Conservation Focus on Europe: Major Conservation Policy Issues That Need to Be Informed by Conservation Science

Pullin, Andrew S.; Báldi, András; Can, Özgün Emre; Dieterich, Martin; Kati, Vassiliki; Livoreil, Barbara; Löveï, Gábor L.; Mihók, Barbara; Nevin, Owen; Selva, Nuria; Sousa-Pinto, Isabel

doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01283.x

Cited by 144 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The effectiveness of the site designation process and the resulting Natura 2000 network has often been questioned (Apostolopoulou and Pantis 2009;Pullin et al 2009;Sánchez-Fernández et al 2008). First, the principles of site designation were not uniform and each country selected sites largely independently of other countries (Apostolopoulou and Pantis 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Mind the gap!” – How well does Natura 2000 cover species of European interest?

Gruber¹,

Evans²,

Henle³

et al. 2012

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Setting aside protected areas is widely recognized as one of the most effective measures to prevent species from extinction. Accordingly, there has been a tremendous effort by governments worldwide to establish protected areas, resulting in over 100,000 sites, which are set aside, to achieve the 10% target proposed at the Fourth World Park Congress in 1992 in Caracas. The main effort of the European Union to achieve this target is the Natura 2000 network of protected areas, comprising over 25,000 sites representing 18% of the area of the 27 Member States of the European Union. The designation of Natura 2000 sites was based on species and habitats listed in the Annexes of the Habitats and Birds Directive. The effectiveness of the selection process and the resulting Natura 2000 network has often been questioned as each country made its designations largely independently and in most cases without considering the theories of optimal REsEARCH ARtiClE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journalBernd Gruber et al. / Nature Conservation 3: 45-63 (2012) 46 reserve site selection. However, the effectiveness of the selection process and the Natura 2000 network has never been explicitly analysed at the European scale. Here we present such an analysis focusing on the representation of Annex II species of the Habitats Directive in the Natura 2000 network relative to a random allocation of species to sites. Our results show that the network is effective in covering target species and minimizing the number of gap species (i.e. species not represented in a single site of the Natura 2000 network). We demonstrate that the representation is uneven among species. Some species are overrepresented and many species are only represented in a low number of sites. We show that this is mainly due to differing patterns in species ranges, as wide-spread species are inevitably represented in many sites, but narrow ranged species are often covered only by a small number of sites in a particular area. Finally, we propose a representation index that detects species that are underrepresented and could be used to direct future conservation efforts.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Mind the gap!” – How well does Natura 2000 cover species of European interest?

Gruber¹,

Evans²,

Henle³

et al. 2012

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“…In the present study, mosquitofish genetic diversity and population structure at regional scales It is expected that the climate change will ameliorate winter temperatures and produce more suitable habitats for mosquitofish in the upstream parts of the Iberian rivers (Buisson et al, 2008;Hellmann et al, 2008;Pullin et al, 2009). In the study region as well as in other…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Temporal genetic dynamics among mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) populations in invaded watersheds

et al. 2016

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SummaryThe temporal components of genetic diversity and geographical structure of invasive mosquitofish populations are poorly known. Through the genetic monitoring of four consecutive cohorts of Gambusia holbrooki from three different river basins we aimed to determine temporal patterns of regional genetic variation and dispersal rates within invasive populations. Despite showing evidence of strong population size fluctuations, genetic diversity levels were maintained among local cohorts. We only detected temporal allele frequency changes associated with seasonal flooding that did not modify major trends on population structure among cohorts. Downstream gene flow coupled with increased connectivity at lowland locations to increase genetic diversity levels in these areas. A large proportion of local fish (up to 50%) were dispersers, often originated from locations within the same river basin. High dispersal capability, ecological tolerance, and reproductive traits likely promote river colonization. Finally, our results also confirmed that human-assisted translocations promote within and among basin gene flow and maintained levels of genetic diversity, particularly in upstream locations.

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“…Various effects of climate change are among the greatest challenges that Hungarian agriculture and nature conservation has to face, both currently and in the near future (Pullin et al 2009). Considering annual precipitation in Hungary, there has been a 100 % difference between the two consecutive years of 2010 and 2011 (data of the National Meteorological Service).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%