Search results for "semi-natural grasslands"
showing 2 items of 2 documents
Contemporary spatial and environmental factors determine vascular plant species richness on highly fragmented meadows in Central Finland
2018
Context Habitat loss is a major threat to biodiversity. It can create temporal lags in decline of species in relation to destruction of habitat coverage. Plant species specialized in semi-natural grasslands, especially meadows, often express such extinction debt. Objectives We studied habitat loss and fragmentation of meadows and examined whether the changes in meadow coverage had caused an extinction debt on vascular plants. We also studied whether historical or present landscape patterns or contemporary environmental factors were more important determinants of species occurrence. Methods We surveyed the plant species assemblages of 12 grazed and 12 mown meadows in Central Finland and dete…
Conservation of traditional rural biotopes in Finland : a social-ecological approach
2018
This research focuses on conservation of traditional rural biotopes, which are biodiverse meadows and wood-pastures that are dependent on management through grazing or mowing. These low-intensity management actions have become rare as a result of agricultural modernisation. I have utilised a social-ecological approach in order to seek for the most critical factors hindering conservation of traditional rural biotopes in Finland. I also explore practical solutions that have the potential to improve their conservation status. The coverage of traditional rural biotopes has faced severe habitat loss during the last 150 years. This has led to endangerment of several habitat types and species that…