Editorial: Conserving cultural ecosystems: the biodiversity and ecosystem service provision of semi-natural anthropogenic ecosystems versus natural ecosystems

Abstract

Editorial on the Research TopicConserving cultural ecosystems: the biodiversity and ecosystem service provision of semi-natural anthropogenic ecosystems versus natural ecosystems Many ecosystems across the world are cultural ecosystems that have been shaped by human activities, traditions and practices through millennia of farming and resource extraction. This has resulted in a range of plagioclimax habitats that have long been recognized as of high ecological conservation value (Green, 1972). These include the mountain pastures, meadows, heathlands and wood pastures that together comprise many of the habitats designated as the most valuable and threatened in Europe within the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). Through the papers presented in this Research Topic, we highlight the value of these cultural ecosystems and discuss the threats they face, as well as potential conservation solutions. The major threat they all face is change in rural land use so we draw comparisons with alternative land covers including the more natural later successional forest ecosystems that arise following abandonment of traditional cultural practices across Europe.Changes to agroforests, one of the most ancient and previously widespread cultural ecosystems across Europe, are explored by Gonzaĺez Dıáz et al. in a case study that demonstrates a major reduction in area and increase in fragmentation of hay meadows and grazed pastures since the mid 20 th century following the abandonment of farming and the rural exodus to urban and industrial areas. The meadows and pastures have been succeeded by dense shrublands and forests. This expansion of forests due to ecological succession of Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution frontiersin.org 01