Changes in land-cover within high nature value farmlands inside and outside Natura 2000 sites in Europe: A preliminary assessment.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Anderson E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7568739 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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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.
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Project description:A spatiotemporal machine learning framework for automated prediction and analysis of long-term Land Use/Land Cover dynamics is presented. The framework includes: (1) harmonization and preprocessing of spatial and spatiotemporal input datasets (GLAD Landsat, NPP/VIIRS) including five million harmonized LUCAS and CORINE Land Cover-derived training samples, (2) model building based on spatial k-fold cross-validation and hyper-parameter optimization, (3) prediction of the most probable class, class probabilities and model variance of predicted probabilities per pixel, (4) LULC change analysis on time-series of produced maps. The spatiotemporal ensemble model consists of a random forest, gradient boosted tree classifier, and an artificial neural network, with a logistic regressor as meta-learner. The results show that the most important variables for mapping LULC in Europe are: seasonal aggregates of Landsat green and near-infrared bands, multiple Landsat-derived spectral indices, long-term surface water probability, and elevation. Spatial cross-validation of the model indicates consistent performance across multiple years with overall accuracy (a weighted F1-score) of 0.49, 0.63, and 0.83 when predicting 43 (level-3), 14 (level-2), and five classes (level-1). Additional experiments show that spatiotemporal models generalize better to unknown years, outperforming single-year models on known-year classification by 2.7% and unknown-year classification by 3.5%. Results of the accuracy assessment using 48,365 independent test samples shows 87% match with the validation points. Results of time-series analysis (time-series of LULC probabilities and NDVI images) suggest forest loss in large parts of Sweden, the Alps, and Scotland. Positive and negative trends in NDVI in general match the land degradation and land restoration classes, with "urbanization" showing the most negative NDVI trend. An advantage of using spatiotemporal ML is that the fitted model can be used to predict LULC in years that were not included in its training dataset, allowing generalization to past and future periods, e.g. to predict LULC for years prior to 2000 and beyond 2020. The generated LULC time-series data stack (ODSE-LULC), including the training points, is publicly available via the ODSE Viewer. Functions used to prepare data and run modeling are available via the eumap library for Python.
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Project description:Around 70 Mha of land cover changes (LCCs) occurred in Europe from 1992 to 2015. Despite LCCs being an important driver of regional climate variations, their temperature effects at a continental scale have not yet been assessed. Here, we integrate maps of historical LCCs with a regional climate model to investigate air temperature and humidity effects. We find an average temperature change of -0.12 ± 0.20 °C, with widespread cooling (up to -1.0 °C) in western and central Europe in summer and spring. At continental scale, the mean cooling is mainly correlated with agriculture abandonment (cropland-to-forest transitions), but a new approach based on ridge-regression decomposing the temperature change to the individual land transitions shows opposite responses to cropland losses and gains between western and eastern Europe. Effects of historical LCCs on European climate are non-negligible and region-specific, and ignoring land-climate biophysical interactions may lead to sub-optimal climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.
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Project description:Clearing tropical vegetation impacts biodiversity, the provision of ecosystem services, and thus ultimately human welfare. We quantified changes in land cover from 2000 to 2015 across the Cerrado biome of northern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. We assessed the potential biophysical and socio-economic drivers of the loss of Cerrado, natural regeneration and net cover change at the municipality level. Further, we evaluated correlations between these land change variables and indicators of human welfare. We detected extensive land-cover changes in the study area, with the conversion of 23 446 km(2) and the natural regeneration of 13 926 km(2), resulting in a net loss of 9520 km(2) The annual net loss (-1.2% per year) of the cover of Cerrado is higher than that reported for the whole biome in similar periods. We argue that environmental and economic variables interact to underpin rates of conversion of Cerrado, most severely affecting more humid Cerrado lowlands. While rates of Cerrado regeneration are important for conservation strategies of the remaining biome, their integrity must be investigated given the likelihood of encroachment. Given the high frequency of land abandonment in tropical regions, secondary vegetation is fundamental to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services. Finally, the impacts of Cerrado conversion on human welfare likely vary from local to regional scales, making it difficult to elaborate land-use policies based solely on socio-economic indicators.This article is part of the themed issue 'Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation'.
