Journal articles on the topic 'Habitats of EU conservation concern'

The Habitats Directive is the cornerstone of EU nature conservation law charged with both the conservation and restoration of a wide degree of heathlands. However, heathlands in western-Europe are on a steady decline with grim prospects for the future, which can be contributed to the combined effect of nitrogen deposition and climate change. In turn, this article researches the capacity of the Habitats Directive to regulate aforementioned threats. It finds that the Directive is not sufficient with regard to the reintroduction of keystone species, connectivity restoration, climate change adaptation and/or mitigation measures – due to a lack of specific restoration norms. This article also assesses whether a Restoration Directive can serve as a supplementary means of achieving restoration in European heathlands. From an academic perspective, this article contributes to the debate on the functioning of the Habitats Directive and EU environmental law. From a societal perspective, there is a significant concern regarding excessive nitrogen deposition in combination with climate change in various EU countries. Whilst this problem should be studied from a multitude of disciplines, effective legal norms geared towards restoration play a distinctive role in solving this complex puzzle. Habitats Directive – Nitrogen Deposition – Climate Change – EU Nature conservation law – Restoration – Conservation – Heathlands – Restoration Directive – Biodiversity

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) The replacement of natural habitats by urbanization and agricultural land reclamation is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. Among European habitat types, natural grasslands are particularly prone to anthropogenic pressures, being also recognized as conservation priorities within the Habitats Directive. Nonetheless, little is known on the relationship between grasslands, their conservation quality, and most animals' taxa that may rely upon them. Here we focus on the role of Mediterranean dry grasslands protected by the EU legislation in sustaining bat populations, setting our study in the biodiversity hotspot of Mediterranean Italy. By conducting acoustic surveillance at 48 sites within a protected area devoted to conserve natural and semi-natural grasslands, we found that all the bat species found in the area are regular exploiters of such open environments. Grassland conservation quality, in terms of extent of high-diversity protected habitats, was the key factor shaping the use of grasslands by bats of all the considered guilds, together with several terrain and landscape features, which showed more guild-specific effects. Moreover, our results indicate that bat assemblages are functionally shifted along an ecological gradient from highly modified to wellconserved grassland sites, indicating a prevalence of opportunistic taxa in the former, and higher abundance of species of conservation concern in the latter. Overall, we demonstrate that the effects of EU-listed habitats may extend also onto bats in the case of Mediterranean dry grasslands, highlighting the importance of preserving such habitats as a tool for conserving highly mobile species.

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) The replacement of natural habitats by urbanization and agricultural land reclamation is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. Among European habitat types, natural grasslands are particularly prone to anthropogenic pressures, being also recognized as conservation priorities within the Habitats Directive. Nonetheless, little is known on the relationship between grasslands, their conservation quality, and most animals' taxa that may rely upon them. Here we focus on the role of Mediterranean dry grasslands protected by the EU legislation in sustaining bat populations, setting our study in the biodiversity hotspot of Mediterranean Italy. By conducting acoustic surveillance at 48 sites within a protected area devoted to conserve natural and semi-natural grasslands, we found that all the bat species found in the area are regular exploiters of such open environments. Grassland conservation quality, in terms of extent of high-diversity protected habitats, was the key factor shaping the use of grasslands by bats of all the considered guilds, together with several terrain and landscape features, which showed more guild-specific effects. Moreover, our results indicate that bat assemblages are functionally shifted along an ecological gradient from highly modified to wellconserved grassland sites, indicating a prevalence of opportunistic taxa in the former, and higher abundance of species of conservation concern in the latter. Overall, we demonstrate that the effects of EU-listed habitats may extend also onto bats in the case of Mediterranean dry grasslands, highlighting the importance of preserving such habitats as a tool for conserving highly mobile species.

The southern Italian peninsula has been suggested to be an important European district for lampreys’ genetic diversity. All lamprey species ever described throughout the Italian peninsula are protected within European legislation and listed in Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and Annex III of the Bern Convention (82/72/CEE) as species of conservation concern, and the Habitats Directive ensures the designation of “sites of community interest” (SICs) for threatened species. During a survey to collect preliminary data on lampreys’ presence in the Cilento, Vallo di Daino, and Alburni National Park (PNCV) located in the Campania region, where 28 sites of community interest (SICs) have been established by the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), two specimens of sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus, Linnaeus, 1758) were detected for the first time. The specimens were genetically characterized through the sequencing of the mtDNA control region locus. The study highlighted the significant importance of the Campania region for lampreys, which, concerning Lampetra sp., was found to have peculiar genetic characteristics and unique alleles that have not been described elsewhere. Furthermore, the recognition of the sea lamprey, P. marinus, emphasized the value of this area, especially in terms of laying the groundwork for future habitat protection strategies.

The Hutě Nature Reserve is located in the central eastern part of the White Carpathians PLA, near the Žítková village. The reserve protects a preserved and topographically heterogeneous area composed of forest groves, meadows, pastures, and spring fens with a high diversity of submontane and thermophilic plant and animal assemblages. The species composition of molluscs (9 out of 10 ecological groups represented) consists mainly of woodland dwellers, which account for the majority of species diversity (30 spp.; 52%), followed by ubiquitous (9; 16%), hygrophilous (5; 9%), hygrophilous woodland dwellers (4; 7%), aquatic (4; 7%) and open-habitat dwellers (3; 5%). Vertigo moulinsiana (EN), internationally protected under Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive, Daudebardia brevipes (VU), Ambigolimax nyctelius (NT), Orcula dolium (NT) and Bythinella austriaca (NT) are species of conservation concern. To retain favourable habitat conservation status, the spring fens with V. moulinsiana occurrence must be managed extensively by grazing or mowing, while the forests must remain in a non-intervention regime.

The Hutě Nature Reserve is located in the central eastern part of the White Carpathians PLA, near the Žítková village. The reserve protects a preserved and topographically heterogeneous area composed of forest groves, meadows, pastures, and spring fens with a high diversity of submontane and thermophilic plant and animal assemblages. The species composition of molluscs (9 out of 10 ecological groups represented) consists mainly of woodland dwellers, which account for the majority of species diversity (30 spp.; 52%), followed by ubiquitous (9; 16%), hygrophilous (5; 9%), hygrophilous woodland dwellers (4; 7%), aquatic (4; 7%) and open-habitat dwellers (3; 5%). Vertigo moulinsiana (EN), internationally protected under Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive, Daudebardia brevipes (VU), Ambigolimax nyctelius (NT), Orcula dolium (NT) and Bythinella austriaca (NT) are species of conservation concern. To retain favourable habitat conservation status, the spring fens with V. moulinsiana occurrence must be managed extensively by grazing or mowing, while the forests must remain in a non-intervention regime.

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) In the European Union (EU), all bat species are legally protected by the Habitats Directive (HD). Especially the goal of keeping or restoring a favourable conservation status for protected species and habitats is an outstanding innovation in the law of nature conservation. The Directive does not only focus on rare species close to extinction, but has the goal of viable populations for all species included in the pertinent annexes. However, most bat populations are still far away from reaching this goal, which leads to the question why the Habitats Directive may have failed to achieve its objective.

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) In the European Union (EU), all bat species are legally protected by the Habitats Directive (HD). Especially the goal of keeping or restoring a favourable conservation status for protected species and habitats is an outstanding innovation in the law of nature conservation. The Directive does not only focus on rare species close to extinction, but has the goal of viable populations for all species included in the pertinent annexes. However, most bat populations are still far away from reaching this goal, which leads to the question why the Habitats Directive may have failed to achieve its objective.

AbstractAgricultural areas, such as cereal cultivations, that support species of European and/or national conservation concern are considered as ‘High Nature Value’ farmlands (HNVf) and are very important for the preservation of biodiversity in Europe. The lesser kestrel Falco naumanni is a migratory falcon breeding largely in the HNVf of the Mediterranean basin. The main cause of its decline in Europe has been habitat loss and degradation as a result of agricultural intensification driven largely by the EU Common Agricultural Policies (CAP). In Greece, its population dropped by about 50% since the 1970s and its preferred habitats have shrunk. The aim of this study was to assess habitat preferences of breeding Lesser Kestrels in agro-ecosystems of Greece and relate these habitats to HNVf for conservation purposes. The study area is located in the plain of Thessaly, Central Greece, holding the main lesser kestrel breeding populations in the country, where dry cereal crops have been significantly depleted over the past decades. Species distribution models were developed with generalised additive models for the analyses. Predicted probability of lesser kestrel occurrence was found to be positively associated with farmed landscapes of dry cereal cultivations. Other important predictors were cultivated irrigated farmland and landscape heterogeneity. Main results of the statistical models agree with the findings of other habitatbased studies that highlight the importance of low-input farming systems, that is, HNVf, for safeguarding vital Lesser Kestrels habitats in their breeding grounds in the Mediterranean. A key conservation priority for conserving species dependant on HNVf is the maintenance of those low-input farming systems and the implementation of a greener CAP that would promote environmental-friendly farming practices to preserve and enhance biodiversity in the agro-ecosystems of Europe.

Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are a species of conservation concern that require Marine Protected Area management and population status assessment under the EU Habitats Directive. Aerial surveys are commonly used to monitor grey seal pup production at their globally important UK colonies. However, in Wales more than half of pups are born in cryptic breeding habitats such as sea caves. These cryptic habitats preclude the use of aerial monitoring methods and necessitate ground-based counts, which are costly in resources. In this study, we compare a ground-based pup production census with a reduced effort plot-sampling survey to estimate pup production, derive a total population size and assess cost effectiveness. Pup production in North Wales was estimated at 91 (95% confidence interval: 70–112) by the plot-sampling design and was a good approximation of the ‘true’ value of 96 derived from the census. The total population size in North Wales was estimated at between 242 and 307 grey seals. The plot-sampling design reduced survey effort by 46% and saved 30% on logistical costs compared to the full census. We outline the suitability of this method as part of a monitoring programme for grey seal pup production and suggest our approach may be applicable to other regions where grey seals use cryptic breeding habitat.

The gradually decreasing connectivity of habitats threatens biodiversity and ecological processes valuable to humans. Green infrastructure is promoted by the European Commission as a key instrument for the conservation of ecosystems in the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020. Green infrastructure has been defined as a network of natural and semi-natural areas, designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. We surveyed Finnish experts' perceptions on the development of green infrastructure within the existing policy framework. Our results show that improving the implementation of existing conservation policy instruments needs to be an integral part of developing green infrastructure. Despite the potential of green infrastructure to benefit biodiversity, existing conceptual ambiguity of green infrastructure with rather complex role of ecosystem services – and the possible interpretation of this in practice – raises concerns regarding its ability to contribute to biodiversity conservation.

Global environmental changes are rapidly affecting species&rsquo; distributions and habitat suitability worldwide, requiring a continuous update of biodiversity status to support effective decisions on conservation policy and management. In this regard, satellite-derived Ecosystem Functional Attributes (EFAs) offer a more integrative and quicker evaluation of ecosystem responses to environmental drivers and changes than climate and structural or compositional landscape attributes. Thus, EFAs may hold advantages as predictors in Species Distribution Models (SDMs) and for implementing multi-scale species monitoring programs. Here we describe a modelling framework to assess the predictive ability of EFAs as Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) against traditional datasets (climate, land-cover) at several scales. We test the framework with a multi-scale assessment of habitat suitability for two plant species of conservation concern, both protected under the EU Habitats Directive, differing in terms of life history, range and distribution pattern (<em>Iris boissieri</em> and <em>Taxus baccata</em>). We fitted four sets of SDMs for the two test species, calibrated with: interpolated climate variables; landscape variables; EFAs; and a combination of climate and landscape variables. EFA-based models performed very well at the several scales (AUC_median from 0.881&plusmn;0.072 to 0.983&plusmn;0.125), and similarly to traditional climate-based models, individually or in combination with land-cover predictors (AUC_median from 0.882&plusmn;0.059 to 0.995&plusmn;0.083). Moreover, EFA-based models identified additional suitable areas and provided valuable information on functional features of habitat suitability for both test species (narrowly <em>vs</em>. widely distributed), for both coarse and fine scales. Our results suggest a relatively small scale-dependence of the predictive ability of satellite-derived EFAs, supporting their use as meaningful EBVs in SDMs from regional and broader scales to more local and finer scales. Since the evaluation of species&rsquo; conservation status and habitat quality should as far as possible be performed based on scalable indicators linking to meaningful processes, our framework may guide conservation managers in decision-making related to biodiversity monitoring and reporting schemes. [Note: this resource includes the output dataset]

Afforestation programs such as the one promoted by the EU Common Agricultural Policy have spread tree plantations on former cropland. These afforestations attract generalist forest and ubiquitous species but may cause severe damage to open habitat species, especially birds of high conservation value. We investigated the effects of young (&lt;20 yr) tree plantations dominated by pineP. halepensison bird communities inhabiting the adjacent open farmland habitat in central Spain. We hypothesize that pine plantations located at shorter distances from open fields and with larger surface would affect species richness and conservation value of bird communities. Regression models controlling for the influence of land use types around plantations revealed positive effects of higher distance to pine plantation edge on community species richness in winter, and negative effects on an index of conservation concern (SPEC) during the breeding season. However, plantation area did not have any effect on species richness or community conservation value. Our results indicate that the effects of pine afforestation on bird communities inhabiting Mediterranean cropland are diluted by heterogeneous agricultural landscapes.

The recent figures on the conservation status of EU protected habitats and species underscore the obvious need for a more stringent application of the protection rules included in Article 6 of the Habitats Directive on ongoing activities, such as dredging, recreation and forestry, with adverse effects on Natura 2000-sites. However, all too often the Member States refrain from scrutinizing harmful forms of existing use in already heavily degraded Natura 2000-sites. The economic concerns tied to the continuation of existing use often prevail over restoration considerations. This paper showcases that, despite submissions to the contrary, legitimate interests and legal certainty cannot, as such, preclude the application of the protection rules contained in Article 6 of the Habitats Directive in relation to ongoing activities. Whilst granting the Member States some leeway as to the application of the ex ante assessment rules to ongoing activities, the Court of Justice puts forward the protection duty enshrined in Article 6(2) of the Habitats Directive as bottom-line in relation to all possible ongoing activities which could lead to deterioration and/or significant disturbance of a Natura 2000-site. However, the recent case-law illustrates that many Member States are struggling with the effective implementation of the latter obligation.

INTRODUCTION&#x0D; A significant amount of biodiversity occurs on private lands of Latvia. About 88% of grassland habitats and 19% of forest habitats of EU importance are located on private properties. Most of the biodiversity values are located outside the Natura 2000 network and other types of protected areas. In order to reach biodiversity conservation goals of the European Union and Latvia, it is important to integrate private lands into nature conservation strategies as well. There are different mechanisms in Latvia available for biodiversity conservation on private land: protected nature territories; micro-reserves; general legal requirements of nature protection; support payments under the Rural Development Programme; tax exemptions for landowners in protected areas, and others. Economic restrictions related to biodiversity conservation measures also tend to create tension in society and cause socio-economic conflicts that might influence the success of reaching biodiversity goals.&#x0D; MATERIALS AND METHODS&#x0D; In order to explore private landowners’ attitudes towards biodiversity conservation measures on their land, a literature review was carried out including the analysis of research articles, reports of projects, reports of landowner surveys, and others. Only studies from Baltic Sea region countries were reviewed, selecting 18 articles and reports analysing factors influencing landowners’ attitudes towards biodiversity conservation on private lands. Identified factors and conservation approaches in other countries were analysed in the context of nature conservation system of Latvia, discussing the possible improvements of existing conservation strategies.&#x0D; RESULTS&#x0D; Private landowners are a very heterogeneous community, with various attitudes towards biodiversity conservation measures. There are many factors influencing landowners’ attitudes regarding biodiversity conservation on private lands, e.g., property size, field of education and education level, general conservation values of the landowner, income proportion from land management, and others. In general, landowners of Latvia support biodiversity conservation measures on private land; however, they are concerned about possible related restrictions on economic activity and the respecting of their rights to own property. Landowners highlight the importance of effective compensation mechanisms, respectful communication with environmental institutions, and landowners’ participation in conservation related decision-making.&#x0D; DISCUSSION&#x0D; In the process of searching for improvements of biodiversity conservation strategies, it is important to take into account the needs and concerns of private landowners. According to analysis, there is a potential and demand for voluntary biodiversity conservation mechanisms in Latvia, which could complement the existing (regulatory) biodiversity conservation strategies. Significant proportion of landowners would be ready to take an active part in the biodiversity conservation process if an effective support system (consultative and financial) were provided.

