scholarly journals EU protected area network did not prevent a country wide population decline in a threatened grassland bird

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4284 ◽  
Author(s):  
João P. Silva ◽  
Ricardo Correia ◽  
Hany Alonso ◽  
Ricardo C. Martins ◽  
Marcello D’Amico ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Bird Conservation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Male Density ◽  
Tetrax Tetrax ◽  
Farmland Bird

Background Few studies have assessed the effectiveness of the Protected Area networks on the conservation status of target species. Here, we assess the effectiveness of the Portuguese Natura 2000 (the European Union network of protected areas) in maintaining a species included in the Annex I of the Bird Directive, namely the population of a priority farmland bird, the little bustard Tetrax tetrax. Methods We measured the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 by comparing population trends across time (2003–2006 and 2016) in 51 areas, 21 of which within 12 Special Protection Areas (SPA) that were mostly designated for farmland bird conservation and another 30 areas without EU protection. Results Overall, the national population is estimated to have declined 49% over the last 10–14 years. This loss was found to be proportionally larger outside SPA (64% decline) compared to losses within SPA (25% decline). However, the absolute male density decline was significantly larger within SPA . Discussion In spite of holding higher population densities and having prevented habitat loss, we conclude that Natura 2000 was not effective in buffering against the overall bustard population decline. Results show that the mere designation of SPA in farmland is not enough to secure species populations and has to be combined with agricultural policies and investment to maintain not only habitat availability but also habitat quality.

scholarly journals The geography of high-value biodiversity areas for terrestrial vertebrates in Western Europe and their coverage by protected area networks

Web Ecology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. T. Assunção-Albuquerque ◽  
J. M. Rey Benayas ◽  
F. S. Albuquerque ◽  
M. Á. Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Vertebrate Species ◽  
Natura 2000 Network ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
Major Taxon

Abstract. We identified high-value biodiversity areas (HVBAs) of terrestrial vertebrates according to a combined index of biodiversity (CBI) for each major taxon and a standardized biodiversity index (SBI) for all taxa in 2195 cells of 50 × 50 km in Western Europe to evaluate whether these areas are included in the current protected area networks. The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and NATURA 2000 protected area network were used to assess the protected area cover in HVBAs. WDPA and NATURA 2000 were geographically quite complementary as WDPA is more densely represented in Central and Northern Europe and NATURA 2000 in the Mediterranean basin. A total of 729 cells were identified as HVBAs. From the total of these HVBA areas, NATURA 2000 network was present in more cells (660) than the WDPA network (584 cells). The sum of protected land percentages across all the HVBA cells was 28.8%. The identified HVBA cells according to the SBI included 603 or 78.2% of all vertebrate species in the study region, whereas the identified HVBA cells according to the SBI for individual taxa included 47 (90.4%) species of amphibians, 79 (74.5%) of reptiles, 417 (88.5%) of birds, and 130 (91.5%) of mammals. However, neither network was present in 7 or 3% of the identified HVBA cells. Thus, we recommend expanding protected areas in Europe to fill this gap and improve coverage of vertebrate species to strengthen biodiversity conservation.

scholarly journals Particularities of the Aquatic Vegetation from “Iron Gates” Natura 2000 Site (Banat, Romania)

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-114
Author(s):  
Irina Goia ◽  
Adrian Oprea
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Aquatic Vegetation ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Main Tool ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Danube River ◽  
Social Strategies ◽  
The Danube River ◽  
Natura 2000 Site

Abstract The paper presents the results of investigations on the aquatic vegetation, along the Romanian bank of the Danube River, in the area of Porţile de Fier (“Iron Gates”; Mehedinţi and Caraş-Severin counties), a Natura 2000 site. Twenty-three plant communities were identified from Lemnetea minoris and Potametea pectinati classes. The survey led to the identification of some newly described phytocoenotaxons in this protected area. All the plant communities in this paper are documented by phytosociologic tables, being accompanied by coenotaxonomic, phytogeographical, ecological and social strategies analysis, in order to assess their conservation status, as the main tool for management decisions.

scholarly journals Population trends of Goričko agricultural landscape birds

Acrocephalus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (174-175) ◽  
pp. 127-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarina Denac ◽  
Primož Kmecl ◽  
Gregor Domanjko ◽  
Damijan Denac
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Population Trends ◽  
Land Consolidation ◽  
Bird Conservation ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Nature Protection

