harvest pressure from non–target sub-
sistence poaching in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Simu-
lations predicted lion population extirpation following a50% rise of
lethal poaching pressure above the observed. When lethal poaching
pressure doubled, the lion population was extirpated in ~70% of our
simulations. In simulations in which subsistence poaching as alethal
pressure was eliminated, the lion population nearly doubled in just
19 years. We discuss how indiscriminate poaching can aect non–tar-
get species and describe interventions to eectively promote popula-
tion recovery of species of conservation concern.
Habitat Relationship Model for Terrestrial
Vertebrates in an Urbanizing Region
Northrop R1
1University of Florida IFAS, Sener, United States
Rapid urban expansion is contributing to the present biodiversity cri-
sis. Urban planners and conservationists need tools to evaluate hab-
itat impacts due to urbanization. To address this need auser friendly
rapid habitat assessment tool was developed. It uses an integrated
series of databases that link forest composition, vegetative develop-
ment stage, forest and non – forest structure, and non–forest hab-
itat features with maps of known vertebrate distribution. The habi-
tat assessment tool was tested using presence/absence data for 29
commonly occurring herpetofauna collected by the State of Maryland
USA over atwo year period on seven sites within the Piedmont Pla-
teau physiographic province. The assessment tool correctly predicted
the presence of 97% of the herpetofauna. The overall omission error
rate was 3%, suggest that the model is achieving improvements in
accuracy over earlier wildlife habitat relationship models, apossible
outcome of its narrow geographic focus and its focus on using local
and regional habitat descriptions when available. The average com-
mission error rate was 43%. Asignicant goodness of t was found
between the observed and predicted herpetofauna at the 7 inventory
sites (χ20.05, 6df = 0.9, P>.975).
The rst comprehensive data on the
distribution of reptiles within the Southern
Bug eco–corridor, Ukraine
Oskyrko O1,2, Jablonski D3
1NGO «Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group» (UNCG), Kyiv, Ukraine, 2Department
of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, 3Depart-
ment of Zoology, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Reliable maps that depict the current distribution of species are an
important component in conservation–related research, especially
for reptiles. Ukraine is one of the least studied countries in Europe
for reptiles. In this study, we report on the rst comprehensive study
on the distribution of reptiles in the Southern Bug eco–corridor lo-
cated within the steppe zone, Mykolaiv Oblast (province), Ukraine.
Our study provides distribution data for 12 species of reptiles in this
area. We compiled 935 records from published literature (324), from
public databases (68), and from 12 eld surveys we made 2016–2020
(543). We present new distributional data for Podarcis tauricus. For
all the other species, our records add new localities that fall within
areas where these reptiles were previously reported. The studied
oblast is inhabited by reptiles that are locally abundant (Lacerta virid-
is, Dolichophis caspius), or rare (Coronella austriaca, Vipera renardi).
Additionally, the local population of Zamenis longissimus is the only
one known in the steppe zone of Ukraine. Species richness and Shan-
non’s H’ index show that herpetofauna diversity was higher in the
areas along the Southern Bug River. The results of this study show
that southern Ukraine is an important territory for conservation ac-
tivities in Europe.
What moves citizens to engage in wildlife
conservation activities? The case of European
bison, moose and wolf in Germany
Ostermann–miyashita E1, Kiner C1, König H1, Pernat N3, Bell-
ingrath–Kimura S1,2, Hibler S4
1Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany,
2Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 3University of Münster, Münster,
Germany, 4University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
109
While the return of large mammals to their former habitats in central
Europe is embraced as the result of successful conservation meas-
ures, it also is acontroversial topic and bears potential for human–
wildlife conicts. As citizen science (CS) has been suggested to be
eective for involving citizens in wildlife research and mitigate these
conicts, we conducted asurvey in two wildlife parks located in dif-
ferent states of Germany. We assessed the visitors’ knowledge level
of three returning species: European bison (Bison bonasus), moose
(Alces alces) and grey wolf (Canis lupus) and respondents’ readiness
to participate in CS for monitoring and managing these species. We
developed generalized linear models to 1) understand how sociode-
mographic variables aected citizens’ knowledge of each species, and
to 2) investigate if sociodemographic variables and knowledge inu-
enced the likelihood of visitors to participate in CS activities. Almost
all citizens were aware of the returning wolf, while knowledge and
awareness about bison and moose were signicantly lower. Younger
interviewees and those with higher knowledge levels were more will-
ing to participate in CS activities. Our analyses highlight how knowl-
edge about wildlife and human demographics are interrelated – in-
sights that are helpful for eectively recruiting citizen scientists for
wildlife conservation.
Mapping paleochannel grasslands and their
conservation opportunities in an agricultural
commodity frontier of South America
Andrade–Díaz M1, Piquer–Rodríguez M2, Baldi G1
1Institute of Applied Mathematics San Luis, National University of San Luis & CONI-
CET, San Luis, Argentina, 2Institute of Geographical Sciences, Freie University Berlin,
Berlin, Germany
The South American Dry Chaco harbors azonal grasslands in ancient
river beds (paleochannels). These grasslands host a wide range of
species and provide ecosystem and cultural services. Besides, pale-
ochannels oer asignicant economic prot with aminimum invest-
ment for their use due to high fertility, at relief, and natural vegeta-
tion easy–to–mechanically–removal. This promotes the replacement
of grasslands by cultivated landscapes. However, alack of basic char-
acterization of the paleochannel grasslands challenges their conser-
vation. For the rst time, we mapped and described paleochannel
grasslands based on their land cover, spatial conguration, prima-
ry productivity, fragmentation, and protection. We observed that
grasslands in low–transformation matrices were mainly replaced by
shrubs, which increased their primary productivity. The proportion
of cropland inside paleochannels increased with increasing matrix
transformation, promoting ahigh fragmentation by croplands and
roads. Moreover, the majority of paleochannel grasslands were not
included in any protection scheme. Our results suggest that natural
(shrub encroachment enhanced by overgrazing and re management
prohibition) and anthropogenic processes (agriculture and roads) are
turning grasslands into woody–dominated or agricultural systems. Fi-
nally, we proposed aset of highly productive, grassland–dominated
paleochannels located in the NW of the Dry Chaco that should be
included in future conservation and management strategies.
Animal–Visitor Interactions (AVIs) in South
Africa: aparticipatory approach to facilitate
ethical reasoning
Pollastri I1,2, Muzzo A3, Biasetti P4, Vogt G2,5, Manenti R6, de Mori B1,2
1Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science,Università Degli Studi
Di Padova, Padova, Italy, 2Ethics Laboratory for Veterinary Medicine, Conservation,
and Animal Welfare, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy, 3Independent
researcher, Zoppola, Italy, 4Department of Reproduction Management, Leibniz In-
stitute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany, 5Conservation Guardians,
Shongweni Nature Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, 6Department of Environ-
mental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
South African animal facilities oer visitors several dierent types of
Animal–Visitor Interactions (AVIs), in which visitors come into close
contact with wild animals. Understanding the implications of AVIs for
animals, people, and conservation needs an accurate ethical analysis.
This study explores the ethical dimensions of AVIs in South Africa by
means of aparticipatory approach based on the Ethical Matrix (EM)
tool. Aparticipatory approach was used to collect information about
value dimensions and potential conicts from stakeholders. Aone–
day workshop with members from ve stakeholder groups (owners
and managers, veterinarians, academic researchers, governmental
representatives, and keepers) has been held. Adedicated survey has
been lled in by 14 employees of animal facilities and by 173 visi-
tors who participated in AVIs. The outcomes were used to tailor and
rene the EM, providing amap of the ethical standings concerning
AVIs. Results show that ethical acceptability is linked to dierent an-
imal welfare and management issues, and highlight the importance
of cooperation between stakeholders, suggesting that attention to
animal welfare should be carefully considered. The structured ap-
proach based on the Ethical Matrix proved to support an informed
decision–making, facilitating amultidisciplinary approach to assess
biodiversity conservation, education, and AVIs management.
Species interactions disrupted by roads
Quiles Tundidor P1, Barrientos Yuste R1
1Road Ecology Lab, Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Facultad de
Ciencias Biológicas, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
The road network is an ever–growing human infrastructure with se-
rious impacts on nature, so it is important to understand how roads
inuence the natural ow of ecosystems and the relationships be-
tween its components. We conducted aliterature review on how spe-
cies interactions can be altered by roads using on the Web of Science.
We used the terms “road” and each one of the common interaction
types. The initial search returned 1023 articles, that we ltered by
title an abstract, nally retaining 92. The results of our search showed
how some interactions have been given more attention than others
and only afew of the articles revised were conducted in developing
countries, where knowledge about this topic is crucial. Moreover,
some specic road impacts have more representation than others,
with road de–icing salts, landscape changes, road margins alterations
and road noise, as the most studied impacts. Overall, we found alack
of research covering multiple taxa and their relationships, a lack of
studies at apopulation scale and alack of articles focused on the pos-
sible road–mediated cascade eects derived from these alterations
of interspecic relationships. These gaps of knowledge may impede
us to accurately mitigate the eects produced by roads.
To acharismatic rescue: Designing
ablueprint to save shing cats, aiding
in wetland conservation
Rana D1, Samad I1,2, Rastogi S1,3
1National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India, 2Centre for Ecological
Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, 3Terai Arc Landscape Pro-
gram, World Wide Fund for Nature, New Delhi, India
Flagship species conservation approach has the potential to enrich
wetland conservation. Conserving the charismatic Fishing Cat (Prion-
ailurus viverrinus) in India, supporting ~40% of its known range, can
help protect wetlands. Here, using multiple information sources we
outline aframework at district evel to safeguard shing cats in India.
Specically, we a) estimated Conservation priority scores (using pres-
ence records, habitat suitability, and habitat connectivity) to identify
ecologically important habitats, b) estimated Conservation likelihood
scores assessing the success potential of any conservation interven-
tion, c) collated Conservation initiative information identifying ongo-
ing eorts for species and/or habitat conservation. We consecutively
assessed the spatial congruence between (a), (b) and (c) to delineate
species’ conservation areas and corresponding action goals (blue-
print). Although Fishing Cat records were found in 12 Indian states,
only asmall proportion of the state area was identied harbouring
optimal habitat for the species. Most districts ranking high in Con-
servation priority scored low in Conservation likelihood. Districts
with species presence (n=60) were delineated into four tiers of action
landscapes while some districts lacking conrmed presence records
(n=156) were classied as survey landscapes. We use our results to
recommend conservation actions for shing cats in India and explore
its potential in protecting neglected wetland ecosystems.
110
Grassland type and seasonal eects have
abigger inuence on plant diversity than
prairie dog disturbances
in semi–arid grasslands
Rodriguez Barrera M1,2, Kühn I3,4, Estrada–Castillón E5, Cord A1
1Chair of Computational Landscape Ecology, Institute of Geography, Technische
Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany, 2Department of Computational Landscape
Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany, 3De-
partment of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research –
UFZ, Halle, Germany, 4Department of Geobotany and Botanic Garden/Institute for
Biology, Martin Luther University Halle–Wittenberg, Halle, Germany, 5Facultad de
Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Linares, Mexico
Prairie dogs (Cynomys sp.) are considered keystone species and
ecosystem engineers due to their grazing and burrowing activities
(summarized here as disturbances). As climate changes and its vari-
ability increases, the mechanisms underlying organisms’ interactions
with their habitat will likely shift. Understanding the mediating role
of prairie dog disturbance will increase knowledge on these mecha-
nisms and the vulnerability of grasslands. Here, we studied how plant
taxonomic diversity and functional structure respond to prairie dog
disturbance across grassland types and seasons in a conservation
priority, semiarid grassland of Northeast Mexico. We found grassland
type and season explained most of the eects on plant taxonomic
diversity and functional structure. Contrary to other studies, we fur-
ther found weak evidence that prairie dog disturbance has anegative
eect on vegetation structure, except for eects on C4 and grami-
noid cover, which however mainly depended on season. Our results
provide evidence that environmental eects have a stronger role
than grazing and animal disturbances on vegetation. We argue that
afocus on disturbance and grazing eects is misleading, and instead
attention is needed on the relationships between vegetation and en-
vironmental conditions which will be critical to understand semi–arid
grassland dynamics in the region.
Population genetics of the Black Grouse
in the Czech Republic after twenty years
of strong decline
Rolečková B1, Hájková P1, Svobodová J2, Tomášek V2,3, Pelikánová H2,
Vondrka A4, Flousek J5
1Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Re-
public, 2Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Ecology, Czech University
of Life Sciences, Praha–Suchdol, Czech Republic, 3Nature Conservation Agency of
the Czech Republic, PLA Administration Beskydy, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Czech Re-
public, 4Šumava National Park Administration, Vimperk, Czech Republic, 5Krkonoše
National Park Administration, Vrchlabí, Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, black grouse populations have declined since
the mid–20th century and particularly dramatically in the last two
decades. Population genetic study based on non–invasive material
collected in the Czech border mountains in 2004–07, revealed rela-
tively low dispersal between sampled localities. However, existence
of three main clusters, i.e. Šumava Mts, Krušné hory Mts and both
Jizerské hory and Krkonoše Mts, indicated that gene ow within these
mountain ranges was still occurring (Svobodováetal. 2011). Some 15
years later, the whole distribution area of the species in the country
was sampled again. In total, more than 300 individuals were identi-
ed based on ca 1000 samples collected in Šumava, Boletice, Krušné,
Doupovské and Jizerské hory and Krkonoše in 2016–21. These data
are now being analysed to evaluate changes in genetic variability and
genetic structure (gene ow) of the Czech black grouse populations.
The data will further allow to estimate abundance of the species in
amodel area and to determine movements of individual birds. Ob-
tained results will serve as abasis for eective decision–making in the
conservation management of this endangered species.
Isolation by time in aterrestrial vertebrate:
apotential mechanism
for sympatric speciation
Sagi L1, Bouskila A1
1The Department of Life Sciences, Ben–Gurion University of the Negev,
Be‘er Sheva, Israel
Isolation by time can lead to sympatric speciation based only on
dierent reproduction times (allochrony). The few known examples
of such separation operate due to a life cycle longer than a year in
asemelparous organism (reproduces once in its lifetime). There were
no examples of this phenomenon among terrestrial vertebrates. We
found that Chamaeleo chamaeleon musae, adesert chameleon, has
several characteristics that may lead to this separation. These chame-
leons reproduce ayear after hatching and only 0.2% of the popula-
tion survives to the second reproductive season. This forms two sub-
populations: the rst reproduces during even years and their eggs
are incubated during odd years, while the second subpopulation uses
opposite years. As aresult, the two subpopulations rarely have the
opportunity to mix. We found that survival varies depending on the
subpopulation and on precipitation during incubation. This unique
lifestyle can be aconsequence of climatic changes and may become
more common in the coming decades. This chameleon is the rst ter-
restrial vertebrate that exhibits apotential allochronic lifestyle that
can lead, or has already led, to genetic divergence between sympatric
subpopulations. This is arare opportunity to study this unique form
of separation in progress.
Assessing cost–eectiveness of
agri–environment schemes under
climate change: the case of meadow bird
conservation in Northern Germany
Gerling C1, Drechsler M2, Keuler K1, Sturm A1, Wätzold F1
1Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus–senftenberg, Cottbus,
Deutschland, 2Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH – UFZ, Leipzig,
Germany
Intensive agricultural land use is one of the most important threats
to species. One policy option to conserve species in agricultural land-
scapes are incentive–based instruments such as the implementa-
tion of conservation measures dened in payments for ecosystem
service schemes or agri–environment schemes (AES). Akey criterion
to assess the suitability of an AES is cost–eectiveness. Additional
complexity in the assessment arises when considering the threat
that climate change poses for species conservation. Under climate
change, initially cost–eective conservation measures need to be
adapted to remain cost–eective. To develop recommendations for
the necessary adaptations, the impact of climate change on both the
species and on costs of conservation measures has to be considered.
We developed a climate–ecological–economic model and examine
the cost–eective spatio–temporal allocation of AES measures in the
near (2020–39) and remote future (2060–79). We specically model
the impact of climate change on both the species and costs and con-
sider two climate scenarios, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. We apply the model
to the case study of conserving aset of meadow–breeding bird spe-
cies in Schleswig–Holstein, aFederal State in Northern Germany. Our
results show how AES need to be adapted to remain cost–eective
under climate change.
Investigating the potential for hybridisation
between non–native Eriocheir mitten crab
species in the River Dee.
Taite M1, Waymouth T1, George R1, Wray B2, Clarke P3, Ironside J1
1Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University,
Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom, 2Natural Resources Wales, Bangor, Wales,
United Kingdom, 3Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Lon-
don, England, United Kingdom
The Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis, is listed as one of the
World’s100 most invasive species and has been recorded in the River
Dee, aspecial area of conservation, since 2006. Sequencing of the mi-
tochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase 1 gene indicates that mitochondria
originating from two dierent Eriocheir species are present in the Dee
111
mitten crabs. We use morphometrics and single nucleotide polymor-
phism (SNP) genotyping to investigate whether the Dee mitten crabs
comprise two separate, cryptic species or asingle hybrid swarm. Mit-
ten crabs were collected from Chester Weir in the River Dee at two
time points in 2014–15 and 2020 and additional reference samples
were collected from each of the putative parental species. Morpho-
metrics were carried out following Clarkeetal. (2000) and DNA sam-
ples were submitted for SNP genotyping. Understanding the taxon-
omy and potential to hybridise of the genus Eriocheir is important,
given the biosecurity threat posed by mitten crabs and the potential
for hybrids to exhibit greater invasiveness than their parent species.
Aglobal analysis of habitat change research
in reptiles and amphibians: What have we
done so far?
Tan N1, Herrel A2, Roedder D1
1Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany, 2 National Museum of Natu-
ral History, Paris, France
Habitat change and fragmentation is the primary cause of biodiver-
sity loss worldwide. Recent decades have seen asurge of funding,
published papers and citations in the eld as current threats to biodi-
versity continue to rise. However, how research directions and agen-
da are evolving in this eld is still poorly understood. In this study,
we examined the current state of research on the most threatened
groups of vertebrates, reptiles and amphibians. We did so by con-
ducting aglobal scale review of geographical and taxonomical trends
regarding habitat change and the associated sampling methods and
response variables. We reveal anumber of biases, in particular that
existing research eorts are characterised by distinct continents (e.g.
North America) and study groups and asurplus of studies measuring
species richness and abundance with seemingly contradictory results.
However, we found arecent shift in research agenda towards stud-
ies utilising technological advancements including genetic and spatial
data analyses. Our results suggest important associations between
sampling methods and the response variables measured which are
commonly used in explaining eects of dierent types of habitat
change. Increased research investment with appropriate sampling
techniques is crucial in biodiversity hotpots such as the tropics where
unprecedented threats to herpetofauna exist.
Protecting terrestrial communities from
climate change – invasion synergies
on South Georgia Island.
Tichit P1, Dawson W1, Brickle P2, Convey P3, Newton R4
1Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom, 2South Atlantic Environmental Re-
search Institute, Stanley, Falkland Islands, 3British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, Unit-
ed Kingdom, 4Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, London, United Kingdom
Context
The eects of climate change are already marked on South Geor-
gia Island, with rapid glacial retreat. In parallel, the island continues
to harbour non–native invasive plants and invertebrates, posing
athreat to native ecosystems, with some species now so widespread
that eradication is impossible.
Objectives
Our project will assess the vulnerability of South Georgia’sunique
terrestrial ecosystems to invasive plants and invertebrates that may
benet from climate change.
To do so, we will:
1) Record colonisation of recently deglaciated areas by
non–native species.
2) Identify ‘winning’ and ‘losing’ native and non–native plants
under simulated warming.
3) Map invasive carabid beetle and native invertebrate
distribution and abundance.
4) Identify high–risk potential future invaders
from the Falkland Islands.
Impact
This research will generate information that will directly help conser-
vation management on South Georgia in awarming climate.
Serious mathematical biases in the
calculation of the Living Planet Index
Tószögyová A1, Storch D1,2
1Center for Theoretical Study, Prague, Czech Republic, 2Department of Ecology, Fac-
ulty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
The Living Planet Index (LPI) measures the overall population trend of
vertebrate species during last decades and has been repeatedly used
for evaluation of the current state of the biosphere. The Living Planet
Report, published by WWF, states, based on the LPI, that vertebrate
populations decreased by more than two–thirds since 1970. This is in
striking contrast with the studies based on the same population data
(Living Planet Database, LPD) which show that in average, increasing
and decreasing vertebrate populations (winners and losers) are more
or less balanced. We show that the calculation of the LPI is serious-
ly biased by several mathematical and statistical issues which pro-
duce asymmetry in weighting decreasing and increasing populations.
When these errors are corrected, the recalculated LPI does not show
overall signicant decline nor increase of vertebrate populations. This
does not necessarily mean that the human–made changes in the An-
thropocene lead to aperfect balance of winners and losers; instead
it may indicate that available data (collected in the LPD) are not suf-
cient for proper evaluation of the current state of the biosphere.
Managing climate change impacts on land
use and ecosystem services
Tramberend P1
1Environment Agency Austria, Vienna, Austria
Adaptation to climate change requires rethinking of land use man-
agement paradigms and strategies and proposing changes to exist-
ing practices to make them functional under future environmental
conditions. The project combines (i) quantitative indicator–based
assessments and cartographic representations of key ecosystem ser-
vices in Austria and (ii) an agent–based model (ABM) for ne–scale
climate–induced land use change. In two case study areas in central
and eastern Austria, the agent–based model is implemented in three
scenarios for the years 2017 to 2050, taking into account socio–eco-
nomic and climate change. It provides predictions for land use at very
high land parcel resolution. The changes caused by Climate change
and land use change triggered changes in nine ecosystem services.
(high nature value agricultural land, habitats and species, habitat type
fragmentation, soil conservation, insect pollination, soil C sequestra-
tion, soil fertility, agricultural production, and drinking water) are sub-
sequently derived, and land use policy tools and targeted recommen-
dations to increase system resilience and address ecosystem service
loss are identied.
Re–zoning Our Conservation Area:
Incorporating Socioeconomic Factors to
Spatial Multi–Criteria Analysis in Mangrove
Conservation Planning
Trialfhianty T1, Beger M1, Quinn C1
1University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
Mangrove ecosystem is contributed to many greater benets for both
human and environment by providing shelter, foods and protect coast-
al–line from tsunami and abrasion. It is important to have asuitable
management plan for mangrove to support its functions and benets.
Here we used not only ecological and spatial data, but also incorporate
with socioeconomic data to help determine agood mangrove conser-
vation site. Using case study, in Baros mangrove, Indonesia, we identi-
fy set of parameters and criteria to help us building agood judgement
for feasible mangrove conservation site. The degree of importance was
determined using Analysis Hierarchy Process (AHP), for weighting the
criteria and scenario of management options that we proposed. Our re-
sults showed that the centre of mangrove area in Baros is suitable for
utilization, the buer area is suitable for recreational and educational ac-
tivities and the outer area is suitable for protection. This nding showed
an opposite concept of conservation zone made by UNESCO, where the
centre/core zone of ecosystem is suitable for protection and the outer is
suitable for commercialisation. We argue that we need to be more care-
ful in determining conservation zone especially in mangrove ecosystem
which has aunique habitat than others.
112
The potential of using biosynthetic
metabolites of entomopathogenic bacteria in
the mitigation of amphibian chytridiomycosis
Ujszegi J1,2, Boros Z1,3, Fodor A4, Hettyey A1,2
1Lendület Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, PPI, CAR, Eötvös Loránd Research
Network, Budapest, Hungary, 2Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Eöt-
vös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, 3Department of Microbiology, Eötvös
Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, 4Department of Genetics, Eötvös Loránd Uni-
versity, Budapest, Hungary
Chytridiomycosis, caused by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium den-
drobatidis (Bd) has caused extreme losses in amphibian biodiversity.
Finding bacteria for probiotic therapy with the purpose of disease
mitigation which produce metabolites with antifungal properties may
turn out to be invaluable in the ght against chytridiomycosis. The
entomopathogenic bacterium, Xenorhabdus szentirmaii produces sec-
ondary metabolites that are eective against awide range of fungal
plant pathogens. To assess whether it may also be eective against
Bd, we extracted cell–free culture media (CFCM) from liquid cultures
of X. szentirmaii and tested their disinfecting ecacy at dilutions of
10 and 2%, while also measuring possible malign eects on juvenile
common toads (Bufo bufo) experimentally infected with Bd or sham
infection. We detected no negative treatment consequences on the
survival and body mass of uninfected toads. However, among infect-
ed individuals, survival was higher and infection intensity was lower
due to the 10% CFCM treatment, compared to toads treated with no,
or 2% CFCM solution. Ecacy is likely due to the fabclavines but this
needs to be veried. Nonetheless, these results support the potential
of using X. szentirmaii metabolites in the development of anew, non–
invasive, chemical–free, and cheap method for Bd disinfection.
Continuous country–wide forest monitoring
through remote sensing–based yearly
assessments of forest status
Welle T1, Franke J2
1Natural Forest Academy, Luebeck, Germany, 2Remote Sensing Solutions, Munich,
Germany
In 2018, 2019 and 2020, periods of droughts and pests such as the
bark beetle have particularly hit conifer monocultures hard in Ger-
many and revealed how vulnerable many forests are. Additionally,
forest res and the expansion of open–cast mining (coal, gravel, sand,
etc.) have contributed to forest damage and forest loss. Since the
droughts of recent years, the abundance of bark beetles and other
calamity factors highly diered between regions, the extent of for-
est damage varies greatly. Ayearly in–eld forest status assessment
at xed sampling plots is realized to identify how severe this forest
damage is in Germany. Since this assessment cannot be done at full
coverage, asatellite–based monitoring system is needed to map the
forest damage and forest loss at high resolution and country–scale.
In order to address this need, the “Forest Monitor Germany”, which
uses along time series of Sentinel–2 data with 10 m spatial resolu-
tion to assess changes in the forest status, was developed (https://
map3d.remote–sensing–solutions.de/waldmonitor–deutschland/#).
Established vegetation indices were calculated based on time series
and trend analyses were applied in order to identify positive or nega-
tive changes in forest stands in regard to forest biomass and foliage
water balance.
113
and E–posters
Abstracts of posters
Graphics by: Sarah Maršíková
Passer domesticus
114
Investigating genetic connectivity of rare
scattered tree species in Austria to inform
conservation management plans
A L1, Konrad H1
1Bundesforschungszentrum für Wald, Wien, Austria
With the progression of climate change, ecosystems and biodiver-
sity threats continue to grow. While a decline in the distribution
range of some of the main forest tree species in Central Europe is
predicted, some species will indeed be able to expand their range.
The WILDOBST project focuses on three such species: Pyrus pyraster,
Sorbus torminalis, and S. domestica. Their projected range expan-
sion, paired with their ability to provide food and habitat for awide
range of organisms heightens their importance for maintaining and
enhancing biodiversity. However, in order to ensure these species
maintain their full potential, it is important to understand and en-
hance the available genetic diversity, as all three species are currently
rare and have ascattered distribution. WILDOBST is investigating the
genetic connectivity of populations across Austria to identify popula-
tions of particular conservation importance and suitability as sources
of reproductive material, as well as to inform management plans to
be implemented across Europe. To further inform this project are-
view is being conducted on the state of genetic research of European
Rosaceae trees to understand conservation requirements, research
biases, and knowledge gaps.
Detection of Cytochrome P4501A in cyprinid
species across varied trophic gradients of
Himalayan Lakes– APotential Biomarker for
Polluted lakes
Ahmad I1, Andleeb S1, Zahoor S1, Rashid S1, Zubair P1, Asimi O1,
Abubakr A1, Hafeez M1, Shah A1
1SK–UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES & TECHNOLOGY OF KASHMIR. Faculty
of Fisheries, Srinagar, India
Kashmir valley lakes are facing a challenging eect of cultural eu-
trophication from the last few decades and it remains as the main
water quality management problem. The physicochemical parame-
ters of four ood plain lakes of Kashmir were studied for two seasons
vizsummer and winter in dierent lakes. The aim was to detect and
quantify cytochrome P4501A in cyprinid species collected from Dal,
Wular, Manasbal & Nilnag lakes and control group. The lakes are at
varied trophic gradients. Cytochrome P4501A was detected in all the
samples examined throughout the study. Using one way analysis of
variance, P<0.01 was obtained which indicated that there was asig-
nicant dierence (P<0.05) in Cytochrome P4501A levels among the
4 sampling sites. Further, it was observed that Cytochrome P4501A
showed the positive signicant correlation with both total phospho-
rus (r=0.90; r=0.89; r=0.94; r=0.88 respectively, P<0.05) as well as ni-
trate nitrogen (r=0.87; r=0.88; r=0.95; r=0.80, respectively P<0.05). It
was evident from the present study that with the increase in phos-
phate and nitrate content, Cytochrome P4501A levels also increased
considerably. The lakes are in state of stress due to poor manage-
ment practices, pesticides, poor performance of sewage treatment
plants, species invasion and societal disconnect harming the wellness
of lakes.
Is the online wildlife trade gradually
becoming athreat to pangolin Conservation
in Nigeria?
Akeredolu E1
1University of Lagos Nigeria, Lagos, Nigeria
Online platforms are gradually becoming an avenue for illegal wildlife
trade in Nigeria. The internet for trade has opened awide gate of
opportunities for wildlife poachers and vendors to reach awide range
of customers and increase their sales around the world within are-
cord time. Pangolins are hunted for their scales, and body parts tra-
ditionally possess mystic powers to heal all manner of sickness and
ailments. The fetus of Pangolins is believed to aid safe parturition and
cure broid in women. At the same time, the skulls and bones are
used for good fortune charms and talismans, which the youths be-
lieve can oer security and attract wealth, promote business, or make
people rich quickly. Due to the high local and international market
demand, there is huge pressure on wild pangolins, almost hunted to
extinction. Global access to the internet makes online wildlife trade
possible in Nigeria. Twenty (20%) per cent of wildlife traders inter-
viewed during this study agreed to have sold bush meat through on-
line social media platforms. This attests that the online wildlife trade
is gradually rising in Nigeria and thus calls for urgent attention.
Emotional diversity and attitudes towards
wolves in France
Arbieu U1,2, Taysse L1, Gimenez O3, Lehnen L1, Mueller T1,4
1Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt Am Main, Ger-
many, 2Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Systematique et Evolution, IDEEV, Université Paris–
Saclay, Gif–sur–Yvette, France, 3Centre d’Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, CNRS,
Montpellier, France, 4Department of Biological Sciences, Goethe University, Frank-
furt am Main, Germany
Emotions are expected to play an important role in human–wolf co-
existence, yet they remain relatively seldom investigated. While most
studies on emotions have focused on emotional dispositions towards
wildlife, context–specic emotional reactions and their relation to at-
titudes have been little studied. In this study, we elicited emotional
reactions to six types of encounters with wolves (Canis lupus) using
amateur Youtube videos and looked at relationships between emo-
tions and attitudes. We targeted rural populations of 24 randomly
selected cities in France (n=796), comparing regions where wolves
have permanently recolonized and where they are absent, with two
objectives: to investigate the diversity and intensity of emotional re-
actions to wolf encounters, and to test the relationship between emo-
tional reactions and attitudes. We used amultidimensional approach
inspired from functional ecology to investigate emotional diversity,
and found signicant variations in emotions across the six encounter
types. We found that emotions explained asignicant amount of var-
iation in attitudes towards wolves. Our results together demonstrate
the great variety of emotions (and not only fear) associated with large
carnivores. They also highlight the importance of emotional diversity,
in combination with individual and context–specic factors, in shap-
ing attitudes towards large carnivores.
Population–level dietary selection of
aEuropean grassland specialist near its
upper distribution limit in Serbia
Arok M1, Nikolić T1, Ćosić N2, Ćirović D3
1BioSense Institute – Research and Development Institute for IT in biosystems Uni-
versity of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia, 2Institute for biological research „Siniša Stank-
ović“, Belgrade, Serbia, 3Faculty of biology, Belgrade, Serbia
Diet, one of the most essential life activities, is connected to almost
all other aspects of an animal’s life. Especially for hibernators living
at high altitudes, such as European ground squirrel (Spermophilus
citellus, EGS) populations in southern Serbia, choices of food can be
of detrimental importance, considering that hibernation survival and
reproductive success are directly inuenced by the fat deposites ac-
quired during the shortened active season. We studied the dietary
resources selection of two EGS populations on the high montane
meadows of south–eastern Serbia. Diet was analyzed using the mi-
crohistological analysis of feces. Dietary resource selection was quan-
tied using the Ivlev’s index of electivity. The majority of the plant
food eaten belonged to the four categories: daisies, legumes, grass-
es, and Cerastium banaticum. Despite constituting, on average, 13%
of the diet, Ivlev’sindex values for grasses were repeatedly negative,
marking them asecondary food choice. Compared to forbs, the nu-
tritive values of grasses are lower, so this result doesn’t surprise, but
it has important implications for the species populations in high–al-
titude habitats. Furthermore, this result should help steer the man-
agement of EGS habitats to quantify and improve the ne–scale vege-
tation diversity, thus increasing the availability of the more preferred
food types.