INTRODUCTION&#x0D; A significant amount of biodiversity occurs on private lands of Latvia. About 88% of grassland habitats and 19% of forest habitats of EU importance are located on private properties. Most of the biodiversity values are located outside the Natura 2000 network and other types of protected areas. In order to reach biodiversity conservation goals of the European Union and Latvia, it is important to integrate private lands into nature conservation strategies as well. There are different mechanisms in Latvia available for biodiversity conservation on private land: protected nature territories; micro-reserves; general legal requirements of nature protection; support payments under the Rural Development Programme; tax exemptions for landowners in protected areas, and others. Economic restrictions related to biodiversity conservation measures also tend to create tension in society and cause socio-economic conflicts that might influence the success of reaching biodiversity goals.&#x0D; MATERIALS AND METHODS&#x0D; In order to explore private landowners’ attitudes towards biodiversity conservation measures on their land, a literature review was carried out including the analysis of research articles, reports of projects, reports of landowner surveys, and others. Only studies from Baltic Sea region countries were reviewed, selecting 18 articles and reports analysing factors influencing landowners’ attitudes towards biodiversity conservation on private lands. Identified factors and conservation approaches in other countries were analysed in the context of nature conservation system of Latvia, discussing the possible improvements of existing conservation strategies.&#x0D; RESULTS&#x0D; Private landowners are a very heterogeneous community, with various attitudes towards biodiversity conservation measures. There are many factors influencing landowners’ attitudes regarding biodiversity conservation on private lands, e.g., property size, field of education and education level, general conservation values of the landowner, income proportion from land management, and others. In general, landowners of Latvia support biodiversity conservation measures on private land; however, they are concerned about possible related restrictions on economic activity and the respecting of their rights to own property. Landowners highlight the importance of effective compensation mechanisms, respectful communication with environmental institutions, and landowners’ participation in conservation related decision-making.&#x0D; DISCUSSION&#x0D; In the process of searching for improvements of biodiversity conservation strategies, it is important to take into account the needs and concerns of private landowners. According to analysis, there is a potential and demand for voluntary biodiversity conservation mechanisms in Latvia, which could complement the existing (regulatory) biodiversity conservation strategies. Significant proportion of landowners would be ready to take an active part in the biodiversity conservation process if an effective support system (consultative and financial) were provided.

This study focuses on rural development policy implementers and evaluators as users of European biodiversity data. It critically analyses the use of biodiversity data for measuring the impact of agri-environment programmes and related rural development funding, and highlights good practices from a range of countries. The examples show the possibilities for better targeting and evaluation of agricultural funding to biodiversity conservation if sufficient biodiversity data are available and are used in policy. However, many biodiversity datasets exist at the national or regional but are still not integrated in the RDP monitoring system and thus not accessible to evaluators, and many RDPs still feature only the obligatory EU-level indicators. It is important to differentiate between the need for standardised EU-level datasets that can be used for an overall assessment of the impact of the CAP, where there is still a huge data gap, and the national or regional programming level, where there are often existing data that are not being used for various reasons. The study is part of the EU BON project, which aimed to build an integrated biodiversity information system for Europe.

SummaryThe effective conservation management of vulnerable taxa requires up-to-date evaluation of population size. Montagu’s Harrier Circus pygargus is a farmland raptor of high conservation concern and threatened by agricultural intensification. However, within many European countries, including Poland, the status of this species remains unknown or questionable and information on its breeding is incomplete or imprecise. Here, we estimate the size of the national population of the Montagu’s Harrier and argue that using data from multiple sources may help to design national bird surveys and better contribute to identifying population trends. We built a predictive model based on a presence-absence data obtained by volunteer-based citizen-science projects conducted in Poland during 2000–2012. Afterwards, from the set of 10 km x 10 km squares of high predicted habitat suitability, 100 sampling plots were randomly chosen and regularly surveyed by experienced ornithologists in 2013 and 2014. The evaluation of fieldwork efficiency by the double-observer approach allowed detectability to be estimated and accounted for while estimating population size. We estimated the Polish Montagu’s Harrier population at almost 3,400 breeding pairs (95% CI: 2,700–4,300), thus constituting 20% of the European Union (EU) population. Furthermore, we showed that public-gathered data originating from multiple sources offered great potential for regular surveys to obtain large-scale estimates of population size.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) initiated in 2001 aims to assess the impacts of human pressure on ecosystem services (ES) and human well-being. Since then, the ES have been a worldwide concern, namely regarding to biodiversity loss and land use management (MA, 2005). The EU 2010 Biodiversity Baseline Report stated that 65% of habitats of EU importance were in an unfavorable conservation status, mainly due to anthropic activities over time (EEA, 2010). As a consequence, in 2011, the EU adopted the Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, requiring all Member States to actively work towards stopping the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services by 2020, and to restore ecosystems. ES are particularly relevant in urban areas, where most population is concentrated and expected to reach almost 70% of the total population by 2050 (UN-DESA, 2018). Strategically planned urban Green and Blue Infrastructures (GBI) can be designed and implemented in cities to effectively provide a wide range of ES, relevant to address urban sustainability and resilience to climate change, and thus effectively contribute to stop and revert ES deterioration and loss. However, the integration of ES and GBI concepts into national, regional and local policies and plans, and their effectiveness to implement the EU Biodiversity Strategy, is still a major challenge. This paper aims to analyze the horizontal and vertical integration of the ES and GBI concepts in the Portuguese policies and land use planning, at national, regional and local levels, focusing on the municipality of Coimbra. Among the 19 documents analyzed, most of them are defined at national level (12) and 6 of them are defined at local level. At the regional level, only one single plan is available, although it is still not officially approved and published, despite started being prepared in 1991. This regional situation mirrors the current status of the Portuguese administrative levels, which was triggered by the negative result of the 1998 referendum on the regionalization process. This referendum prevented necessary changes in the administrative divisions, so that current regional divisions do not reflect the economic, demographic and cultural realities of the country, having been emptied of administrative powers. The analysis shows a strong integration of the ES and GBI concepts at the national level, but the vertical coordination shows that plenty of work needs to be done to fully embrace the ES and GBI concepts. This research was performed in the UrbanGaia project, funded through the ERA-net BiodivERsA 3 2015 call under grants BRAIN-be BR/175/A1/URBANGAIA-BE (Belgium); 01LC1616A (Germany); S-BIODIVERSA-17-17-1 (Lithuania), and BIODIVERSA/0008/2015 (Portugal).

SummaryMany of Europe’s unique habitats are highly threatened. In order to tackle these threats, the European Union (EU) is annually financing, mainly through its LIFE programme, conservation actions aimed at improving the conservation status of its habitats. We analysed the allocation of the programme’s budget since its inception in 1992 and we found that the number of projects implemented within the EU member states is only weakly related to the number of habitats within them (R2 = 0.39). In some states, fewer than 25% of the habitats have been funded, while in others, more than 75% of the habitats have been funded. There are also disparities in terms of which habitats are being funded; a quarter of them have never received any funding, while others have been targeted by multiple projects. Transnational cooperation between the states is low, further perpetuating the aforementioned disparities. Projects are implemented almost exclusively within the recipient state, often irrespectively of the conservation status of the targeted habitats in other states. We recommend that the EU addresses these disparities by encouraging projects in underfunded states, especially in habitats with unfavourable conservation statuses. Moreover, the EU should encourage transnational cooperation in order to promote effective conservation across the EU and to help underfunded states build their capacity.

AbstractPrioritization is crucial in nature conservation, as land and financial resources are limited. Selection procedures must follow objective criteria, and not primarily subjective aspects, such as charisma. In this study, we assessed the level of charisma for all European butterflies. Based on these data, we analysed the charisma values of the species listed on the annexes of the EU Habitats Directive and of the species being of conservation priority according to criteria derived by three objective criteria: Species ecological specialisation, distribution, and threat. The mean level of charisma was higher for species of the EU Habitats Directive than for species of conservation priority and for not-listed species. Five of the twenty most charismatic species were also listed on the EU Habitats Directive, but none occurred on the list of species being of conservation priority. A trait space analysis revealed remarkable differences between the different species assortments: The species listed on the EU Habitats Directive covered a large trait space and included many species with high charismatic value, but low ecological and biogeographical relevance, while species of high conservation priority covered a restricted trait space and did not overlap with charismatic species. According to our findings, the selection of species for nature conservation still follows a mix of being aesthetic combined with some ecological criteria.