AbstractDue to numerous bird surveys in the past 20 years, the avifauna of Goričko is relatively well known. For some species, the very first national ecological researches were conducted in this area. The article summarizes all bird surveys so far. It presents population trends of farmland species which is one of the most threatened bird groups in Europe. Most of the qualifying species of this habitat that are protected within the Natura 2000 network have suffered a decline at Goričko, specifically QuailCoturnix coturnix, Scops OwlOtus scops, HoopoeUpupa epops, WoodlarkLullula arboreaand White StorkCiconia ciconia. The number of breeding pairs of the latter has not changed, but its fecundity has decreased. Furthermore, populations of other farmland bird species have decreased, for example SkylarkAlauda arvensis, StonechatSaxicola rubicola, SerinSerinus serinusand Common LinnetLinaria cannabina, as well as butterfly populations and tracts of grassland habitat types. National agricultural and nature conservation policies are evidently inefficient in protecting the biodiversity of Goričko. The most probable cause for bird population decline is agricultural intensification, which manifests itself at Goričko as disappearance and intensification of meadows, land consolidation, degradation of traditional orchards and use of pesticides. As a result of land consolidation hedges, uncultivated strips between fields, individual trees and bushes and minority habitat types are disappearing, whereas the surface of arable fields is increasing. Nature conservation measures performed by the Public Institute Goričko Nature Park with the support of DOPPS – BirdLife Slovenia volunteers seem to be efficient, but are spatially and temporally constrained. For this reason, they cannot serve as a substitute for insufficient systemic financing which could be improved by substantive and financial reform of the agri-environmental scheme. Currently, a negligible percentage (1% in 2016) of Goričko is covered by agrienvironmental scheme measures with positive influence on qualifying species and habitat types. As a consequence, only an insignificant share of subsidies from the Rural Development Plan is used for nature protection at Goričko. If the system of agricultural subsidies remains unaltered, no improvement of the conditions for bird conservation at Goričko can be expected.

scholarly journals Reassessment of the conservation status and protected area coverage of Taiwanese birds: How distribution modelling can help species conservation

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
TSAI-YU WU ◽  
BRUNO A. WALTHER ◽  
YI-HSIU CHEN ◽  
RUEY-SHING LIN ◽  
PEI-FEN LEE
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Area Coverage ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Multiple Discriminant Analysis ◽  
Breeding Bird ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
Distribution Ranges

SummaryTaiwan has 145 breeding bird species, but so far no comprehensive attempt has been made to model their distributions. For the first time, we bring together various datasets to model the distributions of the 116 bird species with sufficient sampling coverage. We improved on previous limited modelling efforts by using ensemble modelling, based on five well-performing modelling approaches: multiple discriminant analysis, logistic regression, genetic algorithm for rule-set production, ecological niche factor analysis and maximum-entropy. We then used these ensemble models to improve our knowledge of the status of each bird species by (1) calculating each species’s coverage of Taiwan, (2) calculating each species’s coverage by Taiwan’s protected area network, and (3) comparing these two conservation-relevant measures with already established measures to highlight those species whose status may need to be reassessed. We categorised each species’s coverage of the entire study area as measured by their modelled distributions into four quartiles, thus establishing a new measure of rarity called ‘range quartile’ which we used to highlight the 22 species with a limited distribution on mainland Taiwan. We also calculated that overall, 29.8% of the distribution ranges of the 116 modelled species are covered by Taiwanese protected areas. We then identified those species whose status may need to be reassessed because of possible conflicts between the respective conservation-relevant measures. Thus we identified 10 species which are first-quartile species < 5% of whose distributions are protected, of which only five are considered threatened. We also identified another 12 species with limited distributions, 30 species with limited protection and 19 species whose status may need to be reassessed for various reasons. We recommend that range quartile and protected area coverage be incorporated into future assessments of the conservation status and protected area coverage of Taiwanese birds.

scholarly journals Szata roślinna obszaru ochrony siedlisk i gatunków Natura 2000 Pakosław − współczesne przemiany i problemy ochrony [Recent changes of plant cover on special area of conservation Natura 2000 Pakoslaw (Central Poland)]

2013 ◽  
Vol 101 ◽  
pp. 125-214
Author(s):  
Romuald Olaczek ◽  
Maria Kurzac
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Status ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Habitats Directive ◽  
Peat Bog ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Swamp Forest ◽  
Special Area

Special area of conservation of the Natura 2000 Pakoslaw includes peat bog (about 400 ha) and forest fragment on a neighboring hill nature reserve (28.55 ha). There are 4 species of plants: <em>Adenophora liliifolia, Ligularia sibirica, Liparis loeselii, Ostericum palustre</em> and several types of natural habitats, among others: wet meadows, transitional peat-bog, thermophilous oak forest, which requires the protection of the European Union Habitats Directive. In the peat bog flora, numbering 296 species, are present glacial relicts. The aim of study was to investigate the current status of flora and vegetation and the direction and pace of change as the basis for the active protection. This paper describes the geological, hydrological and anthropogenic environmental factors and their impact on the flora and plant communities. Particular attention was paid to accelerate the process of secondary and progressive ecological succession during the last 50 years, resulting in displacement of grasses and sedges communities willow thickets and later by alder swamp forest. Species and natural habitats of the site are threatened and need to improve their conservation status.

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