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Project description:Land cover change is a dynamic phenomenon driven by synergetic biophysical and socioeconomic effects. It involves massive transitions from natural to less natural habitats and thereby threatens ecosystems and the services they provide. To retain intact ecosystems and reduce land cover change to a minimum of natural transition processes, a dense network of protected areas has been established across Europe. However, even protected areas and in particular the zones around protected areas have been shown to undergo land cover changes. The aim of our study was to compare land cover changes in protected areas, non-protected areas, and 1 km buffer zones around protected areas and analyse their relationship to climatic and socioeconomic factors across Europe between 2000 and 2012 based on earth observation data. We investigated land cover flows describing major change processes: urbanisation, afforestation, deforestation, intensification of agriculture, extensification of agriculture, and formation of water bodies. Based on boosted regression trees, we modelled correlations between land cover flows and climatic and socioeconomic factors. The results show that land cover changes were most frequent in 1 km buffer zones around protected areas (3.0% of all buffer areas affected). Overall, land cover changes within protected areas were less frequent than outside, although they still amounted to 18,800 km2 (1.5% of all protected areas) from 2000 to 2012. In some parts of Europe, urbanisation and intensification of agriculture still accounted for up to 25% of land cover changes within protected areas. Modelling revealed meaningful relationships between land cover changes and a combination of influencing factors. Demographic factors (accessibility to cities and population density) were most important for coarse-scale patterns of land cover changes, whereas fine-scale patterns were most related to longitude (representing the general east/west economic gradient) and latitude (representing the north/south climatic gradient).
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Project description:Habitat loss from anthropogenic development has led to an unprecedented decline in global biodiversity. Protected areas (PAs) exist to counteract this degradation of ecosystems. In the European Union, the Natura 2000 (N2k) network is the basis for continent-wide conservation efforts. N2k is the world's largest coordinated network of protected areas. However, threats to ecosystems do not stop at the borders of PAs. As measured by a landscape fragmentation metric, anthropogenic development can affect the interiors of PAs. To ensure the long-term viability of the N2k network of PAs, this paper attempts to quantify the degree to which N2k sites are insulated from development pressures. We use a comprehensive dataset of effective mesh density (seff) to measure aggregate fragmentation inside and within a 5 km buffer surrounding N2k sites. Our results show a strong correlation (R² = 0.78) between fragmentation (seff) within and around N2k sites. This result applies to all biogeographical regions in Europe. Only a narrow majority (58.5%) of N2k sites are less fragmented than their surroundings. Remote and mountainous regions in northern Europe, the Alps, parts of Spain, and parts of eastern Europe show the lowest levels of fragmentation. These regions tend to hold the largest N2k sites as measured by area. In contrast, central and western Europe show the highest fragmentation levels within and around N2k sites. 24.5% of all N2k sites are classified as highly to very-highly fragmented. N2k PA age since initial protection does not correlate with the difference in exterior and interior fragmentation of N2k PAs. These results indicate that PAs in Europe are not sheltered from anthropogenic pressures leading to fragmentation. Hence, we argue that there is a high potential for improving PA efficacy by taking pre-emptive action against encroaching anthropogenic fragmentation and by targeting scarce financial resources where fragmentation pressures can be mitigated through enforced construction bans inside PAs.