115
Deadwood, herb layer and bird response on
conservation–oriented active management of
Hungarian Natura2000 oak forests
Aszalós R1, Frank T1, Veres K1, Németh C1, József J2, Ónodi G3, Komlós
M4, Bölöni J1
1Centre For Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology And Botany, Vácrátót, Hungary,
2Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, 3Balaton Limnological Research Insti-
tute, Tihany, Hungary, 4University of Sopron, Sopron, Hungary
In the framework of a running LIFE project (LIFE4OakForests), we
started the conservation–oriented management in three protected
forest areas in Hungary to enhance structural and compositional
complexity in 2018. Active management has been started on the 19
pilot sites and aected approx. 1000 ha Natura2000 oak and horn-
beam dominated oak forests altogether. Among others, these actions
included the girdling of standing living trees, bark stripping of tree
individuals, felling to create downed woods and high stumps. The
baseline survey of several species groups has been nished, and the
post–intervention monitoring started. Preliminary data shows that
the original volume of deadwood and the number of microhabitats
were generally multiplied on each monitored site that had undergone
some intervention. The cover of the herb layer species increased sig-
nicantly two years after the treatments, but species diversity did not
increase. We detected the rapid answer of woodpeckers by the fast
utilization of the treated trees. We found asignicant dierence be-
tween deadwood types and tree species in foraging activity; girdled
trees and Quercus petrea and Q. robur species attracted the highest
activity.
Eects of natural and forestry caused
disturbances on plant communities in
European beech forests
Atrena A1, Banelytė G2, Goldberg I4, Imer Nabe–Nielsen L3, Bruun H3,
Rahbek C3, Heilmann–Clausen J3
1Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden, 2Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 3University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 4Aar-
hus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Many empirical studies have found positive eects of forestry on
plant alpha diversity in temperate deciduous forests, reecting apos-
itive response to soil and canopy disturbances caused by forestry
operations. The level to which this positive response to articial dis-
turbances mimics processes in natural forest ecosystems is less clear,
and hence the systemic eects of forest management on the ground
oral communities remain obscure.
We studied communities of ground–dwelling bryophytes and vascu-
lar plants in four classes of forest management intensity, while re-
cording the incidence of adiverse array of microhabitats related to
hydrology, canopy and soil disturbance.
We found weak positive eects of forest management on alpha diver-
sity of both plant groups. In contrast, the uniqueness of assemblages
– measured as range rarity richness – decreased with forest manage-
ment intensity. Canopy gaps created by thinning had asimilar eect
on alpha diversity to natural tree–fall gaps, but supported adierent
set of species. Similarly, natural watercourses and wet depressions
supported more species of bryophytes and more unique oras of
both groups than did articial ditches.
Long unmanaged forest reserves are essential to providing habitat to
forest specialist species, even for light–dependent organisms such as
bryophytes and vascular plants.
Assessing the joint potential of European
forests for climate change mitigation and
biodiversity conservation
Balducci L1, Alterio E2, Kepfer Rojas S3, Sitzia T2, D‘Angeli A1, Tinya F4,
Doerer I5, Ódor P4, Burrascano S1
1Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, Rome (RM), Italy, 2Department
of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, Università degli Studi di Padova,
Via dell’Università 16, Legnaro (PD), Italy, 3Department of Geosciences and Natural
Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, Frederiksberg,
Denmark, 4Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Alkot-
mány u. 2–4, Vácrátót, Hungary, 5Institute of Biology and Environmental Science,
Ammerländer Heerstraße 114–118, Vegetation Science & Nature Conservation, Uni-
versity of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
It is now widely accepted that climate change mitigation and biodi-
versity conservation are deeply connected and must be faced jointly.
Forests are of primary relevance for both these major environmental
challenges. Our study aims to assess the synergies and trade–os re-
lated to these challenges in European forests.
We harmonized forest structural and biodiversity data from 2,282
sampling units across European countries. We calculated living trees
and deadwood C stocks, and species richness for 6 taxonomic groups
(Birds, Epiphytic Bryophytes and Lichens, Saproxylic Beetles and Fun-
gi, Vascular plants). The species richness of each taxonomic group
in each sampling unit was standardized by scaling its value against
the asymptotic richness for that taxonomic group at the site scale
through the package iNEXT. We used LMM to estimate the relation-
ship between C stocks and scaled species richness of dierent tax-
onomic groups at a continental scale, accounting for management
strategies eect.
The Carbon/diversity relationship is generally positive, supporting the
hypothesis that forest management can be used to mitigate biodiver-
sity loss and climate change. However, this relationship varies greatly
across taxonomic groups and carbon pools. Results suggest the need
for tailored choices to address forest multifunctionality in the face of
the ongoing environmental crisis.
Landscape genomics of the oligolectic wild
bee Andrena vaga along an urbanisation
gradient
Baltz L1, Gardein H2, Greil H2, Paxton R1, Theodorou P1
1Martin–Luther–University, Halle (saale), Germany, 2Julius–Kühn–Instiut, Brunswick,
Germany
Urbanization is aglobal change phenomenon that leads to greater
habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation, increased pollution and
more impervious surfaces compared to nearby non–urban habitats.
The combination of these eects constitutes achallenge for the sur-
vival and persistence of many species, including essential ecosystem
services providers like wild bee pollinators, whilst also imposing al-
tered selective regimes. Urban ecology has provided signicant in-
sights on how urban environmental changes aect bee species com-
munity structure. However, we know little about how the ecological
impacts of urbanization aect the evolution of wild bee populations
living in cities. Here we use genome–wide single nucleotide polymor-
phism data to investigate the genome–wide eects of urbanization
on neutral and adaptive genomic diversity in an oligolectic wild bee,
Andrena vaga, collected along an urbanisation gradient. Our data will
allow the assessment of the importance of certain urban habitats for
gene ow and facilitate the identication of dispersal corridors be-
tween populations that may promote gene ow and prevent the loss
of genetic diversity in Andrena vaga urban populations. Such knowl-
edge will inform conservation management to mitigate the potential
negative eects of cities on this oligolectic bee species.
116
More than stones and spines – Formulation
of amanagement concept by means of
habitat and species surveys for the
degraded dry grasslands at the Lower
Austrian Spatzenberg.
Binder M1
1University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Abandonment of land use is amajor driver for the decline of dry
grasslands and xerothermophilous species in Austria, including the
Lower Austrian Spatzenberg (“sparrows mountain”). Until the 1970 s,
the southern slope of the Spatzenberg was grazed and partly used as
avineyard. Due to the abandonment of (extensive) agricultural use,
ahigh proportion of the calcareous dry grasslands are now isolat-
ed and dominated by woody plants. Qualitative and semi–quantita-
tive species surveys, especially of the taxonomic groups butteries,
grasshoppers and owering plants, are to determine which species
relevant for nature conservation are still present on the remaining
areas. Based on the historical distribution of the dry grasslands and
the current potentials, amanagement concept will subsequently be
developed to maintain and increase the habitat for the xerothermo-
philous biocenosis. Since most of the surveys will not be conduct-
ed until later in 2022, only preliminary results are available to date.
So far, 110 species of owering plants and 15 species of butteries
have been detected. It was noticeable that although many typical dry
grassland species still occur, they are limited to small areas or pop-
ulations. From this it can be deduced that the restoration of open
habitats with heterogeneous ecotones is crucial.
Ecosystem services concept in national park
planning: factors inuencing the inhabitants’
perspectives on local natural resources and
protected areas
Boćkowski M1, Tusznio J1, Rechciński M1,2, Grodzińska–Jurczak M1
1Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland, 2Insti-
tute of Geography & Spatial Management, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
Despite changing paradigms on nature conservation, protected areas
(PAs) such as national parks (NPs) remain key elements of systems of
nature protection worldwide. Nowadays PAs are seen as socio–eco-
logical systems and there is abelief that using ecosystem services (ES)
approach may help explain social reluctance towards planned or ex-
isting PAs. In the study, we focused on the planned Turnicki National
Park (TuNP), in the far eastern part of Polish Carpathians, which since
the 1980 s has been an arena of intensive environmental conict be-
tween proponents of park establishment and local stakeholders. We
examined the use of the ES lens in explaining opinions towards the
planned TuNP using aquestionnaire survey covering municipalities
nearby the proposed TuNP. We found important associations be-
tween attitudes towards parks and dierent factors. The main dier-
ences were related to age, the length of living in amunicipality, level
of education, and net income. Most notably, respondents who saw
the benets of nature were more positive towards NPs (and TuNP),
and those who prioritized provisioning services were more skeptical.
The study has shown that using the ES lens can help explore the fac-
tors important in the establishment and management of PAs and im-
proving people’sattitudes towards PAs.
Changing assembly rules during secondary
succession
Botta–Dukát Z1, Csecserits A1, Lhotsky B1, Rédei T1, Somay L1, Halassy
M1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
According to theoretical considerations, at the beginning of succes-
sion – after getting over the dispersal limitation stage – community
composition is primarily shaped by environmental lters (generating
functional convergence), while in later stages limiting similarity (gen-
erating functional divergence) will be dominant. However, empirical
evidence does not clearly support theoretical expectations.
Changes in vegetation composition were evaluated by acombination
of time series and space–for–time substitution: conducting three re-
surveys of permanent plots on four old–eld age–groups.
We detected a non–random pattern for each trait in at least some
part of the succession. Departure from randomness did not change
signicantly over time for six traits: seed mass, lateral spread, and
pollination type were divergent, while leaf size, generative height,
and length of owering were convergent. Six traits showed changing
patterns along the succession. Four of them showed increasing di-
vergence (e.g. dispersal type, LDMC), which supports our hypothesis.
While two (SLA, life form) displayed increasing convergence, contrary
to expectations.
We conrmed the general hypothesis that convergence is predomi-
nant initially and that divergence can be detected later in succession
for four traits. However, the large variation found in trait dispersion
indicates that complex processes operate during succession.
Natura 2000 Forest Habitats Management
model in Lithuania
Brazaitis G1, Marozas V1, Preikša Ž1, Šaudytė–Manton S1
1Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas dist., Lithuania
The concept of Natural forest habitat management in Lithuania for
Natura 2000 areas has been developed. Currently management activ-
ities in Natura 2000 areas are suspended, even though some habitats
require urgent active management to maintain their values.
Natural habitat types were divided in two categories: (I) Unique, not
abundant and sensitive habitats, and (II) More wide–spread and typi-
cal for the region habitats. Management planning for category Ihab-
itats should be limited to stand level (conservation management,
forest protection and growth measures); category II – planning is ex-
panded to the landscape level imitating natural dynamic.
Conservation management includes the control of invasive species,
forest density and structure management, elimination of under-
growth, prescribed burning, restoration of hydrological regimes,
control of negative beaver impacts, inhibition of unfavourable suc-
cession.
Forest protection and growth measures applied are very limited un-
der critical situations: stand sanitary control, thinnings, regeneration,
wildlife damage prevention. These measures must support and im-
prove the habitat conservation status.
Forest natural dynamics imitation is planned on a whole protected
area level (landscape) and includes single trees (0.05 ha), small gaps
(<0.25 ha) and large gaps formation (0.25–1.0 ha). Depending on light
sensitivity of successional tree species, stand cover of 20–40% canopy
must be retained.
Network of forest habitats of European
importance in Latvia – mapping and analysis,
and conservation strategies
Brumelis G1, Ikauniece S2, Laime B1,2, Priede A2, Tjarve D1, Abeltina I2,
Puga J2
1University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, 2Nature Conservation Agency, Latvia, Sigulda, Lat-
via
Mapping of forest habitats of European importance in Latvia (EU bo-
real biogeographical region) was conducted in 2017–2021, with the
aim to determine their distribution and quality. Atotal of 274 experts
participated in eld survey, all of whom participated in training and
calibration sessions. Experts were given maps with obligate areas
to survey (identied from the forest register and other sources). In
the eld, identied forest habitats were mapped and information on
structures, processes and species were entered on the standardised
data forms. The area of mapped forest habitats was 334597 ha (9%
of total forest area). Only 29.7% of this area is in the Natura 2000 net-
work and only 4% of the total forest area in Latvia is strictly protected.
Therefore, there is great need for improving conservation strategies,
based on quality parameters of the habitats. As the next step, within
the LIFE–IP “Optimising the Governance and Management of the Nat-
ura 2000 Protected Areas Network in Latvia” (LIFE19IPE/LV/000010),
multivariate analysis of the data was used to determine clusters of as-
sociated structures, processes and species. Dead wood was akey fac-
tor related to disturbance types and indicator species, but depended
on the forest type.
117
Short–lived species move uphill faster under
climate change
Couet J1, Lehikoinen A1, Marjakangas E1, Santangeli A1,2, Kålås J3, Lind-
ström Å4
1Finnish Museum of Natural History, Helsinki, Finland, 2Research Centre for Ecolog-
ical Change, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Helsinki,
Finland, 3Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim, Norway, 4Depart-
ment of Biology, Biodiversity unit, Lund, Sweden
Climate change is pushing species ranges and abundances to-
wards the poles and mountain tops. Knowledge of general patterns
at alarge spatial scale, such as awhole mountain range, is scarce.
From a conservation perspective, studying wildlife altitudinal shifts
is relevant because mountains often represent biodiversity hotspots
and are among the most vulnerable ecosystems. Here, we examine
whether altitudinal shifts in birds’ abundances have occurred in the
Scandinavian mountains over 13 years, and assess whether such
shifts are related to species’ traits. Using abundance data, we show
aclear pattern of uphill shift in the mean altitude of bird abundance
across the Scandinavian mountains by 0.9 m/year. Out of 76 species,
7 shifted signicantly their abundance uphill. Altitudinal shift was
strongly related to species’ longevity: short–lived species showed
more pronounced uphill shifts in abundance than long–lived species.
These results suggest that uphill shifts are not only driven by asmall
number of individuals at the range boundaries, but the overall bird
abundances are on the move. Overall, the results underscore the
wide–ranging impact of climate change and the potential vulnerabili-
ty of species with slow life histories, as they appear less able to timely
respond to rapidly changing climatic conditions.
Linear structures aect spatial turnover of
pollinator communities in alandscape scale
Cwajna A1, Moroń D1
1Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of Sciences,
Cracow, Poland
Landscape composition and spatial conguration of habitat patches
are important determinants of biodiversity in fragmented semi–nat-
ural habitats spread across landscapes. However, little attention has
been paid to man–made structures that can moderate spatial pro-
cesses aecting pollinator communities. In a large–scale study, we
explored the importance of railway embankments and levees for the
turnover of pollinator species and plants in a landscape scale. We
sampled pollinating insects and plants, at 55 study sites located along
railway lines and levees. Control grasslands included 39 patches in
which pollinators and plants were sampled. We assessed the relation-
ships between dissimilarity and distance for pollinators and plants
using Moran’sEigenvector Maps. The dissimilarity for pollinators on
railway embankments was spatially structured: sites that were clos-
er together were also less dissimilar in their community composition
than more distant ones. Dissimilarity was also spatially aligned for
pants on levees. The species dissimilarity of pollinators and plants
was not spatially structured on grasslands. Our study highlights the
potential function of linear structures as corridors for pollinator and
plant populations. Landscape managers should include railways and
levees in green networks to improve spatial processes linked with the
distribution and turnover of pollinator and plant species.
Impact of 2019–2020 summer season res on
the mammals and birds habitat in Australia
D‘Alessio A1, Rondinini C1, Pacici M1, Ward M2
1Global Mammal Assessment Programme, Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie
“Charles Darwin”, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma (RM), Italy, 2Centre for Bio-
diversity and Conservation Science, School of Biological Sciences, The University of
Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Brisbane, Australia
Australia has been aected by devastating forest res during the
2019–2020 summer season. They began in June 2019 and continued
until the end of February 2020, killing billions of animals and destroy-
ing their habitat. Here, we quantify the loss of habitat for Australian
forest mammals and birds due to res. We also assessed the poten-
tial change in their threat status using the IUCN Red List criteria. In
particular, we evaluated the loss of habitat in relation to dierent
environmental variables: management zones, protected areas, and
accessibility. We created a burnt areas map, and we overlapped it
with species’ habitat models. Through a mixed logistic regression
model, we modeled the eect of the three environmental variables
on the percentage loss of habitat. Our results show that the majority
of species experienced res within their habitat, and at least 10 mam-
mals and 6 birds could have potentially deteriorated in conservation
status.
The most impacted region was located in the South–Est of the Conti-
nent. Notably, Wilderness Areas (Ib category) lost on average 50% of
their habitat. The res spread especially in remote areas, more di-
cult to access, where the detection of res and the intervention could
have been less rapid.
Wildlife monitoring by AI: How far are we?
Picek L1, Kutal M2, Duľa M2
1Dept. of Cybernetics, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of West Bohemia in
Pilsen, Plzeň, Czech Republic, 2Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and
Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
Camera traps are essential for most biodiversity–motivated studies.
However, periodically processing the high number of generated im-
ages is atremendously tedious and time–consuming task. Our work
helps to overcome that aspect by developing new technologies that
allow adeeper understanding of data from camera traps. Our system
achieved accuracy over 97% in ltering empty images, performing
similarly or better than human annotators. While evaluating the sys-
tem‘sperformance, we achieve outstanding accuracy in the following
scenarios: (i) 85% in recognition of 275 species on adataset provided
by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and captured over 552 loca-
tions spread across 12 countries, (ii) 95% in recognizing 53 species
groups from Serengeti national park, and (iii) 95% on acommon spe-
cies in central Europe. The technology developed through our work
can signicantly increase annotation functionality, especially to im-
prove and simplify the identication of individuals and rene popula-
tion estimates of endangered species. When used on large datasets,
the system can reveal new relationships in the indexed data over time
and across diverse locations. Moreover, the methods and tools devel-
oped here can be applied to improve invasive species monitoring.
Acontent analysis of UN agency strategic
plans: where are the gap and opportunities
for addressing biodiversity goals?
Dunn M1,2
1Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, 2Graduate Institute Geneva, Ge-
neva, Switzerland
The conservation and restoration of biodiversity have become in-
creasingly recognised as foundational for achieving the United Na-
tion‘s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This recognition has
prompted the UN to re–think its system–wide approach to biodiversi-
ty, with plans to enhance the integration of biodiversity goals across
the work of UN agencies. However, the specic mandates and set
resources of each agency means it can be dicult to integrate bio-
diversity in away that promotes synergies and minimises trade–os.
We, therefore, aimed to analyse the extent and context in which bio-
diversity goals are being integrated into the plans of asample of core
UN agencies by conducting a content analysis on their 2022–2025
strategic plans. Each document was coded in Nvivo using a set of
pre–determined key terms relating to the biodiversity–related SDG
targets as well as identied synergies and trade–os between these
goals and other SDGs. The content quality (how often aterm or word
occurs) and the relational qualities (in what context aterm is used)
were analysed to produce asummary of biodiversity integration for
each agency. The ndings of this study highlight the current opportu-
nities and barriers to creating atransformative change for biodiversi-
ty across the UN systems.
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Eort to maximize bird species richness may
favour common forest birds over threatened
farmland birds in mideld woodlots
Dvořáková L1,2, Kuczyński L3, Rivas–Salvador J1, Reif J1,4
1Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague,
Czech Republic, 2Beleco, z.s., Prague, Czech Republic, 3Population Ecology Lab, Fac-
ulty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznań, Poland, 4Department
of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Faculty of Science, Palacky University in
Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Non–productive habitats are essential to prevent further biodiversity
loss caused by agricultural intensication. Woodlots, the small patch-
es of woody vegetation in agricultural landscapes, are one of such
habitats currently subsidized by the EU’sCommon Agricultural Policy
but still poorly studied. Our aim was to nd out what implementation
of woodlot vegetation is the most benecial for birds in farmland. We
measured habitat characteristics (describing vegetation structure,
diversity and nativeness) and structural characteristics (area, shape
and isolation) in 82 mideld woodlots in Czechia (Central Europe).
Then, we related these characteristics to species richness of all birds
and two guilds most frequent in woodlots: forest and farmland birds.
After accounting for the eects of structural characteristics, overall
bird species richness increased with vegetation height and species
richness of woody plants in woodlots. Also, it showed a non–line-
ar decrease with cover of an invasive tree, the Black Locust. Forest
bird species richness was related to the same habitat characteristics
whereas farmland birds were positively related to microhabitat diver-
sity. In conclusion, if the management aims to maximize the overall
bird species richness, which can be achieved by high and species–
rich woody vegetation, it will rather favour widespread forest birds
instead of disappearing farmland birds.
The necessity of full coverage eld surveys
in ne–scale planning of conservation actions
in ahighly mosaic habitat complex
Erdélyi A1,4, Hartdégen J2, Malatinszky Á1, Vadász C3
1Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary, 2Duna–Ip-
oly National Park Directorate, Budapest, Hungary, 3Kiskunság National Park Directo-
rate, Kecskemét, Hungary, 4MME BirdLife Hungary, Budapest, Hungary
Spatially realistic and up–to–date eld data is a crucial basis for
conservation planning and long–term management. As part of the
OAKEYLIFE project (2017–), we conducted full–coverage surveys
on invasive alien tree species (IATs) and habitats in a 1000 ha for-
est–steppe complex in the Peszér Forest (Central Hungary). Instead
of sampling, IATs were mapped in a25x25 m grid that thoroughly
covered the area with a total of 16,000 survey units. Habitats were
mapped on patch level (based on aerial photo interpretation) instead
of the widely–applied forest subcompartment (a.k.a. smallest forest
management unit) level, which resulted in 1000 patches in 300 sub-
compartments. Both these high–resolution maps proved to be essen-
tial in decision making, i.e. to be able to decide where to carry out
reconstruction (e.g. clear–cut followed by articial reforestation in the
case of patches characterized by high abundance of IATs and low con-
servation value) or rehabilitation (e.g. selective chemical treatments
in the case of patches characterized by lower abundance of IATs and
higher conservation value), identifying no–go patches for economic
forestry interventions, establishing buer zones, etc. However, the
eort required for such surveys must be taken into account – which
in our case exceeded 700 days.
Urban Digital Twins: new tools for the
analysis of urban greening
Fabritius H1, Allik M1, Mrosla L1, Kupper K2
1Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia, 2City of Tallinn, Tallinn, Estonia
Digital Twins are 3D virtual representations of real–life physical sys-
tems, equipped with analytic tools and simulation models to study
and test changes in the physical system. The growing use of Urban
Digital Twins in urban planning, and the growing importance of the
provision of Ecosystem Services in cities, have created ademand to
develop digital twins also for urban nature. We develop digital plants
and green area biomes, whose outlook, properties and temporal
development can be parameterized based on empirical evidence or
expert estimates. We also explore the potential benets of utilising
Urban Digital Twins in the planning of biodiverse and connected ur-
ban green areas. Thanks to their three–dimensional nature, and the
potential to provide an immersive user experience with the help of
game engines, urban digital twins can provide an inclusive platform
for citizens to compare alternative green area plans, view information
on their biodiversity (eects), and test green area plan resilience in
dierent future scenarios. Digital twins of urban nature could also be
developed to allow private landowners to test how their properties
could contribute to the biodiversity of their surroundings.
Melanism in Natrix natrix (Linnaeus, 1758)
from Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve,
Romania
Fănaru G1,2, Telea A1,3, Melenciuc R4, Gherghel I1,5
1Ovidius University of Constanta, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Con-
stanta, Romania, 2“Emil Racoviță” Institute of Speleology, Romanian Academy, Bu-
charest, Romania, 3Association Chelonia Romania, Bucharest, Romania, 4Alexandru
Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Biology, Iasi, Romania, 5Alexandru Ioan Cuza Univer-
sity, Faculty of Geography and Geology, Iasi, Romania
Animal coloration has a signicant ecological role in defense, re-
production, and thermoregulation. Skin melanin varies in quantity,
leading to continuous intraspecic polymorphism in wild popula-
tions. Melanistic individuals have certain physiological advantages
in the ecological context: to preserve their body temperature more
eciently. N. natrix (Common grass snake) is distributed in central,
southern, and eastern Europe and western Asia. N. natrix is one of
Romania‘smost common snake species and is highly detectable in
suitable habitats; and has awide range of color polymorphisms, from
olive to grey and melanistic. The melanistic morph in N. natrix from
the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (DDBR) has been previously re-
corded. However, to which extent this morph is distributed/common
in DDRB is unknown. Between 2016 and 2021, we conducted eld-
work in DDBR and observed N. natrix individuals with complete/par-
tial melanism in 5 localities, suggesting that the melanistic individuals
are widespread. We observed both juveniles and adults with mela-
nism (n=11; snout–vent length from 185 to 870 mm), suggesting that
individuals are born melanistic. The extent to which melanin concen-
tration is plastic is unknown. Likely, in DDRB, the melanistic morph
has a thermoregulatory advantage by reaching their physiological
thermal optimum even when hiding from and avoiding predators.
Eect of mowing on snail communities in wet
meadows of Northern Hungary
Farkas R1,2, Bán M3, Dudás G1, Barta Z3
1Bükk National Park Directorate, Eger, Hungary, 2Juhász–Nagy Pál Doctoral School,
University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary, 3MTA–DE Behavioural Ecology Research
Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of De-
brecen, Debrecen, Hungary
Wet meadows are usually harbouring high biodiversity and hence are
important habitats across the globe. These places are typically uti-
lized by grazing or mowing in order to produce forage. Nevertheless,
regular mowing may signicantly aect attributes of these habitats
and hence may seriously impact populations of their species. To in-
vestigate the eect of land management practice we compared snail
communities of mowed and unmowed wet meadows. Our study was
implemented in the Putnok– and Cserehát Hills in North–Hungary.
The abundance, number of species and diversity were taken into con-
sideration as traits of the snail communities. We used linear mixed
eect models during the analyses of data. We found that mowing
decreased both the number and diversity of species, but abundance
was not aected detectably. Our results suggest that regular cultiva-
tion on wet meadows may negatively aect the snail fauna. In case of
regular land use, it is important to maintain uncultivated patches on
those parts of the meadows, where conditions are most resembling
the original to facilitate resettlement. Prepared with the professional
support of the Doctoral Student Scholarship Program of the Co–oper-
ative Doctoral Program of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology
nanced from the National Research, Development and Innovation
Fund.
119
Threat of common juniper trees by invasive
small cypress bark beetle Phloeosinus aubei in
the Czech Republic
Fiala T1, Holuša J1
1Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
The small cypress bark beetle Phloeosinus aubei is considered an in-
vasive pest in several central European countries, and we have de-
termined its current distribution on common juniper trees (Juniperus
communis) in the Czech Republic. The results indicated that P.aubei
is widely distributed in the country but is more common in the east
than in the west. The beetle was mainly detected on older, damaged
trees and on stems with diameters > 3 cm. The apparently wide-
spread and abundant populations of P.aubei could explain infesta-
tions of the beetle on Thuja spp., Cupressus spp. and Juniperus spp. in
gardens and parks (four conrmed cases during the last 10 years). We
consider P.aubei to be apotential pest on older, naturally occurring
J. communis in protected areas where its population density could in-
crease on weakened and damaged trees by game. We suggest that
P.aubei can be monitored via simple inspection of dying and dead J.
communis trees in the eld.
Catch me if you can: Mitigation of Common
Myna (Acridotheres tristis) presence and
activity in protected areas
FINAROV E1, Meiri S1, Roll U2, Shwartz A3
1Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba,
Israel, 3Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
The common myna is designated by the IUCN as one of the 100 most
harmful invasive species in the world. Adramatic increase in myna
populations throughout Israel in recent years poses asevere threat
to the local biodiversity. We examined the eect of an intensive trap-
ping campaign, conducted for the rst time in Israel, on myna abun-
dance and vigilance inside protected areas (Ramat Hanadiv nature
reserve as acase study). We recorded myna presence and ight initi-
ation distances (FID) in Ramat Hanadiv and in one reference site be-
fore and after the trapping campaign. In July–August 2021 we trapped
105 mynas in Ramat Hanadiv (69 adults and 36 juveniles). We found
that myna abundance in Ramat Hanadiv signicantly decreased af-
ter trapping, while a signicant increase was seen in the reference
site. Mynas were rarely seen in the reserve after trapping and their
removal was eective for 7 months. Mynas’ FID inside the reserve sig-
nicantly increased after trapping, indicating increased vigilance. The
results suggest that intensive trapping causes asignicant decrease
in myna numbers inside protected areas, causes abehavioral change,
and can assist in myna management in protected areas in Israel and
elsewhere.
Climate change and microrefugia: the
refugial capacity of dolines in the Mecsek
Mountains (Hungary)
Frei K1, Tölgyesi C1, Erdős L2, Bátori Z1
1Department of Ecology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary, 2Institute of Ecology
and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
Climate change has considerable impacts on ecosystems. Plant spe-
cies can retreat to safe havens (i.e. microrefugia), where they can
persist despite unfavourable macro–environmental changes, such as
global warming. Enclosed depressions of karst landscapes (i.e. do-
lines) may act as such microrefugia for many cool–adapted species.
We studied the vegetation, soil and microclimate in 12 larger dolines
(sites: south–facing slope, north–facing slope, and bottom) and the
surrounding plateau sites in the Mecsek Mountains (Hungary). We
determined the diagnostic species at each site, and used distance–
based redundancy analysis to analyse the relationships between
vegetation and environmental variables. We found that dierences in
abiotic conditions and compositional dierences in vegetation were
most pronounced between doline bottoms and the plateau. Most of
the measured soil parameters reached the highest values in doline
bottoms. The results also showed that doline bottoms provided the
coolest and most humid microhabitats within dolines. Despite the
warm and relatively dry summer, the soil moisture in most doline
bottoms had remained relatively stable in the investigated period.
These results suggest that doline bottoms in forested landscapes
have the potential to provide not only climatic microrefugia but also
important hydrologic microrefugia during global warming.
Global distribution of saproxyly in birds
Fröhlich A1, Kajtoch Ł1, Kosiński Z1
1Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Polska, 2In-
stitute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków,
Poland, 3Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Saproxylic species largely suer from the degradation of forest hab-
itats, which is possibly to exert strikingly negative eect on global
biodiversity. Yet, it remains unknown since the variation and preva-
lence in saproxylic dependencies has never been summarized from
the global perspective. Here, by reviewing scientic literature and in-
vestigating global handbook of birds Aves, we for the very rst time
showed that saproxyly vary from using excavated, fungi– or abiot-
ic–formed tree holes (mainly in dead standing trees) or uprooted
trees, foraging on invertebrates living in various forms of dead wood,
bark or wood injuries, arboreal insect nests or epixylic structures, or
sucking asap from wounded trees. We estimated that at least one of
these saproxylic dependencies may be attributed to 1706 avian spe-
cies (~16% of global community). We explore the avian saproxyly in
the context of state of knowledge, taxonomy, geography and discuss
an implications of our ndings for the future of global biodiversity.
Fistful of Data: Information sources on Czech
biodiversity monitoring and mapping, their
integration and use
Gaigr J1, Vojík M1,2, Levashova A1, Chobot K1
1Nature Conservation Agency of The Czech Republic, Praha 11 – Chodov, Czech Re-
public, 2Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague,
Praha 6, Czech Republic
Modern approaches in conservation biology are largely based upon
the use of ecological and environmental data. Information about the
occurrence and distribution of species and habitats, as well as their
underlying factors. The Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech
Republic (NCA) currently presents amajor driver of collecting and
providing ecological data in the country. Alarge part of the data is
collected for the national species and habitat surveillance schemes
following a well–dened mapping or monitoring methodology. NCA
also integrates the data it collects with external sources, synthesis-
ing the information into new data layers like the Consolidated layer
of ecosystems of the Czech Republic. The knowledge of information
collected and administered by the NCA, its strengths and limits can
be highly valuable for both practical conservation purposes and eco-
logical research. As an example of this approach, we present asemi–
automatic system evaluating target feature status in the Natura 2000
framework based on the integration of multiple data sources. The
framework combines information from the species occurrence and
habitat mapping databases with environmental data. Ultimately, the
framework is designed to assess the state of species populations and
habitats on asite level allowing an eective evaluation of implement-
ed management practices.
