Indikatoren des Naturschutzes im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Wissenschaft

Definitionen und Konzepte des Indikatorenbegriffs variieren in Landschaftsplanung, Raumordnung, Natur- und Umweltschutz teilweise erheblich. Grundsätzlich ist ein Indikator in den genannten Themenfeldern ein Stellvertreter für einen Gegenstand, der nicht oder nur mit großem Aufwand direkt beobachtet oder gemessen werden kann. Einem klassischen (natur-)wissenschaftlichen Indikatorenkonzept wird ein modernes politisches Indikatorenkonzept gegenübergestellt. Das naturwissenschaftliche Konzept basiert auf einer engen Korrelation zwischen ausgewählten Parametern (z. B. ökologischen Messgrößen) und umfasst wertneutrale Beschreibungen von Zuständen und deren Veränderungen. In Abgrenzung hiervon beziehen sich Indikatoren für die Politikberatung auf gesellschaftliche Normen, die einer politischen Legitimierung bedürfen

Current status of habitat monitoring in the European Union according to Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, with an emphasis on habitat structure and functions and on Germany

Since the beginning of the 1990s, monitoring of habitats has been a widespread tool to record and assess changes in habitat quality, for example due to land use change. Thus, Article 11 of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) requires, inter alia, monitoring of the conservation status of habitat types listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive, carried out by the Member States of the European Union (EU). This monitoring provides the foundation for the National Reports on the measures implemented and their effectiveness (Art. 17 Habitats Directive), which Member States have to submit to the European Commission every six years. Based on these requirements, Member States have developed different monitoring programmes or have adapted previously existing monitoring schemes to include relevant aspects of the Habitats Directive. The parameter ‘structure and functions’ is a key parameter for the assessment of the conservation status of habitat types as it provides information on the quality of the habitats. A standardised questionnaire was developed and sent to the competent authorities of Member States to compare and analyse the assessment methods of the quality of habitat types. Responses were received from 13 of the 28 Member States, while it was possible to include another Member State in the analysis by evaluating appropriate literature. The analysis revealed very different approaches and progress amongst the Member States in the development and implementation of monitoring programmes tailored to the reporting obligations of Article 17 of the Habitats Directive. Some Member States established a special standardised monitoring programme for Article 11 of the Habitats Directive, while others used data from already existing programmes (e.g. habitat mapping, large-scale forest inventories, landscape monitoring). Most Member States responding to the questionnaire use monitoring based on samples but the data collection, sample sizes and level of statistical certainty differ considerably. The same applies to the aggregation of data and the methods for the assessment of the parameter ‘structure and functions’. In contrast to the assessment of conservation status as part of the reporting obligations according to Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, no standardised EU guidelines exist for monitoring. The present study discusses differences in the monitoring programmes and evaluates them with regard to the objectives of comparable assessments of conservation status of habitat types in the National Reports of Member States or at a biogeographical level

A conceptual framework for predicting the effects of urban environments on floras.

1 With the majority of people now living in urban environments, urbanization is arguably the most intensive and irreversible ecosystem change on the planet. 2 Urbanization transforms floras through a series of filters that change: (i) habitat availability; (ii) the spatial arrangement of habitats; (iii) the pool of plant species; and (iv) evolutionary selection pressures on populations persisting in the urban environment. 3 Using a framework based on mechanisms of change leads to specific predictions of floristic change in urban environments. Explicitly linking drivers of floristic change to predicted outcomes in urban areas can facilitate sustainable management of urban vegetation as well as the conservation of biodiversity. 4 Synthesis. We outline how the use of our proposed framework, based on environmental filtering, can be used to predict responses of floras to urbanization. These floristic responses can be assessed using metrics of taxonomic composition, phylogenetic relatedness among species, plant trait distributions or plant community structure. We outline how this framework can be applied to studies that compare floras within cities or among cities to better understand the various floristic responses to urbanization.The working group was funded by the ARC‐NZ Research Network for Vegetation Function. Financial support was also provided by The Baker Foundation

Indikatoren des Naturschutzes im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Wissenschaft

