Ensuring the Long-Term Provision of Heathland Ecosystem Services—The Importance of a Functional Perspective in Management Decision Frameworks

Abstract

The ecosystem services framework can be used as a way of balancing economic, ecological and societal drivers in land management decision-making processes. As heathland management is typically linked directly to services, the aim of this study was to quantify trade-offs related to the effects of five common heathland management measures (grazing, mowing, burning, choppering, and sod-cutting) using quantitative data from empirical studies within a northwestern heathland in Germany. Besides important services (groundwater recharge and quality, carbon stocks and appreciation by the general public) we included ecosystem functions (balances of nitrogen, phosphorus and major cations) and the net cost of management implementation as trade-off components. We found that all management practices have advantages and disadvantages leading to unavoidable trade-offs. The effect of a management practice on the trade-off components was often closely related to the amount of biomass and/or soil removed during a management cycle (Rannual). Choppering and sod-cutting (large Rannual by involving soil removal) were very good at maintaining a low N system whilst concurrently increasing groundwater recharge, albeit at the cost of all other components considered. If the aim is to preserve heathlands and their associated ecosystem services in the long-term this trade-off is inevitable, as currently only these high-intensity measures are capable of removing enough nitrogen from the system to prevent the transition to non-heather dominated habitat types. Our study, therefore, shows that in order to maintain structural integrity and thereby the service potential a habitat provides, management decision frameworks may need to prioritize ecosystem functioning over ecosystem services. Burning and mowing (low Rannual) were best at retaining phosphorus, cations and carbon and had the lowest costs. Grazing (intermediate Rannual) provided the highest relative benefit in terms of groundwater quality and appreciation. Together these results can help identify management combinations in both space and time, which will be more beneficial for functions and services than management practices considered in isolation. Furthermore, our study assists in recognizing key areas of action for the development of novel management practices and can help raise awareness of the diversity of rare species and potential benefits to people that protected cultural landscapes provide.

Habitat Protection Approaches Facilitate Conservation of Overlooked Fungal Diversity – A Case Study From the Norwegian Coastal Heathland System

“…Moreover, the success of coastal heathland restoration, as indicated by vegetation establishment, is greatly improved by reinoculation of the belowground community which effectively functions as a conservation measure for fungal biodiversity ( van der Bij et al., 2018 ). However, restoration and conservation of coastal heathlands requires follow-up with a combination of low-intensity measures such as mowing, grazing, burning and regular shrub clearance to maintain the coastal heathland landscape ( Blindow et al., 2017 ; Walmsley et al., 2021 ), all of which are expected to benefit those species adapted to a semi-natural system, including fungi.…”

Het korhoen op de Sallandse Heuvelrug anno 2022 : set van criteria om de uitvoering van noodzakelijke maatregelen voor behoud van de soort te evalueren en om de aantalsontwikkeling van de soort te duiden

“…Op de lange termijn is dit echter niet houdbaar, omdat onder de huidige depositiescenario's verjongingsbeheer onder te hoge frequentie zou moeten worden uitgevoerd. Op de middellange termijn heeft dit door verlies van P uit het systeem als gevolg van brand-of maaibeheer tot gevolg dat er substantiële P-verliezen optreden (Härdtle et al, 2009;Walmsley et al, 2021). Ook leidt dergelijk verjongingsbeheer niet tot een verlaging van de N-accumulatie onder de huidige depositieniveaus (Härdtle et al, 2009), met bijgevolg een graduele verhoging van de N:P-ratio van de vegetatie op middellange tot lange termijn.…”

Prescribed burning can promote recovery of Atlantic coastal heathlands suffering dieback after extreme drought events

“…Managed heathlands are typically burnt on a decadal scale to improve fodder quality, resulting in a cyclical successional pattern, where the keystone species Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hill (hereafter Calluna ) passes through characteristic morphological phases (pioneer, building, mature, degenerative) before a new fire is set and the cycle starts again (Gimingham, 1992). These semi‐natural cultural landscapes support characteristic biodiversity, provide habitat for pollinators, areas for grazing, fodder, food production, and carbon sequestration along with contributions to the local economy, recreational values, landscape appreciation, and tourism (Walmsley et al., 2021; Cusens et al., 2023). Traditional management practices are crucial to maintain these open landscapes and their biodiversity, benefits, and services.…”