Estimating actual abundance of European
sousliks: Using UAV imagery, pixel based
imaging and random forest classication to
count souslik burrows
Gedeon C1, Árvai M1, Szatmári G1, Takáts T1, Kovács Z1, Mészáros J1
1Institute for Soil Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
The non–invasive estimation of the actual population size of Europe-
an sousliks or alike is unsolved. Location and number of burrow en-
trances indicate the area of occupancy and correlate with their abun-
dance. We combined remotely recorded images, pixel–based imagery
and Random Forest (RF) classication to identify and count animals’
burrows automatically. The spectral distinction between the catego-
ries BURROW, SOIL, TREE, GRASS was improved by histogram match-
ing and spectral band normalisation. Both raw and pre–processed
120
images were analysed by RF classication to compare the change in
accuracy metrics of test subsets following atraining phase for 4 mod-
els including adierent predictors. The nal model showed an overall
accuracy of 91% and Cohen’skappa of 74%. Per–class kappa of preci-
sion (K^P_BURROW) and sensitivity (K^S_BURROW) for BURROW were
95 and 90% respectively. A10–time bootstrapping of the nal model
resulted in coecients of variation (CV%) of K_^S_BURROW and K^P_
BURROW lower than 5%, moreover CV% values were not signicantly
dierent between precision and sensitivity scores. The consistency of
classication results and balanced precision and sensitivity support-
ed the applicability of this approach. This method can help estimate
the actual abundance of burrowing mammals and delineate the are-
as of occupancy more eciently than traditional approaches.
Assessing the eect of boating regulation
zones in Marine Protected Areas on
strandings of the Florida manatee, Trichechus
manatus latirostris.
Gibbings A1
1University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Mitigation of watercraft collisions in Florida is vital for the conser-
vation of the threatened species Trichechus manatus latirostris. The
implementation of boat regulation zones in Marine Protected Areas
aims to reduce collisions and protect the species, yet collisions con-
tinue to increase per annum. The aim of this thesis was to assess the
ecacy of these zones on the reduction of strandings and decipher
if there is arelationship between stranding values in and out of boat
regulation zones. QGIS was used to compile,MPA, boat zone and fatal
watercraft–induced stranding coordinates provided from the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the National Marine
Protected Areas Centre for analysis. Intersections between MPAs and
boat zones were run and apoints per polygon analysis used in order
to determine the locations of strandings. Statistical analysis including
2–way ANOVA was carried out on SPSS between the values of strand-
ings in and out of boat zones per year. Until 2016, strandings were
higher in regulated areas, however 2017–2020 values portray higher
stranding occurrence in unregulated zones. This data is discussed in
relation to its signicance to the conservation of T. m. latirostris and
other species facing the same threat.
Thermal conditions determine lizards‘
response to oil contamination in adesert
habitat
Gofer S1, Berger–Tal O1, Bouskila A1,2
1Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Re-
search, Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben Gurion, Israel, 2Depart-
ment of Life Sciences, Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
On December 2014, ‘Avrona Nature Reserve, a unique, hyper–arid
habitat in southern Israel, was polluted by crude oil from adamaged
pipeline. Surveys in the reserve following the oil spill found that some
species of local lizards avoid the oil, while other closely related species
were found more frequently in polluted plots. These results raised the
question: why do these species react dierently to oil polluted soil?
We examined three lizard species in semi–natural arenas divided into
quarters containing natural and oil polluted soils. We placed under-
ground heating pads in clean quarters to simulate dark soil heating
without the oil. We evaluated how soil type and thermal conditions in-
teracted to shape lizards‘ habitat preferences by measuring the time
spent by lizards in each micro–habitat. Species responded dierently
to the treatments. The diurnal Acanthodactylus opheodurus was seen
less on heating pad when heating was on, perhaps to avoid hot soil
during warm hours. Both nocturnal Stenodactylus species preferred
heating pads when they were functioning. Additionally, S. sthenodac-
tylus was seen less on oil–polluted areas, while S. doriae showed no
preference for any of the other micro–habitats. Our results shed light
on the possible impacts of oil spills on ectotherms in desert areas.
Hidden in plain sight: Investigating through
the surface web the illicit trade of medicinal
products derived from the Indian Spiny–tailed
Lizard (Uromastyx sp.)
Gondhali U1, Petrossian G2
1OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India, 2Department of Criminal Justice, John
Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, New York, United States
Spiny–tailed lizards are extensively hunted for their meat and fat
which allegedly contains aphrodisiac properties. Oil extracted from
its body fat is in demand in the South, South–East and Arab countries.
Weak regulations and inability of regional authorities to take appro-
priate action against extensive poaching is leading to over harvesting
of the local population. This investigative study explores the trans-
national nature of the trade and consumer markets. Evidences were
collected from YouTube. We identied and analysed 183 videos, 4240
comments and associated content available publicly on this site. 85%
of the videos contain hunting and dissecting visuals of spiny–tailed
lizard for its oil. Judicious analysis of the video content provides in-
sights into the modus operandi of the illicit trade. The evidence sug-
gest that the videos have been made to reach potential customer in-
ternationally. Content analysis of the comments revealed 65% of the
commentors exhibit willingness to buy the oil and demand from 20
countries, where India, Pakistan and UAE topping the list respectively.
The unknown journey of birds facing plant
invasion
Grzędzicka E1
1Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Kraków, Poland
Plant invaders introduced into heterogeneous lands likely create the
relationship between diversied habitats and negative impacts of the
invaded area. This research aimed to investigate whether the Cauca-
sian hogweeds impact bird responses by providing niche opportu-
nities or limitations and whether these invaders can be tolerated by
birds. Bird and habitat surveys were conducted in south–eastern Po-
land in 2020–2021 on 112 circle sites with aradius of 100 m, including
32 invaded sites. The abundance of ground/herb dwellers dropped
with small increases of the invaded area. Ecotone birds beneted
from small invasion mixed with bushes but were negatively aected
by severely invaded areas. Large invaded areas were used by bush
foragers. Tree foragers preferred partitioning of invaded forests. The
availability of habitat opportunities in heterogeneous uninvaded ar-
eas was more benecial for the species richness of ecotone birds,
bushes’ birds and tree foragers than the surrounding landscape,
although invasion reduced this attractiveness. Birds compared be-
tween heterogeneous invaded and control areas showed highly neg-
ative responses to the invasion resulting from the contrast between
enhanced habitat diversity on control sites and the invaded areas.
Birds living in the landscape surrounding invasion aected those re-
sponses when chose diversied habitats or returned when facing the
invasion.
The National Animal Genetic Bank in the
Czech Republic – source of biological
material available for genetic monitoring and
conservation research
Hajkova P1, Roleckova B1, Vinkler M2
1Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Re-
public, 2Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech
Republic
As the loss of Earth’sspecies has accelerated, the importance of pre-
serving biological material has grown signicantly in recent decades.
Collections of genetic samples may not only serve as evidence of (pre-
viously) existing biodiversity but also enable the monitoring of chang-
es in genetic diversity in space and time, and thereby help answer
questions on the causes of threats or extinction in specic popula-
tions. In this way, they can eectively contribute to species conser-
vation. Moreover, current considerable technological advancements
have meant that molecular genetic methods are gradually becoming
aroutine tool available also for conservation biology. As asource of
121
material for conservation genetic studies we oer samples of the Na-
tional Animal Genetic Bank (NAGB) network that brings together two
members collections with publically accessible sample data. More
than 17 000 samples are at present available (IVB and CUNI reposi-
tories at GGBN Data Portal), representing vertebrate species from 18
countries and four continents. As NAGB does not only provide sam-
ples but also accepts them, it provides an opportunity for those who
come into contact with wild animal carcases to contribute to species
conservation. NAGB is nancially supported by Strategy AV21 of the
Czech Academy of Sciences and INTER–EXCELLENCE – INTER–COST
(LTC20021).
Comparative analysis of anthropogenic and
natural factors inuencing visitor‘sload in 20
Estonian nature trails
Härm L1, Laanisto L1, Jaksi P1
1Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
The popularity of nature tourism is increasing the visitation to the
nature trails. The visitor‘s load is aected by various factors that
trail´s infrastructure or natural environment oers to the visitors.
Therefore, it´srelevant to know which factors are inuencing visita-
tion rates in order to manage the trails more eectively. The purpose
of our study was to make aquantitative comparison of which nature
trails factors are best correlated with the visitor‘sload on 20 nature
trails in Estonia. Data was collected during eldwork between May–
August 2019, visitor‘sload data was requested from the State Forest
Management Center. The model of the factors was constructed in two
steps: rst acorrelation matrix with all the factors, then ageneralized
linear model for comparing the relative eect of the factors. Signi-
cant correlations were found between visitor‘sload and distance to
the nearest county center, nearest possibility for catering, nearest
bus stop, number of web and application visits, number of dierent
surface types, number of toilets on the trail, trail species pool, and ac-
cessibility by car. The importance of this study lies in the methodolog-
ically uniform assessment of both natural and anthropogenic factors
inuencing trail visitor‘sload across awhole cultural area.
Environmental Problems and Fishery
Management Practices in Hungarian Angling
Waters: aQuestionnaire Based Survey
Hegedus A1, Ferincz A1, Urbanyi B2, Weiperth A1, Lente V1, Keszte S1,
Derer I3, Staszny A1
1Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Aquaculture
and Environmental Safety, Department of Freshwater Fish Ecology, Agárd, Hungary,
2Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Aquaculture and
Environmental Safety, Department of Aquaculture, Gödöllő, Hungary, 3Hungarian
National Fishing Association, Budapest, Hungary
Fishery management related actions of Hungarian angling waters sur-
veyed in our questionnaire–based study. The research was aimed to
gather basic information regarding the stocking, water management,
water quality protection practices of the shery managers. Data were
collected from 117 angling clubs during 2018. The results highlighted
several common non–adequate water management and water usage
protocols and numerous environmental problems. Managers (mainly
angling clubs) rarely used sh stock assessment data to plan their
activities. The spread of invasive species, such as the black bullhead
(Ameiurus melas) and the gibel carp (Carassius gibelio) is increasing,
which is major concern for ecological quality, utilization and prot-
ability. Water quality has not regularly been monitored, despite the
use of groundbaits not prohibited in most of the cases. Occurrence of
algal blooms and oxygen deciencies were high. Complex examina-
tion of the environmental–ecological state of angling waters is neces-
sary to ensure the prosperous shery management. Regular surveys
of sh fauna and registration of water quality parameters should be
necessary to develop more precise and sustainable management
plans. Continuous monitoring may provide eective preventive tool
of dierent severe events such as sh kills or the invasion of non–
native species. This study was supported by the TKP2020–NKA–16
project.
Carrying capacity modelling for conservation
translocation: how many West African
giraes can live there?
Hejcmanová P1,2, de Kock M1,3, Zabeirou A1, Rabeil T4
1Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Prague,
Czech Republic, 2Zoological Society of London, Institute of Zoology, London, United
Kingdom, 3University of Pretoria, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Pretoria, South Afri-
ca, 4Wild Africa Conservation, Cesson, France
Carrying capacity may become critical for successful conservation of
endangered species, especially in fragile semi–arid ecosystems where
climate change is particularly pronounced. Feasibility studies preced-
ing animal translocations focus on diverse aspects of ecological suit-
ability, but rarely estimate the upper limit of sustaining capacity of
the environment, especially for browsers. Our aim was to estimate
the browsing carrying capacity of the Sahelian savanna for the West
African girae (Giraa c. peralta) in the Gadabedji Biosphere Reserve
in Niger where conservation translocations were recently initiated.
We developed apredictive model to estimate the available browse
biomass using processing of aerial images acquired by an UAV and
ground–truthing data on tree height and biomass. We recalculated
biomass availability to browsing units (using agreater kudu as stand-
ard). We estimated available tree biomass for giraes in the reserve
to 145 kg per hectare. One girae represents 3.15 browsing units and
has an average intake requirement of 4829 kg of dry leaf biomass
per year. Estimated browsing carrying capacity of the reserve was 89
individuals in the dry season. We highlight that science–based carry-
ing capacity modelling enable sustainable population management,
incorporating population structure and seasonality, and should be-
come an integral part of conservation operations.
Does biodiversity production of High Nature
Value farming systems in Europe come at
ahigh environmental cost to the planet?
Herzon I1, Torres–Miralles M1, Jeanneret P2, Manzano P1,3, Lamminen
M1, Tuomisto H1,4
1University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 2Agroscope, Zürich, Switzerland, 3Basque
Centre for Climate Change, Leioa, Spain, 4Natural Resources Institute Finland, Hel-
sinki, Finland
Meat consumption and production is ahighly contested issue in the
eld of conservation, due to the displacement and other adverse
impacts on biodiversity. Most studies comparing environmental im-
pacts of dierent production systems exclude biodiversity impacts,
and focus on intensive systems. We used data from 41 farms with
cattle and sheep that belong to High Nature Value (HNV) farms in
six European countries: Finland, Estonia, The UK, France, Greece
and Spain. HNV farms are known to support exceptional and some
unique biodiversity across Europe. We used Life Cycle Assessment
approach to assess the environmental impacts, such as global warm-
ing potential, eutrophication, fossil fuels and water use, as well as
biodiversity levels. Results demonstrated that HNV farming systems
maintain high biodiversity levels, have apotential to act as carbon
sinks, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient loses and water
use, while producing meat. However, awide range of performance
among the HNV farms point out to aneed for considerable improve-
ments in their management to reduce the impacts while maintain-
ing high biodiversity. Biodiversity–rich HNV farming systems can play
amore central role in transition to sustainable food systems but it will
require adrastic reduction in consumption in animal products.
122
Impact of the trac noise on bird diversity in
the agriculture landscape along the highway
Hladík Š1, Zasadil P1, Keken Z1
1 Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague,
Czech Republic
This research analyses impact of four selected highways in the Czech
Republic on qualitative and quantitative characteristics of bird com-
munities. All the highways crossed intensively used agriculture land-
scape with scattered patches of tree and shrub vegetation. Birds
were counted at 298 observation squares 50 x 50 m, which were
located at four various distances (25, 125, 500, 1000 m) from four
highways across the Czech Republic. In total, 1266 records of birds of
74 species were found. Results from this research conrm negative
impact on the bird diversity along highways in this type of agriculture
landscape. The bird species diversity signicantly decreased towards
highway. The fewest species (36) were recorded at the observation
squares in the vicinity of the highway with an average abundance of
2,2 records per square. In contrast, observation squares at 1000 m
distance reached 61 species with an average abundance of 5,8 re-
cords per square. Further, farmland specialists were more aected
on longer distance compared to woodland specialists. It´ssupposed
that the main factor causing the decrease of bird diversity is atrac
noise. Spreading of noise is supported by the open agriculture land-
scape with homogeneous large eld blocks that represent asigni-
cant threat to biodiversity.
Restoring the connectivity of seminatural
grasslands on Muhu island, Estonia. Example
of LIFE project „LIFE Connecting meadows“.
Holm A1, Tali K1, Luuk O2
1Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia, 2Estonian Seminatural Commu-
nity Conservation Association, Tartu, Estonia
Although the Estonian wooded meadows, alvars and coastal mead-
ows have suered large decrease in habitat area during past 60 years,
most of the light demanding species are still present on sites as rem-
nant populations, occurring on few remaining open spots on each
site. However, eventually species richness will start to correspond to
current, smaller and more fragmented habitat areas, which results in
extinctions of currently present remnant populations. In addition to
decreasing habitat area, the increasing isolation of remnant habitat
patches have resulted in very low ecological connectivity – they are
too far apart from each other to allow necessary seed dispersal be-
tween the sites.
In 2019 LIFE project „LIFE connecting meadows“ started in Muhu is-
land, Estonia. Landscape scale planning of the restoration concept
is used in the project to plan the restoration of the semi–natural
grassland patches to give maximum eect to create connectivity. We
demonstrate the importance of metapopulation level in habitat and
species protection and the expertise will be distributed and put into
further practice also on bigger island – Gotland, Sweden. As aresult
the model is available to use on the country level.
Factors shaping Yellow Wagtail abundance in
intensively cultivated farmland: disentangling
the roles of surrounding habitat, eld
characteristics and food supply
Hološková A1, Kadlec T2, Reif J1
1Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague,
Czech Republic, 2Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech
University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
Farmland birds decline is awell–documented phenomenon attribut-
ed to agricultural intensication. However, the specic mechanisms
making the intensively used farmland unsuitable for breeding birds
have not yet been satisfactorily elucidated. We performed asimulta-
neous sampling of Yellow Wagtail breeding abundance, invertebrate
food supply and habitat characteristics in winter wheat, oil–seed
rape and maize elds. Study was carried out in south–western Slo-
vakia – a region characterised by the largest eld sizes in the Euro-
pean Union. Yellow Wagtail abundance was best predicted by habi-
tat characteristics: birds chose elds without the woody vegetation
in their surroundings and with asuitable crop height and coverage.
The abundance, biomass and diversity of invertebrates were inu-
enced primarily by insecticide applications. Focusing on the studied
crops, the birds were not more abundant in the elds with a rich-
er food supply (maize, rape), because these crops had unsuitable
vegetation structure. The low overall abundance of the studied spe-
cies indicates that the environment represented by large elds with
apredominance of the studied crops creates unsuitable conditions
for its breeding.
Assessing the ecological importance of
owering weeds in agricultural landscapes
Hölting L1, Speck S1, Rodriguez Barrera G1
1Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
The homogenization and intensication of agricultural landscapes
has led to adecline in the abundance and diversity of owering spe-
cies (both inside and outside agricultural elds). Because these spe-
cies provide awide range of regulating ecosystem services with high
values to society, there is acall to restore owering weed species
in agricultural landscapes. To assess the eectiveness of agri–envi-
ronmental measures to restore biodiversity and ecosystem services,
we installed a three–year monitoring program for owering weed
species on perennial self–vegetated fallows, annual self–vegetated
fallows and perennial ower elds in an agricultural landscape in
Saxony. Our aim is to compare the species richness and functional
diversity of the plant communities within these conservation meas-
ures. First results show that species richness is highest on perennial
owering elds. However, both annual and perennial self–vegetated
fallows have higher functional diversity and provide more regulating
ecosystem services than ower elds. Based on this plant survey and
the assessment of functional traits, we create aspecies list that can
be used beyond the case study region to practically assess the eco-
logical value of plant communities in ower and fallow elds.
Detection of marine invasive non–native
species in aspecial area of conservation
using digital droplet PCR assays and
metabarcoding approaches.
Ironside J1, Detheridge A1, Grith G1, Zejc K1, Taite M1, Powell–Jen-
nings C2
1Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom, 2Natural Resources Wales,
Aberystwyth, United Kingdom
Environmental DNA methods have the potential to enable early de-
tection of non–native species in the marine environment, allowing
control and eradication measures to be implemented before non–
native species become established. We developed digital droplet PCR
assays for four invasive non–native animal species that were identi-
ed as high priority for early detection within the Pen Llŷn a’r Sarnau
Special Area of Conservation (PLAS SAC), Wales, UK. These were the
American lobster Homarus americanus, the Chinese mitten crab Eri-
ocheir sinensis, the slipper limpet Crepidula fornicata and the carpet
sea squirt Didemnum vexillum. The assays were tested on seawater
samples collected from sites within the PLAS SAC, along with samples
collected from areas where the non–native species were known to be
established. Metabarcoding, using general primers and primers spe-
cic to higher taxa of animals, was also applied to the same samples
in order to establish the relative ecacy of species specic and me-
tabarcoding approaches for early detection of the target species and
to provide additional context in terms of other native and non–native
species detected at the sample sites.
Global coordinated study on vegetation
changes on nature trails: acall for
participation in GetDiv
Jaksi P1, Härm L1, Laanisto L1
1Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Recreation activities and tourism sector are globally becoming more
popular. Although people’sinterest in visiting nature is generally pos-
itive, it can also have harmful eects on the biodiversity and vegeta-
123
tion as the extent and frequency of disturbances grow. Nature trails
are basically linear corridors of disturbances. Bringing visitors to frag-
ile and protected areas, as well as constructing and maintaining of
trails has an impact on surrounding environment. This could lead to
changes in biodiversity and species composition. There have been
plenty of studies about tourism impacts on natural areas, however,
these have typically focused on local scale (e.g. studying single trails)
and agship species, which means that the methodologies are incom-
parable, and the data is often based on estimations done on arela-
tive scale. Therefore we have very limited comparable fundamental
knowledge on how tourism aects nature, and how similar or dier-
ent are these eects in dierent regions, habitats or trail types. Here
we present the rationale for the methodological approach, and call
for acoordinated global eort – project GetDiv – for collecting com-
parable and comprehensive data of diverse aspects of nature trails
on local, regional and global scale, with the focus on plant diversity.
ibis.iSDM – Amodelling framework for
creating integrated species distribution
models
Jung M1
1International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
Species distribution models (SDMs) are the most widely–used ap-
proaches to estimate ecological response functions and create
spatial–temporal indicators for conservation and macroecological
research. However, many biodiversity data sources are of varying
origins and have dierent levels of condence. Commonly, existing
biodiversity knowledge, such as estimates on species ranges or hab-
itat preferences, is ignored in SDMs, resulting in naive predictions
determined by often spatially or environmentally biased data. Here
Ipresent the ‘ibis’ framework for creating Integrated BiodIversity dis-
tribution projectionS and specically integrated species distribution
models (iSDM). This new framework supports various levels of inte-
gration for dierent types of data, e.g. polygon, point occurrences
and priors from the literature, and likelihood functions such as for
presence–absence and presence–only data in Poisson process mod-
elling framework. Further, it is specically customized to make spa-
tial–temporal projections of future biodiversity trends in response to
land–use and climate change.
The ibis.iSDM package is made openly available as R–package and
implemented in an object–based fashion. Multiple, predominantly
Bayesian algorithms (“engines”) and submodules are currently im-
plemented and in the future we plan to expand the framework with
additional functionalities, such as submodules and linkages to other
tools to account for dynamic response, dispersal and connectivity.
Eectiveness of riverine biodiversity
conservation in the Natura 2000 sites:
congruent response of micro– & macro–
indicator species to habitat loss
Kajtoch L1
1Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals Polish Academy of Sciences,
Krakow, Poland
Assessment of the environmental quality of rivers is of urgent need
due to habitat loss and accelerating inundations caused by climate
change. Assemblages of predatory beetles or bird communities could
be used as eective indicators for riverine environments, however,
both groups act on dierent spatial scales. Here, I analyse Carabi-
dae and Staphylinidae along with riverine birds on rivers being under
various hydrotechnical alterations and nature protection. The study
on 50 river sections in SE Poland in 2021 revealed that there is ahigh
correlation between micro–, and macro–indicators species richness
(R=0.70), and abundance (R=0.73). The diversities of beetles and
birds decreased congruently in response to the loss of river channel
naturalness. Moreover, both indicator groups showed much higher
diversities in sites occupied by Eurasian otter – the agship species
for aquatic habitats (3 and 2–fold more species, 7 and 3–fold more
individuals; respectively). Natura 2000 sites sheltered more diverse
communities of beetles (Z= 3.25, p=0.001), but not birds (Z= 1.89,
p=0.059), which suggests that biodiversity conservation in this net-
work could be improved, especially for the wider spatial scale. This
study shows that combined analyses of biodiversity are important for
the proper assessment of conservation needs in riverine habitats.
Distribution and population size of the
Freshwater Pearl Mussel Margaritifera
margaritifera (Mollusca: Bivalvia) in Latvia
2020–2021
Kalnins M1,2, Kukare I1,2, Rudzite M3, Liepins K1, Kukars N, Rudzitis M3
1JSC „Latvia‘s State Forests“, Riga, Latvia, 2Daugavpils University Institute of Life
Sciences and Technology, Daugavpils, Latvia, 3Museum of the University of Latvia,
Riga, Latvia
The state information system of Latvia lacks up–to–date informa-
tion on localities and habitats of Freshwater Pearl Mussel Margari-
tifera margaritifera, which prevents the possibility to assess possible
threats to species deposits or habitats, etc. The aim of the study was
to prepare geospatial information on the M.margaritifera habitats and
the state of the population to improve the conservation measures of
the species. In 2020–2021 the inventory and mapping of M.margari-
tifera in rivers which the species was found during the last ~10 years
was performed.
Species populations have been found in 7 rivers. No species found in
4 rivers, but it is likely that the population still exists. The total popu-
lation is 18650 individuals, forming micropopulations of 15 species in
11 rivers. Populations with ahigh degree of conservation have been
found only in 2 rivers, but the actual situation is worse because the
population is fragmented. No small–size specimens were detected.
Beaver activity and woody debris in the rivers are the main threats
resulting in direct killing of M.margaritifera and degradation of their
habitats. In addition to the above factors, there are other impact fac-
tors, however, their eects are slower or aect only the reproductive
processes of M.margaritifera.
Lake Koronia, awetland in gradual recovery
process or aash from the past?
Karadimou E1, Chrysopolitou V1, Katsavouni S1, Navrozidou V1,2, Pa-
padimos D1, Zervas D1, Tsiaoussi V1
1The Goulandris Natural History Museum / Greek Biotope Wetland Centre, Thessa-
loniki, Greece, 2Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Geology, Thessaloniki,
Greece
Lake Koronia, Greece, is awetland of international and European im-
portance (Ramsar and Natura 2000 site). The lake has deteriorated in
terms of habitats, water quantity and quality since 1995, resulting in
mass sh and bird deaths. We monitored abiotic and biotic (aquat-
ic macrophytes) parameters between 2015 and 2021 to investigate
recovery progress, following implementation eorts of arestoration
plan. Abiotic conditions were recorded monthly/seasonally, while
vegetation data were recorded in two periods (June 2017, 2020). After
an initial considerable increase in water level, mean annual values
uctuated at around 70–71 m asl. Water transparency values were
low while conductivity values were high. Three vegetation units were
present: Lemnetea, Potamogetonetea and Phragmitetea, represent-
ed by few taxa. Helophytic taxa formed anarrow littoral reedbed (<
10% of the lake area). Few rooted hydrophytes were present but lim-
ited to sparse patches (< 5% of the total abundance). These results
indicate that vegetation stabilization or even further expansion could
be possible, given that hydrological and physicochemical conditions
improve. The possible recovery of this fragile ecosystem depends on
both the mitigation of anthropogenic pressures and favorable natu-
ral conditions. The continuation of restoration measures and moni-
toring eorts are considered necessary in this direction.
124
Light attraction in carabid beetles:
Comparison among animals from the inner
city and aDark Sky Reserve
Kaunath V1, Eccard J1,2
1Animal Ecology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany, 2Biologische Station
Gülpe, Gülpe, Havelaue, Germany
Nocturnal invertebrates are particularly aected by increasing expo-
sure to articial light at night (ALAN) due to their fatal light attraction.
This selective pressure has the potential to reduce the strength of
the ight–to–light response in insects, as shown recently in amoth
species.
We investigated light attraction of Carabidae (Coleoptera) and com-
pared among animals from an urban highly light polluted (HLP) grass-
land and animals collected at alow–polluted area in aDark Sky Re-
serve (DSR), Germany, captured using odour bait.
Tested at night, HLP beetles (n = 75, all 3 genera) showed areduced
attraction towards ALAN. HLP beetles were less active in an open eld
test (latency to start moving), compared to DSR (n = 143) tested dur-
ing daytime. However, the reduced attraction was not observed in the
most common species Calathus fuscipes (total n = 155).
Reduced attraction to ALAN in urban beetles may have various expla-
nation and concomitant eects: Result of phenotypic selection, indi-
cating an ongoing evolutionary dierentiation. This may directly en-
hance survival and reproductive success of urban individuals, which
again could negatively inuence dispersal reproduction and foraging
success, highlighting the selective pressure that light pollution may
have on tness, by shaping and modifying the insects behaviour.
The development of aprotocol for declaring
alien species absent from acountry.
Kayla C1,2,3, Wilson J2,3, Geerts S1
1Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa, 2South African
National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, South Africa, 3Centre of Excellence for Inva-
sion Biology, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Lists of alien species are important for an accurate account of how
many alien species are present in acountry. Globally, considerable ef-
fort has been made to improve the accuracy of these lists. Species lists
should ideally be based on eld observations with aphysical speci-
men and whose identity has been conrmed both morphologically
and through molecular methods. However, this is often not achieved,
and as aresult there are numerous errors in such lists. Such errors
can inate species numbers, create confusion, and lead to wasted
management eort. We address this issue by creating aframework to
guide the process of listing an alien species as absent from acountry.
The framework is intended to be followed by any entity tasked with
responding to aconcern raised about the absence of an alien spe-
cies within acountry. This framework was rened via the information
brought forward in an expert workshop and then applied to two case
study species based in South Africa, namely Calluna vulgaris and Eu-
phorbia esula, that are listed under national legislation as alien plants
and has been reported as present in the country but their presence
has not been formally recorded and conrmed and thus disputed.
Eect of community–based forest
management on forest structure and multi–
taxon biodiversity in the Mayan Biosphere
Reserve, Guatemala
Kepfer–Rojas S1, Fernández D2, Marroquín C2, Ruano J3, Ortiz Gonzalo
D4, Hansen A1, Rojas Castillo O1, Trepekli A1
1University Of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2Universidad de San Carlos de
Gutemala, Guatemala, Guatemala, 3Producciones Concepción, Guatemala, Guate-
mala, 4University of California, Davis, Davis, California
Despite the importance of forest for the maintenance of biodiversi-
ty and provisioning of ecosystem services, deforestation is still high
or even rising in some tropical countries. Conservation eorts based
on strictly protected areas have not been able to counteract illegal
deforestation. Community–based forest management (CFM) has
emerged as asustainable model of forest management to reduce the
impact on forest ecosystems. In Guatemala, this model is being used
in the Maya Biosphere Reserve through a forestry concession pro-
gram since the 1990 s. Currently, deforestation rates in forest conces-
sions are clearly lower when compared to neighboring, strictly pro-
tected conservation areas. In addition, the populations of valuable
harvested wood species are sustainable. However, the impact of this
type of management on biodiversity hasn´t been thoroughly evalu-
ated. In this project, we will integrate eld measurements, remote
sensing (LiDAR and Multispectral), combined with conventional and
automated sampling (eDNA, metabarcoding, bioacoustics) methods
for plants, insects, mirobiome and vertebrates to assess the impact
of MFC on biodiversity in the Carmelita community forest concession.
Given the global biodiversity crisis and while the Guatemalan author-
ities are reviewing the MFC model, it is timely and crucial to assess its
impact on biodiversity.
Moss–growth assessment reveals that
microclimatic edge eects are stronger
during drought
Koelemeijer I1
1Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Land use drastically increases the amount of forest edges in the land-
scape. Edge habitats are likely more exposed to climatic extremes,
which could have large impact on the understory biodiversity.
Here we investigated how drought aects microclimatic edge gradi-
ents. We used anovel method of retrospectively assessing growth
of the moss Hylocomium splendens as an indicator of microclimate
in space and time. We tested if edge inuences varied between
adrought year compared to previous years, and if it was the strength
or the depth that increased.
Edge inuences were nearly twice as strong during the drought year,
although they did not penetrate deeper into the forest.
This is likely due to more hours of sun combined with high temper-
atures, low humidity and desiccating winds during a drought, that
penetrate into the forest edge. Thus, reducing the amount of edge
habitat becomes even more important under current climate change
with more extreme events. Based on our estimations of the depth
of edge inuence, we propose buer zones of 20 to 30 meters sur-
rounding forest edges, in order to adapt biodiversity conservation in
small forest patches to achanging climate.
Does deadwood origin matter? The way
atree dies aects the trajectories of wood–
inhabiting fungal community development
in Picea abies, especially for very rare
specialists.
Kolényová M1,2, Běťák J2, Zíbarová L3, Dvořák D1, Majdanová L4
1Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlar-
ska 2, Brno, Czech Republic, 2Silva Tarouca Research Institute, Department of Forest
Ecology, Lidická 25/27, Brno, Czech Republic, 3Resslova 26, Ústí nad Labem, Czech
Republic, 4Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences,
Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamycka 129, Prague, Czech Republic
We monitored wood–inhabiting fungal communities on 60 spruce
logs in dierent decay stages divided into two classes – (a) uprooted
and (b) fallen snags, trees that had remained standing dead (sever-
al years to few decades) before falling. Fieldwork was carried out in
2021 at the Boubín primeval forest (Bohemian Forest, Czechia). On
each studied log, we conducted both traditional fruitbody–based and
eDNA–sequencing sampling. Our preliminary results (based on the
former approach) show that the fungal assemblages dier between
both classes of the studied trees. The fallen snags served as the pre-
ferred substrate for some extremely rare species, such as Phellinidium
ferrugineofuscum, rediscovered in the Czech Republic after 25 years.
Also, its successor – the hemiboreal polypore Skeletocutis delicata, un-
til now known only known from North Europe and Russia, was for
the rst time collected in Central Europe on the same substrate. Our
ndings point to the need for atargeted selection of objects when
managing deadwood in forest stands. Not only the total amount of
deadwood but also its diverse structure and origins represent key
factors for the biodiversity of many dead–wood–dependent groups
of organisms.