Definitionen und Konzepte des Indikatorenbegriffs variieren in Landschaftsplanung, Raumordnung, Natur- und Umweltschutz teilweise erheblich. Grundsätzlich ist ein Indikator in den genannten Themenfeldern ein Stellvertreter für einen Gegenstand, der nicht oder nur mit großem Aufwand direkt beobachtet oder gemessen werden kann. Einem klassischen (natur-)wissenschaftlichen Indikatorenkonzept wird ein modernes politisches Indikatorenkonzept gegenübergestellt. Das naturwissenschaftliche Konzept basiert auf einer engen Korrelation zwischen ausgewählten Parametern (z. B. ökologischen Messgrößen) und umfasst wertneutrale Beschreibungen von Zuständen und deren Veränderungen. In Abgrenzung hiervon beziehen sich Indikatoren für die Politikberatung auf gesellschaftliche Normen, die einer politischen Legitimierung bedürfen

Indikatoren des Naturschutzes im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Wissenschaft

Definitionen und Konzepte des Indikatorenbegriffs variieren in Landschaftsplanung, Raumordnung, Natur- und Umweltschutz teilweise erheblich. Grundsätzlich ist ein Indikator in den genannten Themenfeldern ein Stellvertreter für einen Gegenstand, der nicht oder nur mit großem Aufwand direkt beobachtet oder gemessen werden kann. Einem klassischen (natur-)wissenschaftlichen Indikatorenkonzept wird ein modernes politisches Indikatorenkonzept gegenübergestellt. Das naturwissenschaftliche Konzept basiert auf einer engen Korrelation zwischen ausgewählten Parametern (z. B. ökologischen Messgrößen) und umfasst wertneutrale Beschreibungen von Zuständen und deren Veränderungen. In Abgrenzung hiervon beziehen sich Indikatoren für die Politikberatung auf gesellschaftliche Normen, die einer politischen Legitimierung bedürfen

How to track genetically modified (GM) plants in the field? The VDI standard method of floristic mapping of GM plants as an efficient tool

The commercial use of genetically modified (GM) organisms is regulated in the EU by law. Thus, monitoring the environmental effects of GM organisms after placement on the market is a mandatory task of the respective consent holder. Since many relevant monitoring procedures lack standardisation, the Association of German Engineers (VDI) has commissioned expert groups with the development of guidelines covering appropriate methodologies. As part of this project, the VDI Guideline 4330 Part 10 was set up (Bleeker et al. 2011) describing a standardised procedure for floristic mapping of spontaneously occurring (non-cultivated) GM crops, their wild potential crossing partners and their hybrid offspring. Areas to be mapped are those where such plants are expected to be found, e.g. on former fields and in the vicinity of current or former fields of GM plants. In the case of transportation, processing or use of GM plants as animal feed, these are areas surrounding the processing, storage, handling and usage facilities, including access routes to and from the facilities. The concept of adverse environmental effects caused by the dispersal and outcrossing of GM plants is briefly introduced. The necessity of floristic mapping in the context of post-market environmental monitoring of GM plants is demonstrated taking oilseed rape as an example. The development of the Guideline VDI 4330 Part 10 is described and its contents are summarised. An important conclusion on the relevance and efficiency of the floristic mapping method is that strict standardisation ensures a high level of EU wide reproducibility and comparability of the results

Indicators on the Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity in Germany—Data Driven or Meeting Political Needs?

When developing new indicators for policy advice, two different approaches exist and may be combined with each other. First, a data-driven, bottom-up approach determines indicators primarily by the availability of suitable data. Second, indicators can be developed by a top-down approach, on the basis of political fields of action and related normative goals. While the bottom-up approach might not meet the needs of an up-to-date policy advice, the top-down approach might lack the necessary data. To discuss these problems and possible solutions, we refer to the ongoing development of an indicator system on impacts of climate change on biodiversity in Germany, where a combination of both approaches has been successfully applied. We describe suitable indicators of this system and discuss the reasons for the remaining gaps. Both approaches, mentioned above, have advantages, constraints, and shortcomings. The scientific accuracy of the indicators, the availability of data and the purpose of policy advice have to be well-balanced while developing such indicator systems

Schriftenschau

In der Schriftenschau zum Kochia-Band 5 werden 12 für die Flora von Deutschland relevante Neuerscheinungen aus den Jahren 2009 bis 2010 besprochen

Oekologische Lang-Zeiteffekte der Verwilderung von Kulturpflanzen

UuStB Koeln(38)-941102239 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman