130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

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Figure 7.
Mammalian species
richness patterns for
the period (a) 1950s-
1960s, and (b) present
day. Note that this
dataset comprises
only the 18 mammal
species which were
the focal species
of the study (see
species accounts).
Spatial occurrence
of distribution
gains and losses,
between 1950s/60s
and present day,
expressed as number
of species gaining
(c) or losing (d)
distribution area.
shows changes in the overall pattern of the spatial
distribution of our selected species over these time
periods and can help to pinpoint spatial patterns of
range expansion and contraction (Figures 7, 8 and 9).
This analysis revealed that the overall pattern
of distribution of selected mammal species
broadened within the timeframe, with the number
of species present increasing recently in central,
eastern and northern Europe in particular. The
broad picture of distribution change between
past and present distributions shows that distribution
expansions in our study species occurred
widely across Europe (Figure 7c), while distribution
contractions were mainly reported from
southeastern Europe and the Pyrenean region
(Figure 7d). Much of the pattern of loss observed
in southeastern Europe was concurrent with the
pattern of distribution losses in large carnivores
(Figure 8b). Distribution gains amongst carnivores
were most pronounced in Fennoscandia
(particularly Finland and Sweden, where four of
the six terrestrial carnivore species in the study
occur) and Croatia/Slovenia (Figure 8a). Overall,
Europe has seen a north and westward expansion
of carnivore distributions from southern and
eastern populations, many of which are providing
us with the recent range expansions highlighted
in the species accounts. Distribution gains for
hoofed mammals were more spread out across
the continent (Figure 8c), a trend driven by distribution
increases in all four species of deer. On
the other hand, distribution losses were mainly
confined to small pockets across the Alps and
central Italy, which were driven by overall distri-
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