Welke toekomst voor de jeneverbes in Vlaanderen : een evaluatie aan de hand van beheerscenario's

Abstract

The latest decennia Common Juniper populations show a strong decline in Flanders (northern Belgium). It is necessary that the remaining 72 populations get a targeted management. By means of a simple model we tried to examine how state of Common Juniper during the next two decades will be influenced by three management actions: (1) clearing of competing vegetation to prevent out-shading, (2) creating bare ground to promote natural regeneration and (3) altering the number of individuals in a population by planting new bushes. We also studied the effect of policy choices that will determine the management that will be applied in each of the remaining populations on the base of their characteristics (e.g. type of habitat, type of owner and EU Habitat Directive). We found that, because of the problematic recruitment, the first two management actions will have practically no influence on the state of Common Juniper in Flanders in comparison with a business as usual scenario (in which the present management was continued). So, as long as natural recruitment stays out, the planting of new individuals will be the only action that generates any results. We also concluded that the overall status of Common Juniper in Flanders will strongly decline if the planting is only performed in populations that are situated in EU Habitat Directive areas. Therefore it is recommended to apply appropriate management in populations that aren’t located in these areas or to create new populations in suitable habitats within the EU Habitat Directive areas