125
Nine–year bird community development
on aNorth–Bohemian spoil heap: impacts
of vegetation characteristics, restoration
approach and human land use
Korejs K1
1University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Despite being valuable indicators of habitat change, birds are rare-
ly used in restoration science. We oer new information by inves-
tigating bird community development on a large North–Bohemian
spoil heap over anine–year period from 2012– 2021. We performed
asophisticated analysis of community response to site development,
human land use (Corine Land Cover categories), primary vegetation
productivity, age and structure, proportion of senescent vegetation
and restoration approach (spontaneous succession, agricultural res-
toration, tree planting, etc.). Bird community structure was signif-
icantly impacted by specic types of restoration approach (sponta-
neous succession, agricultural restoration, etc.) or human land use
(forest, dump site, pasture, arable land) or vegetation characteristics
(tree cover and shrub cover etc.). Bird diversity, rarity and species
richness increased signicantly as site developed. Bird diversity was
signicantly lower in dump site and pasture areas than forests or ar-
able land, and increased with cover of the shrub layer. Rarity of birds
was increased on spontaneous succession and arable land, in con-
trast to the low rarity value of forests. The planting eorts on tech-
nically reclaimed areas facilitated greater abundances of forest birds
and higher overall diversity, but could cause adecline of valuable bird
communities by converting extensively managed areas into generic
woodland.
Scale–dependence of landscape
heterogeneity eects on plant invasions
Kotowska D1, Pärt T2, Skórka P1, Auret A2, Żmihorski M3
1Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland, 2De-
partment of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden,
3Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Białowieża, Poland
Invasive alien species are amongst the most concerning threats to
native biodiversity worldwide, and the level of landscape heteroge-
neity is considered to aect spatial patterns of their distribution.
Landscape heterogeneity can be described by its composition and
conguration. These may dierently aect invasive species and their
impacts may be additionally scale–dependent. Yet, their relative con-
tribution to invasion patterns is poorly known. We investigated the ef-
fect of landscape composition and conguration across dierent spa-
tial scales on the abundance of invasive North American goldenrods
(Solidago spp.). Using anovel method based on inspection of Google
Street Views, we collected and analyzed large dataset on goldenrod
distribution along 1347 roadside transects in agricultural landscapes
of Poland. Both landscape heterogeneity components were positive-
ly associated with goldenrod abundance. The eect was most pro-
nounced at the largest spatial scale for compositional heterogeneity,
while the pattern was the opposite for congurational heterogenei-
ty. This scale–dependence means that researchers and practitioners
may miss the association if only concentrating on asingle spatial
scale. While increasing landscape heterogeneity is widely introduced
as away to promote farmland biodiversity, we show that it may also
support invasive plants. Therefore, we suggest implementing regular
management and eradication schemes in most heterogeneous land-
scapes.
Cataloging Essential Biodiversity Variables
with the EBV Data Portal
Langer C1, Quoss L1, Fernández N1, Valdez J1, Pereira H1
1Martin Luther University Halle–Wittenberg / iDiv, Leipzig, Germany
We present the EBV Data Portal, aplatform for distributing and visu-
alizing EBV datasets. It contains ageographic cataloging system that
supports alarge number of spatiotemporal description features and
enables their discoverability. To facilitate user interaction, it oers
aweb–based interface where users can (1) share and/or (2) nd es-
sential biodiversity spatiotemporal data through intuitive interaction
with cataloging and visualization tools. Using the EBV Catalog mod-
ule, the user can explore the characteristics of the data based on the
denition of an EBV Minimum Information metadata standard. The
Catalog also allows to browse the description of the metadata as both
the ACDD standard (JSON) and the EML standard (XML). This enables
easy interoperability with other metadata catalogues. An example
application is the calculation of EBV summary statistics for selected
countries and areas. Using the EBV Data Portal, users can select EBVs
and calculate basic biodiversity change metrics from spatiotemporal
subsets and visualize conveniently complex, multidimensional bio-
diversity datasets. These visualization and analysis tools of the EBV
Data Portal are arst step towards an EBV–based dashboard for bi-
odiversity analyses.
HABITAT SELECTION MODELING TO
ASSESS DRIVERS OF HABITAT LOSS IN WILD
REINDEER
Lelotte L1, Van Moorter B2
1University of Liège, Liège, Belgium, 2Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trond-
heim, Norway
Terrestrial biodiversity is declining rapidly from human land uses and
associated landscape changes. In Norway, fast–paced anthropogenic
development threatens Europe’slast wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus
tarandus) herds hosted in southern country, which are primarily im-
pacted by consequent habitat loss and fragmentation. In order to help
land management towards the protection of suitable and ecologically
functional habitats for the species, we developed aquantitative and
spatially–explicit framework based on resource selection functions
(RSFs) to assess the main drivers of habitat loss. Our results revealed
substantial habitat loss (> 50%) in most herds, with major drivers of
habitat loss being unevenly distributed within the study area. Overall,
highest disturbance levels were caused by grazing animals from do-
mestic livestock, houses, roads and hiking trails. These results point
out the need for prioritized and targeted mitigation of herd–specic
drivers of habitat loss, and provide key insights for preventing future
human–reindeer conicts. More widely, we show that RSFs can deliv-
er timely information and practical support to land management and
conservation strategies. Our approach provides a valuable frame-
work for assessing habitat loss, scalable to many other biodiversity
components, and thus oers potential to address this leading cause
of species extinction worldwide.
Eects of amusing memes on concern for
unappealing species
Lenda M1
1Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland, 2De-
partment of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong–Liverpool University,
Suzhou, China
There is limited knowledge of the mechanisms that can inspire peo-
ple‘sconcern and engagement in the protection of unpopular and
unappealing species. We analyzed Polish people‘sinterest in themed
internet memes featuring the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus)
and the consequences of this interest for conservation marketing.
We examined Google Trends data, used Google Search, and searched
popular media materials to estimate interest in the proboscis mon-
key in Poland. Photos of the proboscis monkey when presented with
humor in internet memes attracted as much interest as usually more
popular species (e.g., koala, panda, and orangutan) used in marketing
by nongovernmental organizations. Amusing internet memes spread
by social media positively correlated with increasing interest in the
unappealing species, such as proboscis monkey. Interest in amusing
internet memes positively correlated with individuals’ decisions to
donate to 6 crowdfunding actions. Thus, conservation marketing that
includes amusing memes and social media may provide aworthwhile
complement to traditional campaigns and are likely to inuence indi-
viduals who are unaected by the usual means.
126
The eects of forest age and slope aspect on
the refugial capacity of karstic microrefugia
Li G1, Kelemen A1, Tölgyesi C1, Erdős L2, Bátori Z1
1University of Szeged, Department of Ecology, Szeged, Hungary, 2Institute of Ecology
and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
Topographic depressions of karst landscapes, such as dolines, may
provide important microrefugia for species sensitive to climate
change. Their refugial capacity may be aected by anthropogenic
disturbances, such as forestry activities. We studied the combined
eects of forest age (class 1: 5–10–year–old stands with mature for-
est patches, class 2: 40–45–year–old stands, class 3: 60–65–year–old
stands, and class 4: more than 90–year–old stands) and slope aspect
(microhabitats: N–facing slope, S–facing slope, and bottom) on the
plant species composition of dolines in Hungary. The dierent groups
of plant species – beech forest species, oak forest species, and spe-
cies of disturbed forests – usually showed signicant preferences for
certain microhabitats within the forest age classes. In general, the
number of plant species in all studied groups increased after a few
years of canopy removal. However, the number of plant species in
almost all groups was lower in class 2 than in the other age classes.
Doline bottoms in class 4 provided suitable environments for more
beech forest species than doline bottoms in the other forest age
classes. Our results may aid in the understanding of the eects of for-
est management on the function of microrefugia in karst landscapes.
Variations in home range size of puma (Puma
concolor) across the distribution range:
eects of productivity, diet and competitors
Llorente E1, R. Recio M1, López–Angulo J2, Medina A1, Virgós E1
1Department of Biology, Geology, Physics and Inorganic Chemistry. School of Exper-
imental Sciences and Technology. Rey Juan Carlos University., Madrid, Spain, 2De-
partment of Environmental Systems Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Zurich (ETH)., Zurich, Switzerland
The home range size of wildlife species is an important ecological
trait of importance for the demography, viability and conservation of
their populations. Home range size is determined by acombination
of abiotic and biotic factors that are best contrasted and explained
when evaluated across the entire distribution range of the species.
The puma (Puma concolor) is ageneralist predator widely distribut-
ed in well diverse environments. We modelled the determinants of
the home range size of pumas by collecting data from local studies
and combining macroecological variables (cli–mate, seasonality) with
others on interspecic competitors and prey type. Modelling results
revealed that the home range size of pumas was positively associated
with the percentage of small mammals in their diet and increased
seasonality of precipitations. Also, the presence of the jaguar (Pan-
thera onca) was related to ahigher percentage of small mammals in
the diet of pumas, and thus, to an increase in home range size. Ahigh-
er seasonality due to global warming could in–crease the home range
size pumas, thus reducing the density of their populations. This po-
tential scenario could put some puma populations at risk, and could
be particularly pronounced in areas of sympatry with the jaguar.
Testing the predictive performance of
comparative extinction risk models
Lucas P1, Cazalis V2,3, Luedtke J4,5, Brown M5, Langhammer P5, Neam
K5, Manchini G1, Di Marco M1, Santini L1
1Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy, 2German Centre for Integrative Biodiver-
sity Research (iDiv) Halle–Jena–Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, 3Leipzig University, Leipzig,
Germany, 4IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, Washington, D.C., USA, 5Re:wild,
Austin, USA
Comparative analysis of extinction risk allows predicting species–lev-
el risk from the complex interactions between intrinsic and extrinsic
drivers. Many analytical techniques have been used for this purpose,
but have never been compared. Using amphibians as astudy group,
here we test and compare the predictive performance of four dier-
ent techniques (i.e., Cumulative Link Models, Random Forests, PGLS,
Neural Networks). We used species traits, spatial descriptors, and
proxies for climate change and land use as predictors to calculate the
IUCN Red List category. We found that Cumulative Link Models and
Random Forests performed better than PGLS and Neural Networks,
and that all four models agree on the identication of 86.18% species
as threatened/non threatened. The most important predicting varia-
bles across models were species range descriptors, climate, climate
change and land–use change. Comparing current IUCN Red List cat-
egory with the ensemble prediction of the four models, we identied
species that should be prioritised for future assessments as species
listed in alower threat category than the predictions. We propose
ensemble predictions as apromising tool for prioritising species for
reassessment while accounting for models’ uncertainty, based on
their most likely conservation status considering trait and extrinsic
information.
Importance of old–growth forests
for wood–inhabiting fungi
Majdanová L1, Hofmeister J1, Čada V1, Pouska V1, Mikoláš M1, Zíbarová
L2
1Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech Univer-
sity of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, 2Resslova 26, Ústí nad Labem,
Czech Republic
Old–growth forests represent an important refuge for forest biodi-
versity. Forest exploitation associated with increased demand for
timber has led to signicant changes in the structure of forests, which
have mainly aected saproxylic species dependent on dead wood.
Wood–inhabiting fungi are among the most aected forest taxa,
despite their enormous importance in the ecosystem. They require
sucient quality and quantity of dead wood and its continuity and
are sensitive to habitat change. In order to nd out which structural
parameters related to the age of the forest stand are important for
the diversity of wood–inhabiting fungi, we established 30 permanent
research plots in the old–growth mountain spruce forest in Jeseníky
Mountains (Czech Republic). We measured the structure of dead
wood (volume, dimensions, decay stages, substrate types) and forest
age using a dendrochronological approach. During the mycological
survey, we recorded 149 species of wood–inhabiting fungi, of which
10 species are red–listed. As aresult of long–term natural develop-
ment, there are specic structural elements (e.g. old trees of large
dimensions, standing and lying dead wood of various decay stages)
that are important for fungal diversity and should be mimicked in
managed forests to preserve biodiversity.
The role of agship species and certications
in awildlife–friendly farming label
Mameno K1, Kubo T2,3, Ujiie K4, Shoji Y5
1Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, 2Biodiversity Division, National Institute for En-
vironmental Studies, Japan, Tsukuba, Japan, 3Department of Zoology, University of
Oxford, Oxford, UK, 4Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsuku-
ba, Tsukuba, Japan, 5Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo,
Japan
Wildlife–friendly labels have been employed to enhance biodiver-
sity conservation through market mechanisms. The present study
evaluated consumer preferences for each certication type of wild-
life–friendly label by using an online choice experiment for rice con-
sumers in Japan. We designed ascenario in the CE that provides ahy-
pothetical certication with additional features: certication methods;
target species of labels; statements about donation mechanism; rice
price per 5.0 kg. The results show that, by itself, information regard-
ing wildlife–friendly farming certication does not aect consumer
preferences. However, combining each certication type with target
species labeling signicantly raised consumer preferences for wild-
life–friendly rice. We also found consumer preferences for each cer-
tication type dier depending on the species. Consumers preferred
outcome–based certication with sh labels; on the other hand, they
preferred input–based certication for bird labels. Moreover, most
consumers preferred the label to include adonation mechanism. The
marginal willingness to pay for the donation mechanism statement
was 588 JPY. The dierent preferences for each certication type with
target species highlight the importance of strategic certication and
labeling in encouraging biodiversity conservation. The ndings also
highlight the potential role of conservation marketing in enhancing
agroecosystem conservation.
127
Do linear structures support diversity
of pollinators and plants in a
human–modied landscape.
Marjańska E1, Moroń D1
1Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of Sciences,
Cracow, Poland
Valuable habitats in various spatial congurations are essential for
maintaining biodiversity across highly fragmented landscapes. In
a large–scale study, we explored the value of human–made line-
ar structures– railway embankments and river levees – as valuable
habitats that support large populations of pollinators and plants.
The most signicant spatial variables aecting pollinator and plant
populations on embankments and levees were also examined. Spe-
cies richness and abundance of bees and butteries were about 40%
higher for railway embankments than for control grasslands. The
richness of native plant species was about 25% greater on levees than
on control grasslands. The most important landscape factor aecting
pollinators was high shrub density which decreases the richness and
abundance of pollinator species on linear structures. Specic con-
servation strategies involving linear structures should focus mainly
on preventing habitat deterioration due to encroachment of dense
shrubs. Thus, linear structures and their correct management may
be agood example of man–made alterations in the environment that
meet the demands of both civilization and biodiversity conservation.
Analyzing possible pathways to align
biodiversity conservation with agricultural
development in Tanzania
Marko S1, Delzeit R1,2
1University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 2Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Kiel,
Germany
Tanzania has extraordinary rich biodiversity together with high on-
going agricultural expansion and great potential for agricultural in-
tensication. However, both agricultural expansion and agricultural
intensication could have adverse eects on biodiversity.
This study seeks to evaluate how an increase of crop production
would impact biodiversity in Tanzania. Additionally, synergies and
trade–os with other ecosystem services, such as climate change
mitigation will be investigated. Furthermore, the research aims to ex-
plore how achange in crop production in Tanzania would impact the
agricultural markets.
To our knowledge, the degree to which cropland can be expanded or
to which current cropland use can be intensied (ignoring and taking
biodiversity objectives into account) is not known. Therefore, as arst
step of the research process, we set up aquestionnaire targeted to-
wards local and international biodiversity and agricultural experts.
The results from the questionnaire will be utilized to change assump-
tions on productivity and agricultural land for crops in the IFPRI IM-
PACT model in order to simulate impacts on the Tanzanian economy.
The modeling exercise will show potential pathways for asustainable
food supply in which biodiversity protection is taken into considera-
tion.
Aquaculture of Asian sh species
Ctenopharyngodon idella: prospects for
adaptation in Eastern Europe in the context
of climate change
Marushchak O1, Nekrasova O1, Pupins M2, Georges J3, Theissinger K4,
Čeirāns A2, Skute A2
1I. I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2Departa-
ment of Ecology, Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies, Daugavpils Universi-
ty, Daugavpils, Latvia, Daugavpils, Latvia, 3Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
IPHC UMR7178, CNRS, Strasbourg, France, Strasbourg, France, 4LOEWE Center for
Translational Biodiversity Genomics, TBG – Senckenberg Nature Research Institute,
Frankfurt, Germany, Frankfurt, Germany
Recently, the studies of the emergence of invasive aquatic species in
aquaculture, for example herbivorous Ctenopharyngodon idella, are
of particular importance since their naturalization may be more suc-
cessful due to climate change. Using GIS–modeling, we found that
potentially suitable areas for C. idella are located up to 48°N. The fac-
tor “Annual mean temperature” was found to have the biggest con-
tribution to the model (29.5%) as juveniles’ reproduction and growth
depend on warm water. Until 2040 it is quite apromising object of aq-
uaculture for the Baltic and Scandinavian countries. Taking this into
account it is possible that the range of this species will shift northward
to 52–55°N. Therefore, it is necessary to consider such aspects of the
species adaptation as: their impact on local biodiversity and how the
environment aects them. Herbivorous Asian sh species probably
don’t pose direct considerable threat to native European sh or her-
petofauna, nevertheless they can lead to the alteration or loss of hab-
itat for native water species; also, in pond aquaculture they can purify
aquaculture ponds overgrown with vegetation and will be food for
turtles (Emys orbicularis). We thank for cooperation the BiodivERsA
and Water JPI project „EMYS–R“ and FLPP project Nr.lzp–2021/1–0247.
Global patterns in human tolerance by birds
in the Anthropocene
Mikula P1,2, Blumstein D3, Albrecht T1,2
1Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic,
2Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Praha, Czech Repub-
lic, 3Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los
Angeles, USA
The Anthropocene is characterized by rapid and extensive anthro-
pogenic alterations of natural ecosystems. Human–driven environ-
mental modications are typically seen as signicant threats to the
global biodiversity but complex and often non–trivial interactions
may emerge between wildlife and humans in novel environmental
settings. This is an urgent call for research that can be directly trans-
lated to wildlife management practices. Recent studies indicate that
alevel of tolerance of animals towards humans may be one of key
mechanisms facilitating wildlife−human coexistence. However, avail-
able studies ignore alarge portion of the global variance in this trait.
We are exploring global patterns in tolerance of birds (Aves) toward
human disturbance (measured as ight initiation distance), where we
ask: (1) which life–history and environmental variables aect avian
tolerance; (2) whether avian tolerance diers between geograph-
ic regions and taxonomic groups; and (3) how human activity (e.g.,
urbanization and human density) aects avian tolerance. Ultimate-
ly, through this project, we aim to bring together numerous scholars
and enthusiasts from around the world and create an international,
diverse and inclusive web of collaborators.
Eects on biodiversity from the extractive
and non–extractive use of medium and large
sized mammal species.
Millan–villaneda J1
1Tübingen University, Tübingen, Germany
Many human activities impact species directly through either extrac-
tive (e.g., hunting) or non–extractive (e.g., nature tourism) uses. Both,
cause impacts along agradient, making neither use fully sustainable
nor unsustainable. Medium and large–sized mammals are important
for these activities, and eects on population demography are rea-
sonably well–studied, making them apromising study–system to as-
sess these impacts.
Iwill address three questions to explore how extractive/non–extrac-
tive use aects biodiversity: How are species’ populations and rich-
ness aected by use on a global scale? How are these eects inu-
enced by biogeography, ecology, and human–perception? Is “use”
along–term conservation driver?
For this, Iwill conduct ametanalysis from published and grey litera-
ture on species’ populations, and evaluate the impacts resulting from
use, this will be complemented with apaired–design evaluation (ex-
tractive vs. non–extractive), using specic case–studies. Ageographic
analysis will help to understand how the results from the meta–anal-
ysis are distributed across the globe.
Iaim to better understand the conditions under which use can be
sustainable, and to translate this into recommendations for conser-
vation practice. This approach may be important for biodiversity–rich
but economically impoverished regions that could rely on biodiversity
as amean of development amidst the current biodiversity crisis.
128
Survival of adult lynx females – research of
population threats in the center and at the
outskirts of the Bohemian–Bavarian–Austrian
lynx population
Mináriková T1,2, Belotti E3,4, Bufka L3, Volfová J5, Poledník L2, Poled-
níková K2
1Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha,
Czech Republic, 2Alka Wildlife, Lidéřovice, Czech Republic, 3Šumava National Park
Administration, Vimperk, Czech Republic, 4Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences,
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha, Czech Republic, 5Hnutí DUHA Olo-
mouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic
The Bohemian–Bavarian–Austrian population of Eurasian lynx (Lynx
lynx) is small, isolated, and threatened by illegal killing and road mor-
tality. The research project „Survival of adult lynx females – research
of population threats in the center and at the outskirts of the,BBA
lynx population“ aims at assessing the impact of human–induced
mortality on population survival. The main goal of the project is to
analyse long term data about the survival of adult lynx females in the
Šumava National Park, astrictly protected area where most of the
human activities, including hunting, are prohibited or restricted, and
at the population outskirts, where human–related mortality factors,
esp. illegal killing, and road mortality, are more inuential than in the
NP. Specically, we will: analyse and quantify dierences in the sur-
vival of adult lynx females within NP and at the outskirts of the pop-
ulation; assess the probability that the low survival of adult females
in the population outskirts is caused by a) health issues, b) road mor-
tality, c) illegal killing; and evaluate the impact of low survival of adult
females on the population viability. The project will be implemented
in 2022–2024 with the support of TAČR.
Distribution and pathways of introduction of
alien plant species in Romania
Miu I1, Gavrilidis A1, Grădinaru S1, Anastasiu P2, Sirbu C3, Rozylowicz L1
1Center for Environmental Research and Impact Studies, University of Bucharest,
Bucharest, Romania, 2Dimitrie Brândză Botanical Garden, University of Bucharest,
Bucharest, Romania, 3University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine,
Faculty of Agriculture, Iasi, Romania
Biological invasions are one of the main drivers of modern human–
induced species losses. Research on the distribution of alien species
and their introduction pathways is essential for understanding and
tackling the invasion process. With this study, we aim to contribute
to lling this gap and to provide avisualization of national patterns of
species invasions, origin and pathways. Patterns of recorded species
distribution and pathways of introduction were mapped and visual-
ized using data from an exhaustive database following amajor review
of the published literature. The present study provides asystematic
analysis of invasive and potentially invasive plant species in Roma-
nia. The number of occurrences has increased steadily after 1950 s,
with new species being continuously introduced. Species originate
mainly in North and Central America have been introduced almost
equally through intentional and unintentional pathways. Mapping of
the species occurrences has revealed several hotspots of recorded
alien plant species which concentrate on urban areas. This research
is accompanied by a comprehensive open–access spatial database
with the collected data. We consider this study anecessary and relia-
ble tool for drafting management and action plans, as well as agood
starting point for various analyses as it is further developed and reg-
ularly updated.
How to save threatened but extremely
specialized subterranean mammals? The
experiences of establishing new population
of blind mole rats
Moldován O1,2, Schneider V3, Németh A4,5
1University of Debrecen, Doctoral School of Animal Science, Debrecen, Hungary,
2Hortobágyi National Park Directorate, Debrecen, Hungary, 3Kiskunsági National
Park Directorate, Kecskemét, Hungary, 4University of Debrecen, Department of Na-
ture Conservation, Zoology and Game Management, Debrecen, Hungary, 5BirdLife
Hungary – Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society, Budapest,
Hungary
Lesser blind mole rats, (Rodentia: Spalacinae) are among the most
threatened mammals of Central Europe. Because of their special
lifestyle, the conservation of blind mole rats is especially challenging.
Since 2013, a conservation program is underway in Hungary to in-
crease the number of the local blind mole rat populations. Up to date,
ve new populations have been established near dierent localities,
in order of the year started: Bagamér (2013), Pocsaj (2015), Öttömös
(2016) Baja (2017) and Madaras (2020). We collect all the available in-
formation about these conservation interventions and use the mon-
itoring data of the established populations in order to evaluate the
success of each action and to nd an explanation for the signicant
dierences among the results of them. The features of the relocation
site turned out to be just as important as the proper implementa-
tion of the recommendations of the relevant translocation protocols.
Our results may help to make translocation methods more ecient.
Since, establishing new populations of blind mole rat in protected ar-
eas are not only an important tool for their long–term conservation,
but also provide unique opportunity to the examination of the be-
haviour, annual activity and reproductive biology of these elusive and
little known mammals.
Bioclimatic modelling of Lantana camara
invasion in the Shivalik landscape
of Western Himalaya
Mondal T1, Bhatt D2, Krishnamurthy R1
1Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India, 2Gurukul Kangri (Deemed to be) Univer-
sity, Haridwar, India
Spatial modelling has been an essential tool for predicting and map-
ping the suitable areas of aspecies‘ habitat. Ecological modelling was
performed using 744 sampling locations to predict the potential hab-
itat for the invasive plant Lantana camara in the lower Shivalik region
of the Eastern Himalaya, India. The modelling engaged nine bioclimat-
ic, four topographic, one land–cover, and two soil parameters that are
known to be ecologically important for the species. Precipitation of
the warmest quarter, mean temperature of the wettest quarter, pre-
cipitation of the driest quarter, and river ow accumulation contrib-
uted to the model. The predicted area for the invasion was classied
into high, medium, and low potential areas. We identied nine poten-
tial hot spots based on species occurrence over a 2300 km² area to
determine where immediate intervention is necessary to prevent the
spread of Lantana camara. The study‘sndings can assist policymak-
ers and stakeholders in developing an eective and strategic weed
management approach at the landscape level.
GPS TRACKING REVEALS LARGE AREAS
NEEDED FOR COMMON TERNS PROTECTION
Morkunas J1, Morkunas J1, Eigirdas V1,3, Zydelis R1,2
1Lithuanian Ornithological Society, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2Ornitela, Vilnius, Lithuania,
3Kaunas Zoologogical Museum Ventes ragas, Vente, Lithuania
Common terns are often restricted by the availability of suitable sites
for breeding. Consequently, conservation eort is usually focussed
on management and protection of such islands, sometimes including
the waterbody surrounding them. The objective of our study was to
assess how far common terns travel from their colonies for feeding
during the breeding period. Such knowledge might have important
species conservation implications in helping to identify waterbodies
that are crucial as foraging grounds for breeding common terns. We
used GPS telemetry and successfully tracked 58 common tern indi-
viduals from 6 colonies in Lithuania. Despite high variability between
individuals, there was high consistency in foraging habits at individual
level. Only few birds regularly foraged in close proximity the colony,
while majority regularly endured on longer foraging trips up to 20 km
away from the colony. In several cases some birds travelled as far
as 50 km and even farther. We conclude that majority of the inland
breeding common terns regularly use avariety of waterbodies within
20 km radius around their colonies. Thus, conservation action for the
species should consider not only site of the breeding colony, but also
possible foraging locations within at least 20 km radius.
129
The feeding behavior of molting
Mute Swan reveals sensitivity
to anthropogenic disturbance
Morkūnė R1, Bučas M1, Morkūnas J1
1Klaipėda University, Klaipėda, Lithuania
The molting period, when waterbirds change their feathers and can-
not y, can be critical in areas of high anthropogenic disturbance. In
the Curonian Lagoon, Baltic Sea, the main shipping line and recrea-
tional areas are in proximity with waterbirds’ staging sites but knowl-
edge on the feeding behavior of herbivorous waterbirds is scarce.
This study integrated satellite telemetry and stable isotope analysis
to study habitat use and feeding behavior of molting Mute Swan (Cyg-
nus olor). Our data demonstrate that majority of the time molting
swans hide in reed beds and feed on reeds which are not the most fa-
vorable food in the lagoon. Only during nights, swans reach open wa-
ter areas and feed in there. This study warns about underestimated
waterbird sensitivity in areas where present and developing anthro-
pogenic activities may negatively impact the behavior of waterbirds.
Leveraging big data to decipher public
interest in invasive species.
Moshobane M1,2, Zungu M2
1South African National Biodiversity Institute, Thohoynaodu, South Africa, 2Universi-
ty of Kwa–Zulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
This study examines the predictive power of search analytics in un-
derstanding the public interest in invasive species between 2004–
2020. Using Google Insights for Search (GIFS), search popularity for
the eight terms related to invasive species was analyzed. Simple lin-
ear regression was performed to determine trends. Relative search
volume for terms “Invasive species” and “How are invasive species
introduced?” steadily increased. Overall, our study highlights the in-
creasing public interest in invasive species. In an era of big data, Info-
veillance using GIFS can serve as aproxy marker for public biodiversi-
ty needs and priorities much before planning for public engagement
activities.
Responses of passerine functional Diversity
to Environmental variables in Himalayas
Naithani A1,2, Fumin L1,2,3, Hughes A4,5
1Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) 1 Beichen West Road
Chaoyang District, Beijing, China, 2College of Life Sciences University of Chinese
Academy of Sciences , Beijing, China, 3Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and
Genetics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, 4Center for Integrative Con-
servation Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences
Menglun, Jinghong, China, 5School of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University
of Honkong, Hongkong, China
We investigate the environmental correlates of the distribution of the
occupancy of functional trait space by Passerines across the Hima-
layas.
Species arranged in multidimensional functional trait space and mul-
tivariate methods volume of the convex hull (functional richness) and
principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) were used to investigate and
compare the occupancy of this space by 408 Passerine birds.
Auto–regression model, hierarchical partitioning, RLQ and fourth cor-
ner analysis were used to identify the most important environmental
variable of (i) the macro scale distribution of FD indices, (ii) the range
and mean scores for each of the four most essential PCoA dimen-
sions.
Functional richness (FDis) varied between 1.00–1.98 and species rich-
ness (SR) ranged from 3.0–284. All environmental variables, temp
(p=0.5856, r= –0.035), humidity = (p=0.985, r= –0.001) Precipitation =
(p=0.457, r= –0.048), NDVI (p=0.460, r= –0.048) were negatively asso-
ciated with functional dispersion, for all traits. Whereas, SR showed
asignicant positive association with all environmental variables.
The distribution of functional dispersion of the passerines in the Him-
alayas is best predicted by environmental variables. Consideration of
each of the functional group dimensions individually indicated the
importance of both productive and ambient energy, but the role of all
environmental variables was minimal for cumulative traits.
Integrating social science and nature
conservation: the plurality of researchers’
and participants’ roles as achallenge and
opportunity to promote the biodiversity
protection eorts
Nohlová B1,2, Halbich M2, Hák T2,3
1Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Re-
public, 2Charles University, Faculty of Humanities, Prague, Czech Republic, 3Charles
University Environment Centre, Prague, Czech Republic
Over the last few decades, rapid biodiversity loss has become one
of the most contemporary challenging issues. Conservation strate-
gies have shown great benet in preserving the endangered areas;
however, they have also often driven conservation–development
conicts.
In this study, we applied the social–ecological lens to provide criti-
cal insight into the plurality of researchers’ and participants’ roles as
acrucial element in promoting biodiversity protection within the so-
cial–ecological systems.
Using the Papua New Guinea Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program
case study as an example, we demonstrate, how the plurality of re-
searchers‘ and participants‘ roles impact the nature protection pro-
cess. We reect on our own eldwork experience, and from social
ecology and environmental anthropology perspectives address the
key challenges and opportunities, that this plurality creates for the
biodiversity conservation agenda. We outline how the construction of
space and researchers‘ position within the system, various stakehold-
ers‘ interpretation of nature conservation, alongside their diverse ex-
pectations, hamper or enable the nature protection eorts. We high-
light the importance of addressing and acknowledging the plurality of
roles in any nature protection process. Our research ndings extend
the understanding of the complex social–ecological dynamics and
thus provide possible tools for biodiversity protection promotion.
The eect of dierent forestry treatments
on multi–taxon biodiversity in asessile
oak–hornbeam forest: Pilis Forestry
System Experiment
Ódor P1, Aszalós R1, Boros G2, Elek Z3, Geml J4, Horváth C5, Németh C1,
Samu F6, Soltész Z1, Tinya F1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Vácrátót, Hunga-
ry, 2Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute of Game Man-
agement and Conservation, Gödöllő, Hungary, 3MTA–ELTE–MTM Ecology Research
Group; Eötvös Loránd University, Biological Institute, Budapest, Hungary, 4ELKH–
EKKE Lendület Environmental Microbiome Research Group, Eszterházy Károly
Catholic University, Eger, Hungary, 5Eötvös Loránd University, Doctoral School of
Biology, Budapest, Hungary, 6Centre for Agricultural Research, Plant Protection In-
stitute, Budapest, Hungary
The eect of dierent forestry treatments on biodiversity was studied
in amature sessile oak–hornbeam forest. The treatments represent
the interventions of rotation forestry (clear–cutting, preparation cut-
ting, retention tree group) and continuous cover forestry (gap–cut-
ting). We studied the responses of vascular plant, carabid beetle, spi-
der, enchytraeid worm (Enchytraeidae), crane y (Tipulidae) and fungi
assemblages.
The understory considerably changed in the clear–cutting and gap–
cutting, in the gap the community composition kept the forest char-
acteristics, but the clear–cuts were dominated by non–forest weeds
and exotic species. For spiders and ground beetles, the species and
functional composition changed after the interventions, especially in
clear–cutting and retention tree group. Soil–dwelling invertebrates re-
sponded the most sensitively to the treatments, they drew back in the
clear–cutting and retention tree group. Fungal community composi-
tion changed mainly in the clear–cutting and gap cutting. The richness
of ectomycorrhizal fungi decreased, while that of plant pathogenic
fungi increased with disturbance severity and understory cover.
