Dataset Information

The impact of environmental policy on soil quality: Organic carbon and phosphorus levels in croplands and grasslands of the European Natura 2000 network.

ABSTRACT: In this study, the Natura 2000 nature protection network of the European Union is assessed in the context of soil quality management. We explore the hypothesis that the soil quality of croplands and grasslands - as indicated by soil organic carbon and phosphorus levels - is better in terms of environmental parameters within the Natura 2000 network than outside it. The soil organic carbon and phosphorus content of 479 cropland and 450 grassland sites within Natura 2000 were compared with their nearest neighbours outside the network. The comparisons were repeated for pairs of both cropland and grassland sites by soil texture groups. The study revealed that organic carbon content was significantly higher in Natura 2000 sites than in non-protected areas for both croplands and grasslands. For croplands, this was true only for those with signs of ploughing, whereas for croplands without signs of ploughing there were no significant differences between Natura 2000 and non-protected areas. Areas with sand and loamy sand soils had significantly higher soil organic carbon content within the Natura 2000 network than outside it, for both croplands and grasslands. This was the only texture class that showed a significant difference in the case of croplands, whereas three further texture groups had higher soil organic carbon content in Natura 2000 grassland sites than on grassland sites outside this network. There was no significant difference in soil phosphorus content between areas within the Natura 2000 network and non-protected areas, except for grasslands with light textured soils, where soil phosphorus levels were significantly lower within Natura 2000 sites than outside them. The results suggest that the management of croplands and grasslands of Natura 2000 sites tends to perform better than that of adjacent areas with similar land cover in terms of soil carbon conservation. The difference is more evident for sites with certain soil characteristics. On the other hand, the nutrient input - as determined by phosphorus levels - of Natura 2000 croplands and grasslands generally does not appear to be less intensive than that of surrounding areas outside the network.

SUBMITTER: Hagyo A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6087710 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The impact of environmental policy on soil quality: Organic carbon and phosphorus levels in croplands and grasslands of the European Natura 2000 network.

Hagyó Andrea A Tóth Gergely G

Journal of environmental management 20180606

In this study, the Natura 2000 nature protection network of the European Union is assessed in the context of soil quality management. We explore the hypothesis that the soil quality of croplands and grasslands - as indicated by soil organic carbon and phosphorus levels - is better in terms of environmental parameters within the Natura 2000 network than outside it. The soil organic carbon and phosphorus content of 479 cropland and 450 grassland sites within Natura 2000 were compared with their ne ...[more]

PMID: 29883778

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Project description:The world´s largest network of protected areas-Natura 2000 (N2000)-has been implemented to protect Europe´s biodiversity. N2000 is built upon two cornerstones, the Birds Directive, which lists 691 bird species (plus one additional bird genus with no further classification) and the Habitats Directive, which lists next to a variety of species, 233 habitat types to be protected. There is evidence of the positive impact of the Directives on the EU´s biodiversity, although the overall improvement reported for species in favourable condition in the last assessment was low. However, most of the assessments are species focused, while habitats have received very little attention. Here we developed a generic workflow, which we exemplified for Germany, to assess the status of habitat coverage within the N2000 network combining information from publicly available data sources. Applying the workflow allows identification of gaps in habitat protection, followed by the prioritization of potential areas of high protection value using the conservation planning software Marxan. We found that, in Germany, N2000 covers all target habitats. However, common habitats were proportionally underrepresented relative to rare ones, which contrasts with studies focussing on the representation of species. Moreover, the German case study suggests that especially highly protected areas (i.e. covered by more than 90% with N2000 sites) build an excellent basis towards a cost-effective and efficient conservation network. Our workflow provides a generic approach to deal with the common problem of missing habitat distribution data outside of N2000 sites, information which is however crucial for managers to plan conservation actions appropriately across Europe. To avoid a biased representation of habitat types within N2000, our results underpin the importance of defining qualitative and quantitative conservation targets which will allow assesment of the trajectory of habitat protection in Europe as well as adjustment of the network accordingly-a future necessity in the light of climate change.

