Can Naturalness Indicator Values Reveal Habitat Degradation? A Test of Four Methodological Approaches

Erdős, László; Bátori, Zoltán; Penksza, Károly; Dénes, Andrea; Kevey, Balázs; Kevey, Dora Kinga; Magnes, Martin; Sengl, Philipp; Tölgyesi, Csaba

doi:10.3161/15052249pje2017.65.1.001

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Accordingly, the application of naturalness indices to estimate restoration success for lowland meadows or other mowing dependent ecosystems seems justified and perfectly in accordance with our current perception of naturalness. In addition, a previous study (Erdős et al 2017) has shown that naturalness indicators worked very well in differentiating between near natural semi-dry grassland and regenerating grassland in South-East Austria.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…In particular, we asked the following question: Is the naturalness indication approach a valuable alternative to reference sites when assessing restoration success? Based on the findings of Erdős et al (2017) we assumed that mean naturalness indicator values provide conclusive information on the level of degradation of habitats and thus, would allow us to evaluate restoration success. Additionally, we tried out a new approach by calculating the sum of naturalness indicator values, which ads the factor "diversity" to the index.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A test of naturalness indicator values to evaluate success in grassland restoration

Sengl¹,

Magnes

Erdős

et al. 2017

Community Ecology

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How should the somewhat vague term of restoration success be measured? This is a critical question rooted in European law, where in fact the creation of proper replacement habitats is a prerequisite for permitting projects that trigger a loss of species or habitats. Previous studies have used indices that relied on a comparison to reference sites, for example the number of a predefined pool of target species or compositional similarity. However, since restoration sites have rarely the same biotic and abiotic conditions as reference sites, plant communities in restored sites will not perfectly match the reference sites. Furthermore, such indices fail when reference sites are lacking or degraded. Hence, there is a need for an alternative approach that evaluates the conservation value of a restored site independently from reference sites. We propose that naturalness indicator values can be an option to measure restoration success. The approach of using naturalness indicator values makes use of the fact that plants are able to indicate environmental parameters, including degradation and regeneration. We compared and measured the restoration success of three well-established methods for grassland restoration (sod transplantation, hay transfer, seeding) with three commonly used indices (diversity, number of target species, similarity to reference sites). The results verified earlier studies and showed that sod transplantation led to the highest restoration success followed by hay transfer and seeding of sitespecific seed mixtures. Further, we used those well-established indices for an evaluation of novel, naturalness-based indices (unweighted and cover-weighted mean naturalness indicator values, the sum of naturalness indicator values). While calculating the means of naturalness indicator values failed to offer conclusive information on restoration success, we could show that the sum of naturalness indicator values was highly correlated with the number of target species and compositional similarity to reference sites. Thus, our case study demonstrated that naturalness indices can be an excellent option to estimate success in grassland restoration. Abbreviations: CWMNN-Cover-weighted mean Naturalness indicator values, DSH-Donor site for hay transfer, DSS-Donor site for sod transplantation, FPFI-Frequency positive fidelity index (Tichý 2005), Simpson-Simpson´s Index, SUMNN-Sum of Naturalness indicator values, TGSpN-Number of target species, UWMNN-Unweighted Mean Naturalness indicator values. Naturalness indicators of grassland restoration 185 similar habitat conditions as compared to available reference sites and (b) are rather close to the reference sites (White and Walker 1997, Valkó et al. 2017).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A test of naturalness indicator values to evaluate success in grassland restoration

Sengl¹,

Magnes

Erdős

et al. 2017

Community Ecology

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“…This is also true for the NIV system, for which recent users have focused on similar management and restoration‐based research (e.g. Sengl et al, 2016; Erdős et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Few authors use NIVs; most papers referencing Borhidi (1995) extract the regionalized Ellenberg values for the Hungarian flora from his work, or merely cite the work to mention “social behaviors” to identify weedy species (see Section 3.4 on ecological indicator values below). Nonetheless, NIVs have been used in management contexts to assess the relative degradation of habitats (Erdős et al, 2017), habitat quality (Sengl et al, 2017; Erdős et al, 2018), and to indicate prior management history (Sengl et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductions To the Human Impact Indicator Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expert‐based measures of human impact to vegetation

Zinnen

Spyreas

Erdős

et al. 2020

Applied Vegetation Science

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Background Human impact has had a profound influence on modern vegetation. Expert‐based vegetation indicator systems have been developed to measure and characterize human impacts on vegetation. Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) is a widely used, primarily North American system for assessing degradation and natural quality through species‐based values called coefficients of conservatism. The hemeroby and naturalness indicator value (NIV) systems were independently developed for users to assess human impacts in Europe. Despite the similarities among these indicator systems, there is no mutual recognition among them, and they have developed and operate in relative isolation from one another. Approach We review the FQA, hemeroby, and NIV systems to provide a basic summary of the three systems and to evaluate them, highlighting their nearly identical core mechanics and conceptual commonalities. We also compare and contrast the three systems to less integrative ecological indicator systems that can be used to indirectly measure human impact, notably the Ellenberg system. Findings We describe how FQA and naturalness indicator values, in particular, could be considered twin systems. Despite these core similarities, users of these systems do not cite each other, potentially overlooking benefits from applying methods and concepts from separate systems. The FQA, hemeroby, and NIV systems have unique weaknesses, strengths, and primary applications compared to other ecological indicator systems. Conclusions We conclude by discussing the future role and utility of the three specialized human impact indicator systems for scientists and practitioners. Human impact indicator values may be valuable for use in basic research, but arguably their most important applications are in the practice of conservation, such as monitoring restored ecosystems.

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“…It has been recognized that plants can be used as bioindicators and are able to indicate the naturalness of their habitat (Ellenberg 1950). The approach of naturalness indicator values is similar to that of the original Ellenberg-type indicator values and has been used successfully to study disturbance (Erdős et al 2017a, b). Some species indicate disturbed sites, while others prefer less-disturbed or natural habitats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Karst environments and disturbance: evaluation of the effects of human activity on grassland and forest naturalness in dolines

et al. 2020

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Karst depressions (dolines) have the potential to act as safe havens for a high diversity of valuable species. We showed that local anthropogenic disturbances play a significant role in determining the naturalness of dolines. We compared the number of specialist species, competitor species, generalist species and species of disturbed habitats between natural and disturbed dolines in two Hungarian karst areas, where different types of anthropogenic disturbances have been shaping the vegetation for centuries. We found that these disturbances have the potential to negatively influence the naturalness of dolines, reducing the number of valuable species, thus affecting the conservation value of dolines. To maintain the naturalness of vegetation in these doline habitats, the populations of ruderal competitors should be eliminated, and sustainable forest management should be adapted. However, there are still open questions about the effects of different disturbances on the naturalness in dolines that need to be answered to determine which conservation strategies will be particularly suitable for valuable species in a warming climate.

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Can Naturalness Indicator Values Reveal Habitat Degradation? A Test of Four Methodological Approaches

Abstract: BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research.

Cited by 22 publications

References 42 publications

A test of naturalness indicator values to evaluate success in grassland restoration

A test of naturalness indicator values to evaluate success in grassland restoration

Expert‐based measures of human impact to vegetation

Karst environments and disturbance: evaluation of the effects of human activity on grassland and forest naturalness in dolines

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