Proposals for improvement of Annex I of Directive 92/43/EEC: Sardinia

The ‘Habitats’ Directive (HD 92/43/EEC) is one of the primary legal tools aiming at conserving nature in Europe. Due to the complex iter to revise it, the habitats listed in the Annex I have been seldom updated after the HD adoption. Basing on already available information and expert knowledge, this paper presents a preliminary list of relevant habitats occurring in Sardinia, not yet considered and worth to be placed in the Annex I. Two new habitat proposals, one habitat new for Italy, and nine new subtypes of already existing HD habitats are here described. Most of the proposed new habitats and subtypes have a limited distribution range, due to the high number of narrow, often endangered, endemic species that characterize them. Being neglected, they are consequently poorly investigated, inconstantly monitored and unprotected. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to promote their conservation through implementation of HD and its interpretation manuals.

Proposals for improvement of Annex I of Directive 92/43/EEC: Central Italy

The main purpose of the 92/43/EEC Habitats Directive is to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, understood as habitat types and species of the flora and fauna of the European Union. To achieve this goal, natural and semi-natural biodiversity as a whole must be recognized and included in its annexes. As for the conservation of biotopes, named habitat types, Italy is unfortunately lacking as it the Annex I does not include important ecosystems that are typical of its territory, rare for biogeographical reasons or threatened. Therefore, the opportunity to identify a first list of significant habitats for central Italy is discussed here. For each of the new proposed types (new habitats or new subtypes) a sheet has been prepared to highlight their salient characteristics. The new proposals concern seven habitat types and one subtype: sedge and reeds formations (Freshwater large sedge and reed beds), willow shrublands (Shrubby willow formations of river banks and fens), Apennine garrigues (Apennine hilly and montane garrigues), a new subtype of Annex I Habitat 6130 (Communities of herbaceous and dwarf shrub-suffrutescent plants of Italian ultramafic substrates), ancient olive groves ("Centuries-old olive groves" with evergreen Quercus spp. and arborescent matorral), secondary meadows (Italian submontane and montane pastured meadows dominated by Cynosurus cristatus), badlands (Pioneer halophilous and sub-halophilous communities of “calanchi” and “biancane” badlands) and hop-hornbeam woods (Italian-Balkan hop-hornbeam woods).

Confirmation of the presence of steppe polecat Mustela eversmanii (Carnivora: Mustelidae) in Giurgiu County (Romania) after more than 5 decades

This paper confirms the presence of steppe polecat Mustela eversmanii in Giurgiu County after more than 50 years. Mustela eversmanii is considered a vulnerable species, being listed in Annexes II and IV of the Habitats Directive. The specimen was found within the Site of Community Importance - ROSCI0043 Comana, included in the Natura 2000 network, which significantly overlaps with the protected natural area (Comana Natural Park). Currently, the steppe polecat is not added to the list of the Standard Form, because its presence was uncertain. We consider that this discovery is valuable and has important implications for the conservation of the species.

Developing peatland ecosystem accounts to guide targets for restoration

The United Nations System of Environmental and Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) is a geospatial approach, whereby existing data on ecosystem stocks and flows are collated to show changes over time. The framework has been proposed as a means to track and monitor ecosystem restoration targets across the EU. Condition is a key consideration in the conservation assessment of habitats protected under the EU Habitats Directive and ecosystem condition accounts are also integral to the SEEA EA. While SEEA EA accounts have been developed at EU level for an array for ecosystem types, condition accounts remain the least developed. Collating available datasets under the SEEA EA framework, we developed extent and rudimentary condition accounts for peatland ecosystems at catchment scale in Ireland. Information relating to peatland ecosystem sub-types or habitat types was collated for peatland habitats listed under Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive, as well as degraded peatlands not included in EU nature conservation networks. While data relating to peatland condition were limited, understanding changes in ecosystem extent and incorporating knowledge of habitat types and degradation served as a proxy for ecosystem condition in the absence of more comprehensive data. This highlighted the importance of the ecosystem extent account, which underpins all other accounts in the SEEA EA framework. Reflecting findings at EU level, drainage, disturbance and land conversion were identified as the main pressures affecting peatland condition. We highlighted a number of options to gather data to build more robust, time-series extent and condition accounts for peatlands at varying accounting scales. Overall, despite the absence of comprehensive data, bringing information under the SEEA EA framework is considered a good starting point, with the integration of expert ecological opinion considered essential to ensure development of reliable accounts, particularly when working at ecosystem sub-type (habitat type) and catchment scale.