We can conclude that continuous cover forestry operating with small
canopy gaps could maintain the forest characteristics of the studied
assemblages, while they are considerably changed in large cutting ar-
eas of rotation forestry, which can be compensated only partially by
retention tree groups.
130
Higher temperatures are associated with
reduced nestling body condition in arange–
restricted mountain bird
Oswald K1,2, Smit B2, Lee A3,4, Cunningham S4, Peng C5, Brock C6
1Marco And Louise Mitrani Department Of Desert Ecology, Sde Boker, Israel, 2Rhodes
University, Makhanda, South Africa, 3School of Life Sciences, Univ. of KwaZulu–Natal,
Scottsville, South Africa, 4FitzPatrick Inst. of African Ornithology, DST–NRF Centre of
Excellence, Univ. of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa, 5Microbiology Graduate
Program and Dept of Biology, Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, Cambridge, Unit-
ed States of America, 6Conservation International , Santa Monica, United States of
America
High temperatures can result in reduced parental care and reduced
nestling condition in passerines with dependent young, resulting in
lowered edging success and population recruitment. We examined
provisioning rate and nestling condition in amountain endemic, the
Cape rockjumper (Chaetops frenatus), whose population declines
correlate with warming habitat. Our aim was to determine whether
reproductive success was aected by high air temperatures. We set
up video cameras on nests at three nestling age classes for 8 hours
on 37 separate days. Nestlings were weighed at the beginning and
end of each lm day, barring the four days with mid–day predation.
Average mass gain across all nestlings per nest was positively corre-
lated with provisioning rate, and provisioning rate decreased at in-
creasing temperatures. Daily change in mass of individual nestlings
was negatively correlated with air temperatures above asignicant
temperature threshold. This suggests nestling energy requirements
were not being met on higher temperature days – perhaps because
nestling energy and water demands for thermoregulation are el-
evated and provisioning rate is not correspondingly maintained or
increased. These results suggest that higher temperatures negatively
aect nestling mass gain. While in our study this did not directly aect
edging rates, it may aect post–edging survival.
Distribution models of endangered saproxylic
beetle species in pine forests in Latvia. How
to evaluate and use them for conservation
site selection?
Ozols J1, Valainis U1, Balalaikins M1
1Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia
According to recent estimates, favourable management for biodi-
versity conservation should reach at least 50% in each ecoregion of
world’sterrestrial realms by 2050, beginning with 30% by 2030. To
rationally reach this target, site selection approach must be based
on quantitative ecology and species requirements. Therefore, species
distribution models (SDMs) are essential tools for identifying habitats
and focusing conservation and management eorts.
To improve site selection in pine forests, endangered beetle species
with similar habitat preferences were chosen: Boros schneideri, Chal-
cophora mariana, Nothorhina punctata, Tragosoma depsarium. Previ-
ous records were compiled and SDMs for each species and species’
group were created. Aim was to evaluate if group model works for
site selection with presence of selected beetle species. To reach the
aim, 300 optimal, 300 suboptimal, 200 unsuitable and 200 highly un-
suitable squares of 1 ha size were surveyed.
We concluded that SDMs for each species work better, but it is possi-
ble to use group model to nd sites suitable for selected beetle spe-
cies. There were signicant dierences between optimal (12%) and
unsuitable (3%) squares. Factors as forest age, forest type, distance
from sea, forest edge, dominant tree species, amount of pine snags,
logs, old pine trees signicantly aected species occurrence.
Colonization and control of crows in urban
environments: observations on
apopulation explosion
Paládi P1,2, Benmazouz I1,2, Lengyel S3, Kövér L1
1University of Debrecen, Department of Nature Conservation, Zoology and Game
Management, Debrecen, Hungary, Debrecen, Hungary, 2University of Debrecen,
Doctoral School of Animal Science, Debrecen, Hungary, Debrecen, Hungary, 3Centre
for Ecological Research, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Debrecen, Hungary, Debrecen,
Hungary
Corvid birds (crows, magpies) colonizing cities have become a nui-
sance for urban biodiversity conservation and an understanding of
this process is necessary for successful management. We studied
Hooded Crows (Corvus cornix) in Debrecen (Hungary, E Europe) to
document the colonization process and to develop management rec-
ommendations. The crow population increased from 11 pairs in 2006
to above 150 in 2019. We observed an increasing use of less–pre-
ferred tree species and lower nesting heights, indicating exibility in
nest site selection. Home range size was smaller in winter and sum-
mer than in spring and autumn. Survival was lower in winter and late
summer than in other seasons in one year but not in another. More
crows in the city led to an increasing number of human–wildlife con-
icts and the need to reduce crow numbers. In testing four trap types,
we found that side–opening Larsen traps and ladder entrance traps
were the most eective at catching birds. Based on these experienc-
es, crow control was started in 2019 and led to fewer crows in the city.
This study provides information important in our understanding of
crow colonization of cities and in developing management strategies
to reduce their impact on urban biodiversity.
Establishment of serpentine species after
removal of humus layer.
Pánková H1, Münzbergová Z1, Kříž K2
1Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Průhonice, Czech Republic, 2The
Czech Union for Nature Conservation, Local Chapter Vlašim, Vlašim, Czech Republic
Hadce uŽelivky NNM is one of the most important serpentine sites in
the Czech Republic. It is one of the last two areas of endemic species
Minuartia smejkalii. Despite it is protected, traditional management
was abandoned in the area. This led to overgrowing of some parts by
competitively strong plants, covering the serpentine soil by humus
layer, leading to replacement of the serpentine plants by non–ser-
pentine vegetation.
We implemented intensive management interventions on several
parts of NNM Hadce uŽelivky during project LIFE for Minuartia. The
topsoil with humus layer was removed to expose the serpentine bed-
rock and the development of vegetation was monitored over 5 years.
In the rst year, the vegetation was sparse and created by vegetative-
ly regenerated plant species (Poa pratensis, P.annua). In the following
two years common grassland species arrived (e.g. Trifolium species).
Species typical for serpentine habitats such as Potentilla crantzii, Fes-
tuca ovina or Pinus sylvestris spread to the sites in the 4th year and
serpentine vegetation established in the 5th years.
The results suggest that management interventions leading to recov-
ery of serpentine bedrock are suitable for restoration of serpentine
sites. The development of target vegetation is, however, long–term
process.
Hotspot and correlates of an occurrence of
potentially zoonotic pathogens: acase study
of brown bears in Poland and Croatia
Pedrós Pla L1, Sergiel A2, Huber D3, Asman M6, Witecka J6, Popiołek M4,
Selva N2, Zwijacz–Kozica T5, Zięba F5, Reljić S3, Berezowska–Cnota T2,
Balbuena Díaz–Pines J1
1Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valen-
cia, Paterna, Spain, 2Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Krakow, Poland, 3Department of Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University
of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia, 4Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Biological Scienc-
es, University of Wrocław, Wroclaw, Poland, 5Tatra National Park, Kuznice, Poland,
6Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Sosnowiec, Med-
ical University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland
Most emerging zoonoses have mammalian hosts. The recent expan-
sion of large carnivores into highly anthropised landscapes in Europe
131
increases the potential risk of zoonotic transmissions. Our main goal
was to describe patterns of pathogens’ emergence with zoonotic
potential at local and European scales. First, we collected data from
more than 40 studies on pathogens in European large carnivores.
Second, we used pathogen data from Polish and Croatian bear pop-
ulations and assessed the importance of climatic–, species richness–,
and human–related factors on the emergence of potentially zoonotic
pathogens. In the review, we found at least 80 dierent species of
pathogens belonging to 15 dierent phyla. Trichinella (Nematoda)
was the most commonly found pathogen both in the review and lo-
cal scale. We found that climatic factors were important predictors of
pathogens’ presence in both populations. Samples located in areas
with higher minimum annual rainfall had signicantly more patho-
gens. Human–related factors appeared signicantly aecting the
presence of pathogens in Carpathian brown bear population, with
higher number of pathogens in highly anthropised landscapes. We
conclude that climate change and human footprint expansion may
boost pathogens’ emergence and increase the chances of zoonotic
transmissions.
Assessing the dierences in habitat structure
and avian community of two dierently
managed forest areas over time
Portaccio A1, Campagnaro T1, Paillet Y2, Trentanovi G3, Favaretto A4,
Sitzia T1
1University of Padova, Legnaro, Padova, Italy, 2Univ. Grenoble Alpes, INRAE, Lessem,
Saint–Martin–d‘Hères, Grenoble, France, 3IRET CNR, Sesto orentino, Florence, Italy,
4Ecological Consultant, Padova, Italy
We assessed the eects of dierent forest management systems on
bird communities, over space and time, in two forested areas within
Natura 2000 sites in the Italian subalpine belt that share similar cli-
matic and ecological characteristics. We collected data on the forest
structure and the bird community in 2009 and 2019. After comput-
ing the variation occurred at the forest and avian community level,
considering both the dierences in time and between the areas, we
assessed the response of birds in relation to the change of the most
common forest management parameters. We observed that the
non–intensively managed forest was characterised by lower canopy
closure, with the presence of large silver r trees, while the aban-
doned forest, although it had higher deadwood volume, was shifting
to acloser canopy, due to the growth of beech trees. Bird abundanc-
es and species richness of most of the ecological and conservation
groups reported aconsistent increment in time, while some groups
showed asignicant response to structural variables like canopy clo-
sure, trees’ density and vegetational conditions. Our results stressed
the need for management approaches that enhance the capacity of
forests of supporting biodiversity focusing on the availability of key
forest features.
Attractive sinks in insect population –
plasticity of habitat selection process
Poskočilová A1, Harabiš F1, Tetaur A1
1Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague,
Czech Republic
Today we face aworldwide decline in insect biodiversity associated
with an unprecedented level of human–mediated environmental de-
struction and alteration. One of the consequences of these changes
is the emergence of attractive sinks. The research is focused on the
process of habitat selection in Odonata. The main factor inuencing
the habitat selection process is the composition of aquatic vegeta-
tion. Other proxy cues are the degree of polarized light reection and
the type of the substrate. We tested the susceptibility of Odonata to
attractive sinks. The aim was to nd out whether the adult chooses
ahabitat according to its preferences or whether it considers the fu-
ture performance of the larvae. We found out that dragonies are
able to recognise the real habitat quality. Understanding the mech-
anism of the habitat selection process in insects is key to preventing
the emergence of ecological traps in nature.
Land sparing eect of agricultural
intensication depends on who
carries out agriculture
Pratzer M1, Kuemmerle T1,2, Krueger T1,2
1Humboldt–Universität, Berlin, Germany, 2 Integrative Research Institute on Trans-
formation in Human Environment Systems (IRI THESys), Berlin, Germany
Global biodiversity loss is accelerating, and the main driver of this
trend is how we use land. Especially the expansion of agriculture into
tropical ecosystems leads to biodiversity losses, through the conver-
sion, fragmentation, and degradation of habitat. Agricultural intensi-
cation is seen as a mechanism to avoid that and to ‘spare’ natural
ecosystems. It remains highly unclear though under which conditions
such a sparing eect could materialize or whether intensication
instead amplies deforestation through so–called rebound eects.
Using a multilevel Bayesian regression framework, we analyzed the
eects of intensication on deforestation in the world’sthreatened
but understudied tropical dry forests. We found that the eect of in-
tensication on deforestation heavily depends on social–ecological
context. Specically, we found strong evidence that sparing is likely to
happen in lands managed by Indigenous Peoples, whereas asparing
eect is unlikely for areas dominated by agribusinesses. Considering
that more than 20% of the world’stropical dry forests are owned or
managed by Indigenous Peoples, we suggest that more strongly in-
volving Indigenous and other local communities in land–use planning
and conservation, as well as recognizing traditional rights to land,
provides major opportunities for sustainable intensication to deliver
positive outcomes for people and nature.
Biodiversity as the source of heterospecic
social information: the eect on territory
selection and vocal mimicry
in the Marsh Warbler
Pustkowiak S1, Kwieciński Z2,3, Skórka P1
1Institute of Nature Conservation Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland, 2De-
partment of Avian Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology Adam Mickiewicz Univer-
sity, Poznań, Poland, 3Institute of Biology, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland
Biodiversity of habitat can indicate food amount, mating opportu-
nities, or strength of the interactions between species, thus, should
aect the distribution of individuals that select territories using het-
erospecic social information.
Vocal mimicry means that males can learn elements of heterospecif-
ic songs and include them in their own repertoires. Acomplex song
may be an indicator of male quality and is regarded as attractive to
females. The biodiversity of soundscape may describe the availability
of song templates from dierent species. Inhabiting high–biodiversi-
ty sites may, therefore, increase individual performance and should
increase the population density of mimicking species.
The aim of our study is to understand how the biodiversity of song-
birds may shape the distribution, abundance, and song structure
of amimicking bird, the Marsh Warbler. This species inhabits open
farmland and its complex song contains awide range of imitations
of dierent species. We map territories of the Marsh Warbler, record
singing males, and count other bird species in Western Poland. In
2021 we conducted the playback experiment broadcasting songs of
dierent bird species within the chosen plots (increased biodiversity
of soundscape).
This is the rst study experimentally testing the relative eects of bi-
odiversity on species occurrence and behaviour.
132
Participatory scenarios for restoring
European landscapes show aplurality of
nature values: from rewilding to cultural
landscapes.
Quintero Uribe L1,3, Navarro L2, Pereira H1,3, Fernández N1,3
1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle–Jena–Leipzig, Leip-
zig, Germany, 2Departamento de Biología de la Conservación, Estación Biológica de
Doñana–CSIC, Sevilla, Spain, 3Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle–
Wittenberg, Halle, Leipzig
Large–scale ecological restoration is crucial for eective biodiversity
conservation and combating climate change. However, perspectives
on the goals and values of restoration are highly diverse. We assess
how the future of nature is envisioned in participatory scenarios, fo-
cusing on which elements of rewilding and nature contributions to
people have been considered in scenario narratives across Europe.
We used the Nature Future Framework as a template to synthesize
pluralistic perspectives of nature. We found that dierent values of na-
ture are represented as counteracting elements and fail to integrate
the plural views of nature. For example, rewilding and conservation
of the landscape only appear in archetypes nature for nature, while
the improvements on nature contributions to people were found in
nature for people archetypes. Our results also highlight two major
gaps that should be addressed in participatory restoration planning.
Firstly, there is apaucity of spatially explicit approaches. Secondly,
we found scenarios that explored co–benets between multiple na-
ture perspectives were rare. Finally, we introduce the application of
novel scenario narratives that explore dierent nature values needed
to envision future scenarios where biodiversity recovery and human
well–being are intrinsically linked and fostered.
Edge eects modify eects of fragment
connectivity and size on predation patterns
of insect sentinel preys and seeds
Révész K1,3, Korányi D1, Lakatos T1,2, Szabó Á1,2, Batáry P1, Gallé R1
1Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Karolina út 29., Hungary, 2Doctoral
School of Biology, Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Pázmány
Péter sétány 1/C, Hungary, 3Doctoral School of Biological Sciences, Hungarian Uni-
versity of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Páter Károly u.1, Hungary
Habitat fragmentation threatens terrestrial arthropod biodiversity
and it also leads to alterations of ecosystems functioning and stabil-
ity. Predation and seed predation are important ecological functions
because of their community–structuring eects. We addressed the
eect of connectivity, fragment size, and edge eect on insect pre-
dation (dummy caterpillar) and seed predation by arthropods. We
studied 30 forest–steppes and 30 kurgans as grassland fragments.
The size of fragments ranged between 0.01 and 6.88 ha. We used
2400 sentinel preys and 4800 seeds in trays for the measurements.
We found that increasing connectivity had anegative eect on pre-
dation and seed predation rates in the edges but had aminor eect
in the centres of kurgans. Fragment size modied edge eects on
predation and seed predation rates, in forest–steppes. The dierence
between edges and centres was more pronounced in small than in
large fragments. Edge eects had astrong role in shaping predation
and seed predation rates. Our study emphasizes the important role
of landscape–, and fragment–scale factors interacting with edge ef-
fects in shaping ecosystem functions in natural grassland fragments
of modied landscapes. Building functional landscapes to optimize
the delivery of ecosystem functions and services in agricultural land-
scapes needs amulti–spatial scale approach.
Determination of Leucocytozoon prevalence
in Central European Boreal Owls
Riera Izarra F1, Mahlerová K1, Ševčík R1, Zárybnická M1
1Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague,
Kamýcká 129, Praha–Suchdol, Prague, Czech Republic
The Leucocytozoon prevalence in Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus)
populations is usually determined by two methods. It is used either
quantitative PCR (determines parasite concentration) or nested PCR
(determines parasite presence and absence). However, the nested
PCR can be highly aected by false positives and false negatives re-
sults. For example, positive samples with alow quantitative Leuco-
cytozoon prevalence could falsely appear negative. One of the rel-
evant approaches to solving the methodological problem of nested
PCR is using occupancy models and increasing the repetitions per
sample. These models allow approximate occurrence and detect
variability of an entire sample frame, considering the probabilities of
false negatives and avoiding underestimation. We used this method
to determine the prevalence and detection probability of 108 adult
Boreal Owls nesting in the Czech Republic. We performed approxi-
mately three nested PCR analyses (3.25 ± 0.25) of each blood sample.
We used R software with unmarked package and occu function. We
found a74.8% (74.8 ± 4.6) prevalence with the 63.9% (63.9 ± 3.2) de-
tection probability per sample using occupancy models. At the same
time, the Leucocytozoon prevalence of our sample population was
higher by 25% than the one previously determined in the literature
for juveniles.
The ora of Albanian dried–out irrigation
ponds and water reservoirs
Rigó A1, Barina Z2
1Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Hungarian Uni-
versity of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary, 2Ipar utca 3., Budapest,
Hungary
Small irrigation ponds and large water reservoirs are acommon part
of the Albanian landscape. They play an important role in all parts
of the country, both for agricultural irrigation and municipal water
supply. Due to the severe drought in 2016–2017, these articial wa-
ters largely subsided. On these bare mud surfaces, plants of the class
Isoëto–Nanojuncetea, ruderal weeds, nitrophilous species, pioneers,
and some species of the surrounding areas appeared. Species ap-
pearing at the bottom of reservoirs (as can be said for mud vegeta-
tion in general) do not show ahigh degree of preference for individ-
ual site conditions (such as altitude, bedrock, water level). Examining
129 reservoirs, we found 324 species, 35 of which are non–native spe-
cies. This gure is high given that Albania is the least alien–infected
country in Europe. Non–native species are also more common in the
lowlands than in the higher altitude regions. We found 5 species that
are new for the territory of Albania, 3 of which can be considered as
native occurrences.
Singing activity under trac noise: acase
study of Yellowhammer around highways
Ritz–Radlinska A1, Barták V1, Hodačová L1, Maidlová K1, Zasadil P1
1Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Prague,
Czech Republic
The Yellowhammer is a common bird species of agricultural land-
scapes with adeclining population due to agricultural intensication
often to be found in habitats near highways. This study found an im-
pact of trac noise on the singing activity of the Yellowhammer, com-
paring localities in the agricultural landscape without the impact of
trac noise with localities close to highways. Our results show asta-
tistically signicant impact of locality type, pressure, and wind, weakly
signicant impact of day and cloudiness, and also the interaction of
locality and pressure on the singing activity of this species. On local-
ities in the agricultural landscape, we found astatistically signicant
impact of the distance to the nearest road on the total number of
syllables. With increasing distance, the syllabus length and number of
syllables were also increasing. The inuence of the locality type (i.e.
the long–term eect of noise pollution) was found to be impacting
the song duration and the number of syllables, and on the contrary,
the inuence of the day (i.e. the immediate eect of noise pollution)
was found to be impacting the onset of singing. Instant and long–
term highway trac intensity also impacted dierent aspects of the
singing activity of yellowhammers.
133
Eects of land–use change on conservation
biological control – Aholistic
agro–ecosystem perspective
Rosero P1, Pontarp M2, Smith H1
1Center for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2De-
partment of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Preserving natural enemies is essential for the reduction of pest
populations, i.e. to preserve the ecosystem service of conservation
biological control. Such conservation is however challenging in the
context of current land–use change. Land–use changes can aect the
diversity of agro–ecosystems including the variety of plant resourc-
es and multiple herbivores (i.e., pest and alternative natural enemy
prey), on which natural enemies may rely. To understand the eect
of land use change on pest control, we model population abundance
of pest, natural enemies and an alternative prey in asemi–natural
habitat and crop landscape. We simulate land–use change by mod-
ifying the diversity of the semi–natural habitat’splants (e.g., loss of
plant diversity). Modications resulted in less herbivore resource
consumption in the semi–natural habitat, with subsequent negative
eects on natural enemy populations and biological control in the
crop eld. We also provide adetailed mechanistic and causal link be-
tween land–use changes and biological control in an agro–ecosystem
context. Our study provides important knowledge on land–use man-
agement in agricultural landscapes aimed at promoting conservation
biological control.
Birds’ response to dierent types of
conservation management on semi–natural
upland grasslands
Rutterle J1, Zasadil P1
1Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
The study compares number of species and abundance of birds un-
der three dierent types of conservation management: i) two cuttings
(TC), ii) one late cutting (for Corncrake support; OLC), and iii) exten-
sive cattle grazing (ECG). All treatments are among the agri–environ-
mental schemes used for grassland management in protected areas.
Bird surveys were carried out during the 2020 breeding season by
apoint census method (60 points, 20 for each treatment) within the
Krkonoše Mountains National Park in the Czech Republic. OLC and
ECG treatments were associated with higher numbers of grassland–
breeding species compared to TC. The lowest number of species not
breeding in grasslands occurred under OLC. Abundance of species
breeding in grasslands did not dier among the schemes. Neverthe-
less, abundance of species not breeding in grasslands did dier be-
tween OLC (lowest abundance) and ECG (highest abundance). More-
over, altitude was found signicantly to inuence number of species
as well as abundance of all bird species.
The main conclusion emphasizes the importance of adiverse mosaic
consisting of dierent types of grasslands and dierent conservation
management. The OLC scheme was shown to have greater eective-
ness for species breeding in semi–natural upland grasslands and ECG
for those species which do not.
Green Security games under incomplete
information: Asimple game–theoretic model
for anti–poaching strategies
Fargier H2, Jourdan P1,2, Kiam J3, Sabbadin R1, Chanel C4
1Inrae, Castanet–tolosan, France, 2IRIT, Toulouse, France, 3Juniorprof. DrUniversity
of the Bundeswehr Munich, Institute of Flight Systems (IFS)., München, Germany,
4ISAE–Supaéro, Toulouse, France
The Green Security Games framework model interactions between
« attackers » and « defenders » in conservation domains. Rang-
ers cover a set of sites with dierent conservation values against
poachers who may attack them. The number of sites exceeds that of
rangers and poachers. GSG allow to compute rangers’ (randomized)
allocation strategies to protect as much biodiversity as possible. Re-
peated interactions are assumed between rangers and poachers,
whose behavior is modeled through aparameterized strategy which
adapts to the rangers’ strategy. AStackelberg equilibrium, dening
an«optimal» rangers’ allocation strategy, is computed. GSG assume
a complex model of bounded rationality of poachers, « knowing»
(through learning) rangers’ strategy. It also assumes full communica-
tion between rangers on the eld, which is unrealistic, given the risk
of communication interception.
Instead, we suggest anew, simple, game–theoretic interaction model
between rangers and poachers who we assume only perfectly know
the amount of resource in sites. We model «optimal» strategies of
poachers and rangers as Nash equilibria of anormal form (polyma-
trix) game, which can be computed easily. Finally, we show how to
relax the perfect knowledge assumption, while keeping Nash equilib-
rium computable for problems of realistic size.
Benets of reduced management practices
on soil microbial functional diversity in
vineyard agroecosystems
Sandor M1, Vidican R1, Dascalu D1
1UASVM Cluj–Napoca, Cluj–napoca, Romania
Vineyard are among the most intensive managed agroecosystems
with ahigh impact on biodiversity. Soil microbial diversity can be
negatively aected by conventional practices while more ecological-
ly practices are claimed and needed. The aim of this study was to
assess the inuence of conventional vineyard practices (CONV) and
more ecologically intensive practices (ECO) on soil functional microbi-
al diversity measured as community level physiological prole (CLPP).
Thirteen vineyards from Podisul Tarnavelor (Romania) having both
kind of practices (CONV and ECO) were selected for analyzing. Soil
was sampled in 2020 and analyzed for its biological parameters. CLPP
was performed with MicroResp multi–SIR method (Campbelletal.,
2003) which use 15 dierent carbon substrates to incubate with wet
soil at 25 °C for 6 hours. Substrate utilization pattern given by the
amount of CO2–C (µgC·g–1·h–1) metabolized from each organic sub-
strate was used to compare treatments. The results showed higher
average respiration rate for CONV treatments compared with ECO
treatments. Carboxylic acids showed the highest respiration rates
while the smallest was observed for amino acids substrate. No signif-
icant dierences were observed between treatments when we look
at the general pattern of substrates utilization, but some specic sub-
strate showed signicand dierent values between treatments.
Structure, History and Natural values in
apine–dominated forest nature reserve close
to the city of Sundsvall, Sweden
Sandström J1
1Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden
What are the natural values in forests situated close to cities? This
question was addressed in aproject 2020–2021, acollaboration be-
tween the local municipality in Sundsvall and Mid Sweden University.
Forests close to cities often has ahigh recreational value. A140 ha
nature reserve, mostly coniferous forest, very close to the city of
Sundsvall has more than 100 000 visitors per year, including study
visits from schools with educational purposes. However, the question
is whether it is possible to combine the use from the public with pre-
serving the forest and its natural values. There are some challenges
regarding, for example, conveying the message of the importance of
dead wood. From the public, logs and snags are often perceived as
“garbage” that gives an impression of an unhealthy forest. The for-
est structure and natural values were investigated during 2020 and it
was found that the pine–dominated forest have rather high natural
values with trees older than 300 years present. However, the amount
of dead wood was much lower compared with more natural forests.
There are several outcomes of the project, the main being providing
abasis for revising the management plan and various information
initiatives for the public.
134
Exposure to urban metals alters
bumblebee behavior
Scott S1, Sivako F1, Gardiner M1
1The Ohio State University, Columbus, United States
Post–industrial cities have become focuses of pollinator urban green-
ing initiatives due to their large holdings of vacant lands, however,
also have ahistory of soil metal contamination. Urban bees are ex-
posed to metal concentrations while foraging that cause elevated
brood mortality. Sublethal exposure to certain metal pollutants chal-
lenge honey bee memory and foraging eciency but the impact of
sublethal metal exposure on bumblebee foraging is largely unknown.
We examined how eld realistic concentrations of chromium inu-
ence bumblebee behavior using RFID tracking systems. We predicted
that bumblebees orally exposed to chromium will perform fewer and
shorter foraging bouts compared to uncontaminated bees due to
challenged memory. Eighty test bees from four naïve Bombus impa-
tiens colonies were tagged with unique RFID tags, randomly assigned
to treatment (0.46 µg/L Cr2O3) or control (uncontaminated sucrose
solution), and deployed to forage for 14 days. Cr concentrations were
based on eld–realistic concentrations found within bumblebee col-
lected provisions. Paired RFID readers measured directionality, for-
aging duration, and return colony ID for RFID tagged bumblebees.
Chromium fed bees performed fewer and shorter foraging bouts and
were more likely to enter anon–natal colony. Our ndings illustrate
that sublethal chromium consumption eects bee forage frequency,
duration, and return navigation.
Anational–scale assessment of the main
non–native tree species invading forest
categories in Italy
Campagnaro T1, Brundu G2, Burrascano S3, Celesti–Grapow L3, La
Mantia T4, Sitzia T1, Badalamenti E4
1Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, Università degli Studi
di Padova, Legnaro (PD), Italy, 2Department of Agriculture, Università degli Studi di
Sassari, Sassari, Italy, 3Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza Università di
Roma, Rome, Italy, 4Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università
degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
In Europe, many non–native tree species have been introduced and, in
some cases, have spread outside the planting areas causing impacts
on biological and landscape diversity. Recent studies have focused on
the distribution of invasive non–native trees in dierent natural and
semi–natural habitats. However, there is alack of studies considering
their distribution among forest categories, units of classication of
forest stands useful for their management. In this work, the forest
categories currently or potentially undergoing invasion by invasive
non–native tree species were identied for Italy. Based on published
works, dedicated databases, and astandard evaluation method, the
level of invasion by each non–native tree was assigned to each forest
category. The most invaded forest categories were riparian, chestnut,
and oak–hornbeam woodlands as well as the Mediterranean maquis.
The forest categories most at risk of future invasion by non–native
trees were oak, beech and pioneer forests. Tree of heaven and black
locust invaded the greatest number of forest categories. Whereas,
cherry laurel had the highest number of potentially invasible catego-
ries, representing an important future threat to Italian forests. Our re-
sults can provide support to forest management aimed at preventing
invasions or mitigating their negative impacts on forest ecosystems.
Do we have enough data to assess
large–scale trait diversity?
Smith K1, Carmona C2, Tobias J3, Clements C4, Venditti C1, González–
Suárez M1
1University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom, 2University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia,
3Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, 4University of Bristol, Bristol,
United Kingdom
Studying large–scale trait diversity can provide insights into the im-
pact of human activity on ecosystem function and aid in conservation
prioritisation. However, the trait datasets that can aid these studies
are often biased or incomplete, and confusion remains about the
impact this has on how we measure and compare trait diversity.
To address this knowledge gap, we used anear complete bird trait
dataset simulating random and biased removal of data to assess
whether trait diversity metrics are resilient to data incompleteness,
and whether data imputation can overcome missingness and bias in
empirical data. Specically, we compared three methods commonly
used to dene trait space (with their associated metrics of trait di-
versity): distance–based methods (rao), convex hull (richness) and
probabilistic hypervolumes (richness, evenness and dispersion). We
found that trait diversity metrics were resilient to moderate missing-
ness and bias without imputation, and severe missingness and bias
with imputation. Probabilistic hypervolumes were particularly resil-
ient to missingness and bias when combined with imputation. While
dedicated eorts to capture intraspecic variation and increase the
number of traits represented should continue, our results suggest
that available methods and data can successfully quantify large–scale
trait diversity.
Citizen science for nature conservation in
Hungary, an overview experiences three
dimensions
Soria J1, Bela G2, Kovács Tormáné E3
1Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Environmental Sciences Doc-
toral School, Gödöllő, Hungary, 2IDEAS Science Ltd., Budapest, Hungary, 3Hungarian
University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Wildlife Management and
Nature Conservation, Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Manage-
ment, Gödöllő, Hungary
Our research aim is to assess nature conservation related citizen sci-
ence (CS) projects in Hungary based on the analysis of documents
and interviews carried out among CS project managers. First the
main characteristics of the projects are described and compared. It is
followed by the analysis of projects related to three dimensions of CS:
1. securing the scientic sound output of the projects by validation, 2.
the use of project outputs in nature conservation, 3. environmental
education of participating citizen scientists. Our results show that the
duration of the assessed CS projects vary from decades to few years,
they target protected and/or invasive species and projects are run
by NGOs, state organizations and research institutes. There is avar-
iation in the methods of monitoring from only registering the GPS
coordinates to using an international monitoring protocol. Apps and
more traditional methods are used for registering data, and results
are shared through internet based platforms. Validation vary and
might include even site visits. Outputs supplement scientic moni-
toring systems, are used for planning payment schemes and man-
agement of the species. Knowledge transfer to participants is usually
done through internet based platforms. Possibilities for discussion
might be used as well to enhance learning.
Habitats and climate change in Slovakia
Špulerová J1, Černecký J1
1Institute of Landscape Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (ILE SAS), Brati-
slava, Slovakia
Over the centuries, Slovak landscape and its habitats have been
changed by human activities and as aresult todays the Slovakia is cov-
ered with amosaic of natural and semi–natural habitats surrounding
urban and other intensively used land. Habitats depend on natural
conditions, especially relief, specic soil, hydrological and microcli-
matic conditions. The aim of our study was dene the most threat-
ened habitats by climate change. We focused on the current conser-
vation status of habitats of community interest (dened in Habitats
Directive), distribution, conservation measures and pressures and
threats. The assessment was performed based on the results of
monitoring data of habitat of Community Interest in the period of
2013–2018, focusing on threats/pressures related to climate change.
The selection of threatened habitats was also supported also by liter-
ature review on climate change–dependent habitats and asociologi-
cal survey focusing on the perception of climate change and habitats
by experts in the eld of biodiversity and ecology. Climate change is
altering key habitat elements that are critical to wildlife‘ssurvival and
putting natural resources in jeopardy. The most threatened habitats
by climate change are wetlands, however many other habitats are
signicantly aected as well. This work was supported by ITMS2014+
313011W580 – URANOS.
