Most habitat's and species' assessments in German Natura 2000 sites reflect unfavourable conservation states
The Convention on Biological Diversity aims to protect 30 % of the Earth’s land and marine surface to promote biodiversity. In the European Union, conservation areas are mainly placed under protection through the Habitats Directive. These so-called Natura 2000 sites currently cover 18.6 % of Europe&...
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Elsevier
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Basic and Applied Ecology |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179125000581 |
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| author | Julia S. Ellerbrok Theresa Spatz Veronika Braunisch Michael Strohbach Dagmar Haase Kathrin Januschke Josef Kaiser Marion Mehring Thilo Wellmann Helge Bruelheide Jori Maylin Marx Josef Settele Christian Wirth Nina Farwig |
| author_facet | Julia S. Ellerbrok Theresa Spatz Veronika Braunisch Michael Strohbach Dagmar Haase Kathrin Januschke Josef Kaiser Marion Mehring Thilo Wellmann Helge Bruelheide Jori Maylin Marx Josef Settele Christian Wirth Nina Farwig |
| author_sort | Julia S. Ellerbrok |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Convention on Biological Diversity aims to protect 30 % of the Earth’s land and marine surface to promote biodiversity. In the European Union, conservation areas are mainly placed under protection through the Habitats Directive. These so-called Natura 2000 sites currently cover 18.6 % of Europe's land area. Obligatory status reports enable a broad-scale analysis of conservation states to investigate if biodiversity is in the favourable conservation status demanded by the directive and which factors may be inhibiting. With focus on Germany, we evaluated the conservation states of habitat types and species groups as assessed in standard data forms and related it to drivers commonly reported for the sites, e.g., land-use practices, protected area size and time since designation. Our results are based on assessments from 23 % (1049) of Germany’s Natura 2000 sites protected under the Habitats Directive and show that only 6 % of habitats’ and 4 % of species’ assessments report a favourable conservation status. A review of the reported drivers showed that most negative influences on Natura 2000 sites were attributed to agricultural and forestry activities, as well as natural system modifications, while for both land-use types also practices with positive impact were listed. For habitats, conservation status was better in Natura 2000 sites that were established earlier than later. For both habitats and species, more favourable conservation states were overall related to larger area sizes and the absence of direct land use (agriculture, forestry). Our results highlight that a high proportion of protected areas alone does not suffice to infer successes for biodiversity conservation when land-use activities continue to affect target species or their habitats. Increased conversation efforts for Natura 2000 areas will be required to meet the goals of the recently implemented EU Nature Restoration Law. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-616db78583b94e48baa5eac4d8b7f5c4 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1439-1791 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Basic and Applied Ecology |
| spelling | doaj-art-616db78583b94e48baa5eac4d8b7f5c42025-08-20T03:13:26ZengElsevierBasic and Applied Ecology1439-17912025-09-018712814310.1016/j.baae.2025.07.001Most habitat's and species' assessments in German Natura 2000 sites reflect unfavourable conservation statesJulia S. Ellerbrok0Theresa Spatz1Veronika Braunisch2Michael Strohbach3Dagmar Haase4Kathrin Januschke5Josef Kaiser6Marion Mehring7Thilo Wellmann8Helge Bruelheide9Jori Maylin Marx10Josef Settele11Christian Wirth12Nina Farwig13Conservation Ecology, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Corresponding author at: AG Farwig, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 8, 35043, Marburg, Germany.Conservation Ecology, University of Marburg, Marburg, GermanyForest Research Institute of Baden-Wuerttemberg FVA, Freiburg, Germany; Conservation Biology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, SwitzerlandLandscape Ecology and Environmental Systems Analysis, Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, GermanyLandscape Ecology Lab, Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Computational Landscape Ecology Lab, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Aquatic Ecology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, GermanyLandscape Ecology Lab, Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany; Department of Environmental Politics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, GermanyISOE - Institute for Social-Ecological Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre SBiK-F, Frankfurt am Main, GermanyLandscape Ecology Lab, Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, GermanyInstitute of Biology / Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanySystematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Leipzig University, Leipzig, GermanyGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Halle, GermanyGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany; Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Leipzig University, Leipzig, GermanyConservation Ecology, University of Marburg, Marburg, GermanyThe Convention on Biological Diversity aims to protect 30 % of the Earth’s land and marine surface to promote biodiversity. In the European Union, conservation areas are mainly placed under protection through the Habitats Directive. These so-called Natura 2000 sites currently cover 18.6 % of Europe's land area. Obligatory status reports enable a broad-scale analysis of conservation states to investigate if biodiversity is in the favourable conservation status demanded by the directive and which factors may be inhibiting. With focus on Germany, we evaluated the conservation states of habitat types and species groups as assessed in standard data forms and related it to drivers commonly reported for the sites, e.g., land-use practices, protected area size and time since designation. Our results are based on assessments from 23 % (1049) of Germany’s Natura 2000 sites protected under the Habitats Directive and show that only 6 % of habitats’ and 4 % of species’ assessments report a favourable conservation status. A review of the reported drivers showed that most negative influences on Natura 2000 sites were attributed to agricultural and forestry activities, as well as natural system modifications, while for both land-use types also practices with positive impact were listed. For habitats, conservation status was better in Natura 2000 sites that were established earlier than later. For both habitats and species, more favourable conservation states were overall related to larger area sizes and the absence of direct land use (agriculture, forestry). Our results highlight that a high proportion of protected areas alone does not suffice to infer successes for biodiversity conservation when land-use activities continue to affect target species or their habitats. Increased conversation efforts for Natura 2000 areas will be required to meet the goals of the recently implemented EU Nature Restoration Law.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179125000581AgricultureArea sizeBiodiversityBiogeographical regionDriverForestry |
| spellingShingle | Julia S. Ellerbrok Theresa Spatz Veronika Braunisch Michael Strohbach Dagmar Haase Kathrin Januschke Josef Kaiser Marion Mehring Thilo Wellmann Helge Bruelheide Jori Maylin Marx Josef Settele Christian Wirth Nina Farwig Most habitat's and species' assessments in German Natura 2000 sites reflect unfavourable conservation states Basic and Applied Ecology Agriculture Area size Biodiversity Biogeographical region Driver Forestry |
| title | Most habitat's and species' assessments in German Natura 2000 sites reflect unfavourable conservation states |
| title_full | Most habitat's and species' assessments in German Natura 2000 sites reflect unfavourable conservation states |
| title_fullStr | Most habitat's and species' assessments in German Natura 2000 sites reflect unfavourable conservation states |
| title_full_unstemmed | Most habitat's and species' assessments in German Natura 2000 sites reflect unfavourable conservation states |
| title_short | Most habitat's and species' assessments in German Natura 2000 sites reflect unfavourable conservation states |
| title_sort | most habitat s and species assessments in german natura 2000 sites reflect unfavourable conservation states |
| topic | Agriculture Area size Biodiversity Biogeographical region Driver Forestry |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179125000581 |
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