Europes ecological backbone.pdf

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Biodiversity 8 Biodiversity At the global scale, mountains are centres of biodiversity. For instance, of the 25 global hotspots identified by Conservation International (Mittermeier et al., 2005), all but two are entirely or partly mountainous. Two of these hotspots — the Mediterranean Basin and the Irano-Anatolian — include mountains in southern and south-eastern Europe. Similarly, within Europe, most hotspots of plant, bird and mammal diversity are in mountain areas (Map 8.1). A number of factors interact to cause these high levels of biodiversity (Körner, 2002). These include the compression of thermal and climatic zones over relatively short distances, steep slopes, the diversity of aspects, variations in geology and soils, and the fragmentation of mountain terrain. In addition, many mountain areas are isolated from one another either in terms of distance or because of unsuitable habitats — at least since the end of the last Ice Age, or because of significant anthropogenic modification of lowland ecosystems — so that species have evolved separately; a major reason for the high levels of endemism in many mountains. Species endemism often increases with altitude (Nagy and Grabherr, 2009; Schmitt, 2009). Within mountain areas themselves, centuries or millennia of human intervention, particularly through burning and grazing, have also been important for maintaining populations of many species and particular habitats in spatially diverse cultural landscapes. In the mountains of Europe, while some publications have considered all mountain ecosystems (for example, Ozenda, 2000), a major focus of research attention has been on the biodiversity of the alpine life zone, i.e. land above the tree line, which covers about 3 % of the continent's area, ranging from approximately1 % of the area of the mountains of Corsica to 40 % of the area of the Italian Alps (Nagy et al., 2003b). Although limited in its extent, and often including significant proportions of unvegetated rock, snow and ice, this life zone includes about 20 % of Europe's plant species (Väre et al., 2003),with numbers of vascular plants decreasing from south to north and numbers of cryptogams (bryophytes and macrolichens) showing the opposite trend (Virtanen et al., 2003). The diversity of the alpine life zone is further increased by its fauna (Nagy et al., 2003a). For this life zone, our knowledge of the distribution of certain vertebrates, especially certain groups of birds, is quite good, though basic questions such as the variable(s) that govern presence or absence often remain unanswered (Thompson, 2003); overall knowledge of invertebrates is patchy, though groups such as the Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Arenaea are better documented (Brandmayr et al., 2003). Nevertheless, while the alpine life zone includes a significant proportion of the total biodiversity of Europe's mountain areas, it is smaller than the alpine biogeographic zone described in Section 1.3.6; and the number of both plant and animal species decreases with altitude (Körner, 2002; Nagy and Grabherr, 2009). Thus, overall, the wide range of mountain habitats — alpine, forested, grazed, mown, burned, cultivated, and wet — includes a significantly larger number of species. Within the European Union, the primary policy instruments aimed at the conservation of biodiversity are the Birds Directive (European Commission, 1979) and Habitats Directive (EC, 1992) (see Chapter 1). Birds are considered in Section 8.2; the following section is drawn mainly from reports under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, which requires Member States to report on its implementation every six years. The most recent reporting period covers the period 2001–2006 (EC, 2009); consequently, reports for this period are a primary source for this chapter. However, this means that much of the available analysis is restricted to the mountains of EU Member States — with the exception of Bulgaria and Romania, as they only joined the EU in 2007 — and that Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and the countries in the Balkans that are not Member States of the EU are not considered. Apart from this work, the most comprehensive source of information on biodiversity in mountain areas — though almost entirely in the alpine life zone — is Nagy et al. (2003), which resulted from the Alpine Biodiversity Network (ALPNET), sponsored by the European Science Foundation. 142 Europe's ecological backbone: recognising the true value of our mountains
Biodiversity Map 8.1 Hotspots of plant, bird and mammal diversity based on species richness and narrow endemism -30° -20° -10° 0° 10° 20° 30° 40° 50° 60° Hotspots of plant, bird and mammal diversity based on species richness and narrow endemism 60° Richness 60° Richness and narrow endemism Narrow endemism 50° 50° 40° 40° -20° Canary Is. Is. Azores Is. -30° 30° 40° 30° 30° 0° Madeira is. 10° 0 20° 500 1000 30° 1500 km Source: Williams et al., 1998, updated according to Médail and Quézel, 1999. 8.1 Mountain species and habitats linked to the EU Habitats Directive The EU Habitats Directive has a number of Annexes. For the purpose of this report, three are of particular relevance. Annex I lists 'natural habitat types of Community interest' that '(i) are in danger of disappearance in their natural range; or (ii) have a small natural range following their regression or by reason of their intrinsically restricted area; or (iii) present outstanding examples of typical characteristics of one or more of the nine following biogeographical regions: Alpine, Atlantic, Black Sea, Boreal, Continental, Macaronesian, Mediterranean, Pannonian and Steppic' (Sundseth and Creed, 2008). The directive also identifies 'Species of Community interest', which may be designated as endangered, vulnerable, rare or 'endemic and requiring particular attention by reason of the specific nature of their habitat and/or the potential impact of their exploitation on their habitat and/or the potential impact of their exploitation on their conservation status' (EC, 1992). These species are listed in Annex II (for those requiring designation of special areas of conservation), Annex IV (for species in need of strict protection), and Annex V (with regard to species taken from the wild). This section presents an analysis of the mountain habitats and species listed in Annexes I, II and IV of the Habitats Directive. Europe's ecological backbone: recognising the true value of our mountains 143