135
Private protected areas – arecognized
solution for conservation, an unrecognized
legal gure in Venezuela
Stachowicz I1,2, Yerena E3, Morón Zambrano V4, Parada Cerrada F5,
Giordano A6
1University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland, 2Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cienti-
cas, Caracas, Venezuela, 3Universidad Simòn Bolìvar, Caracas, Venezuela, 4Sociedad
Venezolana de Ecología, Caracas, Venezuela, 5Universidad Central de Venezuela,
Caracas, Venezuela, 6S.P.E.C.I.E.S., United States
Ecologically representative network of protected areas is the corner-
stone of an eective global biodiversity conservation strategy. We
investigated how much 20 private (and community) protected are-
as (PPA) in Venezuela contribute to the conservation of wildlife and
guarantee the provision of ecosystem services. PPA in Venezuela, one
of ten most biodiverse country in the world, are not explicitly legally
recognized.
We estimated forest cover protected by PPA and fauna and ora rich-
ness, identifying vulnerable species using camera traps, nets, traps
and botanical collection. We used survey to investigate the percep-
tion of PPA in Venezuela focusing on limitation in their creation.
We found that over 8000 ha of forest is protected that constitute >
50% of all investigated PPAs area. Vulnerable species such as Ameri-
can tapir or American puma were registered and approximately 250
species of vascular plant for dierent PPA. With > 100 interviewees
we found that half have aperception of legal existence of PPA in the
country and as the most important limitations considered are lack of:
nancing and ocial legislation and policies. Creation and adequate
management of PPA is agreat opportunity to actively protect species,
mitigate climate change and involve local communities in conserva-
tion.
Monitoring bat populations in savanna
biome: acase study in Kruger NP.
Staňková M1, Delabye S2,3, Hejda M4, McFadyen S5, Pyšek P4,2, Pyšková
K4,2, Storch D2,6, Taylor P7,8, Tropek R2,3, Horáček I1
1Departmnent of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Re-
public, 2Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech
Republic, 3Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České
Budějovice, Czech Republic, 4Department of Invasion Ecology, Institute of Botany,
Czech Academy of Sciences, Průhonice, Czech Republic, 5Department of Mathemat-
ical Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 6Centre for Theo-
retical Studies, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, 7South African Research
Chair on Biodiversity Value & Change and Core Team Member of the Centre for
Invasion Biology, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa, 8School of Life
Sciences, University of KwaZulu–Natal, Durban, South Africa
Savanna biome represents an essential component of global biodi-
versity, it occupies afth of the earth’sland surface and hosts among
other rich bat communities. Yet, whether these communities repre-
sent mere ad hoc assemblages of incidentally co–occurring forms or
distinct entities strongly adapted to specicities of savanna biome
is still not clear. The results of two–year acoustic monitoring of bat
communities under ahighly standardised design of multidisciplinary
project MOSAIK (Monitoring Savanna Biodiversity in Kruger NP) en-
abled us to analyze bat communities (in total 130,888 individual bat
records, 31 acoustic parataxa) in regards to alarge set of contextual
predictors, seasonal eects and dierences at point, local and region-
al scales.
Besides references to proximal factors (rivers, campsites, microge-
ographic cohesivity etc.) the results revealed: (i) extensive between–
season dierences (inverse contributions of molossid and vespertil-
ionid bats), (ii) unexpected homogeneity in community structure at
local and regional scales, (iii) common habitat preferences in all taxa
approaching the centroid of regional habitat variation, and (iv) great-
ly pronounced community nestedness. In these regards, the studied
bat community represents aunique entity integrated with network of
co–existence relations arisen during course of long savanna history.
Indirectly, it strongly support an enormous conservation value of sa-
vanna biome.
Eects of Carbamazepine on zebrash (Danio
rerio) body shape: achronic experiment with
environmental concentrations
Staszny Á1, Csenki–Bakos Z2, Ivánovics B2, Garai E2, Berta I2, Bock I2,
Lente V1, Hegedűs A1, Weiperth A1, Urbányi B3, Ferincz Á1
1Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Aquaculture
and Environmental Safety, Department of Freshwater Fish Ecology, Agárd, Hungary,
2Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Aquaculture and
Environmental Safety, Department of Environmental Toxicology, Gödöllő, Hungary,
3Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Aquaculture and
Environmental Safety, Department of Aquaculture, Gödöllő, Hungary
Over the past decades, there has been growing concern about the
increasing number and quantity of Pharmaceutically Active Com-
pounds (PhACs) measured in natural waters. Although their observed
concentrations are characteristically far below therapeutic doses,
their semi–persistent presence, their potential for bioaccumulation,
may cause serious damage to aquatic organisms. In a Europe–wide
survey, the Carbamazepine (CBZ) was one of the most frequently de-
tected compounds (occurred in 95% of the samples) at the highest
concentration of 11.6 μg/l. In this long–term (4 months) experiment 5
groups (control, 5 µg/l, 25 µg/l, 50 µg/l, 75 µg/l, respectively) of zebraf-
ish (Danio rerio) were held in CBZ solutions. Digital images were taken
from 30 individuals/group monthly and their body shape was ana-
lyzed using landmark–based Geometric Morphometrics method. Re-
sults indicated the well observable eect of CBZ even on environmen-
tal concentrations. Although there is no clear concentration–related
trend in body shape change, however considerable similarity was
observable between the control and lowest concentration groups,
as well as the higher concentration groups had much more dierent
shapes. Although sh are not considered to be particularly sensitive
to Carbamazepine, our results suggests that there are observable
sub–lethal eects either at environmental concentrations.
Unequal participation of European countries
in IPBES
Sule G1, Báldi A1
1Lendület Ecosystem Services Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Cen-
tre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
IPBES is a platform to strengthen the conservation of biodiversi-
ty and ecosystem services for human well–being. It is declared to
be geographically representative. After our global analysis (Báldi &
Palotás, Conserv Letters 2021), now we scrutinise how countries of
the European continent are involved in IPBES and their share in the
authorship of IPBES–related scientic papers. We evaluated the au-
thors’ countries of the Europe and Central Asia regional assessment
(ECA) for the former and of the Web of Science literature database
(WoS) for the latter. Our results show that from the four subregions
in ECA (Western–, Central–, Eastern–Europe (including whole Russia)
and Central Asia; WE, CE, EE, and CA, respectively), two–thirds of con-
tributors aliated in WE, 12% in CE, 16% in EE, and 4% in CA. At the
country level, aliations belonged to 42 countries, with the rst ten
countries providing 62% of all authors. Nine belong to WE, though
Russia gave the most experts (25). Regarding WoS articles, we iden-
tied 759 authors from ECA countries, of which 95% were from WE.
Although the eort of IPBES to involve non–WE authors is apparent,
much more work is needed to build up the capacities across Europe
and Central Asia.
136
Impacts of El Niño drought on logged
Bornean rainforest
Svátek M1
1Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
Carbon and diversity losses from deforestation and selective logging
may be partially oset by the recovery of the secondary forests in
the tropics. The recovery of forests from selectively logging is of im-
portance for biodiversity conservation, especially in Southeast Asia,
where the relative deforestation rate is the highest among any major
tropical regions and selective logging is a widespread harvest tech-
nique. In Borneo, despite the key role of logged forests in the hu-
man–altered landscape, information on the secondary forest recov-
ery remains scarce.
Since 2011, we have been monitoring annual tree growth, mortality,
and composition recovery along logging gradient in tropical rainfor-
est in Malaysian Borneo. The results show that increasing the intensi-
ty of logging increased the magnitude of the compositional changes,
raised the proportion of pioneer species, and decreased the percent-
age of late–successional species (dipterocarps). During 2011–2020,
the pioneers grew initially faster than dipterocarps, thus causing
faster regrowth of heavily logged plots, however, their growth rate
dropped signicantly during the El Niño drought (2015–2016) and
was similar or lower than that of dipterocarps since then (i.e., did not
recover). The ndings indicate that the logging–induced composition-
al changes make the forest more vulnerable to future drought events
under climate change.
Bushmeat hunting in the cross–border area
of the Republic of the Congo with aparticular
focus on pangolins (Pholidota): ongoing study
Swiacká M1, Ceacero F2, Milandou S3, Moudrý V1, Ingram D4
1Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague,
Czech Republic, 2Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences
Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, 3Wildlife Conservation Society, Brazzaville, Republic
of the Congo, 4School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canter-
bury, United Kingdom
The Congo Basin is known for its high levels of biodiversity and re-
moteness, where communities still often depend on natural resourc-
es and bushmeat consumption. In recent years, road development
and logging activities have increased, and a transnational highway
Ouesso–Bangui–Ndjamena is currently under development in the
north of the Republic of the Congo. This could cause a higher ex-
ploitation rate for the local biodiversity and disturb the integrity of
the forest. Pangolins (Pholidota) belong among the most favourite
species for bushmeat consumption in sub–Saharan Africa and are
also highly valued for illegal international trade, mainly used in Tra-
ditional Chinese Medicine. Three species of pangolins live in the RoC,
all protected by national and international law. Our research is placed
in the cross–border area of two countries: the Republic of the Congo
and the Central African Republic. We focused on this region using
pangolins as an example to evaluate the multidimensional situation
threatening the local wildlife. We conducted the rst 360 semi–struc-
tured questionnaires with various stakeholders between December
2021 and February 2022 in northern Congo. We want to present
some of our preliminary results since, in the upcoming months, the
data collection will continue in both countries.
Eects of 12 invasive plant species on
pollinators in Central–Eastern Europe
Szigeti V1, Fenesi A2, Miholcsa Z2, Sándor D2, Soltész Z1, Török E2,3,
Kovács–Hostyánszki A1
1Lendület Ecosystem Services Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Cen-
tre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2Hungarian Department of Biology
and Ecology, Babeş–Bolyai University, Cluj–Napoca, Romania, 3Lendület Landscape
and Conservation Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre
for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
Invasive plants alter the availability of oral resources, aecting pol-
linators in negative, positive, or neutral ways. We studied the impact
of 12 invasive plant species (Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Asclepias syriaca,
Erigeron annuus, Erigeron canadensis, Gaillardia aristata, Helianthus
tuberosus, Impatiens glandulifera, Reynoutria japonica, Rudbeckia lacin-
iata, Solidago canadensis, Solidago gigantea, Symphyotrichum lanceola-
tum agg.) on oral resources, wild bees, honey bees, and hoveries.
We sampled invaded and control site pairs in Hungary and Roma-
nia, once before and once during the owering of invasive species.
Flower abundances, wild bee, hovery abundances, and species rich-
ness tended to be higher in control sites before, and in invaded sites
during the owering of the focal invasive species. The abundance of
honey bees was higher in invaded sites during the owering of inva-
sive species. However, invasive plants had species–specic eects on
plant–pollinator systems. The high dierence in eects before and
during the owering of invasive plants highlights the importance of
repeated samplings over the vegetation season. Although plant inva-
sion is one of the main threats in the conservation and agriculture, in-
vasive plants could be resources for some pollinator taxa. Therefore
appropriate eradication methods should also consider pollinators
using the invaded habitats.
Flower strips and organic farming maintains
high overall functional diversity of pollination
related plant traits
Szitár K1, Deák B2, Halassy M3, Steen C4, Batáry P1,4
1’Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany,
Centre for Ecology Research, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2’Lendület’ Seed Ecology, Institute of
Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Magyarország, 3Res-
toration Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research,
Vácrátót, Magyarország, 4Agroecology, University of Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany
Agri–environment schemes (AES) are among the most valuable in-
struments to support pollination in agricultural landscapes. In our
two–year assessment, we studied the eectiveness of two popular
AES management types (organic farming vs ower strips) on plant
traits associated with pollinator attraction and reward accessibility.
We sampled the vegetation in organic and conventional winter wheat
elds with and without ower strips (control) in ten landscapes along
amean arable eld size gradient in Central Germany. We calculat-
ed the community–weighted mean and functional diversity of traits
and tested the eect of eld size, management, and within–eld po-
sition (grassy margin, eld edge, ower strip, eld interior) with linear
mixed–eects models. Landscape conguration expressed as mean
eld size did not aect pollination traits in our study. Flower strips
provided an exceptionally high cover of insect–pollinated plants, but
their establishment in eld interiors was not detectable. In contrast,
organic eld interiors could be considered afavourable place for pol-
linators compared to the interior of conventional elds.
As both organic farming and ower strips maintained abundant and
functionally diverse insect–pollinated ora, a combination of both
might be the best option for sustaining pollinators and their services.
Investigating possible impacts of wild boar
(Sus scrofa) in the urban habitat of the strictly
protected Caspian whipsnake
(Dolichophis caspius)
Teo T1, Halpern B2, Katona K1
1Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Wildlife Man-
agement and Nature Conservation, Godollo, Hungary, 2MME BirdLife Hungary, Bu-
dapest, Hungary
Ungulate activities can have signicant top–down eects on the
structure of plant communities resulting in indirect impacts on the
habitat of other animal species. Our research is looking at wild boar
(Sus scrofa) impacts in an urban habitat of strictly protected Caspi-
an whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius). We surveyed an area of 3.2 ha in
Vöröskővár in Budapest, where shrub encroachment is athreatening
factor. To investigate the impacts of wild boar rooting in the area, we
designated adjacent rows of 20x20m grid cells parallel to each other
(n=81). We used GPS data to measure the lengths of rooted patches
monthly, and estimated the percentage of area covered by rooted
surface and availability of woody vegetation in each cell. Parallelly, we
evaluated the possible impacts of wild boar rooting activity on sapling
density and shrub cover. We found that on average 41% of cells were
rooted. More rooting was found in cells with more shrubs than less
shrubby cells. There were less saplings in cells with more rooting and
more saplings in cells with less rooting. It is important for manage-
ment to monitor and, if necessary, control wild boar densities and
their impact on the vegetation even in such special urban habitats.
137
Assessing of coastal habitat quality in relation
to conservation objectives on the southeast
Baltic Sea coast in Latvia
Tjarve D1, Laime B1,2
1University of Latvia, Faculty of Biology, Rīga, Latvia, 2Nature Conservation Agency,
Sigulda, Latvia
Assessment of habitat quality carried out based on the mapping of
EU protected habitats in Latvia (2017–2021). Along entire 495 km long
Latvian coast in total 65 427 ha of halophytic and dune habitats were
mapped. Information on habitat structures, ecological processes, im-
pacts, and species were entered on the standardised data forms and
collected in the Nature data management system „Ozols“.
Data on 18 164 habitat polygons have been analysed in order identify
the most important parameters used to improve algorithms for the
assessment of habitat quality and dening conservation objectives.
Algorithms were developed for each of 12 coastal habitat type within
LIFE–IP “Optimising the Governance and Management of the Natura
2000 Protected Areas Network in Latvia” (LIFE19IPE/LV/000010).
The most important quality indicators are related to coastal geomor-
phology and anthropogenic factors. In case of grey dunes signicant
is bare sand patches, lichens, cover of litter, trees and shrubs. The
most important indicators of the quality of wooded dunes are the
presence of old trees and dead wood. In all cases, the presence of
invasive and expansive species can signicantly aect quality. These
parameters correlate with the occurrence of characteristic, rare and
protected species.
Eects of an invasive grass, the sand
dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) on
arthropod assemblages in sand
habitats of Hungary
Torma A1,2, Pál Á2, Szabó M2, Magyar B2, Hábenczyus A2, Gallé R1
1Centre For Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, ‘lendület’ Land-
scape And Conservation Ecology, Vácrátót, Hungary, 2University of Szeged, Szeged,
Hungary
The unique fauna and ora of sand habitats in the Pannonian ecore-
gion are strongly aected by non–native plants. Recently, a new
American grass species, the sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus),
have appeared and spread in the sandy habitats of Danube–Tisza
Interuve. We aimed to assess the eect of sand dropseed on the
arthropod assemblages in sandy habitats. We sampled arthropods in
three habitat types (forest–steppe, open sand grassland, and degrad-
ed sand grassland). In each habitat type, we selected ve pairs of sites
(invaded and non–invaded sites) and sampled the ground–dwelling
and plant–dwelling arthropods by pitfall trapping and sweep–netting,
respectively. We examined the activity– density and/or abundance of
various arthropod groups by generalized linear models, with habitat
type (forest–steppe, open sand grassland, and degraded sand grass-
land), dropseed invasion (invaded vs. non–invaded) and their interac-
tion as explanatory variables. We found that the majority of arthro-
pod groups were signicantly aected by habitat type. However, the
invasion of sand dropseed aected mostly the plant–dwelling arthro-
pods (orthopterans, hemipterans ower–visiting insects) and ants, in
contrast to ground–dwelling arthropods such as ground beetles and
ground–dwelling spiders. In addition, the signicant interacting ef-
fects suggested that arthropods were aected by dropseed invasion
dierently in the dierent habitat types.
Forest management eects
on aerial fungal biodiversity
Torp V1, Ronold E1, Skrede I1, Kauserud H1, Maurice S1
1Section for Genetics and Evolutionary Biology (EvoGene), Department of Bioscience,
University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Boreal forests host a high diversity of fungi, including endangered
and critical red–listed species. Large–scale clear–cutting and planting
have during the last century radically changed forests structure and
composition.
In this project, we investigate how clear–cutting has aected air–
borne fungal biodiversity in Norwegian boreal forests. We expect to
nd amore diverse fungal community, including rare and red–listed
species, in near natural forests compared to earlier clear–cut forests.
This will be tested by comparing the fungal diversity in nine replicated
pairs of forest plots, each pair constituting one mature near–natural
forest not clear–cut and one mature forest that has been clear–cut
once and then planted or regenerated. Passive spore traps with l-
ters were used to monitor the air–born fungal diversity in the plot
during the period September–November 2021. The results from the
DNA–metabarcoding analyses will be presented.
Our results will inform how intensive forestry practices aects the bi-
odiversity and composition of fungi, which can give clues sustainable
forest management practices. The spore sampling approach we are
testing in this project has the potential of supplementing traditional
fruit body surveys to better understand monitor fungal biodiversity.
Genetic tools to inform marine protected
areas establishment: acase study of an
isolated sh population
in the Southwestern Atlantic
Tovar Verba J1,2, Hagberg L1, Pennino M4,5, Ferreira C7, Lopes P2,4, Fer-
reira B7, Maia Queiroz Lima S8, Stow A3
1Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology II, Ludwig–Maximilians–Univer-
sität München, Munich, Germany, 2Programa de Pós–Graduação em Ecologia, Uni-
versidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil, 3Conservation Genetics Lab,
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, 4Fishing Ecology, Management and Eco-
nomics, Department of Ecology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Na-
tal, Brazil, 5Instituto Español de Oceanografía/Consejo Superior de Investigaciones
Cienticas, Vigo, Vigo, Spain, 6Reef Systems Ecology and Conservation Lab, Marine
Biology Department, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Brazil, 7Department
of Oceanography, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, 8Laboratório
de Ictiologia Sistemática e Evolutiva, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte,
Natal, Brazil
Despite the lack of obvious barriers, populations of marine organ-
isms can present dierent levels of connectivity throughout their
distribution. The degree of connectivity between populations of ex-
ploited species should be considered when dening conservation
measures. Here we investigated the genetic connectivity of the en-
demic and exploited Gray Parrotsh, Sparisoma axillare, in Brazil.
Due to its vulnerable status, much ecological data is still needed to
support sustainable management actions and protected areas imple-
mentation. Nine locations were sampled from reef systems in coastal
to oceanic environments with varying levels of protection. The combi-
nation of depth, ocean currents, and distance were the major drivers
explaining patterns of genetic divergence between S. axillare popula-
tions. Coastal populations and two o–coast sites showed high con-
nectivity. Adistinct genetic population was revealed in the waters sur-
rounding Trindade island, located 1000 km o–coast. Alarge no–take
area has recently been established in part of Trindade, increasing the
country’smarine protection. However, this loosely regulated area is
located in the open ocean, excluding shallow areas. Despite bans to
sheries, these areas are still exploited. Granting Trindade full protec-
tion would provide aresponse to criticisms and give some respite to
aunique S. axillare lineage.
Habitat on the move – Translocation of
deadwood and associated species as amean
to improve ecological compensation
Tranberg O1, Hekkala A1, Löfroth T1, Jönsson M2, Sjögren J1, Hjältén J1
1Department of Wildlife, Fish, And Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Ag-
ricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden, 2Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish
University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
The study objective was to test anovel method in ecological restora-
tion/compensation, translocation of high quality deadwood and its
associated species. This method could potentially solve the ‘Field–of–
dreams dilemma’ in ecological restoration, i.e. even if proper eorts
and actions to create suitable habitats are conducted in an area,
there is no assurance that species or functions will self–assemble. We
tested this method as away to compensate for biodiversity loss due
to the expansion of the Aitik mine. Deadwood (including associated
saproxylic species), both standing and lying, fresh and belonging to
multiple decomposition classes, in total 640 substrates, was trans-
located from the impact area to acompensation area into 30 exper-
imental plots, receiving 0, 16 or 48 deadwood substrates. Baseline
138
measures of insects, bryophytes and wood fungi in both impact and
compensation areas were conducted prior to the translocation. Our
result showed that translocation increased deadwood volumes in the
compensation plots to levels equal or above those found in the im-
pact area, but also the lack of some types of deadwood. Saproxylic
beetle density and diversity, especially of rare and red–listed species,
increased in the compensation plots, thus indicating the potential of
this novel method to mitigate biodiversity loss.
Protist infections in mountain gorillas (Gorilla
beringei beringei) across Virunga Massif
Uwamahoro C1,2,3, Petrzelkova K3,11, Eckardt W1, Ndagijimana F1, Kvac
M10, Sak B, Muvunyi R5, Jirku M10, Gilardi K4, Cervena B3,9, Kvetonova
D10, Holubova N10, Jirku K10, Pafco B3, Aruho R8, Kalonji A7, Mapilanga
J6, Uwingeri P5, Ssebide B4, Kambale E4
1Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, Musanze, Rwanda., Musanze, Rwanda, 2Faculty of Tropi-
cal AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, 3Institute
of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic, 4Gorilla
Doctors (MGVP, Inc.), Davis, CA, USA, Musanze, Rwanda, 5Rwanda Development
Board, Kigali, Rwanda, 6Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, Kin-
shasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 7Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de
la Nature, Parc National de Kahuzi Biega, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo,
8Uganda Wildlife Authority, Kampala, Uganda, 9Department of Pathology and Par-
asitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary Sciences, Brno,
Czech Republic, 10Mount Kenya Wildlife Wildlife Conservancy, Nanyuki, Kenya, 11In-
stitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice,
Czech Republic
Ongoing conservation success of endangered mountain gorillas (Go-
rilla beringei beringei) coincides with increasing population densities,
which may alter parasite epidemiology. Recently, striking geograph-
ic dierences in helminth infections were revealed in Virunga goril-
las, with higher egg counts and specic strongylid taxa occurring in
high–elevation areas with high occurrence of clinical gastrointestinal
symptoms. However, our knowledge about protist diversity and epi-
demiology in mountain gorilla populations are still limited. The goal
of the study was to assess patterns of Cryptosporidium, Giardia and
microsporidia infections (intestinal protists spread by the fecal–oral
route via environmentally resistant cysts) in mountain gorilla across
the Virunga Massif. We examined 152 fecal samples from 16 gorilla
groups collected in 2018 using molecular diagnostics (PCR and qPCR
on various markers). We detected Enterocytozoon bieneusi (14%, gen-
otypes D, NCF7, CHN–F1, gorilla 6), Cryptosporidium muris (1%) and Gi-
ardia intestinalis (9%). In comparison to results from 2007 we did not
detect Encephalitozoon cuniculi. We showed that the most sensitive
methods for pathogen detection must be employed and along–term
monitoring of selected pathogens is warranted. Our results further
aid epidemiological understanding of parasite communities in moun-
tain gorillas, an asset for their ongoing conservation management in
the face of newly emerging health challenges.
Plant biomass and insect assemblages on
overseeded old elds in Central Hungary
Vajna F1, Ronkay L2, Józan Z3, Soltész Z1, Pellaton R1, Piross I1, Báldi A1
1Centre For Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Vácrátót, Hungary,
2Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary, 3 Mernye, Hungary
Abandoned arable elds (old elds) could be improved by overseed-
ing to promote feed (biomass) and insect diversity. We started our
experiment in arable elds abandoned about ten years ago in Central
Hungary. We overseeded nine parcels (each 0.5 ha) with aseed mix-
ture of 11 native, legume–rich species and designated control par-
cels. We sampled plant biomass by harvesting 50×50 cm plots (6 per
parcel) and captured ying insects with Malaise traps (1 per parcel).
We identied bee, buttery and wasp species at the species level. We
analysed biomass with GLMMs and the diversity of insect assemblag-
es with GLMMs and NMDS. We found asignicant positive eect on
biomass. Nor abundance, neither species richness showed dierence
between overseeded and control parcels. Furthermore, the NMDS
analysis did not show any eect of overseeding on species composi-
tion. Thus, our preliminary analyses suggest that while plant biomass
increases after overseeding; bee, buttery and wasp assemblages did
not dier between control and overseeded sites in the rst two years
after treatment. We suspect that the slow development of owers
due to alack of precipitation and a delayed response of insects to
the treatment might contribute to the observed lack of short–term
eects on insects.
Non–linear benets of small woody features
on agricultural biodiversity to alarger extent
in cropland than in grassland
Vallé C1, Princé K1, Jiguet F1, Le Viol I1
1UMR7204 Centre d’Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR 7204),
MNHN CNRS Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
Farmland communities have declined since several years due to mul-
tiple factors (e.g pesticides, landscape fragmentation). At the Euro-
pean level, dierent agricultural policies seek to support farmland
biodiversity, among which devoting part of farmland to non–pro-
ductive areas of ecological interest, promoting small woody features
(SWF) such as hedges. However, the eect of these landscape fea-
tures is complex as it could be taxon–specic, landscape–dependent
and non–linear. Abetter understanding of these eects is therefore
crucial to provide supporting elements for policy decision making, as
in the context of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform. We pro-
pose alarge–scale multi–taxon study to explore the impact of SWF
on farmland biodiversity in France (3730 birds, 492 bats and 670 or-
thoptera community plots). Using generalized additive mixed models
(GAMMs), we show that these three taxa share anonlinear relation-
ship with these SWFs on the structure and diversity of their farmland
communities. We illustrate that this eect is highly pronounced in
croplands but not in grasslands. We recommend that future conser-
vation policies should achieve aminimum of 3% SWF landscape cover
as apriority in cropland. We illustrate, however, that some agricultur-
al species are unlikely to benet from these landscape features and
thus require other protection measures.
Establishing boundaries in Conservation
Biology: The case of European wild rabbit
subspecies in the Iberian Peninsula
Vaquerizas P1, Fischer A2, Delibes–Mateos M1, Villafuerte R1, Garrido
F1, Glikman J1
1Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados (IESA–CSIC), Córdoba, Spain, 2Swedish Uni-
versity of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden
Conservation action is premised on the establishment of boundaries,
such as the species concept that delineates, through various deni-
tions, the boundaries between dierent species as categories of con-
servation relevance. These denitions are socially constructed and
thus inuenced by ideas, interests and institutions. Therefore, under-
standing how actors involved in the management of acertain species
establish its boundaries can be decisive to set up adequate future
frameworks of action. This becomes even more relevant for species
facing conservation challenges, such as the European rabbit (Oryc-
tolagus cuniculus). Here, we explore how the main interest groups in-
volved in rabbit management in its native range perceive wild rabbit
subspecies. To this end, we conducted adiscourse analysis of more
than 40 interviews with representatives of each group across the Ibe-
rian Peninsula. Results showed how all interviewees were aware of
the existence of subspecies and most of them recognized dierences
between them. However, results also revealed a clear division be-
tween the discourses in each subspecies’ area and between dierent
actor groups, which reected dierent relevance of the subspecies in
management. These results may be valuable for the management of
rabbit subspecies, but also highlight more general social mechanisms
behind the construction of the species concept.
Plant tissue culture as strategy for
conservation and toxicity study of the
endemic and endangered Bamboo Cycad
(Ceratozamia hildae): applications and
challenges.
Velásquez–de La Cruz I1,2, Herrera–Santoyo J2, Sandoval–Zapotitla E3,
Guzmán–Ramos M3, González–Caballero O1, Jiménez– Rodríguez J1,
Estrada–Galván B1,3, Chávez–Ávila V1
1Laboratorio de Cultivo de Tejidos Vegetales, Jardín Botánico–IB, UNAM, Ciudad de
México, Mexico, 2Laboratorio de Laboratorio de Fitoquímica, Facultad de Ciencias,
UNAM, Ciudad de México, Mexico, 3Laboratorio de Anatomía Vegetal, Jardín Botáni-
co–IB, UNAM, Ciudad de México, Mexico
139
Biotechnology of Plant Tissue Culture has been proposed as astrat-
egy to solve the conservation problem that threats the most vulner-
able plant group worldwide, cycads. But all cycads are considered
to be neurotoxic. In this project, we evaluated the protocol for the
Bamboo Cycad Ceratozamia hildae implemented for the rst time in
1992 and currently successful through physiological, morphological,
phytochemical and anatomical aspects.
Morphogenetic responses are described such as somatic embryo-
genesis, organogenesis and undierentiated cells identied as callus
(from which, morphologically unknown structures were observed
and after additional anatomical procedures, they were identied as
idioblast cells). Methanolic extracts of culture medium present me-
tabolites of interest.
In this way, we corroborate that plant tissue culture is not only astrat-
egy for in vitro conservation but also with apotential impact in asus-
tainable economy such as promoting the search for regeneration of
complete individuals and obtaining metabolites of interest under
controlled conditions.
In this sense, new studies would be opened to evaluate the feasibility
of reintroduction or, failing that, the regulated use of plants without
looting wildlife.
Multi–taxa modeling approach to evaluate
the importance of non–crop habitat proximity
in ecosystem services distribution: acase
study in the Czech Republic
Venturo A1, Štrobl M1, Kadlec T1, Seidl M1, Dvořák T1, Benda D2, Ta-
jovský K3, Skuhrovec J4, González E5, Knapp M1
1Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of
Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, 2Department of Zoology, Faculty of Sciences,
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, 3Institute of Soil Biology, Biology Centre
of the Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic, 4Crop Research
Institute, Functional Diversity Agroecosystems, Prague, Czech Republic, 5Centro de
Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba–Instituto Multidisplinario de Biología
Vegetal (CONICET–UNC), Cordoba, Argentina
Non–crop habitats such as eld boundaries oer shelter and food
sources to various benecial organisms, from which they can spread
and colonise crops during favourable seasons. Most studies use
asingle taxa approach to evaluate the distribution of benecial ar-
thropods. Here we adopted amulti–taxa approach and direct meas-
urement of ecosystem services (ESs) to assess the relationship be-
tween distance to eld edges, agro–communities, and ESs.
Eight arthropod taxa and three ESs were investigated using vegeta-
tion sweeping, pitfall and pan traps, dummy caterpillars, seed cards,
and teabag technique. Generalized linear mixed–eects models
(GLMMs) synthesize the response of arthropods abundance, diver-
sity, and ecosystem services to the distance from eld boundaries.
Preliminary results showed that ecosystem services increased locally
together with arthropod diversity and abundance. No eect of dis-
tance from eld boundaries on the surveyed arthropods and ecosys-
tem services was observed, while only afew habitat specialists were
conned near eld boundaries.
This study demonstrates the importance of a multi–taxa approach
to determine ecosystem service distribution. The modeling approach
can be used for deriving aplausible multi–taxa model for evaluating
ecosystem services provision.
The red deer viewed by Europeans:
Achallenge for management
Villafuerte Jordán R1, Martinez–Jauregui M1,2, Arroyo B3, Glikman J4,
Soliño M5,6, Delibes–Mateos M4
1Centro de Investigación Forestal (INIA, CSIC), Madrid, Spain, 2Sustainable Forest
Management Research Institute, University of Valladolid & INIA, Palencia, Spain, 3In-
stituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC; CSIC–UCLM–JCCM), Ciudad
Real, Spain, 4: Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados (IESA–CSIC), Cordoba, Spain,
5Institute of Marine Research, CSIC, Vigo, Spain, 6Complutense Institute for Interna-
tional Studies (ICEI), Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain
Red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) are distributed throughout Europe, and
populations densities have increased over the last years. Lethal con-
trol is sometimes used to reduce their numbers, and their negative
overabundance impacts on ecosystems. Understanding how society
perceive this species, its impacts and its management is important
because apotential opposition to control its population, may have
negative implications for ecological conservation. To assess such
societal perception on deer and their socioecological context, we
surveyed 2,400 people from six European countries: Spain, France,
United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and Sweden. Across Europe, almost
everybody knew this species (>99%), mainly because they have seen
it in the wild, in books, or on television. Although some dierences
existed among countries, Europeans generally attributed positive
ecosystem services to the red deer, being the most frequently select-
ed ones cultural (by 43%), regulation (35%) and provision (22%) ser-
vices. Almost 90% of the interviewees liked red deer, 47% would like
to see an increase in deer populations, and 49% were worried by the
impact of human activities on this species. This study reveals ahigh
appreciation of red deer by European society, and suggests that deer
populations control may face social opposition.