The scientific discussion concerning the development of the promising approaches for phyto-diversity conservation and the rational use of plant resources in Russian Federation was held at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences in December 2019. After the reports of leading scientists from biological institutes, a resolution No. 195 dated December 10, 2019 «Global changes in terrestrial ecosystems of Russia in the 21st century: challenges and opportunities» was adopted. The resolution includes a set of priority scientific aims including the development and application of modern technologies for inventory of the plant communities and the development of vegetation classification in Russia. As a result of the opinion exchange between phytocoenologists from different regions, the Concept of Russian Vegetation Classification was proposed. It is based on the following principles. 1. The use of the ecological-floristic approach and the hierarchy of the main syntaxonomic categories applied for the Classification of Vegetation of Europe. 2. Development of the Russian archive of geobotanical relevés and syntaxa in accordance with international standards and with the remote access functions. 3. Application of strict rules for syntaxon names formulated in the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature. The Concept assumes the development of a special program «Russian Vegetation Classification» with the justification of the necessity for targeted funding of the program in Research Institutions and Universities involved for solving this scientific problem on the principle of network collaboration. The final results of this program will be represented in the multi-volume publication «Vegetation of Russia». A shortened version of the Concept (English version was kindly revised by Dr. Andrew Gillison, Center for Biodiversity Management, Cairns, Queensand, Australia) is below. Vegetation classification of Russia Research Program Concept Systematic classification and inventory of plant communities (phytocoenoses) is fundamental to the study and forecasting of contemporary complex processes in the biosphere, controlled among other factors, by global climate change. Vegetation classification serves as a common language that enables professionals in various fields of science to communicate and interact with each other in the process of studying and formulating practical ecosystem-related management decisions. Because plant community types can carry a great deal of information about the environment, nearly all approaches to simulation of changes in global biota are based inevitably on vegetation categories. Phytocoenosis is a keystone element when assessing the biodiversity genetic potential, formulating decisions in biological resource management and in sustaining development across Russian territories. Among the world’s vegetation classification systems, phytosociology is a system in which the concept of plant association (basic syntaxon) is the basic element in the classification of phytocoenoses. The phytosociological approach as applied in this concept proposal, has its origins in the Brussels Botanical Congress in 1910. However, despite the broad acceptance of phytocoenotic diversity as a fundamental methodological tool for understanding biosphere processes and managing biological resources nowadays, we still lack a unified approach as to its systematization at both global and country levels with the consequence that, there is no a single classification system. The results obtained by vegetation scientists working under European Vegetation Survey led by L. Mucina became the effective reference for international cooperation in vegetation classification. In the last 17 years they have produced a system of vegetation classification of Europe, including the European part of Russia (Mucina et al., 2016. «Vegetation of Europe: hierarchical floristic classification system of vascular plant, bryophyte, lichen, and algal communities»). Despite the fact that «Vegetation of Europe» is based on ecological and floristic principles, it nevertheless represents an example of the synthesis of one of the most effective approaches to systematizing vegetation diversity by different vegetation science schools. The synthetic approach implemented in this study assumes full accounting of the ecological indicative significance of the floristic composition and structure of plant community and habitat attributes. The approach has already demonstrated its high efficiency for understanding and forecast modeling both natural and anthropogenic processes in the biosphere, as well as in assessment of the environmental and resource significance of vegetation (ref). The demand for this approach is supported by its implementation in a number of pan-European and national projects: NATURE 2000, CORINE, CarHAB, funded at the state and pan-European levels. Currently, one of the main systems for the study and protection of habitats within the framework of environmental programs of the European Union (Davies, Moss, 1999; Rodwell et al., 2002; Moss, 2008; Linking..., 2015; Evans et al., 2018) is EUNIS (European Nature Information System), the framework of which is a multilevel classification of habitats in Europe has been established. EUNIS was used as the basis for the preparation and establishment of the Red List of European Habitats (Rodwell et al., 2013). It is approved by the Commission of the European Union (EU) (Habitats Directive 92/43 / EEC, Commission of the European Communities) for use in environmental activities of EU countries. In its Resolution of 10.12.2019, the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) expressed the need in a modern vegetation classification for the assessment of the ecosystem transformations under current climate changes and increasing anthropogenic impacts, as well as in development of effective measures for the conservation and rational use of plant resources of Russia. The resolution recommended the development of the Concept of Vegetation Classification of Russia to the Science Council for biodiversity and biological resources (at RAS Department of biological sciences — Section of Botany). As a consequence, a group of Russian vegetation researchers has developed the Concept for Vegetation Classification of Russia and proposed principles and a plan for its implementation. Aim Elaboration of a system of vegetation classification of Russia reflecting the natural patterns of plant communities formation at different spatial and geographical levels and serving as the fundamental basis for predicting biosphere processes, science-based management of bioresources, conservation of biodiversity and, ultimately, rational nature management for planning sustainable development of its territories. Research goals 1. Development of fundamental principles for the classification of vegetation by synthesis of the achievements of Russian and world’s vegetation science. 2. Inventory of plant community diversity in Russia and their systematization at different hierarchical levels. Elaboration and publication of a Prodromus of vegetation of Russia (syntaxon checklist) with an assessment of the correctness of syntaxa, their Nomenclatural validization and bibliography. Preparation and publication of a book series «Vegetation of Russia» with the entire classification system and comprehensive description of all syntaxonomic units. 3. The study of bioclimatic patterns of the phytocoenotic diversity in Russia for predictive modeling of biosphere processes. Assessment of qualitative changes in plant cover under global climate change and increasing anthropogenic impact in its various forms. 4. Assessment of the conservation value of plant communities and ecosystems. Habitat classification within Russia on the basis of the vegetation classification with a reference to world experience. 5. Demonstration of the opportunities of the vegetation classification for the assessment of actual plant resources, their future prognoses under climate and resource use change, optimization of nature management, environmental engineering and planning of projects for sustainable development. Basic principles underlying the vegetation classification of Russia I. Here we address the synthesis of accumulated theoretical ideas about the patterns of vegetation diversity and the significant features of phytocoenoses. The main goal is to identify the most significant attributes of the plant cover at different hierarchical levels of classification: floristic, structural-phytocoenotic, ecotopic and geographical.We propose the following hierarchy of the main syntaxonomical categories used in the classification of European vegetation (Mucina et al., 2016) by the ecological-floristic approach (Braun-Blanquet): Type of vegetation, Class, Order, Alliance, Association. Applying the ecological-floristic approach to the vegetation classification of Russia will maximize the use of the indicative potential of the plant community species composition to help solve the complex tasks of modern ecology, notably plant resource management, biodiversity conservation, and the forecast of vegetation response to environmental change of environment changes. II. We plan to establish an all-Russian archive of geobotanical relevés in accordance with international standards and reference information system on the syntaxonomical diversity coupled with implemented remote access capabilities. At present, the archives in botanical, biological, environmental and geographical institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as those of universities, have accumulated a large mass of geobotanical relevés for most regions of Russia (according to preliminary estimates — more than 300,000). These documents, which are fundamental to solving the most important national tasks for the conservation and monitoring of the natural human environment, need to be declared a National treasure. In this respect, the development of the all-Russian Internet portal for the vegetation classification is an urgent priority. III. The vegetation classification procedure will be based on a generalization of field data (geobotanical relevés) performed in accordance with international standards, using up-to-date mathematical and statistical methods and information technology. IV. The vegetation classification of Russia will be based on strict rules for naming of syntaxa, according to their validity as formulated in the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature, which is constantly being improved (Weber et al., 2020). These underlying principles will help develop the ecological indicative potential of a wide range of vegetation features that can be used to focus on solving a range of global and regional ecology problems, plant resources management, biodiversity protection, and forecasting of the consequences of environmental changes. Prospects for the implementation of the concept «Vegetation classification of Russia» At present, the academic research centers and universities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Murmansk, Crimea, Bashkiria, Komi and other regions have sufficient scientific potential to achieve the goals in the framework of the special Program of the Russian Academy of Sciences — that is, to develop a vegetation classification of Russia. To achieve this goal will require: - organization of a network of leading teams within the framework of the Scientific Program of the Russian Academy of Sciences «Vegetation classification of Russia», adjustment of the content of state assignment with the allocation of additional funding. - approval of the thematic Program Committee by the RAS for the development of organizational approaches and elaboration of specific plans for the realization of the Scientific Program, - implementation of the zonal-geographical principle in organization of activity on developing the regional classifications and integrating them into a single classification system of the vegetation of Russia. - ensuring the integration of the system of vegetation classification of Russia with similar systems in the countries of the former USSR, Europe, USA, China, Japan, etc. Potential organizations-participants in the scientific Program — 18 institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and 8 Universities. Estimated timelines of the implementation of the concept «Vegetation classification of Russia» — 2021–2030. General schedule for the entire period of research 2021. Approval of classification principles, unified methodical and methodological approaches by project participants. Discussion and elaboration of the rules of organization of the all-Russian archive of geobotanical relevés and syntaxa. 2022–2026. Formation of all-Russian archive of geobotanical relevés and syntaxa. Development of plant community classification and identification of the potential indicative features of units of different ranks based on quantitative methods and comparative syntaxonomic analysis with existing classification systems in Europe, North and East Asia. Justification of new concepts for key syntaxa. The study of environmental and geographical patterns of the vegetation diversity in Russia using up-to-date methods of ordination modeling and botany-geography ana­lysis. 2022. Publication of a Prodromus of vegetation classification of Russia. Schedule for the publication of volumes of the «Vegetation classification of Russia» 2023. «Boreal forests and pre-tundra woodlands» 2024. «Forests of the temperate zone» 2025. «Tundra and polar deserts» and «Alpine ve­getation» 2026. «Steppe vegetation» and «Meadow vegetation» 2027. «Aquatic and bog vegetation» 2028. «Halophytic vegetation» 2029. «Synanthropic vegetation» 2027–2030. Development of criteria for assessing the environmental significance of the plant community syntaxonomic categories for various natural zones based on world criteria. Preparation of the volume «Classification of habitats of Russia and assessment of their environmental significance».