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EEA Report No 6/2010 Europe's ecolo
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Cover design: EEA Cover photo © Ca
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Contents 7 Land cover and uses.....
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Acknowledgements Box 1.5: Maja Vasi
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Acknowledgements Chapter 8 Mountain
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Executive summary general, populati
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Executive summary Among all Europe'
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Introduction and background Interna
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Introduction and background same co
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Introduction and background instrum
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Introduction and background coopera
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Introduction and background instrum
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Introduction and background Box 1.4
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Introduction and background made. W
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Introduction and background Map 1.2
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Introduction and background require
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Introduction and background Map 1.3
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Mountain people: status and trends
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Mountain economies and accessibilit
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Ecosystem services from Europe's mo
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Climate change and Europe's mountai
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The water towers of Europe lowland
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The water towers of Europe Box 6.1
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The water towers of Europe Box 6.2
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Page 130 and 131: Land cover and uses Box 7.4 Land-us
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Page 146 and 147: Biodiversity The geographic scope o
Page 148 and 149: Biodiversity Recognising that not a
Page 150 and 151: Biodiversity Figure 8.1 Number of m
Page 152 and 153: Biodiversity Figure 8.3 Habitats in
Page 154 and 155: Biodiversity For each habitat type,
Page 156 and 157: Biodiversity Box 8.2 Alien plants i
Page 158 and 159: Biodiversity Box 8.3 Climate change
Page 160 and 161: Biodiversity The pattern of success
Page 162 and 163: Biodiversity Box 8.4 Recent changes
Page 164 and 165: Protected areas Box 9.1 Sharr Mount
Page 166 and 167: Protected areas 9.1 Natura 2000 sit
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Page 170 and 171: Protected areas the mountains of th
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Page 176 and 177: Protected areas Figure 9.10 Changes
Page 178 and 179: Protected areas Box 9.3 Land use de
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Integrated approaches to understand
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References References Chapter 1 All
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References European Union, 2010. Pr
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References European Commission, 200
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References Yoshino, M., 2005. Mount
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References World Resources Institut
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References Faggian, P. and Giorgi,
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References Lopez-Moreno, J.I.; Goye
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References Ambrosetti, W. and Barba
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References characteristics of the l
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References Rogora, M., 2007. 'Synch
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References Chapter 7 Aitchison, J.
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References Williamson, T., 2002. Th
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References Lelek, A., 1987. The fre
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References Berthold, P., 2000: Voge
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References years of simulated clima
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References Konstanz, erschienen 199
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References EEA/UNEP, 2004. High nat
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References Innovations in GIS 7. Ta
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Appendix 1 Species Annex Endemic to
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Appendix 2 Appendix 2 Mountain habi
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Appendix 2 Code ( a ) Name Category
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Appendix 2 Code ( a ) Name Category
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TH-AL-10-006-EN-C doi:10.2800/43450
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