Strategy for Rural Development in Colombia:
Socio–Economic Analysis of Natural Rubber
Plantations
Hájek M1, Villarreal L1
1Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha – Suchdol, Czech Republic
Natural rubber farming in Colombia is considered the industry with
more potential for socio–economic development with adominant po-
sition in the market, more than 50.000 small farmers (51% of them
being women) depending on it, hence, there is agreat need to nur-
ture and retain this industry because is considered Colombia’s best
weapons against the war on drugs replacing hundreds of Ha of illicit
crops. The Rubber tree Hevea Brasilensis is anative crop that grows in
the Amazonian River basin, parts of Caquetá, Putumayo, and Colom-
bia’sfar east, the Amazon jungle itself. But suers deforestation and
displacement as livestock, pasture production, and illicit crops grow
in the area, reducing the possibilities of rubber exploitation, making
it urgent from the farmers, and policies from the state to provide
means of production, skills, roads, and organizing the Supply chain
in order to stop the deforestation on the Amazonas, and helping the
population to continue the production of Latex.
More evidence for insect decline in forests?
23 years of ground beetle sampling indicate
declines in biomass in aGerman forest
Weiss F1,2, Linde A1
1Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Eberswalde, Germany, 2Le-
uphana University Lüneburg, Germany
An increasing number of studies reports declines in insect popula-
tions aecting a variety of taxonomic groups in dierent habitats.
While the full extent of this crisis still remains unclear, the majority of
studies focuses on ying insects in open habitats. We investigated if
ground–dwelling forest insects are also aected by declines and an-
alysed along–term dataset consisting of over 23,000 ground beetles
caught in amixed forest stand near Eberswalde, Germany, covering
atime span of 23 years. We tted linear mixed regression models to
investigate trends in abundance and biomass. First results highlight
that temporal trends in ground beetles are governed by large inter-
annual uctuations. They also show asignicant decrease of biomass
over time – but not of abundance. This might indicate shifts in species
assemblage. At ECCB we plan to present further results from investi-
gations of trends in taxonomic diversity and ecological traits, as well
as the inuence of climatic conditions on interannual uctuations.
Our research thereby delivers another important “puzzle piece” in the
investigation of insect decline and sheds more light on the conserva-
tion status of forest insects in central Europe.
140
Forest management and arthropod
functioning in Central Europe: conifers and
non–native tree species alter trophic niche
structure of predators
Wildermuth B1
1Georg–August–University Göttingen, Forest Nature Conservation, Göttingen, Ger-
many
Large scale forest diebacks of Norway spruce in Central Europe have
shown the progressing impact of climate change and call for adap-
tive forest management strategies. Mixtures of broadleaved and co-
niferous trees or admixing non–native trees to native forests appear
promising, but the ecological consequences are poorly understood.
Particularly functional diversity of forest–associated biota has to be
maintained, constituting an important pillar of resilience and eco-
system functioning. Feeding niches of arthropod predators provide
a proxy for functional diversity and therefore, we investigated the
trophic niche structure (δ13C, δ15N) of dominant spider and carabid
communities in mixed and pure stands of European beech, Norway
spruce and non–native Douglas r in Germany. We implemented
multidimensional isotopic metrics and found that both conifer spe-
cies increased feeding niche breadth and functional redundancy of
arthropod predators, whilst tree mixtures mitigated such eects.
However, non–native Douglas r harboured shorter food chains
than native Norway spruce, and Douglas r–associated communities
reacted stronger to soil type and precipitation than those of native
stands. In conclusion, both conifers generally act similarly, but Doug-
las r nonetheless shows several distinct and possibly adverse eects
on native arthropod communities. Therefore, replacement of native
conifers with their non–native counterparts should be implemented
with caution.
Climate change driven shifts in the
synchrony of apple owering and pollinating
bee ight phenology.
Wyver C1, Potts S1, Edwards M2, Edwards R2, Senapathi D1
1University of Reading, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, Reading, Unit-
ed Kingdom, 2Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society, London, United Kingdom
The phenology, or timing of key life–history events, of many global-
ly important crops and the insects that pollinate them are shifting
because of the changing climate. Where these temporal shifts occur
at dierent rates or in dierent directions, it induces arisk of phe-
nological mismatch, potentially reducing the quality and quantity of
crop production, and the tness of pollinating bees through resource
shortages.
This study makes use of 48 years of UK citizen science (pollinating bee
ight periods) and systematic (apple owering) data to report pheno-
logical shifts of both apples and their bee–pollinator community. We
quantied the mismatches between peak owering and ight dates
which could potentially cause pollination decits.
Advances in both apple owering and pollinator ight were primar-
ily driven by early spring temperatures, with peak apple owering
dates of advancing by 6.4±0.6 days per 1 °C warming. Early spring
temperatures impacted peak ight dates of insects, with an advance
of 6.7±1.7 days per 1 °C warming.
The dierent response patterns in the phenology of apples and bees
gave rise to shifting temporal mismatch between peak owering and
peak ight, which could have major negative impacts both on apple
production, and bee survival.
Spatial–temporal heterogeneity of ecosystem
service interactions and their
social–ecological drivers across scales:
Implications for sustainable spatial planning
and management
Xia H1, Yuan S2, Prishchepov A1
1Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Co-
penhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2Department of Land Resources Management,
Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China
Uncovering the complex interactions among ecosystem services (ESs)
and their social–ecological drivers is a prerequisite for developing
sustainable ecological management strategies to improve human
well–being. We mapped spatial–temporal patterns of six ESs (habitat
quality (HQ), water conservation (WC), carbon storage (CS), food pro-
duction (FP), water supply (WS), and landscape aesthetics (LA)) in the
Qiantang River Basin, quantied the trade–os/synergies of ES pairs,
identied ES bundles, and determined the dominant social–ecologi-
cal drivers of ESs at two spatial scales (grid scale and sub–watershed
scale). The results showed that the spatial patterns of ESs were spa-
tially heterogeneous but relatively stable across time, except for two
hydrological services (WC and WS). Synergies occurred mainly be-
tween HQ, CS, WC, WS, and LA, while trade–os arose mainly between
FP and other ESs. CS–HQ pairs presented the strongest synergy while
FP–HQ pairs showed the strongest trade–o at both spatial scales.
Spatial–temporal analysis of ES interactions can prioritize ES manage-
ment not only for ES pairs with trade–os but also for ES pairs with
declined synergies. We proposed spatial planning and management
strategies at both spatial scales based on ES bundles and social–eco-
logical drivers to facilitate the sustainable development of regional
ecosystems and the enhancement of human well–being.
Long–term disturbance dynamics as adriver
of abundance and diversity of tree–related
microhabitats in primary forests in Europe
Zemlerová V1
1Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
Improved understanding of the relationship between natural distur-
bance regimes and habitat availability for biodiversity is critical given
that the frequency and severity of forest disturbance is expected to
increase due to climate change. Biodiversity indicators such as tree–
related microhabitats (TreMs) have recently gained signicant atten-
tion in research and management, however the relationship between
multiple disturbance components and their long term eects has not
been well documented yet. Here we used aunique dendroecological
disturbance history reconstruction from 297 plots in European pri-
mary spruce forests to examine the relative importance of natural
disturbances in shaping TerMs occurrence and diversity. The results
show that TreM diversity in relationship with long term disturbance
dynamics follows acomplex pathway with the TreM diversity peak
right after a disturbance event. However, disturbance dynamics
shaped contemporary TreMs with contrasting eects on dierent
TreM groups. There was found a signicant relationship between
TreM occurrence and disturbance characteristics in 6 TreM groups
whose occurrence peaks dier in disturbance severity and time. The
results underscore the importance of considering primary forests as
dynamic ecosystems, driven by disturbances where the whole range
of seral stages is important for dierent TreM groups and subse-
quently forest–dwelling species.
The seasonal variability of ichthyoplankton
biodiversity in the central–eastern Adriatic
Sea (Jabuka/Pomo Pit area) during the last
two years
Zorica B1, Lepen Pleić I1, Vrgoč N1, Čikeš Keč V1, Isajlović I1, Šestanović
M1
1Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split, Croatia
Four ichthyoplankton surveys (colder season: October–November,
2020; February – March 2021; warmer season: June – July 2019; 2020)
were conducted in the wider area of Jabuka/Pomo Pit. Ichthyoplank-
ton samples were obtained by standard vertical plankton tows using
aWP2 sampler (mouth opening, 0.255 m2; mesh size, 0.200 mm) and
preserved in 96% ethanol. In the laboratory, ichthyoplankton was iso-
lated under the binocular and its taxonomy was determined using
DNA barcoding with cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI). Overall,
499 sh eggs and 113 larvae were collected and they belonged to
26 sh taxa. Quantitatively, in the colder season, the dominated taxa
was Maurolicus muelleri (Gmelin, 1789), while in the wormer season
Engraulis encrasicolus (L.) early life stages were the most numerous.
Biodiversity indices (Species richness (S), Simpson’sIndex of Diversity
(D), Shannon–Wiener Index (H), Evenness (E), Jaccard Index (J)) point-
ed out that samples obtained within two seasons were quite similar
(J=88.3%), although ichthyoplankton samples collected during the
141
colder part of the year had slightly higher diversity. The application
of molecular taxonomy reveals, for the rst time, the occurrence of
two tuna–like species and Blue jack mackerel early life stages, which
might indicate possible spawning aggregation in the study area.
Survival estimation of eastern imperial eagles
(Aquila heliaca) in Hungary with
agenetic–based mark–recapture method
Zsinka B1, Kövér S1, Pásztory–Kovács S1, Vili N1, Szabó K1, Fatér I2, Hor-
váth M2
1Department of Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Budapest, Hun-
gary, 2MME BirdLife Hungary, Budapest, Hungary
Intensive conservation work has been taking place to reduce an-
thropogenic mortality causes, particularly poisoning of the Vulnera-
ble (IUCN) eastern imperial eagle in Hungary. The aim of our study
was to estimate survival probabilities of breeding birds for the years
2011–2017 in order to evaluate the success of the HELICON Life pro-
ject (2011–2016). Probabilities were estimated using a capture–re-
capture method. The territorial nature of the species made genet-
ic–based individual identication possible through DNA proling of
breeders, from moulted feathers collected at the nest sites. Capture
histories were constructed for 144 males and 251 females. Further-
more, genetic monogamy of the species allowed us to gain additional,
inferred presence data of breeders through parentage analyses. The
three best supported models were (i) constant 90,3% survival over
our study period, (ii) sex–dependent survival (males: 88,6%, females:
90,9%) and (iii) time–dependent survival with a4,2–8,6 percentage
point lower survival for the rst three years. Slightly lower male sur-
vival could be explained by behavioural dierences of the sexes:
males might face more danger as they spend more time hunting and
protecting the territory. Increase in survival through the years is in
accordance with the decrease in poisoning rates, which can be attrib-
uted to HELICON Life.
142
Author index
A
Aavik T 28
Abeltina I 124
Abrams J 62
Abubakr A 122
Adler P 76
A L 122
Agustin I 69
Ahmad I 122
Ahumada J 97
Aivelo T 20
Ajvazović M 40
Akampurira E 97
Akasaka M 12
Akeredolu E 122
Alagador D 12
Alaux C 97
Albentosa M 89
Albrecht J 19
Albrecht M 39, 86, 97
Albrecht T 135
Alif Ž 12
Alignier A 22
Alkan Olsson J 69
Allan M 97
Alley C 62
Allik M 126
Alonso J 62
Altanov V 12
Alterio E 50, 123
Álvarez E 89
Alvarez M 93
Álvarez–Miranda E 28, 95
Amano T 110
Amar A 17
Ambrožová L 21
Ammer C 102
Anagnostopoulou A 62
Anastácio P 43
Anastasiu P 136
Anders O 40
Andleeb S 122
Andrade–Díaz M 115
Andrén H 40
Angeleri R 62
Angelstam P 65, 77
Annes A 53
Antão L 48
Antón–Fernández C 14, 54, 56
Aquilué N 39
Aravanopoulos F 102
Arbaleaz Gaviria J 104
Arbieu U 82, 122
Arcilla N 64
Arellano E 105
Arenas–Castro S 62, 63, 98
Argenti G 89
Arlettaz R 62
Arlt D 78
Arok M 122
Arroyo B 147
Aruho R 146
Árvai M 127
Asad S 62
Aschenbrand E 63
Aschero V 93
Ashmarina D 33
Asimi O 122
Asman M 138
Assandri G 18
Astrup R 14, 56
Aszalós R 44, 123, 137
Atrena A 123
Auret A 133
Auretetal. A 92
Aveliina Helm 76
Avidor E 92
Aviron S 22
B
Babai D 12, 40, 102
Bače R 65
Badalamenti E 142
Bailey S 69
Baillie J 92
Baishya H 78
Bakonyi G 99
Balalaikins M 138
Balazs D 13
Balbuena Díaz–Pines J 138
Baldi A 96
Báldi A 13, 34, 52, 64, 143, 146
Baldi G 115
Baldock K 13, 38
Balducci L 50, 123
Balkenhol N 49
Ball A 13, 25
Balloux F 85
Balmford A 70
Balogh N 34
Baltz L 53, 123
Băncilă R 101
Bandeira V 66
Banelytė G 123
Banha F 43
Bani L 101
Bankhead–Dronnet S 82
Bán M 126
Barbosa A 46
Barceló M 110
Bareth G 96
Barina Z 140
Bar–Massada A 98
Barov B 96
Barreto de Andrade R 50
Barrett C 42
Barrientos R 66
Barrientos Yuste R 115
Barták V 140
143
Barta Z 126
Barth J 28
Bartomeus I 97
Bartoń K 76, 91
Bartonova A 23
Basset A 57
Batáry P 13, 17, 34, 54, 72, 81, 85,
94, 99, 140, 144
Batdelger G 13
Bates A 79
Bátori Z 29, 101, 114, 127, 134
Baumann M 35
Baumgartner C 106
Bautista C 63
Bayer J 86
Beardsall A 87
Beaudrot L 97
Beaujouan V 22
Beaumelle C 19
Becsi R 27
Beger M 117
Bein B 92
Bela G 142
Belant J 91
Bełcik M 110
Bellingrath–Kimura S 114
Belotti E 136
Bemis W 67
Benda D 147
Benmazouz I 138
Benndorf A 80
Benussi M 74
Berezowska–Cnota T 63, 138
Berg Å 78
Bergamini A 87
Berger–Tal O 70, 82, 100, 105, 128
Berggren Å 46, 63, 111
Bergkvist G 15
Berglund H 93
Bergman E 85
Bergmark P 63
Bernátková A 63
Berta I 143
Berti E 57
Bertola L 25
Bertrand R 65
Běťák J 132
Beukema W 70
Bhagwat S 14
Bhatt D 136
Bianchi F 14
Biasetti P 14, 98, 115
Bidoglio G 32
Bieringer G 106
Biesmeijer K 91
Biganzoli F 68
Bignal E 71
Bignal S 71
Bihaly Á 13, 64
Bikic B 26
Binder M 124
Birkemoe T 21
Biro A 29
Biró M 32, 40, 42
Bischof R 97
Bishop von Wettberg E 25
Bitariho R 97
Bladon A 64
Blandino C 110
Blattert C 14, 54, 56
Bleyhl B 95
Bluhm H 14, 43
Blumstein D 135
Bobek M 63
Bock I 143
Böck K 27
Boćkowski M 124
Body G 57
Boeni A 64
Boere E 82
Boetzl F 15
Bohnet I 111
Böhning–Gaese K 82
Boissier O 64
Boitani L 8
Bollmann K 86
Bölöni J 123
Bommarco R 46, 90, 111
Bonaiuto M 30
Bonaldi G 66
Bondar–Kunze E 27
Bonn A 40
Borger L 15, 28
Borišev M 100
Börner K 83
Boros G 137
Boros Z 118
Borowski Z 21
Borza S 55
Bosco L 15
Bota G 81, 93, 96
Bötsch Y 64
Botta–Dukát Z 124
Böttcher H 80
Boudreau M 51
Bouget C 82
Boukas N 62
Bounas A 62
Bourdakis E 62
Bousbouras D 62
Bouskila A 116, 128
Boyer F 19, 50
Boyer I 65
Bradley H 15
Bradter U 23, 40
Brady M 50, 79
Brand M 82
Brandner A 97
Brandt M 83
Brännhage J 96
Braunisch V 76
Braun M 90
Bravo–Oviedo A 102
Brazaitis G 16, 44, 124
Brdar S 114
Brekke P 65, 69, 85, 88
Bremerich V 12
Brestovanská T 67
144
Brickle P 117
Brock C 138
Brockhaus M 22
Brook B 30
Brotons L 24, 39, 41
Brown M 15, 134
Bruelheide H 24
Brühl C 70
Brumelis G 124
Brundu G 142
Bruslund S 31
Bruun H 123
Bryukhova S 56
Bubnicki J 65, 77
Bučas M 137
Buchadas A 15
Buchanan G 88
Bucksch C 53
Bufka L 136
Bühler C 87
Bullock J 79
Bundschuh M 70
Bunnefeld N 82
Burel F 22
Burgas D 14, 16, 54, 56
Burgelman S 87
Burgos T 66
Burner R 21
Burrascano S 16, 21, 44, 50, 89, 102,
123, 142
Butchart S 84
Butler S 105
Bužan E 66
C
Cabezas–Díaz S 112
Cacciatori C 65
Čada V 65, 134
Cagnacci F 43, 112
Cahenzli F 86
Cahilig R 38
Callaghan C 55
Calla S 58
Camino M 95
Campagnaro T 21, 44, 50, 102, 139, 142
Campanaro A 21, 110
Canavan S 16
Canessa S 66
Caniglia R 52
Capinha C 16, 100
Cappellari A 26, 66
Caprio E 17
Cardoso A 56
Carlsson F 110
Carlsson M 101
Carmona C 142
Carmona G 66
Carrié R 50, 110
Caruso V 26
Carvalho J 75
Carvalho S 28
Carvalho W 87
Cassel–Lundhagen A 63
Castillo M 16
Castro I 55
Catry I 96
Cazalis V 84, 134
Cazzolla GAtti R 17
Ceacero F 63, 144
Cebrián–Piqueras M 103
Cecere J 18
Ceia–Hasse A 16
Čeirāns A 135
Celada C 96
Celesti–Grapow L 142
Centeri C 64
Cepák J 53
Černecký J 142
Černý K 67
Cerretti P 26, 66
Cerri J 66
Cervena B 146
Challinor A 68
Chamberlain D 13, 17, 84
Chanel C 141
Chao C 111
Chaplin–Kramer R 17
Chapman M 32
Chavarro J 104
Chávez–Ávila V 146
Cheke R 68
Chianucci F 16, 21, 44, 50, 102
Chiarucci A 17, 53
Chillo V 93
Chiron F 46
Chobot K 127
Choo L 37
Christie A 104
Chrysopolitou V 131
Chrzanová Pečnerová P 67
Chumanová E 67
Ciach M 21, 44
Cihlová A 17
Čikeš Keč V 148
Cimatti M 17
Ćirović D 122
Čížek L 21, 53
Clarke P 116
Clear J 96
Clements C 142
Clements J 33
Cliquet A 17
Cocchiararo B 52
Cochard A 22
Cogălniceanu D 101
Coissac E 19
Cole L 21
Coll M 23, 48
Conde D 31, 89
Connell J 90
Convey P 117
Cook H 67
Corcos D 26
Cord A 85, 94, 116
Cordeiro Pereira J 67
Corregidor–Castro A 18
Correia R 18, 19, 30, 35, 47
Ćosić N 122
Cosmopolis–del–Carpio C 18
145
Cotrim H 28
Couet J 125
Courchamp F 30
Cousins S 18, 79
Cristiano A 18, 91
Csecserits A 124
Csenki–Bakos Z 143
Csóka G 68
Csonka A 67
Cunningham S 138
Cwajna A 125
Czerepko J 65
Czibik E
D 100
Da Fonseca R 111
Dahal P 84
Dakos V 94
Dalen L 67
D‘Alessio A 125
Dallimer M 68
D‘Amato D 22
Damoiseau S 82
D’Andrea E 102
D‘Angeli A 123
Dániel–Ferreira J 90, 111
Daniel H 22
Dan–Rakedzon N 67
Dascalu D 141
Daskalova G 69
Davoli M 19, 68
Dawson W 117
Deák B 55, 72, 101, 113, 114, 144
De Angelo C 95
Dean R 97
De Barba M 19, 49, 50
De Capua E 18
Decarre J 68, 95
Deere N 51
de Groot M 53
de Jonge M 72
de Kock M 111, 129
Delabye S 143
Delibes–Mateos M 146, 147
Delli G 47
del Río M 102
Delzeit R 135
Demare G 68
Demeter L 34, 40, 42, 68
Demierre E 71
de Mori B 14, 98, 115
Dénes A 42
Denneboom D 98
De Oliveira Caetano G 19
Deparnay–Grunenberg A 19
Derbridge J 86
Derer I 129
Desbureaux S 20
Deshpande P 20
De Smedt P 44
Detheridge A 130
Detoeuf D 37
Deudero S 89
Devenish K 20
Devictor V 84, 94
Devineau O 112
Devries J 86
De Vries R 19
Dhandapani S 97
Díaz Cando P 34
Díaz Reviriego I 20
Dickinson K 48
Dicks L 21, 105
Dietsch A 26
Di Fulvio F 14, 20, 54, 56
Dimalexis A 62
Di Marco M 17, 69, 84, 134
Di Minin E 18, 20
Di Musciano M 17
Dinesen L 57
Diry C 106
Djupström L 81
Dobson R 68
Doerer I 16, 21, 44, 53, 102, 123
Doležal J 41
Dolný A 74
Domingos T 46
Donald P 84
Dondina O 101
Dormann C 40, 81
Dorward L 69
dos Santos J 35
Dostál D 21
Douhan Sundahl A 15
Drăgan O 101
Drag L 21
Dragonetti C 69
Drechsler M 69, 104, 116
Drhlíková K 111
Droste N 22, 69
Dubois G 47
Dubovsky J 86
Dudás G 126
Duot R 16, 22, 39
Dula M 40
Duľa M 80, 125
Dullinger S 32
Dunn M 125
Duntsch L 69
Duthie B 16
Dutta T 26, 49
Du W 99
Dvořák D 132
Dvořáková L 126
Dvořák T 70, 147
Dvorský M 41
Dwiyahreni A 69
E
Eberl J 80
Eccard J 132
Eckardt W 146
Ecker K 73
Eckstein L 77, 85
Edman M 110
Edo M 22
Edwards M 148
Edwards R 148
Efrat R 70
Egerer M 22, 23, 34
146
Eggermont H 57
Egger S 87
Eggers J 23, 39, 40
Eigirdas V 136
Eklund J 70
Ekroos J 50, 110
Ekström H 22
Elek Z 95, 137
Ellam L 87
Ellison N 51
Emmanuel F 43
Endres E 80
Eng D 39
Engelbrecht Clemmensen K 101
Engler J 85
Entling M 22, 70, 104
Enzinger K 106
Erb K 32
Erdélyi A 126
Erdős L 29, 54, 127, 134
Ereifej L 23
Erens J 70
Eriksson O 76
Erjavec E 52
Ernoult A 22
Ernst L 99
Escobar N 82
Escribano–Avila G 79
Espasandín L 23
Espasandín Soneira L 48
Espinosa S 97
Espinoza Ami F 34
Essl F 32, 90, 100
Estrada–Castillón E 116
Estrada–Galván B 146
Ettwein A 62, 71
EUROLynx P 48
Evans L 87
Evans T 71
Ewen J 65, 69
Eyvindson K 14, 16, 39, 54, 56
F
Fabbri E 52
Fabián D 26
Fabritius H 23, 40, 126
Fahrig L 74
Fahy J 71
Faith D 47
Falaschi M 41
Faltusová M 31
Faltynek Fric Z 23
Fănaru G 101, 126
Fandos G 24
Fanjul M 93
Fargier H 141
Farkas R 126
Farrell C 90
Fatér I 149
Faulkner S 51
Favaretto A 139
Fedorca A 49
Fehér A 42
Fejes Z 55
Fekete R 37
Fellmann T 46
Felton A 93
Fenesi A 144
Fennessy J 15
Fenn S 71
Fenoglio M 26
Ferguson–Gow H 104
Ferincz Á 83, 112, 129, 143
Fernández D 132
Fernández–llamazares Á 24
Fernández M 24, 44
Fernández N 24, 44, 57, 63, 133, 140
Ferrante M 83
Ferrari G 112
Ferreira B 145
Ferreira C 145
Ferreira J 75
Fiala T 127
Ficetola G 41
Fienieg E 25
Fijen T 24, 33, 97
Filipe A 43
Filyushkina A 93
FINAROV E 127
Fink C 18
Firth J 30
Fischer A 146
Flousek J 116
Fodor A 118
Fogleman V 24
Fontanarrosa G 93
Forsell N 14, 20, 25, 39, 40, 54, 56
Fotakis D 50, 102
Fountain M 93
Fourcade Y 90
Fraile–Nuez E 89
Frank B 26
Franke J 118
Frank S 49
Frank T 123
Freeman C 48
Frei K 127
Friberg H 15
Fritz J 57
Fröhlich A 127
Fumagalli L 50
Fumin L 137
Funk A 27
Fürst C 99
G
Gafny S 92
Gagic V 46
Gaigr J 127
Galani A 78
Galaverni M 52
Galbusera P 25
Galindo J 28
Gallego–Zamorano J 72
Gallé R 72, 81, 99, 140, 145
Gallé–Szpisjak N 72
Galli C 98
Gama I 46
Gama M 43
Gamborg C 25
147
Gandl N 43
Ganopoulos I 102
Ganz S 76
Garai E 143
Garcia Dominguez S 77
García–Rodríguez A 19
Gardein H 123
Gardiner M 25, 92, 142
Garnier–Géré P 28
Garratt M 93, 97
Garrido F 146
Gaston K 30
Gaugitsch H 96
Gavrilidis A 136
Gazzea E 72
Gedeon C 127
Geerts S 132
Geen E 92
Gelcich S 110
Geldmann J 25, 70
Geml J 137
George R 116
Georges J 135
Georgieva I 40
Geppert C 26
Gerken M 70
Gerling C 72, 104, 116
Gerstle V 70
Gherghel I 126
Ghoddousi A 26
Gibbings A 128
Giergiczny M 26
Gilardi K 146
Gilli C 106
Gil–Sánchez J 112
Gimenez O 122
Giordano A 95, 143
Giralt D 93, 96
Giraud N 53
Gisondi S 110
Glenk K 26
Glikman J 26, 82, 146, 147
Glimskär A 101
Goddard M 38
Godet L 84
Godó L 55, 113
Goeritz F 98
Goessen R 28
Gofer S 128
Goldberg I 123
Gollmann G 106
Gomercic T 40
Gonçalves D 43
Gondhali U 128
González–Caballero O 146
González E 26, 27, 33, 147
González–Martínez S 28
González–Suárez M 87, 142
Gossmann A 73
Gossner M 86, 90
Goswami V 57
Gotsis D 78
Gottelli D 65
Grabenhofer H 106
Grabow K 68
Grădinaru S 136
Grahn P 16
Grebenc T 28
Greco I 73
Greil H 123
Grêt–Regamey A 79
Grith G 130
Grill S 23
Grilo C 87
Grimm M 33
Grimm–Seyfarth A 73
Grodzińska–Jurczak M 124
Gro C 19
Groner V 104
Gross A 73, 96
Gross M 106
Grueber C 65
Grüner B 27
Grzędzicka E 128
Gschwantner T 90
Guallichico Suntaxi L 34
Guedes–Santos J 18
Guharajan R 62
Guilbault E 62
Guimarães Moreira Lima M 97
Gültekin Y 44
Gumbs R 92
Günther–Dieng K 80
Guzmán–Ramos M 146
Gyllin M 16
H
Haack N 73
Hábenczyus A 101, 114, 145
Hadrava J 70
Haeler E 21, 44
Hafeez M 122
Hagberg L 145
Hagen R 83
Hager H 101
Hais M 31
Hajagos G 55
Hájek M 147
Hajkova K 23
Hájková P 116, 128
Hák T 137
Halassy M 67, 124, 144