European biodiversity is on a steep decline, in part due to climate change, pollution, overexploitation and changes in land use. In light of this decline, the Habitats Directive, the cornerstone of EU nature conservation law, has been the subject of critique. It can be observed that the Directive suffers from lacklustre (binding) norms on nature restoration – from connectivity restoration to climate change adaptation. However, in June of 2022, the European Commission published a proposal for a Regulation on Nature Restoration, which supplements the existing regimes withinEUnature conservation law – and introduces regimes meant to restore biodiversity within the EU. In turn, this article discusses whether the gaps, weak norms and systematic issues found within the Habitats Directive, related to the restoration of ecosystems, have been sufficiently addressed by this Proposal. It finds that the introduction of specific norms on nature restoration, which are equipped with a historic baseline and subsequent deadlines, do address key gaps within modern- day nature conservation law – whilst taking on a more holistic approach to restoration. However, additional tweaks are still desirable to fully address the gaps within the Habitats Directive as, for example, quantifiable targets for connectivity restoration and the reintroduction of species are still missing. Further questions can be raised regarding the robustness of the overarching target, the mitigation of pollution in natural habitats, and the comprehensiveness and flexibility of its annexes. Biodiversity, Nature Restoration Regulation, Restoration, EU biodiversity strategy 2030, EU Nature conservation law, The European Green Deal, Habitats Directive, EU Nature Restoration Law

This article performs a comparative analysis of five major legal instruments for (marine) nature conservation in Europe, namely the 1979 Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, the 1979 EU Wild Birds Directive, the 1992 EU Habitats Directive, the 1992 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, and the 2008 EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Through this analysis, an answer is provided to the question what the recently added MSFD contributes to the pre-existing legal framework in the field of marine nature conservation. To provide the necessary focus, the analysis is carried out from the perspective of one marine subregion, the North Sea, although many elements of it are ostensibly of wider relevance. The article systematically explores the potential added value of the MSFD with regard to marine protected areas (MPAs) and other types of nature conservation measures. It concludes that the MSFD apparently contributes both substance and legal teeth to the legal framework for the protection, management and restoration of marine species, habitats and ecosystems in Europe.

Due to increasing human activities with negative impacts on wildlife and natural habitats, it has become necessary to establish conservation policies protecting at least parts of natural diversity. Subterranean fauna presents a challenge for conservation as species with small ranges or single site occurrences are common. In addition to the high level of strict endemism, the concealed lifestyles in habitats that are difficult to access make it challenging to establish the conservation status of subterranean species. Conservation approaches have different practical implications, but they should: i) include a sufficient number of important sites or proportion of species populations, and ii) involve monitoring of target species and habitats to check the effectiveness of conservation efforts. We evaluated both aspects in two study cases on subterranean fauna from Slovenia, which is known as one of the global biodiversity hotspots in the Western Balkans. In the first case, we investigated to what extent current conservation schemes cover single site species. In the second case, we studied a region in Southern Slovenia and evaluated to what extent the EU legislation, namely EU Habitats directive, has been successfully implemented. In the frame of the latter, Sites of Community Importance were designated also due to the presence of important cave habitats and subterranean species. Our results suggest that the inclusion of important subterranean sites in conservation schemes is considerable. But, the apparent lack of research and monitoring of both subterranean habitats and species hampers the conclusions on effectiveness of different conservation approaches.

European nature conservation law with its habitats assessment as demanded by Article 6 of the 1992 Habitats Directive is recently being regarded as rigid, rather static and not fully updated with modern sustainability and climate change demands. As a consequence nature conservation law is said to be not always capable to facilitate sustainable development. A balancing of both ecology and socio-economic interests rather than a singular ecological criteria assessment might give way to sustainable combinations of land use in or nearby nature reserves. While previous authors call for updating and restructuring the Habitats Directive, this paper argues that the EU legislative framework, consisting of European treaty law with its environmental law principles as well as the wording of Article 6 itself, already offers adequate opportunities to re-interpret the EU nature conservation directives within the context of sustainable land use, thus giving way to a less dogmatic approach entirely in line with modern sustainable development demands.

Abstract The Habitats Directive will remain central to the EU’s continuing efforts to halt and ultimately reverse biodiversity loss under its 2030 Strategy for Biodiversity. Understanding the role this Directive plays in protecting European species is, therefore, critical if the EU is to deliver on its ambitious nature conservation agenda. This article presents a new study that furthers our understanding of EU law’s ability to deliver meaningful changes to a species’ conservation status by comparing the status of European plants that are protected under the Habitats Directive with those that are not, using the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. Its findings suggest that the Directive has had only a limited impact on European flora. The article concludes by proposing reforms that could address the shortcomings in the EU’s approach to conservation which are highlighted by the study.

A network of European organisations is coordinating a workshop in New York (USA) on September 26, 2024, as part of the Science Summit 2024 at the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA79). This network represents active communities from the fields of biodiversity, ecology, and engineering. It aims to strengthen science, technology, and innovation efforts to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).These communities, through European initiatives like the European Research Infrastructures, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), and Digital Twin projects, have selected the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (K-M GBF) as a testbed for contributing to the SDGs. Their collective focus is on the network shared impact rather than individual projects. By examining a common approach to the K-M GBF, they aim to enhance their contributions to the framework's strategic goals, particularly its 2030 and 2050 targets.In this direction, the network: Recognises the contribution and rights of indigenous peoples and local communities as custodians of biodiversity and holders of traditional knowledge for the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of ecosystems. By adhering to the Open Science principles of "Findable Accessible Interoperable Reusable" (FAIR) and "Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics" (CARE), and by being consistent with the practices adopted by the scientific community, the members of the network promote traceability of their work and of the materials they use, including those provided by indigenous peoples.Implements a variety of approaches to improve biodiversity monitoring, management, and protection. It promotes multi- and cross-disciplinary, integrative approaches to enhance its contribution to many of the Framework objectives. Its members support research on biodiversity at all levels of the biological organisation, from single-celled organisms, through collections and specimen data and up to the scale of ecosystems, as well as on how biodiversity responds to climate change. A key role in this process is already being played by the biodiversity Research Infrastructures, both in the EU and globally, through bi- and multi-directional linking and an increased interoperability of their data holdings, the provision of advanced access to semantically structured FAIR data, the provision of single points of access to federated data discovery from different data domains, thus supporting multi-disciplinary research addressing questions of high complexity and importance to society.All organisations in the network are committed to the three principal objectives of the Convention on the Biological Diversity, namely <i>conservation, sustainable use, and fair sharing of benefits</i> derived from the utilisation of natural resources. They contribute significantly to the three above principal objectives of the CBD, by: (a) making biodiversity information readily available and developing systems to support decision making and conservation efforts that directly contribute to our ability to live sustainably with nature, as concerns the first of the principal objectives above; (b) identifying priorities and targets and raising awareness of the need to streamline efforts among scientific and societal actors, are critical elements towards the second objective; (c) developing technologies to enable the sharing of data, services and other products related to genetic resources, which are used in combination with any other type of resource or product (e.g. taxonomic, literature, environmental, etc.), are included among the activities to achieve the third principal objective. Contributes to the achievement of the K-M GBF objectives through science, technology and innovation, based on scientific evidence, traditional knowledge, and innovative practices. This support is translated into activities such as: (a) providing solutions for research, data sharing and management, and scientific computing solutions to researchers, learners, policy makers, public administrations and businesses; (b) developing standard operating procedures, implementing standards, and promoting open science principles to enhance research integrity, accuracy and accountability in science; (c) providing federated research services, resources, and other research products to promote multidisciplinary knowledge and innovation; (d) creating models (e.g. of climate and human activity related land-use changes in biodiversity dynamics and ecosystem services), automated data flows (from sensors to data systems) and integration (e.g. biodiversity data flows combined with environmental and human activity variables; (e) building digital twins for informed decision making, such as the European Digital Twin of the Ocean (European DTO), with assured connectivity to newly collected high quality environmental and biodiversity data; (f) providing training and capacity building services for innovative tools.Supports the consideration of the ecosystem approach principle in the implementation of the K-M GBF, with a number of activities being developed by the network: (a) providing virtual representations of the ocean and land, integrating observations, modelling, and digital infrastructures, and creating digital twins that allow the scientific community to simulate and study "what if" scenarios; (b) developing and implementing technologies that enable a cross-domain, multidisciplinary approach to the study of biodiversity and ecosystems; (c) promoting ecosystem-based approaches to biodiversity management and habitat conservation in innovative publications venues (e.g. <i>Nature Conservation</i>, <i>Biodiversity Data Journal</i>, <i>One Ecosystem</i>, etc.).Promotes collaboration and synergies between the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols, as well as with other biodiversity-related conventions, relevant multilateral agreements and international organisations and processes, as this will facilitate the implementation of the K-M GBF. The network is developing a variety of work, including: (a) collaborating with bodies and organisations responsible for the implementation of the CBD and its Protocols (e.g. IUCN, IPBES, European Commission) to co-design and co-develop research resources and products to support their mandates; (b) establishing strong links with policy actors such as the European Commission and the European Parliament, the JRC and others. Participate in social, scientific and technical initiatives in the European arena, such as the European Green Deal, the EU Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity and its Science Service for Biodiversity, the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub, the EU Pollinators Initiative and the EOSC. Developing links with the private sector through the Science/Business initiative, cooperation with the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), and the EOSC Digital Innovation Hub (EOSC DIH); (c) integrating and sharing of computational resources and expertise will not only advance the frontiers of scientific knowledge, but also ensure that data-driven research initiatives around the world are well supported.Contributes to the understanding and researching of the links between biodiversity and health. Particular emphasis will be placed on the following activities: (a) participating in initiatives and projects such as the EOSC Health Cluster, a platform for interdisciplinary research, EC projects such as B4Life, B-Cubed and BioAgora by publishing research that investigates how biodiversity affects human health; (b) using data from multiple sources to numerically demonstrate the links between human and environmental health, in the context of the One Health concept; (c) using digital twins to create Virtual Research Environments (VREs) that generate knowledge on how biodiversity patterns derived from taxa and habitats interact with patterns derived from data and information on their health; (d) publishing the results of the research, such as studies on zoonotic diseases, biodiversity and mental health, and the benefits of ecosystem services for public health. During the workshop, the participants will present their collective contribution to the implementation of the K-M GBF and invite international and regional stakeholders to present their expectations on the above topic. Based on stakeholder input, the network will publish a white paper outlining its approach.Finally, these communities will issue an open call to forge an international alliance to further integrate biodiversity conservation into the priorities of the UN Summit of the Future agenda priorities and the post-SDG agenda.