Improving Scientific Knowledge of Mallorca Channel Seamounts (Western Mediterranean) within the Framework of Natura 2000 Network

The scientific exploration of Mallorca Channel seamounts (western Mediterranean) is improving the knowledge of the Ses Olives (SO), Ausias March (AM), and Emile Baudot (EB) seamounts for their inclusion in the Natura 2000 network. The aims are to map and characterize benthic species and habitats by means of a geological and biological multidisciplinary approach: high-resolution acoustics, sediment and rock dredges, beam trawl, bottom trawl, and underwater imagery. Among the seamounts, 15 different morphological features were differentiated, highlighting the presence of 4000 pockmarks, which are seafloor rounded depressions indicators of focused fluid flow escapes, usually gas and/or water, from beneath the seabed sediments. So far, a total of 547 species or taxa have been inventoried, with sponges, fishes, mollusks, and crustaceans the most diverse groups including new taxa and new geographical records. Up to 29 categories of benthic habitats have been found, highlighting those included in the Habitats Directive: maërl beds on the summits of AM and EB, pockmarks around the seamounts and coral reefs in their rocky escarpments as well as fields of Isidella elongata on sedimentary bathyal bottoms. Trawling is the main demersal fishery developed around SO and AM, which are targeted to deep water crustaceans: Parapenaeus longirostris, Nephrops norvegicus, and Aristeus antennatus. This study provides scientific information for the proposal of the Mallorca Channel seamounts as a Site of Community Importance and for its final declaration as a Special Area of Conservation.

Assessment of Ecosystem Services across the Land–Sea Interface in Baltic Case Studies

Spatial assessments of ecosystem services (ES) are needed to fulfil EU policy requirements and to support practical applications of the ES concept in policy implementation. So far, ES assessments have largely focused on terrestrial systems. A joint approach for land and sea is especially lacking. To overcome this gap, we present a novel spatial habitat typology and ES classification for an assessment across the land–sea interface. We build upon existing approaches and common spatial definitions, like CORINE land cover (CLC) types, water bodies of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), and habitat types according to the Habitats Directive (HD). We show applications of the resulting ES matrix for an expert-based assessment of ES potentials in three Baltic study sites (Schlei, Greifswald Bay and Curonian Lagoon). A complementary indicator-based approach to assess ES flows is introduced and applied. It enables a quantification of ES potentials and flows and ensures comparability among case study sites. Comparisons between the results for ES potentials and flows show that development capacities exist in particular for provisioning ES for marine habitats. Our approaches are spatially expandable and transferrable and could be applied to support environmental policy implementation. Further, we discuss their practical relevance, current limitations, and future research perspectives.

Měkkýši přírodní rezervace Hutě a jejího okolí v CHKO Bílé Karpaty [Molluscs of the Hutě Nature Reserve and its surroundings in the White Carpathians PLA]

The Hutě Nature Reserve is located in the central eastern part of the White Carpathians PLA, near the Žítková village. The reserve protects a preserved and topographically heterogeneous area composed of forest groves, meadows, pastures, and spring fens with a high diversity of submontane and thermophilic plant and animal assemblages. The species composition of molluscs (9 out of 10 ecological groups represented) consists mainly of woodland dwellers, which account for the majority of species diversity (30 spp.; 52%), followed by ubiquitous (9; 16%), hygrophilous (5; 9%), hygrophilous woodland dwellers (4; 7%), aquatic (4; 7%) and open-habitat dwellers (3; 5%). Vertigo moulinsiana (EN), internationally protected under Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive, Daudebardia brevipes (VU), Ambigolimax nyctelius (NT), Orcula dolium (NT) and Bythinella austriaca (NT) are species of conservation concern. To retain favourable habitat conservation status, the spring fens with V. moulinsiana occurrence must be managed extensively by grazing or mowing, while the forests must remain in a non-intervention regime.

AQUATIC AND MARSHY VEGETATION IN THE CENTER OF THE LOWER PLAIN OF SOMES RIVER: GENERAL CHARACTERISATION

Aiming to a larger study of vegetation of the lower Some Plain (Romania), this short paper summarises the outcome of the floristic inventories performed in aquatic and marshy vegetation, which was dominant in the area until about three centuries ago when the extended wetland drainage has started. By using the phytosociological method, 20 plant associations assigned to four vegetation classes were distinguished. Without presenting phytosociological tables at this first stage, the syntaxonomical framework, distribution and species composition of the revealed plant communities are briefly discussed by reference to the process of wetland drying and successional change as well as to newly formed anthropogenic lakes. The conservative value of some plant community types is emphasized by mentioning the presence of several endangered species that are included in the European-level Habitats Directive and various regional or national red lists/books.

SYSTEMATIC POSITION AND VULNERABILITY OF SABANEJEWIA BALCANICA IN THE BALKAN AREA

UDK: 597.551.2(497) Sabanejewia balcanica is a fish species that belongs to Cobitidae family and it is the endemic of the Balkan Peninsula. It is present in the tributaries of the Danube and Aegean waters. Systematics of this species has experienced certain changes that are related to the systemic instability of the entire Cobitidae family, so there has been a change in the name of the genus of this species. The genus Sabanejewia was separated from the genus Cobitis in the last century, but this name was generally used much later. According to data of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, this species is still not endangered, but is assigned a status of least concern (LC). Sabanejewia balcanica is in the Annex II of the Habitats Directive and Annex III of the Bern Convention which basically require the protection of this species and its habitats. In the proposal to create a red list of fauna of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been concluded that there is not enough information on the population characteristics of this species. The aim of this article is to present data on exploration of Sabanejewia balcanica in the Balkan area as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, thereby contributing to the determination of its status of vulnerability and protection of its natural habitats.