Changes in the geographical distribution of plant species and climatic variables on the West Cornwall peninsula (South West UK)

Recent climate change has had a major impact on biodiversity and has altered the geographical distribution of vascular plant species. This trend is visible globally; however, more local and regional scale research is needed to improve understanding of the patterns of change and to develop appropriate conservation strategies that can minimise cultural, health, and economic losses at finer scales. Here we describe a method to manually geo-reference botanical records from a historical herbarium to track changes in the geographical distributions of plant species in West Cornwall (South West England) using both historical (pre-1900) and contemporary (post-1900) distribution records. We also assess the use of Ellenberg and climate indicator values as markers of responses to climate and environmental change. Using these techniques we detect a loss in 19 plant species, with 6 species losing more than 50% of their previous range. Statistical analysis showed that Ellenberg (light, moisture, nitrogen) and climate indicator values (mean January temperature, mean July temperature and mean precipitation) could be used as environmental change indicators. Significantly higher percentages of area lost were detected in species with lower January temperatures, July temperatures, light, and nitrogen values, as well as higher annual precipitation and moisture values. This study highlights the importance of historical records in examining the changes in plant species’ geographical distributions. We present a method for manual geo-referencing of such records, and demonstrate how using Ellenberg and climate indicator values as environmental and climate change indicators can contribute towards directing appropriate conservation strategies

Spatial Cohesion – An indicator for regional assessment of biodiversity in SENSOR

Habitat fragmentation is in Europe a serious threat for biodiversity caused by intensive land use practices of our population. Spatial cohesion is a sustainability indicator to determine whether the size and connectivity of ecosystem networks is sufficient for sustainable biodiversity protection. This report presents the model LARCH-SCAN that calculates spatial cohesion of forest ecosystems for specific species groups that function on different spatial scale

Can we measure ecological sustainability? Landscape pattern as an indicator for naturalness and land use intensity at regional, national and European level

European landscapes have been shaped over the centuries by processes related to human land use, which are reflected in regionally distinct landscape patterns. Since landscape pattern has been linked to biodiversity and other ecological values of the landscapes, this paper explores landscape pattern as a tool for ecological sustainability assessments at the regional (Austrian Cultural Landscapes), national (Austria) and European (European Union + Norway, Switzerland) level with focus on agricultural landscapes. A set of landscape metrics served as a basis to assess naturalness and geometrisation of Austrian and European landscapes as a proxy for their sustainability. To achieve an accurate spatially explicit assessment, we applied a spatial reference framework consisting in units that are homogeneous in biophysical and socio-economic contexts, adapted the regional approach for its application at European level, and developed relative sustainability thresholds for the landscape metrics. The analyses revealed that several landscape metrics, particularly the “Number of Shape Characterising Points” showed a high correlation with the degree of naturalness. The sustainability map of Austria based on an ordinal regression model revealed well-known problem regions of ecological sustainability. At the European level, the relative deviation from the average pattern showed clearly the simplification processes in the landscapes. However, a better spatial resolution of land cover data would add to the refinement of pattern analysis in regions and therefore the assessment of sustainability. We recommend the combination of information of different scales for the formulation and implementation of sustainability policie

European environmental stratifications and typologies: an overview

A range of new spatial datasets classifying the European environment has been constructed over the last few years. These datasets share the common objective of dividing European environmental gradients into convenient units, within which objects and variables of interest have relatively homogeneous characteristics. The stratifications and typologies can be used as a basis for up-scaling, for stratified random sampling of ecological resources, for the representative selection of sites for studies across the continent and for the provision of frameworks for modeling exercises and reporting at the European scale. This paper provides an overview of five recent European stratifications and typologies, constructed for contrasting objectives, and differing in spatial and thematic detail. These datasets are: the Environmental Stratification (EnS), the European Landscape Classification (LANMAP), the Spatial Regional Reference Framework (SRRF), the Agri-Environmental Zonation (SEAMzones), and the Foresight Analysis for Rural Areas Of Europe (FARO-EU) Rural Typology. For each classification the objective, background, and construction of the dataset are described, followed by a discussion of its robustness. Finally, applications of each dataset are summarized. The five stratifications and typologies presented here give an overview of different research objectives for constructing such classifications. In addition they illustrate the most up to date methods for classifying the European environment, including their limitations and challenges. As such, they provide a sound basis for describing the factors affecting the robustness of such datasets. The latter is especially relevant, since there is likely to be further interest in European environmental assessment. In addition, advances in data availability and analysis techniques, will probably lead to the construction of other typologies in the future

Spatial Cohesion – An indicator for regional assessment of biodiversity in SENSOR

Habitat fragmentation is in Europe a serious threat for biodiversity caused by intensive land use practices of our population. Spatial cohesion is a sustainability indicator to determine whether the size and connectivity of ecosystem networks is sufficient for sustainable biodiversity protection. This report presents the model LARCH-SCAN that calculates spatial cohesion of forest ecosystems for specific species groups that function on different spatial scale