SUMMARYThe European Union's (EU's) Habitats Directive includes annexes listing the habitats and species requiring protection. As new countries join the EU these lists need to be amended to remain pertinent. In 2004 and 2007, 12 countries, mostly in central Europe, joined the EU and were asked to propose native species or habitats that required protection; this formed an initial base for negotiations with the European Commission in consultation with the existing member states and with scientific support from the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity. The 12 countries made 831 proposals, resulting in the addition of 191 species and 33 habitats, and geographical exemptions for eight species. Although the Directive provided definitions, these needed to be supplemented with additional criteria to permit assessments of the proposals. The process involved many actors at both European and national level. This illustrates the development of biodiversity governance and provides potential lessons for future activities, including the need for scientific guidance and the importance of involving all relevant actors.

Whether or under what circumstances the hunting of species listed as strictly protected in the Habitats Directive's Annex IV can be allowed has been the subject of extensive controversy and litigation in several Member States. Finland has asked the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling on several questions, the answers to which will have wide-reaching consequences for how species are protected in the EU. This article addresses these questions, in particular the permissibility of the management hunting of strictly protected species, the permissibility of allowing hunting with the goal of preventing poaching, and at what scale the "favourable conservation status" of species populations should be considered. It argues that exploitive hunting of strictly protected species is not consistent with the purpose of the Habitats Directive, that hunting for the purpose of preventing poaching cannot be considered a conserva- tion measure under the Habitats Directive, and that species' conservation status should be considered unfavourable for the purposes of derogation if it is unfavourable at the local population level, the Member State level, or the EU level. It concludes by discussing the consequences of this analysis for hunting in the EU more broadly.

The United Nations System of Environmental and Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) is a geospatial approach, whereby existing data on ecosystem stocks and flows are collated to show changes over time. The framework has been proposed as a means to track and monitor ecosystem restoration targets across the EU. Condition is a key consideration in the conservation assessment of habitats protected under the EU Habitats Directive and ecosystem condition accounts are also integral to the SEEA EA. While SEEA EA accounts have been developed at EU level for an array for ecosystem types, condition accounts remain the least developed. Collating available datasets under the SEEA EA framework, we developed extent and rudimentary condition accounts for peatland ecosystems at catchment scale in Ireland. Information relating to peatland ecosystem sub-types or habitat types was collated for peatland habitats listed under Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive, as well as degraded peatlands not included in EU nature conservation networks. While data relating to peatland condition were limited, understanding changes in ecosystem extent and incorporating knowledge of habitat types and degradation served as a proxy for ecosystem condition in the absence of more comprehensive data. This highlighted the importance of the ecosystem extent account, which underpins all other accounts in the SEEA EA framework. Reflecting findings at EU level, drainage, disturbance and land conversion were identified as the main pressures affecting peatland condition. We highlighted a number of options to gather data to build more robust, time-series extent and condition accounts for peatlands at varying accounting scales. Overall, despite the absence of comprehensive data, bringing information under the SEEA EA framework is considered a good starting point, with the integration of expert ecological opinion considered essential to ensure development of reliable accounts, particularly when working at ecosystem sub-type (habitat type) and catchment scale.

Green Infrastructure is a novel EU policy response to the continuous degradation of natural capital. The central idea behind this initiative is the recognition of environment as an infrastructure resource capable of delivering a wide range of ecosystem services. With its GI strategy, the European Commission aims to provide a framework for integrating GI into sectoral policies including nature conservation. According to the Commission, at this point GI can be implemented within the context of existing legislation. In this article we will focus on assessing the cornerstone of EU nature conservation legislation, the Habitats Directive, through the lens of GI. The analysis revealed that the Directive has several weaknesses from the perspective of GI and thus re-consideration of some provisions or revision of the Directive may be needed in order to support the EU GI initiative.

Habitat mapping is nеcessary for the efficient conservation and protection of marine ecosystems. In addition, it is a requirement for EU Member States as stated in the European Union (EU) Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), as well as necessary for the achievement and maintenance of 'good environmental status (GES)' of benthic marine habitats in the framework of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC).This study provides baseline information on the marine benthic habitats of Sozopol Bay (Black Sea) and Karpathos and Saria islands (Mediterranean Sea). These two Natura 2000 sites were selected as study sites of the RECONNECT project, which aimed at creating a transnational cooperative network to confront the environmental threats of ecosystems with a high natural and cultural interest, by the establishment of common practices and a joint regional strategy. The specific objective was to map the marine habitats using a defined <em>a priori </em>classification (EUNIS), with the ultimate purpose of supporting government marine spatial planning, management and decision-making processes through the development of a Decision Support System.

Coastal ecosystems, encompassing land and marine environments and hosting substantial biodiversity, are among the most threatened worldwide. The European Habitats Directive prioritises coastal habitats and species, requiring legislative, direct protection, monitoring, and informational measures. Accurate habitat and species monitoring is crucial to conservation efforts, yet biodiversity research in complex, ever-changing environments like coastal areas is difficult. Citizen Science may bridge biodiversity assessment and eco-friendly monitoring by incorporating non-scientists into the data collection for scientists and stakeholders. A Citizen Science approach supported by a dedicated iNaturalist project (called Wild Coast CASCADE) was implemented to obtain a complete monitoring framework that includes observations of many taxa in terrestrial, aquatic, and transitional dynamic coastal environments in the Central Italian Adriatic coast. We explored data gathered focusing on the IUCN Red List species, the species and habitats of European conservation concern, and the non-native species. Between 2020 and 2023, we collected 3784 records covering 742 species, with 81% meeting the “research grade criteria”, and these were retained for subsequent research. Citizen Science volunteers have collected 291 georeferenced animal records from the global IUCN Red List, 51 plant species from 14 species that are indicators of the presence of habitats of European Conservation Concern, and 44 non-native plants and animals. Our results provide evidence that citizen research projects can effectively assist in monitoring coastal–marine habitats and species. They also underline the potential of Citizen Science for biodiversity conservation and emphasize the importance of public engagement in conservation efforts.

SynopsisA brief outline of the characteristics and habitat of marine sedimentary benthos is given together with a consideration of the factors influencing the structure and distribution of benthic communities and the role of larval strategies in influencing recruitment to such communities. The bearing these ecological factors have for the conservation of such communities in Scottish waters is discussed in the context of current and potential threats to their present stability and distributions. It is suggested that the rich communities of the fjordic and shelf areas of the western coast and island groups merit the greatest current concern for conservation, in the face of increasing pressures from a range of developmental actions.

