Wood-pastures of Europe: Geographic coverage, social–ecological values, conservation management, and policy implications

Plieninger, Tobias; Hartel, Tibor; Martín‐López, Berta; Beaufoy, Guy; Bergmeier, Erwin; Kirby, K. J.; Montero, M. J.; Moreno, Gerardo; Oteros‐Rozas, Elisa; Uytvanck, Jan Van

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2015.05.014

Cited by 270 publications

(234 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…The European Landscape Convention was initiated to protect and sustain European landscapes characteristic of certain countries and cultures (Jones 2007). Protection of the traditional landscape structure and land use types can considerably contribute to biodiversity conservation by ensuring the optimum landscape configuration and proper management for seminatural habitats (Babai and Molnár 2014, Plieninger et al 2015, Szilassi et al 2017). One of the major threats to European landscapes is the huge loss of habitats due to the intensive land use of past centuries (Lindborg et al 2015, Hüse et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural heritage and biodiversity conservation – plant introduction and practical restoration on ancient burial mounds

Valkó¹,

Tóth²,

Kelemen³

et al. 2018

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Linking the conservation of cultural heritage and natural values provides a unique opportunity for preserving traditional landscapes and receives an increased awareness from stakeholders and society. Ancient burial mounds are proper objects of such projects as they are iconic landscape elements of the Eurasian steppes and often act as refugia for grassland specialist species. The aim of this project was to reintroduce grassland plant species to burial mounds for representing them as cultural monuments with the associated biodiversity for the public. The effectiveness of seed sowing, transplanting greenhouse-grown plants and individuals from threatened populations on burial mounds in Hortobágy National Park, Hungary was tested. The following questions were answered: (1) which method is the most effective for species introduction? (2) which species can establish most successfully? (3) how does management affect the species establishment rates? It was found advisable to use a combination of seed sowing and transplanting greenhouse-grown plants. Sowing was found as a cost-effective method for introducing large-seeded species, whilst introduction of greenhouse-grown transplants warranted higher establishment rates for a larger set of species. Transplanting adult individuals was more reliable regardless of management regimes, however this method is labour-intensive and expensive. Intensive management, like mowing with heavy machinery and intensive grazing, should be avoided in the first few years after introduction. The authors CONSERVATION IN PRACTICE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journalOrsolya Valkó et al. / Nature Conservation 24: 65-80 (2018) 66 highlighted the fact that introducing characteristic grassland species on cultural monuments offers a great opportunity to link issues of landscape and biodiversity conservation. This project demonstrated that, by the revitalisation of cultural monuments, cultural ecosystem services can also be restored.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural heritage and biodiversity conservation – plant introduction and practical restoration on ancient burial mounds

Valkó¹,

Tóth²,

Kelemen³

et al. 2018

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Section: Edaphic Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the study area (Portalegre district) the most frequent types of soils are the Luvisols (2337 km 2 and 527 sampling points-38.3%) Cambisols (1993 km 2 and 386 sampling points-32.7%) and Podzols (1204 km 2 and 290 sampling points-19.7%) and also, with less representability, Leptosols (513 km 2 and 114 sampling points-8.4%), in the Northeast part of the district and, in a very small part, Vertisols (40 km 2 and 9 sampling points-0.7%), in the center of the district [43] (Figure 2). The soils are generally acidic with the exception of those developed on lands with a carbonate component or predominantly basic granitic rocks [44].…”

Section: Edaphic Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Agricultural and Forestry landscapes occupy a large area of the European territory [1,2]. Approximately one-half of the European Union's (EU) agricultural area is occupied by land for cultivation, whether for annual crops or pasture for animal feed, which reflects both the impact and importance of agriculture and livestock sectors, not only in the vitality of rural economies [3] but also, in maintaining rural environments [4,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of the European Union Agricultural and Environmental Policies in the Sustainability of Most Common Mediterranean Soils

et al. 2017

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Agro-environmental measures promoted by the European Union focus mainly on environmental protection by maintaining sustainable levels of productivity that are adequate to the agro-ecological conditions of each region on different Member States. Among these European Union promoted measures the one known as “Extensive Forage Systems” is particularly relevant for the Mediterranean Region. In order to analyze the impact of this measure and to verify if the high expenditure of communitarian funds, with its implementation in Mediterranean soils, is aligned with the predicted benefits, a seven-year study in a southern Portugal region was conducted. In this regard, several soil chemical parameters such as organic matter, pH, electrical conductivity, “available” phosphorus, “available” potassium and heavy metal levels (Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn, Mn, Pb and Ni), were assessed, in 1329 different plots in order to represent some of the existing diversity of the Mediterranean environment, identified by the Portuguese Parcel Identification System, and considering the possibility to evaluate the evolution of these parameters on the main soil types of the region. The obtained results enabled us to verify that the application of the agro-environmental measure “Extensive Forage Systems” did not lead, during the 7 years of the study, to any significant change in terms of organic matter, soil pH and/or heavy metals content. Still it contributed for a small growth on “available” phosphorus and potassium levels and to a significant increase on Soil electrical conductivity (EC). As a final conclusion we can refer that the application of the agro-environmental measure “Extensive Forage Systems”, in soil, clime and cultural conditions prevailing in this study (Typical Mediterranean conditions from the South of Europe), did not reach its main objective, which was to increase the organic matter content in soils.

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“…Climatic changes during the Quaternary Period strongly affected the species composition and the species distribution in Europe (Szafer, 1946(Szafer, -47, 1954Kaplan, 2012). Since the Neolithic Period, humans have become another important factor affecting the regional floras (Szymura, 2012;Hejcman et al, 2013;Roleček et al, 2014;Plieninger et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adenophora liliifolia: Condition of its Populations in Central Europe

Prausová

Marečková

Kapler

et al. 2016

Acta Biologica Cracoviensia S. Botanica

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This study deals with populations of the European-South-Siberian geoelement Adenophora liliifolia (L.) A. DC. in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland, where this species has its European periphery distribution. We studied the population size, genetic variability, site conditions, and vegetation units in which A. liliifolia grows. Recent and historical localities of A. liliifolia were ranked into six vegetation units of both forest and non-forest character. A phytosociological survey showed differences in the species composition among localities. Only a weak pattern of population structure was observed (only 22% of total genetic variation present at the interpopulation level, AMOVA analysis), with moderate values for gene diversity (H j = 0.141) and polymorphism (P = 27.6%). Neighborjoining and Bayesian clusterings suggest a similar genetic background for most of the populations from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland, contrary to the populations from Hungary, Romania, as well as two populations from Central and South Slovakia. This might be explained by a relatively recent fragmentation of the A. liliifolia populations in Central Europe. Nevertheless, it seems that several populations in Romania, South Hungary, and Slovakia were isolated for a longer period of time and their genetic differentiation is more evident.

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Wood-pastures of Europe: Geographic coverage, social–ecological values, conservation management, and policy implications

Cited by 270 publications

References 64 publications

Cultural heritage and biodiversity conservation – plant introduction and practical restoration on ancient burial mounds

Cultural heritage and biodiversity conservation – plant introduction and practical restoration on ancient burial mounds

Effects of the European Union Agricultural and Environmental Policies in the Sustainability of Most Common Mediterranean Soils

Adenophora liliifolia: Condition of its Populations in Central Europe

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