Project description:Urban growth is a major threat to biodiversity conservation at the global scale. Its impacts are expected to be especially detrimental when it sprawls into the landscape and reaches sites of high conservation value due to the species and ecosystems they host, such as protected areas. I analyzed the degree of urbanization (i.e., urban cover and growth rate) from 2006 to 2015 in protected sites in the Natura 2000 network, which, according to the Habitats and Birds Directives, harbor species and habitats of high conservation concern in Europe. I used data on the degree of land imperviousness from COPERNICUS to calculate and compare urban covers and growth rates inside and outside Natura 2000. I also analyzed the relationships of urban cover and growth rates with a set of characteristics of Natura sites. Urban cover inside Natura 2000 was 10 times lower than outside (0.4% vs. 4%) throughout the European Union. However, the rates of urban growth were slightly higher inside than outside Natura 2000 (4.8% vs. 3.9%), which indicates an incipient urban sprawl inside the network. In general, Natura sites affected most by urbanization were those surrounded by densely populated areas (i.e., urban clusters) that had a low number of species or habitats of conservation concern, albeit some member states had high urban cover or growth rate or both in protected sites with a large number of species or habitats of high conservation value. Small Natura sites had more urban cover than large sites, but urban growth rates were highest in large Natura sites. Natura 2000 is protected against urbanization to some extent, but there is room for improvement. Member states must enact stricter legal protection and control law enforcement to halt urban sprawl into protected areas under the greatest pressure from urban sprawl (i.e., close to urban clusters). Such actions are particularly needed in Natura sites with high urban cover and growth rates and areas where urbanization is affecting small Natura sites of high conservation value, which are especially vulnerable and concentrated in the Mediterranean region.

Project description:Temperate grassland soils store significant amounts of carbon (C). Estimating how much livestock grazing and manuring can influence grassland soil organic carbon (SOC) is key to improve greenhouse gas grassland budgets. The Rothamsted Carbon (RothC) model, although originally developed and parameterized to model the turnover of organic C in arable topsoil, has been widely used, with varied success, to estimate SOC changes in grassland under different climates, soils, and management conditions. In this paper, we hypothesise that RothC-based SOC predictions in managed grasslands under temperate moist climatic conditions can be improved by incorporating small modifications to the model based on existing field data from diverse experimental locations in Europe. For this, we described and evaluated changes at the level of: (1) the soil water function of RothC, (2) entry pools accounting for the degradability of the exogenous organic matter (EOM) applied (e.g., ruminant excreta), (3) the month-on-month change in the quality of C inputs coming from plant residues (i.e above-, below-ground plant residue and rhizodeposits), and (4) the livestock trampling effect (i.e., poaching damage) as a common problem in areas with higher annual precipitation. In order to evaluate the potential utility of these changes, we performed a simple sensitivity analysis and tested the model predictions against averaged data from four grassland experiments in Europe. Our evaluation showed that the default model's performance was 78% and whereas some of the modifications seemed to improve RothC SOC predictions (model performance of 95% and 86% for soil water function and plant residues, respectively), others did not lead to any/or almost any improvement (model performance of 80 and 46% for the change in the C input quality and livestock trampling, respectively). We concluded that, whereas adding more complexity to the RothC model by adding the livestock trampling would actually not improve the model, adding the modified soil water function and plant residue components, and at a lesser extent residues quality, could improve predictability of the RothC in managed grasslands under temperate moist climatic conditions.

Dataset Information

The impact of environmental policy on soil quality: Organic carbon and phosphorus levels in croplands and grasslands of the European Natura 2000 network.

Publications

The impact of environmental policy on soil quality: Organic carbon and phosphorus levels in croplands and grasslands of the European Natura 2000 network.

Similar Datasets

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