Search results for "Natural habitat"
showing 10 items of 11 documents
The interplay of landscape composition and configuration: new pathways to manage functional biodiversity and agroecosystem services across Europe
2019
Managing agricultural landscapes to support biodiversity and ecosystem services is a key aim of a sustainable agriculture. However, how the spatial arrangement of crop fields and other habitats in landscapes impacts arthropods and their functions is poorly known. Synthesising data from 49 studies (1515 landscapes) across Europe, we examined effects of landscape composition (% habitats) and configuration (edge density) on arthropods in fields and their margins, pest control, pollination and yields. Configuration effects interacted with the proportions of crop and non-crop habitats, and species’ dietary, dispersal and overwintering traits led to contrasting responses to landscape variables. O…
Systematic targeting of management actions as a tool to enhance conservation of traditional rural biotopes
2017
Traditional rural biotopes (TRBs), which are biologically and culturally valuable habitats maintained by low-intensity grazing and mowing, are a core element of biodiversity in Europe. During the last decades, TRBs have faced severe habitat loss and fragmentation due to agricultural modernization. Despite their well-known critical state, their conservation remains inadequate, thus raising a need to advance TRB conservation via spatial land-use planning. In this study we analyze a national GIS database on TRBs in order to examine how the current TRB network can be complemented in terms of conservation value based on known ecological characteristics. Given different target scenarios for the a…
Human-associated migration of Holarctic Saccharomyces uvarum strains to Patagonia
2020
Our results show that the greatest S. uvarum population diversity worldwide is observed in Patagonia, where strains of this species can be isolated from industrial and traditional fermentations as well as from natural environments. This greater Patagonian diversity is due to the presence of strains belonging to two genetically differentiated populations, South America B (SA-B), and Holarctic/South America A (H/SA-A). The H/SA-A population of Patagonia is directly related to apple fermentation environments, mainly from cider fermentations but also, to a lesser extent, from traditional apple chicha. Our data suggest that strains from the Holarctic population colonized Patagonia. This is possi…
Contrasting responses of vascular plants and bryophytes to present and past connectivity in unmanaged grasslands
2022
AbstractThe area of semi-natural grasslands has decreased dramatically causing many grassland specialist species to persist in small habitat fragments. Furthermore, ecological communities once shaped by disturbances related to traditional agriculture now face the impacts of modern agriculture and urbanization. Many of the species have become endangered due to the combined effects of habitat destruction and degradation. We studied the responses of vascular plants and bryophytes to present and past connectivity in semi-natural grasslands, while accounting for the effects of local environmental conditions. We conducted vegetation surveys in 33 fragmented, unmanaged dry grasslands in Southwest …
The Braun-Blanquet project: evaluating and characterizing European vegetation alliances
2014
European tradition on vegetation classification provides an extraordinary legacy for understanding biodiversity. However, this classification lacks explicit data on vegetation attributes, especially if we extend national or regional concepts to a continental perspective. An additional effort for evaluating and characterizing European vegetation types is therefore needed, and the data contained in vegeta tion databases are probably the main tool for these purposes. The BraunBlanquet project is an initiative of the European Vegetation Survey for characterizing veg etation alliances across Europe. By analyzing more than 500,000 vegetation plots from 22 European countries, we developed a fra…
Landscape scale and local crop protection intensity affect the abundance of the codling moth and its predation and parasitism in apple orchards
2017
International audience; One important feature that may explain variation in pest abundance and pest biocontrol in crops is the land-use intensity in the landscapes. We report results from three studies in which we tried to address this question by assessing whether amount of semi-natural habitat and/or pesticide use at both local and landscape scales affected the abundance of codling moth, its parasitism and predation of sentinel eggs in commercial apple orchards of south-eastern France. Our results indicate that in this landscape there is indeed a significant effect of the pesticide use intensity at both the local and the landscape scales on these variables
Rzadkie i ginące zbiorowiska roślin wodnych z klasy Potametea Słowińskiego Parku Narodowego
2018
Słowiński Park Narodowy, o powierzchni 32 744 ha, został utworzony w 1967 roku, a do sieci Światowych Rezerwatów Biosfery włączony w 1977 roku. Ponad połowę obszaru parku zajmują ekosystemy wodne, w tym pobrzeże Bałtyku, jeziora Łebsko, Gardno, Dołgie Wielkie i Dołgie Małe oraz w mniejszym stopniu rzeki: Łeba, Łupawa i Pustynka. W trakcie badań prowadzonych w latach 2013–2014 stwierdzono stanowiska czterech rzadkich i ginących zbiorowisk roślin wodnych z klasy Potametea, nienotowanych dotąd na obszarze Słowińskiego PN. Są to zespoły: rdestnicy trawiastej Potametum graminei, rdestnicy alpejskiej Potametum alpini, rogatka krótkoszyjkowego Ceratophylletum submersi ze związku Potamion oraz zesp…
Current agri-environmental policies dismiss varied perceptions and discourses on management of traditional rural biotopes
2017
Abstract Traditional rural biotopes (TRBs) are threatened habitats that host significant biodiversity and several ecosystem services, and depend on active management such as low-intensity grazing. The current study explores private landowners’ decision-making on TRB management and abandonment within a social-ecological system framework. We provide insight into supporting resilience of TRB systems in the face of agricultural modernization. Using a mixed methods approach with content analysis and Q analysis, we demonstrate that TRB management fosters cultural, biological, aesthetic, and utilitarian values. These are reflected in different ways through conservationist’s, profit-oriented farmer…
Zbiorowiska roślinne z klasy Utricularietea intermedio-minoris w stawach hodowlanych południowo-zachodniej Polski
2017
Zbiorowiska z klasy Utricularietea intermedio-minoris Den Hartog et Segal 1964 em. Pietsch 1965 należą do wyspecjalizowanych pod względem ekologicznym fitocenoz, występujących w wodach oligotroficznych, mezotroficznych oraz dystroficznych na podłożu torfowym. W Polsce należą do grupy zbiorowisk bardzo słabo zbadanych. Celem pracy było przedstawienie aktualnego rozmieszczenia i charakterystyki fitosocjologicznej zespołów z klasy Utricularietea intermedio-minoris, których fitocenozy stwierdzono w latach 2000–2015 w południowo-zachodniej Polsce na terenie stawów hodowlanych województw: dolnośląskiego i opolskiego. W trakcie przeprowadzonych badań zostały wykazane dwa zespoły z tej klasy: zespó…
Invasive alien species – potential cheap resources of plant substances for medicinal use
2018
Some alien species demonstrate rather invasive behaviour. They have high tolerance of various habitat conditions and potent propagation ability. They not only over-compete the local vegetation but suppress the seed development of the native plants. In the newly invaded habitats they might not have suitable herbivores to control their populations. The only effective enemy might be Homo sapiens. Humans are known with their destructive power once an object has become significant for industrial utilization. The aim of this study is to review research data and reveal the potential of Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., Erigeron canadensis L., Xanthium strumarium L. and Dittrichia graveolens (L.) W. Greu…