<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Most semi-natural open habitats in Europe have been traditionally maintained by anthropogenic activities, such as grazing or mowing, preventing the establishment of woody vegetation. These habitats harbour a remarkably rich biodiversity in terms of both plant and animal species, but are also highly threatened, mainly by agricultural intensification and land abandonment. With this Editorial we introduce a Special Issue initiated by the European Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) at the Open Landscapes Conference (Hildesheim, 2013) and the 11th European Dry Grassland Meeting (Kulikovo Pole, 2014). We aim to give a short introduction to the current conservation status, significance and research of semi-natural open habitats in Europe and present the collected articles of the Special Issue. These papers cover a wide range of different semi-natural open habitats, including wood-pastures, heathlands, steppes, semi-dry and dry grasslands across the Palearctic region and address issues related to the assessment methods, threats, management and restoration of these habitats. We conclude that, in order to ensure their conservation and to monitor the changes in open habitats, integrative approaches are needed that take into account not only vegetation records, but also multiple animal taxa, abiotic factors, management practices, ecosystem services and modelling simulations for anticipating possible future scenarios. We also recommend that decision-makers should support actions to conserve open habitats in Europe by addressing such major challenges as the encroachment of woody vegetation. We are convinced that the present Special Issue will contribute to a better understanding of ecosystem functions and support the biodiversity conservation and management of semi-natural open habitats.</p></abstract>

Most semi-natural open habitats in Europe have been traditionally maintained by anthropogenic activities, such as grazing or mowing, preventing the establishment of woody vegetation. These habitats harbour a remarkably rich biodiversity in terms of both plant and animal species, but are also highly threatened, mainly by agricultural intensification and land abandonment. With this Editorial we introduce a Special Issue initiated by the European Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) at the Open Landscapes Conference (Hildesheim, 2013) and the 11th European Dry Grassland Meeting (Kulikovo Pole, 2014). We aim to give a short introduction to the current conservation status, significance and research of semi-natural open habitats in Europe and present the collected articles of the Special Issue. These papers cover a wide range of different semi-natural open habitats, including wood-pastures, heathlands, steppes, semi-dry and dry grasslands across the Palearctic region and address issues related to the assessment methods, threats, management and restoration of these habitats. We conclude that, in order to ensure their conservation and to monitor the changes in open habitats, integrative approaches are needed that take into account not only vegetation records, but also multiple animal taxa, abiotic factors, management practices, ecosystem services and modelling simulations for anticipating possible future scenarios. We also recommend that decision-makers should support actions to conserve open habitats in Europe by addressing such major challenges as the encroachment of woody vegetation. We are convinced that the present Special Issue will contribute to a better understanding of ecosystem functions and support the biodiversity conservation and management of semi-natural open habitats.

Conservation Value, Management and Restoration of Europe’S Semi‑Natural Open Landscapes

Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine (LECA), CNRS, UMR-CNRS 5553, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France, marta

Universite Grenoble Alpes, LECA, Grenoble, France

Plant Ecology, Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany

Institute of Biology and Chemistry, University of Hildesheim, Universitatsplatz 1, 31141 Hildesheim, Germany

Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65 (Viikinkaari 2a), 00014, Finland

MTA -DE Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Research Group, Egyetem sgr. 1, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary

Hacquetia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Most semi-natural open habitats in Europe have been traditionally maintained by anthropogenic activities, such as grazing or mowing, preventing the...

Conservation Value, Management and Restoration of Europe’S Semi‑Natural Open Landscapes

Published Online: Aug 27, 2015

Page range: 5 - 17

Received: Jun 23, 2015

Accepted: Jun 25, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/hacq-2015-0017

© by Marta Carboni

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.