AbstractSubterranean environments are essential for the survival of many bat species and other cave fauna but these places are subject to increasing human disturbance. To examine the significance of subterranean habitats for the conservation of bats in China we surveyed bat species in 225 underground sites during 2003–2011. Our results show that 77% of bat species in China, including 30 nationally Endangered or Vulnerable species and nine endemic species, roost in caves and other subterranean habitats. The number of species in occupied roosts was 1–15. Almost 90% of the roosts surveyed contained signs of human disturbance, most of which was from recreational activities. One hundred and twenty-one roosts merit special concern because they harbour ≥ 6 species or &gt; 1,000 individuals, or species of special concern (threatened or endemic species). Generally, larger roosts support more species and a greater abundance of bats than smaller roosts but there is no direct correlation between the presence of species of special concern and roost size. Disused tourist caves have significantly more bat species than other types of roosts. Our data demonstrate that roost disturbance by recreational activities has pronounced detrimental effects on the number of bat species and the presence of species of special concern. We discuss the social, economic and political issues that could adversely affect bat conservation in caves in China, and we recommend that protection of subterranean habitats should be a high priority for bat conservation.

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Subterranean environments are essential for the survival of many bat species and other cave fauna but these places are subject to increasing human disturbance. To examine the significance of subterranean habitats for the conservation of bats in China we surveyed bat species in 225 underground sites during 2003–2011. Our results show that 77% of bat species in China, including 30 nationally Endangered or Vulnerable species and nine endemic species, roost in caves and other subterranean habitats. The number of species in occupied roosts was 1–15. Almost 90% of the roosts surveyed contained signs of human disturbance, most of which was from recreational activities. One hundred and twenty-one roosts merit special concern because they harbour $ 6 species or . 1,000 individuals, or species of special concern (threatened or endemic species). Generally, larger roosts support more species and a greater abundance of bats than smaller roosts but there is no direct correlation between the presence of species of special concern and roost size. Disused tourist caves have significantly more bat species than other types of roosts. Our data demonstrate that roost disturbance by recreational activities has pronounced detrimental effects on the number of bat species and the presence of species of special concern. We discuss the social, economic and political issues that could adversely affect bat conservation in caves in China, and we recommend that protection of subterranean habitats should be a high priority for bat conservation.

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Subterranean environments are essential for the survival of many bat species and other cave fauna but these places are subject to increasing human disturbance. To examine the significance of subterranean habitats for the conservation of bats in China we surveyed bat species in 225 underground sites during 2003–2011. Our results show that 77% of bat species in China, including 30 nationally Endangered or Vulnerable species and nine endemic species, roost in caves and other subterranean habitats. The number of species in occupied roosts was 1–15. Almost 90% of the roosts surveyed contained signs of human disturbance, most of which was from recreational activities. One hundred and twenty-one roosts merit special concern because they harbour $ 6 species or . 1,000 individuals, or species of special concern (threatened or endemic species). Generally, larger roosts support more species and a greater abundance of bats than smaller roosts but there is no direct correlation between the presence of species of special concern and roost size. Disused tourist caves have significantly more bat species than other types of roosts. Our data demonstrate that roost disturbance by recreational activities has pronounced detrimental effects on the number of bat species and the presence of species of special concern. We discuss the social, economic and political issues that could adversely affect bat conservation in caves in China, and we recommend that protection of subterranean habitats should be a high priority for bat conservation.

It is commonly supposed that individual animals are of little relevance to conservation which is concerned, instead, with groups of things or ‘wholes’ such as species, habitats, and the like. It is further contended by some that by prioritising individuals, two of those values that are held dear by conservation – namely natural selection and fitness – are compromised. Taking wildlife rehabilitation as a paradigm case of concern for the individual, it is argued that the latter claim is based upon mistaken assumptions. Then, using red deer culling as a case study, the discord between conservation's holistic values and a concern for individual worth is explored. It emerges that the conservation value of red deer culling is more apparent than real and thus that there is more room for conservationists’ acceptance of individual worth than usually supposed.

The monitoring of alpine habitats showed that they are some of the most threatened habitats in Romania. In order to restore and maintain the mountain pine shrubs of this area to a favourable conservation status, fully in line with the existing EU and national legislation and environmental requirements, some management measures are proposed. To achieve the protection and preservation of the habitats from the Retezat National Park, certain general management measures are required to maintain the habitats at an optimal level. In the paper, the assessment of the alpine habitats found in Retezat National Park, located in Meridional Carpathians (Romanian Southern Carpathians), and the conservation management activities used to halt the alpine habitats destruction in the Retezat Mountains are presented. The current state of mountain pines in the Retezat National Park, under the action of subalpine and alpine grazing degradation, is also explained. Additionally, the study offers details concerning methods for restoration of degraded habitats, using the mountain grassland regeneration technique. Developing grazing regulations for maintaining livestock according to the current conditions of the grasslands, as well as promoting the natural regeneration of forest habitats, are both important measures in this regard.

Bryophytes, including mosses, liverworts and hornworts, are terrestrial plants, with a particular life cycle where the gametophyte is dominant over the sporophyte; many species are pokilohydric, meaning that they achieve a quick equilibrium between the cell water content and that of the environment, suspending their life, but not dying, in the absence of water. Due to their light spores, these plants have a great dispersal ability and may be found from the poles to the equator. In the Azores, there are almost 500 species (Gabriel et al. 2010), colonizing a large number of habitats and substrata, but forming particularly luxuriant communities inside native forests. Nevertheless, these forests are presently restricted to medium-high elevations (above 500 m) and below this altitude, adequate habitats for many bryophyte species are scarce (Henriques et al. 2016). Cave entrances, at different elevations, serve as surrogate habitats for bryophyte species, since they present an adequate relative humidity, fewer competitor species and are usually not disturbed by chemical products such as herbicides or pesticides. The aims of this work are twofold: present the results of the first IUCN red-list assessment of the conservation status of Azorean conservation concern bryophytes; and present an overview of the major threats involving the conservation of those species. The assessments of extinction risk were based on the most updated categories and criteria. Seven liverworts (<em>Calypogeia azorica, Cheilolejeunea cedercreutzii, Fuscocephaloziopsis crassifolia, Leptoscyphus porphyrius </em>subsp<em>. azoricus, Lophocolea fragrans Plagiochila longispina and Radula holtii,</em>) and seven mosses (<em>Andoa berthelotiana, Echinodium renauldii, Heterocladium flaccidum, Hookeria lucens, Microcampylopus laevigatus, Rhynchostegiella trichophylla </em>and<em> Thamnobryum rudolphianum</em>) benefit from populations at cave entrances, mostly the Azorean and Macaronesian endemic species. The three most common threats harming "cave" bryophytes include: climate change &amp; severe weather, habitat change and degradation and invasive plant species of native forest. These threats are also documented in the literature (e.g. Patiño et al. 2016; Ferreira et al. 2016; Triantis et al. 2010 and Silva et al. 2008). Cave habitats are thus an important part of bryophyte conservation in the Azores, and should be both legally protected and monitored to the mutual benefit of species and habitat conservation.

(1) Biodiversity, sustainable development and nature conservation are fundamental issues nowadays. All companies, administrations, governments and international organisations take these issues into consideration. Sustainable forest management always requires a compromise between profitability and conservation and in this fragile equilibrium, forest certification plays a key scheme. This sustainable management is of great importance in the European Union (EU), with the Forest Stewardship Council playing a fundamental role in forest certification. This certification forms the basis of the ecosystem conservation and improvement strategy in Ence, Energía y Celulosa, the leading company dedicated to the production of eucalyptus in Spain; (2) A three-phase protocol (identification of High Conservation Values, assessment of conservation areas and monitoring program), has been developed, providing clear, objective criteria, particularly concerning FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Principle 9, the primary goal being the development and application of these objective criteria in the Ence conservation areas in the province of Huelva (Spain). One of the main criteria for habitat classification was correspondence with the habitats listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive. The compatibility between forest exploitation management and conservation proposed by the Natura 2000 network encouraged us to use this methodology for the identification, classification and assessment of High Conservation Values considered in FSC forest certification: Principle 9; (3) The study encompasses 183 forest management units covering 52,022 ha, with a total of 11,847.45 ha being identified as High Conservation Value Areas. Through the identification and assessment of the conservation areas, the described methodology played a crucial role in demonstrating the positive impact of Ence’s certified forest management on the conservation of biological diversity; (4) This study demonstrates that an objective and reliable identification, assessment and monitoring methodology, with a proven high degree of accuracy in the location and characterisation of interesting and representative habitats in the region, can be implemented. Due to its objectivity, this strategy can be easily applied to other European sustainable forest management sites and possibly to other countries outside the EU.