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Project description:The Natura 2000 network is regarded as one of the conservation success stories in the global effort to protect biodiversity. However, significant challenges remain in Natura 2000 implementation, owing to its rapid expansion, and lack of a coherent vision for its future. Scientific research is critical for identifying conservation priorities, setting management goals, and reconciling biodiversity protection and society in the complex political European landscape. Thus, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive evaluation of published Natura 2000 research to highlight prevalent research themes, disciplinary approaches, and spatial entities. We conducted a systematic review of 572 scientific articles and conference proceedings focused on Natura 2000 research, published between 1996 and 2014. We grouped these articles into 'ecological' and 'social and policy' categories. Using a novel application of network analysis of article keywords, we found that Natura 2000 research forms a cohesive small-world network, owing to the emphasis on ecological research (79% of studies, with a strong focus on spatial conservation planning), and the underrepresentation of studies addressing 'social and policy' issues (typically focused on environmental impact assessment, multi-level governance, agri-environment policy, and ecosystem services valuation). 'Ecological' and 'social and policy' research shared only general concepts (e.g., Natura 2000, Habitats Directive) suggesting a disconnection between these disciplines. The UK and the Mediterranean basin countries dominated Natura 2000 research, and there was a weak correlation between number of studies and proportion of national territory protected. Approximately 40% of 'social and policy' research and 26% of 'ecological' studies highlighted negative implications of Natura 2000, while 21% of studies found positive social and biodiversity effects. We emphasize the need for designing inter- and transdisciplinary research in order to promote a social-ecological understanding of Natura 2000, and advance EU conservation policies.
| S-EPMC4240592 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Invasion by alien species (AS) is one of the most serious threats to ecosystems. In Europe, the Natura 2000 habitats network was established to protect habitats vital for the conservation of biodiversity and function of ecosystems. Therefore, the appearance of AS in Natura 2000 habitats is a warning signal that the most valuable European habitats may be endangered. However, quantitative studies encompassing a wide spectrum of habitats are lacking, and there is no insight into the differences in the level of invasion among habitats. Our survey is based on the State Monitoring of Natura 2000 data and aimed at an assessment of the level of invasion in natural habitat types in Poland. The percentage of invaded locations, number and frequency of alien plant species was assessed in 79 Natura 2000 habitats, both terrestrial and water, investigated on 5,941 locations. The most invaded habitats (with the highest percentage of invaded plots) were dunes with Hippophaë rhamnoides (habitat code 2160), rivers with muddy banks (habitat code 3270), and alpine rivers and herbaceous and ligneous vegetation along their banks (habitat codes: 3220, 3230, 3240). Grassland, forest and most of the bog, mire and fen habitats and also some habitats on a rock were invaded by a relatively large number of AS, but their frequency was comparatively low. In contrast, a high frequency of AS was found in the majority of dune and costal habitats and calaminarian grasslands. Compared with the period 2000-2010, the number of AS in some riparian, grassland and forest habitats rose noticeably. The occurrence of AS showed a negative correlation with conservation status of the habitats. This study has demonstrated that standard monitoring of Natura 2000 habitats provides the basis for the detection of AS, including invasive ones, in all types of habitats, and can be used for development rapid and effective response programs.
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Project description:Monitoring biodiversity is of increasing importance in natural ecosystems. Metabarcoding can be used as a powerful molecular tool to complement traditional biodiversity monitoring, as total environmental DNA can be analyzed from complex samples containing DNA of different origin. The aim of this research was to demonstrate the potential of pollen DNA metabarcoding using the chloroplast trnL partial gene sequencing to characterize plant biodiversity. Collecting airborne biological particles with gravimetric Tauber traps in four Natura 2000 habitats within the Natural Park of Paneveggio Pale di San Martino (Italian Alps), at three-time intervals in 1 year, metabarcoding identified 68 taxa belonging to 32 local plant families. Metabarcoding could identify with finer taxonomic resolution almost all non-rare families found by conventional light microscopy concurrently applied. However, compared to microscopy quantitative results, Poaceae, Betulaceae, and Oleaceae were found to contribute to a lesser extent to the plant biodiversity and Pinaceae were more represented. Temporal changes detected by metabarcoding matched the features of each pollen season, as defined by aerobiological studies running in parallel, and spatial heterogeneity was revealed between sites. Our results showcase that pollen metabarcoding is a promising approach in detecting plant species composition which could provide support to continuous monitoring required in Natura 2000 habitats for biodiversity conservation.
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