Poor effectiveness of Natura 2000 beech forests in protecting forest-dwelling bats

Zehetmair, Tobias; Müller, Jörg; Runkel, Volker; Stahlschmidt, Peter; Winter, Susanne; Zharov, Alexey; Gruppe, Axel

doi:10.1016/j.jnc.2014.07.003

Cited by 23 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The main causes of such an assessment were the very small proportion of dead wood (less than 5m 3 /ha) and large-sized trunks (less than 3/ha), juvenilization of forest stands, and a high share of neophytes (mainly Impatiens parviflora). The problem of low biodiversity of beech forests as a consequence of intensive forest management in Europe (even within Natura 2000 sites) was commonly reported [2,37,43,[48][49]. The main causes of this situation (also applicable in the study area) were the removal of dead wood and the lack of trees older than 180-200 years old.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Increasing Area of Deciduous Forest Communities (Querco-Fagetea Class) as an Unintended Effect of Regular Forestry Management – a Study from Central Europe

Świerkosz¹,

Reczyńska²,

Kuras³

2017

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

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Our paper presents a comparison of historical data concerning the distribution of forest communities in the Sowie Mountains in southwestern Poland in 1968-71 with material collected by the authors between 2009 and 2013. The analyses were performed using geographic information system software. The archival vegetation maps were digitized, and the layer of the current distribution of forest communities was applied afterward. Archival data indicated that, in the study area, spruce monocultures of anthropogenic character predominated, occupying 90% of forest area. The obtained results suggest that regular forest management conducted within the study area has surprisingly contributed to an increase in the area of forest communities of the Querco-Fagetea class from 766 to 1,579 ha (more than 100%) over the last 45 years. The largest rise in the area of studied communities was observed on meso-oligotrophic habitats, and was reflected in the increase of the area of acidophilous beech forests, representing Luzulo luzuloidis-Fagetum association (habitat 9110 protected in the European Union), from 168 ha to1,064 ha. There was a minor decrease in the area of submontane riparian forests Carici remotae-Fraxinetum (habitat 91E0); the area of mesotrophic beech forests Galio odorati-Fagetum (habitat 9130) seems to be stable. Approximately 72% of deciduous forests in the study area have retained their spatial cover for 45 years.The newly created forest communities are deprived of a number of essential elements of the structure, primarily dead wood, including lying trunks and trees. The lack of these features does not allow us to assess the status of these ecosystems as entirely satisfactory. However, the possibility of converting Picea abies monocultures in deciduous forests of the Querco-Fagetea class under regular forest management should be considered beneficial to the conservation status of forest ecosystems of mountain areas of Central Europe.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Increasing Area of Deciduous Forest Communities (Querco-Fagetea Class) as an Unintended Effect of Regular Forestry Management – a Study from Central Europe

Świerkosz¹,

Reczyńska²,

Kuras³

2017

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

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“…Some studies have questioned the effectiveness of the N2000 network in protecting bat species Zehetmair et al, 2015) and whether the Annex II bat species act as 'umbrella species' representing the remaining bat species (Lisón et al, 2015b), although some Annex IV species are threatened or rare (Palomo et al, 2007). Our results add a new dimension to a growing body of research that identifies shortcomings in conservation policies with respect to biological knowledge (Rodhouse et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, rather few studies have specifically examined the relationship between bat distributions and the N2000 network (Lisón et al, , 2015bMaiorano et al, 2015;Zehetmair et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation on the blink: Deficient technical reports threaten conservation in the Natura 2000 network

Lisón

Altamirano

Field

et al. 2017

Biological Conservation

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“…For bats, however, little is known about the role of agricultural crop fields as foraging habitats (Park, 2015). In contrary, the use of freshwater habitats or deciduous forests, both generally representing only small portions of most European landscapes, are well studied (e.g., Stahlschmidt et al, 2012;Zehetmair et al, 2015). Some studies have reported an avoidance of intensively managed agricultural fields by bats (Walsh and Harris, 1996;Vaughan et al, 1997).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nocturnal Risks-High Bat Activity in the Agricultural Landscape Indicates Potential Pesticide Exposure

Stahlschmidt

Hahn

Brühl

2017

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Although agriculture dominates much of Europe's landscape, there is virtually no information on foraging activity of bats in different crops. Additionally little is known about pesticide exposure of bats and related effects and there are currently no specific regulatory requirements to include bats in European Union pesticide risk assessments for the registration of these chemicals although other mammals are considered. To evaluate the potential pesticide exposure of bats, we studied bat diversity and activity as well as the availability of aerial prey insects in different crops and semi-natural habitats in south-western Germany in a landscape dominated by agriculture. In 300 accumulated sampling nights more than 24,000 bat call sequences were acoustically recorded and, in parallel, almost 110,000 insects of suitable prey sizes were sampled by light traps. A total of 14 bat species were recorded, among them the locally rare and for Germany critically endangered northern bat (Eptesicus nilssonii) and the barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellum), all of them also occurring over agricultural fields. In comparison to agricultural habitats, higher activity levels in forest sites were only found for Myotis species but not for species of the genera Pipistrellus, Eptesicus and Nyctalus. There were no significant differences in the availability of aerial nocturnal insects between forest, meadow and agricultural habitats. Comparing the different agricultural crops, significantly fewer bat call sequences and lower numbers of nocturnal insects were collected above the vineyards compared to orchards, cereal and vegetable fields. Highest activity levels of all bat species were recorded above agricultural fields situated next to forests. Given the high bat activity levels recorded at several agricultural sites, among them orchard and vegetable fields both known for their high pesticide inputs, and the availability of suitable prey insects, we conclude that pesticide exposure via ingestion of contaminated insect prey is possible. This potential risk is currently not considered in the European pesticide risk assessment scheme.

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Poor effectiveness of Natura 2000 beech forests in protecting forest-dwelling bats

Cited by 23 publications

References 47 publications

Increasing Area of Deciduous Forest Communities (Querco-Fagetea Class) as an Unintended Effect of Regular Forestry Management – a Study from Central Europe

Increasing Area of Deciduous Forest Communities (Querco-Fagetea Class) as an Unintended Effect of Regular Forestry Management – a Study from Central Europe

Conservation on the blink: Deficient technical reports threaten conservation in the Natura 2000 network

Nocturnal Risks-High Bat Activity in the Agricultural Landscape Indicates Potential Pesticide Exposure

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