Information on the presence of Pinnanobilis (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Mediterranean Sea is largely reported in literature because it is an endemic and, at the same time, endangered species. Besides, this record contributes to enlarge the spatial distribution of this species in the South-East Italian coastline (Adriatic Sea). P.nobilis is a protected species under the EU Habitats Directive (1992). In particular, P.nobilis has been recorded for the first time in the Aquatina Lagoon, a transitional water ecosystem included in the NATURA 2000 site “Aquatina di Frigole” (IT9150003). Therefore, this finding underlines the role of transitional water ecosystems as “nursery habitats” for P.nobilis as well as the relevance of conservation actions introduced by the EU with the NATURA 2000 network for preserving the biodiversity.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, monitoring of habitats has been a widespread tool to record and assess changes in habitat quality, for example due to land use change. Thus, Article 11 of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) requires, inter alia, monitoring of the conservation status of habitat types listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive, carried out by the Member States of the European Union (EU). This monitoring provides the foundation for the National Reports on the measures implemented and their effectiveness (Art. 17 Habitats Directive), which Member States have to submit to the European Commission every six years. Based on these requirements, Member States have developed different monitoring programmes or have adapted previously existing monitoring schemes to include relevant aspects of the Habitats Directive. The parameter ‘structure and functions’ is a key parameter for the assessment of the conservation status of habitat types as it provides information on the quality of the habitats. A standardised questionnaire was developed and sent to the competent authorities of Member States to compare and analyse the assessment methods of the quality of habitat types. Responses were received from 13 of the 28 Member States, while it was possible to include another Member State in the analysis by evaluating appropriate literature. The analysis revealed very different approaches and progress amongst the Member States in the development and implementation of monitoring programmes tailored to the reporting obligations of Article 17 of the Habitats Directive. Some Member States established a special standardised monitoring programme for Article 11 of the Habitats Directive, while others used data from already existing programmes (e.g. habitat mapping, large-scale forest inventories, landscape monitoring). Most Member States responding to the questionnaire use monitoring based on samples but the data collection, sample sizes and level of statistical certainty differ considerably. The same applies to the aggregation of data and the methods for the assessment of the parameter ‘structure and functions’. In contrast to the assessment of conservation status as part of the reporting obligations according to Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, no standardised EU guidelines exist for monitoring. The present study discusses differences in the monitoring programmes and evaluates them with regard to the objectives of comparable assessments of conservation status of habitat types in the National Reports of Member States or at a biogeographical level.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, monitoring of habitats has been a widespread tool to record and assess changes in habitat quality, for example due to land use change. Thus, Article 11 of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) requires, inter alia, monitoring of the conservation status of habitat types listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive, carried out by the Member States of the European Union (EU). This monitoring provides the foundation for the National Reports on the measures implemented and their effectiveness (Art. 17 Habitats Directive), which Member States have to submit to the European Commission every six years. Based on these requirements, Member States have developed different monitoring programmes or have adapted previously existing monitoring schemes to include relevant aspects of the Habitats Directive. The parameter 'structure and functions' is a key parameter for the assessment of the conservation status of habitat types as it provides information on the quality of the habitats. A standardised questionnaire was developed and sent to the competent authorities of Member States to compare and analyse the assessment methods of the quality of habitat types. Responses were received from 13 of the 28 Member States, while it was possible to include another Member State in the analysis by evaluating appropriate literature. The analysis revealed very different approaches and progress amongst the Member States in the development and implementation of monitoring programmes tailored to the reporting obligations of Article 17 of the Habitats Directive. Some Member States established a special standardised monitoring programme for Article 11 of the Habitats Directive, while others used data from already existing programmes (e.g. habitat mapping, large-scale forest inventories, landscape monitoring). Most Member States responding to the questionnaire use monitoring based on samples but the data collection, sample sizes and level of statistical certainty differ considerably. The same applies to the aggregation of data and the methods for the assessment of the parameter 'structure and functions'. In contrast to the assessment of conservation status as part of the reporting obligations according to Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, no standardised EU guidelines exist for monitoring. The present study discusses differences in the monitoring programmes and evaluates them with regard to the objectives of comparable assessments of conservation status of habitat types in the National Reports of Member States or at a biogeographical level.

In the present paper, are rendered the results of the research referring to the conservation status of the grasslands from two sites ‘Natura 2000’ located in Oltenia region, in South-Western part of Romania: ROSCI0202 Oltenia Forest Steppe and ROSCI0039 Ciuperceni - Desa. Within these sites, there are five habitats: 62C0* Ponto-Sarmatic steppes, 6260* Pannonic sand steppes, 6440 Alluvial meadows of river valleys of the Cnidion dubii, 6510 Lowland hay meadows (Alopecurus pratensis, Sanguisorba officinalis) and 1530* Pannonic salt steppes and salt marshes. The investigation of the conservation status of these habitats was carried out by assessing their conservation status at EU level, namely by assigning them to one of the four categories – “favourable”, “unfavourable-inadequate”, “unfavourable-bad”, and “unknown” – according to the stated attributes for each habitat, to the threats of destruction and to the dangers that may lead to their destruction or disappearance. By applying the evaluation matrix of the conservation state of the five habitats from the two sites Natura 2000, only three of the five studied habitats have a good conservation status: 62C0* Ponto-Sarmatic steppes, 6260* Pannonic sand steppes, 6440 alluvial meadows of river valleys of the Cnidion dubii. The habitat 1530* Pannonic salt steppes and salt marshes have a good-moderate status while 6510 Lowland hay meadows (Alopecurus pratensis, Sanguisorba officinalis) has amoderate-poor status. Referring to the characteristic structure and functions to the type of habitat, the research revealed that in numerous areas occupied by the five habitats good conservation conditions are not good.

Globally, intensive forestry has led to habitat degradation and fragmentation of the forest landscape. Taking Sweden as an example, this development is contradictory to international commitments, EU obligations, and to the fulfillment of the Parliament’s environmental quality objective “Living Forests”, which according to Naturvårdsverket (The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency) will not be achieved in 2020 as stipulated. One important reason for the implementation deficit is the fragmented forestry management. In a forest landscape, felling and other measures are conducted at different times on separate forest stands (often relatively small units) by different operators. Consequently, the authorities take case by case decisions on felling restrictions for conservation purposes. In contrast, conservation biology research indicates a need for a broad geographical and strategical approach in order to, in good time, select the most appropriate habitats for conservation and to provide for a functioning connectivity between different habitats. In line with the EU Commission, we argue that landscape forestry planning could be a useful instrument to achieve ecological functionality in a large area. Landscape planning may also contribute to the fulfilment of Sweden’s climate and energy policy, by indicating forest areas with insignificant conservation values, where intensive forestry may be performed for biomass production etc. Forest owners should be involved in the planning and would, under certain circumstances, be entitled to compensation. As state resources for providing compensation are scarce, an alternative could be to introduce a tax-fund system within the forestry sector. Such a system may open for voluntary agreements between forest owners for the protection of habitats within a large area.

High mountain ecosystems are hotspots of biodiversity that are highly vulnerable to climate warming and land use change. In Europe, high mountain habitats are included in the EC Directive 92/43/EEC (Habitats Directive) and the identification of practices facilitating effective monitoring is crucial for meeting HD goals. We analyzed the temporal changes in species composition and diversity on high mountain EU habitats and explored if the subgroup of diagnostic species was able to summarize the comprehensive information on plant community variations. We performed a re-visitation study, using a set of 30 georeferenced historical plots newly collected after 20 years on two EU habitats (Galium magellense community growing on screes (8120 EU) and Trifolium thalii community of snowbeds (6170 EU)) in the Maiella National Park (MNP), which is one of the most threatened Mediterranean mountains in Europe. The presence of several endangered species and the availability of a botanical garden, a seed bank, and a nursery, make the MNP an excellent training ground to explore in situ and ex situ conservation strategies. We compared overall and diagnostic species richness patterns over time by rarefaction curves and described the singular aspects of species diversity (e.g., richness, Shannon index, Simpson index, and Berger–Parker index), by Rènyi’s diversity profiles. Diversity values consistently varied over time and across EU habitat types, with increasing values on scree communities and decreasing values on snowbeds. These changes could be associated with both land use change, through the increase of grazing pressure of Apennine chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata), which determined a rise of nitrophilous species in the scree community, and an increase of grasses at the expense of forbs in snowbeds, and to climate change, which promoted a general expansion of thermophilous species. Despite the two opposite, ongoing processes on the two plant communities studied, our results evidenced that diagnostic species and overall species followed the same trend of variation, demonstrating the potential of diagnostics for EU habitat monitoring. Our observations suggested that the re-visitation of historical plots and the implementation of frequent monitoring campaigns on diagnostic species can provide important data on species abundance and distribution patterns in these vulnerable ecosystems, supporting optimized in situ and ex situ conservation actions.