Halbich M 137
Hällfors M 48, 74
Halpern B 144
Hämäläinen A 74, 93
Haňáčková Z 67
Handel M 74
Hanf–Dressler T 103
Hanghoej K 67
Hansen A 132
Hansen H 27
Hanson H 69
Hanspach J 20
Hanžek–Turnšek H 74
Harabiš F 74, 139
Harder B 113
Härm L 81, 129, 130
Harms W 73
148
Harris N 27
Hartdégen J 126
Hartikainen M 14, 56
Hass A 27
Haukka A 20
Hausmann A 18
Havlìk P 82
Hayward M 62
Hearne J 72
Heck A 57
Hecker L 112
Hédl R 53
He F 12
Hegedus A 129
Hegedűs A 83, 112, 143
Heger T 30
Heikkinen R 74
Heilmann–Clausen J 16, 44, 53, 123
Heinicke S 75
Heinrichs S 75
Hein T 27
Hejcmanová P 28, 111, 129
Hejda M 75, 143
Hekkala A 63, 76, 77, 145
Heliölä J 72
Heller R 67
Helsen P 25
Hemminger K 43
Hemmings N 85, 88
Henckel L 23, 40
Hendel A 76, 81
Hendriks R 57
Hennenberg K 80
Henry D 17
Herdtfelder M 40
Hermes R 98
Hermoso V 28, 81, 95
Hernandez Hernandez J 112
Hernández J 66
Hernando S 24
Herrando S 41, 58
Herrel A 117
Herrera–Santoyo J 146
Herzog F 79, 86, 89
Herzon I 76, 96, 129
Hettyey A 118
Heuertz M 28
Heurich M 35, 40, 42
Hibler S 43, 114
Hildebrandt T 98
Hill R 28
Hill S 55, 82
Hills S 55
Hintsanen L 76
Hiron M 47, 92
Hjältén J 63, 77, 145
Hladík Š 130
Hoban S 28
Hoch G 90
Hochrein S 88
Hodačová L 140
Hodgson I 16
Homann M 76
Hofmeister J 16, 134
Ho K 29
Holderegger R 87
Holm A 130
Holmström L 77
Holopainen S 15
Hološková A 130
Hölting L 130
Holtze S 98
Holubova K 29
Holubova N 146
Holuša J 127
Honnay O 79
Honrado J 62
Hooftman D 79
Hoppenreijs J 77
Horáček I 143
Horka P 29
Horváth C 80, 137
Horváth F 68
Horváth M 149
Hötker H 64
Höttinger H 106
Hristoskova S 96
Hristov I 23
Hristov J 46
Hronková J 74
Huber D 138
Hughes A 137
Huijbregts M 72
Hulls S 72
Hunke P 64
Hurle J 46
Hütt C 96
Hüttmeir U 106
Hvilsom C 29
I
Ibisch P 29, 76
Ikauniece S 124
Iliev B 22
Imer Nabe–Nielsen L 123
Ingram D 144
Iosif R 50, 101
Ironside J 116, 130
Isajlović I 148
Isaksson C 77
Isaxon C 77
Ishida Y 67
Isselin–Nondedeu F 65
Iuga A 29
Ivánovics B 143
Ivașcu C 29
Iversen A 30
Iwamura T 30
Izquierdo P 112
J
Jablonski D 114
Jacobsen J 26
Jähnig S 12
Jaksi P 81, 129, 130
Jamelska P 90
Jančič M 74
Janda P 65
Jandova K 29
149
Jandt U 24
Janeckova Molnarova K 111
Janík T 80
Jankowicz C 68
Jánó B 12
jansen F 17
Jansen P 97
Janssens C 82
Jansson R 38
Jarić I 17, 18, 19, 30, 47
Jaspe B 38
Jauker F 96
Jay–Robert P 82
Jeanneret P 79, 129
Jeries M 18
Jelenčič M 50
Jelínek M 53
Jeltsch F 30
Jennings S 68
Jensen F 25
Jensen J 77
Jeschke J 30
Ježek M 31
Jiguet F 146
Jiménez–Alfaro B 17
Jiménez Gallardo L 77
Jiménez– Rodríguez J 146
Jirků D 31
Jirku K 146
Jirku M 33, 146
Jirků M 21, 31, 41
Jobin A 40
Jokinen A 70
Jones I 16
Jones J 31, 36, 70, 104
Jones N 87
Jonsson B 65, 77, 110
Jönsson M 76, 93, 145
Jonsson O 79
Josefsson J 92
Jourdan P 141
Józan Z 146
József J 123
Juergens J 31, 89
Juhász E 32
Jung M 32, 57
Junker J 40, 44, 55
Juutinen A 39
K
Kaarlejärvi E 48
Kačergytė I 78, 92
Kaczensky P 82
Kadlec T 27, 130, 147
Kaduma J 69
Kaelo M 57
Kajtoch Ł 127, 131
Kålås J 125
Kalnins M 131
Kalonji A 146
Kaltsis A 62
Kambale E 146
Kamdar A 78
Kanuch P 63
Karadimou E 131
Karban R 39
Kardum Hjort C 78
Karlsen P 53
Kärvemo S 76
Kassara C 78
Kastner T 32
Kati V 78
Katona K 32, 40, 144
Katsavouni S 131
Katz T 32
Kaunath V 132
Kauserud H 145
Kayla C 132
Kay S 79
Keane A 88
Keken Z 130
Kelemen A 101, 113, 114, 134
Kelemen E 8, 44, 100
Keller V 58
Kendall L 79
Kepfer Rojas S 102, 123
Kepfer–Rojas S 16, 44, 50, 132
Kertész M 80
Keszte S 83, 112, 129
Keuler K 104, 116
Kiam J 113, 141
Kiebou–Opepa C 97
Kiner C 43, 114
Kimberley A 79
Kimmig S 83
Kiš A 40, 42, 68
Kissing J 62
Kiss O 32
Kiss R 113, 114
Ki T 79
Klatt B 79
Klébert A 32
Kleijn D 21, 33, 97
Klein A 85, 97
Klein J 14, 16, 23, 54, 56
Klein N 79
Kluth G 45
Klvaňa P 53
Knaggård Å 69
Knape J 78, 92
Knapp J 33, 79
Knapp M 27, 33, 70, 147
Knappová J 33
Knauer A 97
Knauer F 45
Knop E 33, 86, 89
Koelemeijer I 132
Koenig H 43
Kohi E 69
Kokko K 33
Kolani Z 64
Kolbenschlag S 70
Kolényová M 132
Komárková M 63
Komlós M 123
Kondor A 112
Konec M 19, 50
König H 99, 114
Konrad H 122
150
Konvicka M 23, 33
Kool A 53
Kopaniak L 40
Kopatz A 25, 28
Korányi D 34, 72, 99, 140
Korejs K 133
Kormann U 62
Korner–Nievergelt F 89
Korner P 71
Kőrösi Á 34
Korossy–Julius L 64
Kosiński Z 127
Kostelenos G 102
Köster K 90
Kotowska D 47, 133
Koubouris G 102
Kountouris Y 103
Kovács B 80
Kovács–Hostyánszki A 13, 34, 64, 144
Kovacsics–Vári G 34
Kovács Tormáné E 142
Kovács Z 127
Kövér L 138
Kövér S 149
Kozák D 44
Kozel P 21
Krahn L 64
Krall A 96
Kramer–Schadt S 42, 45, 48, 83
Krausmann F 32
Kreft S 80
Křenová Z 34, 80
Kret E 62
Krickl P 79
Krishnamurthy R 99, 136
Kříž K 138
Kröel–Dulay G 29, 80
Krofel M 40
Krojerova J 40
Krueger T 139
Kubala J 40
Kubelka V 34
Kubo T 12, 35, 134
Kuczyński L 126
Kudrenko S 35
Kuemmerle T 15, 24, 26, 35, 42, 45, 46,
95, 139
Kühn I 116
Kühn O 53
Kujala H 35, 74
Kukare I 131
Kukars N 131
Kukla J 29
Kuli–Révész K 72
Kümmerle T 14
Kuneš P 96
Kuosmanen N 96
Kupper K 126
Kürschner T 48
Kurucz K 13
Kurze C 53
Kutal M 80, 125
Kutlvašr J 75
Kuussaari M 72, 74, 87
Kvac M 146
Kvetonova D 146
Kwieciński Z 139
L
Laanisto L 81, 129, 130
Lachat T 62
Ladle R 18, 30, 35, 56
Lafage D 85
Lagan P 62
Laikre L 36
Laime B 124, 145
Lakatos T 72, 81, 140
La Mantia T 142
Lami F 38
Lamminen M 129
Landis D 33, 36
Landivar Albis C 50
Landivar C 81
Langer C 24, 133
Lange S 75
Langhammer P 134
Lanzas M 28, 81
Lanz M 62, 71
Lapin K 21, 90
Lara–Romero C 79
Larsen A 36
Larsson Ekström A 63, 81
Lauri P 20
Lavorel S 42
Lazar B 74
Leader–Williams N 51
Leandro Rivel C 82
Lech P 65
Leclère D 82, 104
Le Comber S 51
Lecuyer L 58
Lee A 138
Lehikoinen A 15, 20, 74, 76, 85, 125
Lehnardt Y 82, 100
Lehnen L 82, 122
Leidinger J 75
Leins J 104
Leishman M 90
Leite T 92
Lellei–Kovács E 13
Lelotte L 133
Lenda M 110, 133
Lengyel A 29
Lengyel S 83, 138
Lennartsson T 29
Lente V 83, 112, 129, 143
Lenzi A 110
Lepen Pleić I 148
Leroy B 47
Le Souchu E 82
Le Tortorec E 39
Leuschner C 94
Levashova A 127
Le Viol I 146
Levy O 99
Lewin A 113
Lewis M 32
Leyer I 104
Lhotsky B 124
151
Líbano Monteiro M 46
Liechti F 33
Liepins K 131
Lier M 22
Li G 134
Lima F 92
Lima G 69
Lima S 92
Lindberg E 77
Linde A 147
Lind L 77
Lindman L 113
Lindström Å 125
Lindström S 46
Linkie M 51
Linnell J 40, 99
Linno K 36
Lionnet C 19
Lissovsky N 67
Li W 57
Llopis J 36
Llorente E 134
Lockhart P 55
Löfroth T 81, 100, 145
Lõhmus A 37, 48
Loison A 15
Löki V 37
Lomascolo S 93
Lomba A 96
Lonati M 89
Loos J 37
Lopes–Lima M 43
Lopes P 145
López–Angulo J 134
López–Bao J 80
Lopez–Homan L 86
López R 53
Loumová P 113
Louvrier J 45, 83
Lovas–Kiss Á 37
Lovei G 83
Lövei G 99
Low M 47
Lucas P 49, 84, 134
Lucherini M 91
Lucius I 23
Luedtke J 134
Lugonja P 114
Lukács K 113, 114
Luka H 86
Lukas V 33
Lukkarinen J 14, 37, 54, 56
Lumbierres Civit M 41
Lumbierres M 84, 91
Lundin O 15, 46
Lundmark L 69
Lundström J 14, 39
Luoni F 96
Luoto M 74
Luuk O 130
Lyach R 84
Lynam A 37
M
Maarou N 101
Maas B 84, 103
Maász G 112
Mabhaudhi T 104
Machowetz C 106
Maei L 95
Magurran A 37
Magyar B 145
Mahlerová K 140
Maia Queiroz Lima S 145
Maidlová K 140
Maiorano L 49
Majdanová L 132, 134
Mäkeläinen S 15
Ma L 99
Malatinszky Á 126
Malek Z 56
Malhado A 18
Maliao R 38
Malka Y 92
Malkócs T 37
Mallon D 91
Malm Renöfält B 38
Mameno K 134
Mammola S 75
Manchini G 134
Mancini G 84
Mandon C 57
Mandrici A 47
Mandušić V 40
Manenti R 115
Manfrin A 70
Mangunjaya F 51
Mannil P 40
Manthos I 102
Manzano P 129
Mapilanga J 146
Marchini S 26
Marcolin F 72, 81, 84
Mårell A 53
Maříková–Moodley D 16
Marini L 26, 38, 66, 72
Marinkov J 40
Mariotte P 89
Marjakangas E 15, 76, 85, 125
Marjańska E 88, 135
Marja R 72, 85
Marker J 85
Marko S 135
Markova–Nenova N 85
Marković M 114
Marozas V 124
Marquez T 96
Marroquín C 132
Marshall A 85
Marshall L 91
Martel A 70
Martelli F 38
Martin E 44, 97, 103
Martínez–Gálvez F 93
Martinez–Jauregui M 147
Martínez–Núñez C 39, 86, 89
Martin–Garcia S 66
152
Martin J 40, 86
Martin P 104
Martins I 62
Martí Pino D 41
Martyr D 51
Marushchak O 135
Massenberg J 86
Máté A 13
Matej S 32
Mateo R 66
Matteucci G 102
Mattisson J 40
Mattsson B 86
Mattucci F 52
Matus G 34
Mauerhofer V 38
Maurer C 39
Maurice S 145
Mawenya R 69
May W 22
Mazziotta A 39, 40
McCallum I 40
McCracken D 71
McFadyen S 143
Mchomvu J 69
McIntosh–Buday A 34
McKay J 51
Mclaughlin J 86
McMahon B 28
Medina A 134
Medrano–Vizcaino P 87
Megyesi B 100
Mehring M 82
Meijaard E 91
Mei M 26, 66
Meinard Y 30
Meineke E 39
Meiri S 127
Meisner J 67
Melenciuc R 126
Melero Y 87
Melinski R 87
Melovski D 40
Mendes Malhado A 35
Mengel M 75
MERGEAY J 40
Mérő T 83
Mester B 83
Mészáros J 127
Metodiev T 96
Metslaid M 90
Meyer C 43, 87
Meyerho J 26
Meyer N 40
Meyfroidt P 46
Michálek B 57
Michez D 97
Michler F 45
Michler T 63
Miettinen K 39
Miglécz T 113
Miholcsa Z 144
Mikolajczak K 87
Mikołajczyk P 52
Mikoláš M 65, 134
Mikula P 135
Mikusiński G 65, 67, 77
Milandou S 144
Milasowszky N 106
Millan–villaneda J 135
Milleret C 97
Mills M 103
Millyanawati B 51
Mináriková T 136
Miquel C 19
Miranda R 43
Mitchard E 88
Mitesser O 88
Mitić B 16
Mittermeier J 18
Miu I 136
Mizsei E 83
Moeller D 83
Moeller G 83
Moersberger H 40
Moilanen A 39
Mojzes A 80
Moldován O 89, 136
Molinari–Jobin A 48
Molnár Á 68
Molnár É 112
Molnár V. A 37, 98
Molnár Z 12, 32, 40, 42, 68, 102
Monaghan P 71
Mondal T 136
Mönkkönen M 14, 16, 39, 54, 56
Montgomery R 114
Moorcroft P 43
Moor H 23, 39, 40, 87
Morán–Ordóñez A 39, 41
Morbiato E 18
Moreira F 96
Morelli F 96
Morganti M 18
Morinay J 18
Morkūnas J 88, 136, 137
Morkūnė R 88, 137
Morland F 88
Morley J 88
Moroń D 88, 125, 135
Morón Zambrano V 143
Morris W 75
Moser D 106
Moshobane M 137
Moudrý V 144
Mourre B 89
Mpoukas N 78
Mrosla L 126
Mudrák O 41
Mudumba T 114
Mueller S 41
Mueller T 70, 82, 122
Mugerwa B 97
Muhar S 27
Müller J 21, 88
Munk M 57
Muñoz–Sáez A 105
Munyai C 104
153
Münzbergová Z 8, 138
Munzi S 16, 102
Murali G 82
Musilova Z 29
Muter E 65
Muvunyi R 146
Muzzo A 115
N
Naeslund M 57
Nagel T 16, 65
Nagendra H 78
Nagy C 83
Nagy G 83
Nagy J 37
Naithani A 137
Nania D 41, 84
Nanni S 95
Napoleone F 89
Nascimbene J 44
Navarro L 140
Naves J 63
Navrozidou V 131
Ndagijimana F 146
Neam K 134
Nebot–Colomer E 89
Ne F 86, 89
Nekrasova O 135
Nel L 64
Németh A 32, 89, 136
Németh C 80, 123, 137
Nemeth Z 41
Neugarten R 42
Neumann W 63
Newbold T 91
Newton R 117
Nicholas K 79
Nicholls S 65
Nielsen R 89
Nikolić T 114, 122
Nill L 24
Nilsson J 77
Nohlová B 137
Nolen Z 90
Nordén B 44, 53
Nordén J 40
Nordlander G 63
Northrop R 114
Noss A 95
Novillo A 93
Novoa A 16
Núñez Montellano G 93
Nuñez–Regueiro M 95
O
Oberleitner I 106
Obrist M 86
Ocampo–Ariza C 103
Öckinger E 72, 90, 93, 100, 111, 113
O‘Connor L 42
Odden J 40
Ódor P 16, 53, 80, 123, 137
Oegelund Nielsen R 31
Oertli B 71
Oeser J 40, 42
Oettel J 21, 90
Ogutu J 57
Øistad K 56
Oldekop J 18
Oliveira da Silva F 105
Oliveira T 40
Oliver T 87
Öllerer K 40, 42, 68
Olsson O 50
Olsson P 79
Oneto F 66
Ónodi G 29, 80, 123
Orbán I 80
Orci K 34
Ordaz–Németh I 75
Orioli V 101
Ormsby A 42
Ornicans A 40
Ortiz Gonzalo D 132
Ortmann S 83
Orumaa A 90
Osborne J 33
Oskyrko O 114
Ossi F 43
Ossola A 90
Ostapowicz K 76
Ostermann–miyashita E 43, 114
Oswald K 138
Ottonello D 66
Outhwaite C 91
Ovaskainen O 48
Owen N 92
Oyunsaikhan G 63
Ozols J 138
P
Pacheco A 43
Pacici M 41, 50, 91, 125
Pafco B 146
Pagano A 65
Pagon N 40
Paillet Y 16, 21, 44, 50, 102, 139
Pain G 22
Pakeman R 84
Pakkirisamy M 97
Palacín C 66
Paládi P 138
Pál Á 145
Palmer C 25
Palmer J 37
Paniccia D 66
Pan K 91
Pánková H 138
Pan Y 91
Panziera J 96
Papadimos D 131
Papaioannou H 78
Papandropoulos D 62
Papantoniou S 78
Paracchini M 46
Parada Cerrada F 143
Parmain G 82
Parpan T 21
Parres A 91
Partners E 17
154
Partners R 13
Pärt T 47, 78, 92, 133
Pasinelli G 62, 71
Pasmans F 70
Pásztory–Kovács S 149
Pataki G 44, 100
Paternoster D 106
Pavoine S 47
Paxton R 53, 123
Pazhenkova E 50
P.da Silva J 43
Pearson R 104
PECBMS W 94
Pedrós Pla L 138
Pe‘er G 44, 96
Pelikánová H 116
Pellaton R 13, 64, 146
Pellegrini A 70
Pellens R 47
Pellissier L 39
Peña A 104
Peng C 138
Penner J 50
Pennino M 145
Penttilä R 93
Pereira H 24, 40, 44, 45, 55, 57,
133, 140
Pereira J 81
Pereira R 92
Perez–Alvarez R 44
Pergl J 75
Perino A 45
Perlik M 33
Perlík M 21
Perl R 92
Pernat N 114
Pero E 93
Perosa F 23
Perovic M 102
Persson A 50
Persson J 40
Pétillon J 82
Petit S 45
Petridou M 78
Petřík P 75
Petrossian G 128
Petrovan S 104
Petrzelkova K 146
Pettersson L 100
Püger F 49
PG Jones J 20
Pham M 92
Phillips B 33
Piaudel A 71
Piccolo J 45
Picek L 125
Pilastro A 18
Pilving T 36
Pinto F 87
Pipek P 16
Pipins S 92
Piqué M 53
Piquer–Rodríguez M 93, 115
Pirger Z 112
Piross I 64, 146
Pithon J 22
Pitzén S 14, 37, 54
Plăiașu R 101
Pla M 81
Planillo A 45, 48, 83
Plue J 18, 79
Podkopaev D 39
Poetzelsberger E 102
Pohjanmies T 39
Pokorny B 66
Poledník L 136
Poledníková K 136
Pollastri I 98, 115
Pollock L 42, 92
Pontarp M 141
Ponzoni Carvalho Chanel C 113
Popiołek M 138
Poppenborg Martin E 45
Portaccio A 139
Porth I 28
Poschenrieder W 14, 54
Poschlod P 79
Poskočilová A 74, 139
Postolache C 86
Potocky P 33
Potocnik H 40
Potterf M 16, 21
Potts J 15
Potts S 21, 97, 148
Pötzschner F 35
Pou N 81
Pouska V 134
Powell–Jennings C 130
Pöyry J 74
Prasad G 97
Pratzer M 24, 35, 46, 139
Prayitno K 69
Preikša Ž 124
Preißler K 70
Premier J 48
Preuss S 63
Priede A 124
Primack R 84
Primmer E 14, 37
Prince K 46
Princé K 146
Prishchepov A 148
Probo M 89
Proença V 46
Promberger B 50
Prommer M 54
Psaralexi M 78
Puelzl H 46
Puga J 124
Pupins M 135
Purvis A 55
Pustkowiak S 110, 139
Pyšek P 16, 75, 143
Pyšková K 143
155
Q
Qin S 15, 46
Quiles P 66
Quiles Tundidor P 115
Quinn C 117
Quintero Uribe L 140
Quiroga V 95
Quoss L 24, 133
R
Raatikainen K 76
Rabeil T 129
Rachmilevitch S 113
Rádai Z 113
Raderschall C 46
Raeymaekers J 28
Rahbek C 123
Rajaraman R 97
Raj R 97
Rakotobe D 70
Rakotonarivo O 70
Rakotonarivo S 16
Rakowski J 96
Ramberg E 93
Ramellini S 18
Rana D 115
Ranc N 43
Ranius T 74, 93, 100, 113
Räsänen M 70
Rashid S 122
Rasolofoson R 42
Rasti S 53
Rastogi S 115
Ratnam J 78
Ravetto Enri S 89
R. de Snoo G 91
Rebouças P 105
Rechciński M 124
Rédei T 124
Reeves L 93
Regos A 62
Reid J 71
Reif J 53, 126, 130
Reinhardt I 45, 82
Reino L 56, 84
Reischütz A 106
Reischütz P 106
Reise J 80
Reis J 43
Reiter G 106
Reljić S 138
Remelgado R 87
Remmers T 64
Renaud J 42
Renna F 56
Reunanen P 39
Révész K 140
Revilla E 63
Revilla–Martín N 93
Rey E 89
Reynolds C 17
Ribeiro I 46
Richards L 39
Riera Izarra F 140
Rigal S 94
Riggi L 46
Rigó A 140
Riho M 54
Rinkevich B 28
Rioux D 19
Rissler J 77
Ritz–Radlinska A 140
Rivas–Salvador J 126
Robakowski P 28
Roberts D 30
Robinson T 94
Robuchon M 47
Roca A 67
Rocchini D 17
Rödel M 62, 68
Rodenwald N 94
Rodewald A 42
Rodrigues N 46
Rodriguez Barrera G 130
Rodriguez Barrera M 116
Rodríguez D 93
Rodriguez E 47
Rodríguez J 16
Rodríguez–Siles J 112
Roedder D 117
Rohwäder M 30
Roilo S 94
Rojas Castillo O 132
Rolečková B 116, 128
Roll U 17, 19, 30, 47, 56, 82, 92,
113, 127
Romero–Muñoz A 35, 95
Romportl D 80
Rondinini C 41, 50, 84, 91, 100, 125
Rönkä K 20
Ronkay L 146
Ronold E 145
Rosa G 66
Rosa I 104
Rösch V 22
Rosenberg A 57
Rosero P 141
Rosin Z 47
Roslin T 48, 101
Rother D 64
Roth N 62
Roume A 96
Rousopoulos I 62
Rouxel Y 88
Rovero F 73, 97
Roy D 87
Royer A 80
Rozylowicz L 136
R. Recio M 134
Ruano J 132
Rubene D 92
Rubolini D 18
Rudzite M 131
Rudzitis M 131
Ruiz J 89
Rundlöf M 79, 90
Runemark A 90
Runge K 72
156
Runjanin B 40
Runnel K 48
Ruppert K 26
Rusch A 34
Rūsiņa S 76
Russo I 25
Rutte C 48
Rutterle J 141
Růžičková J 95
S
Saastamoinen M 48, 74
Sabbadin R 113, 141
Sabiladiyni H 69
Sádlo J 75
Sagi L 116
Sahlin U 79
Sak B 146
Salathé T 58
Salgado J 81
Salgado–Rojas J 28, 95
Sallé A 82
Sallé C 82
Salminen H 39
Saltz D 95, 105
Salvador J 97
Salvidio S 66
Salvo A 26
Samad I 115
Samu F 137
Samus A 48
Sánchez Arribas E 48
Sánchez–Cerdá M 112
Sanchez Dominguez M 26
Sandøe P 25
Sandom C 87
Sándor D 144
Sandor M 141
Sandoval–Salinas M 93
Sandoval–Zapotitla E 146
Sandström J 110, 141
Sankeni S 69
Santamaria S 79
Santana J 96
Santangeli A 15, 20, 48, 75, 85, 125
Santini L 84, 134
Santos F 97
Santovito D 17
Santure A 65, 69
Sanz–Pérez A 93
Sapir N 70
Saravia V 62
Sarazin B 96
Sardà–Palomera F 93
Sári G 32
Sárospataki M 13, 64
Sattler C 99
Šaudytė–Manton S 124
Sbaraglia C 23
Sbragaglia V 23, 48
Schafstall N 96
Schall P 16, 44, 75
Scheper J 21, 33
Schiller J 86
Schindler S 96, 106
Schipper A 72
Schlegel M 73, 96
Schlindwein X 96
Schmidt B 70, 87
Schmucki R 87
Schneider V 136
Schöttker O 72, 96
Schoukens H 49
Schratt–Ehrendorfer L 106
Schroeder N 93
Schröter B 99
Schröter–Schlaack C 86
Schulte A 113
Schultz E 87
Schumacher N 103
Schumann A 83
Schunko C 97
Schuster R 84
Schwaiger E 96
Schwarz J 97
Scolobig A 86
Scott A 38
Scott S 142
Šebek P 53
Seedre M 93
Segelbacher G 29
Segre H 97
Segurado P 84
Seidl M 147
Sekar N 78
Selva N 19, 35, 49, 63, 76, 91, 138
Semenchuk P 32
Semmens D 86
Semper–Pascual A 97
Senapathi D 93, 97, 148
Senn H 13, 25
Sergiel A 91, 138
Serlupi–Crescenzi M 50
Šestanović M 148
Ševčík R 140
Shah A 122
Shaw R 33
Sheil D 97
Shen D 104
Sherren K 30
Shoji Y 134
Shovkun D 23
Shwartz A 67, 74, 98, 103, 127
Sidemo Holm W 50
Sidiropoulos L 62, 78
Siegismund H 67
Signer J 40, 49
Šigut M 74
Šigutová H 74
Sikui J 62
Sillero N 63, 98
Silovský V 31
Silva Ferreira V 105
Šimek J 63
Sindicic M 40
Singh M 103
Šípková H 74
Sirakaya A 49
Sirami C 49
157
Sirbu C 136
Sitzia T 16, 44, 50, 102, 123, 139,
142
Sivako F 92, 142
Sjögren J 76, 77, 81, 145
Skånes H 101
Skartsi T 62
Skórka P 110, 133, 139
Skrbinšek T 50, 52
Skrede I 145
Skrimizea E 58
Skuhrovec J 147
Skute A 135
Sládeček F 21
Slotow R 104
Smit B 138
Smith D 78
Smith H 50, 79, 100, 110, 141
Smith K 142
Smith L 84
Smith R 64
Smith V 79
Snäll T 14, 16, 21, 23, 39, 40, 50,
54, 56
Soga M 12, 30
Solari S 91
Solheim A 24
Soliño M 147
Sol J 98
Soltész Z 13, 34, 137, 144, 146
Somay L 13, 34, 124
Sonkoly J 34, 54, 98
Sonntag S 72
Soria C 50
Soria J 142
Soriano–Redondo A 18, 30
Sousa R 43
Speck S 130
Speybroeck J 70
Spiegel O 74
Spieler M 68
Spiriti M 98
Spitzen–van der Sluijs A 70
Spooner F 104
Spring M 92
Špulerová J 142
Srivastava N 43
Ssebide B 146
Stabach J 15
Stachowicz I 143
Staerck J 31
Stålhammar S 51
Standovár T 105
Staňková M 143
Stark G 99
Stark T 70
Staszny A 129
Staszny Á 83, 112, 143
Stefanescu C 87
Stean–Deweneter I 103
Steen C 144
Steinfartz S 70
Stejskal J 98
Stephan J 21, 54
Stier N 45
Stillfried M 83
Stjernman M 100
St John F 51, 69
Stockhammer K 96
Stofberg M 17
Stoltz J 16
Storch D 53, 117, 143
Storch I 67
Stout J 21
Stow A 145
Strandman H 39
Street G 51
Strengbom J 51, 74, 76, 93
Strindberg S 37
Štrobl M 27, 33, 147
Strohm E 53
Stronen A 25, 52
Strubbe D 103
Struebig M 51
Sturm A 104, 112, 116
Sturm K 52
Suarez–Rubio M 13
Subramanian N 39
Suggitt A 18
Sule G 143
Šumrada T 12, 52
Supriatna J 69
Su S 64
Suškevičs M 36
Sutherland W 64, 104
Sutter L 39
Süveges K 37
Svátek M 144
Svenning J 19, 57, 68
Svensson G 79
Svensson J 63, 65, 77
Sverdrup–Thygeson A 21
Svitavská–Svobodová H 96
Svoboda M 44, 65, 102
Svobodová J 113, 116
Swiacká M 144
Szabados K 40, 42
Szabó Á 72, 99, 140
Szabó B 34, 99
Szabó G 32
Szabó K 149
Szabolcs M 83
Szabó M 145
Szakál D 44
Szangolies L 30
Szatmári G 127
Szentirmai I 100, 102
Szewczyk M 52
Szigeti V 34, 144
Sziget V 13
Szitár K 72, 80, 144
Szymański P 47
T
Taberlet P 19, 50
Tabik S 56
Taek P 57
Tagliapietra V 112
Taite M 116, 130
158
Tajovský K 147
Takács A 37, 98
Takáts T 127
Tali K 130
Tälle M 100
Tam B 40
Tamburini G 97
Tamm H 48
Tampouratzi L 78
Tanács E 52, 105
Tan N 117
Tarčak S 100, 114
Taylor A 101
Taylor P 143
Taysse L 122
Teder T 33
Tedeschi L 100
Teo T 144
Te–seker Y 100
Teixidor Toneu I 53
Telea A 101, 126
Teleki B 54
Telenský T 53
Tengö M 110
Teschner N 100
Tesemma M 101
Tesfay H 101
Testolin R 17, 53
Tetaur A 139
Theissinger K 135
Themudo Barata L 46
Theodorou P 53, 123
Therkildsen N 67
Thogmartin W 86
Thomas E 103
Thomas–Walters L 16
Thompson J 95
Thomsen M 22
Thoni T 69
Thor G 81
Thorogood R 20
Thuiller W 42, 49
Tichit P 117
Tikkanen O 39
Ting N 25
Tinya F 16, 44, 53, 80, 123, 137
Tirozzi P 101
Tjarve D 124, 145
Tobias J 142
Tobolka M 47
Tognelli M 91
Toivonen T 70
Tokody B 32
Tölgyesi C 29, 72, 101, 114, 127, 134
Tomášek V 116
Tomažič M 74
Toraño Caicoya A 14, 54
Toraño–Caicoya A 56
Tordoni E 65
Torma A 72, 145
Tormáné Kovács E 52, 55, 64
Törő I 34
Török E 54, 72, 144
Török K 67
Török P 29, 34, 54, 98, 101
Torppa K 101
Torp V 145
Torres–Miralles M 129
Torres R 95
Torres S 90
Tószögyová A 117
Tóth Á 113, 114
Tóth B 101
Tóth K 34, 113, 114
Tóth M 83
Tóthmérész B 34, 54
Toth P 96
Tourvas N 102
Tovar Verba J 145
Träger S 28
Trakalova E 111
Tramberend P 117
Tranberg O 145
Trask A 65, 71
Traveset A 79
Travnicek J 111
Trentanovi G 21, 44, 50, 102, 139
Trepekli A 132
Trialfhianty T 117
Tropek R 143
Trotsiuk V 65
Truong M 102
Trywidiarini T 69
Tscharntke T 55, 103
Tschikof M 27
Tsiakiris R 62
Tsiaoussi V 131
Tsiopelas N 62
Tsuchiya A 18
Tullus A 90
Tullus T 90
Tuomisto H 129
Turner E 79
Tusznio J 124
Tzortzakaki O 78
U
Ujiie K 134
Ujszegi J 118
Ulicsni V 40, 102
Ul Islam A 70
Ulloque–Samatelo C 103
Undin M 55
Unseld R 80
Urbanyi B 129
Urbányi B 83, 112, 143
Uthes S 43
Uwamahoro C 146
Uwingeri P 146
Uzabaho E 97
V
Vacchiano G 102
Vadász C 55, 68, 126
Vági B 32
Vajna F 146
Valainis U 138
Valdez J 44, 55, 133
Valero D 16
159
Valette M 103
Valin H 82
Valkó O 13, 55, 101, 113, 114
Vallé C 146
Vallejo–Vargas A 97
Vanbergen A 103
Vandekerkhove K 16, 21, 44
Van der Sluis T 16
van der Wal R 102
Vanhatalo J 48
van Heezik Y 48
Van Moorter B 133
van Strien M 79
van Swaay C 72
Vansynghel J 103
Vaquerizas P 146
Vardi R 18, 19, 56
Varga A 42
Vasilakis D 78
Vasudev D 57
Vaz A 47, 56
Vázquez–Luis M 89
Végvári Z 55
Velásquez–de La Cruz I 146
Vella A 28
Venditti C 142
Venier–Cambron C 56
Venn S 56
Ventura L 103
Venturo A 147
Verburg P 56
Verburh P 42
Veres K 123
Vergarechea M 14, 54, 56
Verhagen W 42
Veríssimo D 18, 19, 30, 35
Vermouzek Z 57
Vernesi C 28
Véron S 47
Versluijs M 15
Vicente J 56
Vidican R 141
Vieilledent G 42
Vihervaara P 57
Viik E 85
Viketoft M 15, 101
Vild O 53
Vili N 149
Villafuerte Jordán R 147
Villafuerte R 146
Villalba L 95
Villarreal L 147
Villero D 41
Vinkler M 128
Virgós E 66, 112, 134
Virkkala R 74
Visconti P 32, 57, 69, 104
Vítková L 65
Vítková M 75
Vlad S 101
Vlasseva A 52
Vlček M 113
Vodickova V 23, 33
Voelkl B 57
Vogel S 57
Vogt G 115
Vojar J 74
Vojík M 75, 127
Volfová J 136
Vollheyde A 103
Vondrka A 116
von Haaren C 103
VOODOO consortium 103
Vorburger C 87
Voříšek P 58
Vrba P 23
Vrgoč N 148
Vyshnevskyi D 35
W
Wahlberg N 90
Waits L 25
WallisDeVries M 72, 97
Wallnöfer I 58
Wang J 72
Ward M 125
Warren–Thomas E 104
Wätzold F 50, 85, 96, 104, 112, 116
Wauchope H 31
Waymouth T 116
Weber A 106
Weber J 50
Wehn S 76
Weigel B 48
Weiler A 95
Weiperth A 83, 112, 129, 143
Weisser W 58, 75, 88
Weiss F 46, 147
Welle T 52, 80, 118
Wenzler–Meya M 45
Wersebeckmann V 104
Westin A 29
Wezel A 96
Wheeler H 87
Whibley A 69
White T 104
Widén Å 38
Widenfalk L 93
Widhalm T 79
Wijaya Saputra A 69
Wijers M 114
Wijkman A 8
Wil C 53
Wildermuth B 148
Willcock S 20
Willcox B 97
Williams J 104
Williams N 90
Willis S 68
Wilson J 132
Wilting A 62
Winiger N 76
Wintermantel D 97
Wissman J 90, 111
Witecka J 138
Witt J 96
Wohlwend M 16
Woodcock B 58
Woods J 103
160
Wray B 116
Wynne–Jones S 87
Wyver C 148
X
Xia H 148
Xirouchakis S 62
Xu Y 15
Y
Yerena E 143
Yokoo H 35
Young J 58
Yovera F 103
Yuan S 148
Z
Zabeirou A 129
Zagata L 111
Zahabian E 105
Zahoor S 122
Zamecnik V 96
Zani D 96
Zannini P 17, 53, 58
Zarbá L 93
Zárybnická M 140
Zasadil P 130, 140, 141
Zedrosser A 35, 49
Zehtindjiev P 96
Zejc K 130
Zelli F 69
Zemanova M 59
Zemlerová V 148
Zengerer V 96
Zeng Z 99
Zervas D 131
Zíbarová L 132, 134
Zięba F 91, 138
Ziegler A 77
Zielewska–Büttner K 76
Zielonka N 105
Zítek T 21
Żmihorski M 78, 133
Zöckler C 64
Zoltán L 105
Zorica B 148
Zsinka B 149
Zubair P 122
Zuklin T 105
Zulka P 106
Zungu M 137
Župunski M 100
Zurell D 24
Zwijacz–Kozica T 19, 91, 138
Zydelis R 136
Zýka V 67
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