EUNIS Habitat Classification: Expert system, characteristic species combinations and distribution maps of European habitats

Aim: The EUNIS Habitat Classification is a widely used reference framework for European habitat types (habitats), but it lacks formal definitions of individual habitats that would enable their unequivocal identification. Our goal was to develop a tool for assigning vegetation‐plot records to the habitats of the EUNIS system, use it to classify a European vegetation‐plot database, and compile statistically‐derived characteristic species combinations and distribution maps for these habitats. Location: Europe. Methods: We developed the classification expert system EUNIS‐ESy, which contains definitions of individual EUNIS habitats based on their species composition and geographic location. Each habitat was formally defined as a formula in a computer language combining algebraic and set‐theoretic concepts with formal logical operators. We applied this expert system to classify 1,261,373 vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) and other databases. Then we determined diagnostic, constant and dominant species for each habitat by calculating species‐to‐habitat fidelity and constancy (occurrence frequency) in the classified data set. Finally, we mapped the plot locations for each habitat. Results: Formal definitions were developed for 199 habitats at Level 3 of the EUNIS hierarchy, including 25 coastal, 18 wetland, 55 grassland, 43 shrubland, 46 forest and 12 man‐made habitats. The expert system classified 1,125,121 vegetation plots to these habitat groups and 73,188 to other habitats, while 63,064 plots remained unclassified or were classified to more than one habitat. Data on each habitat were summarized in factsheets containing habitat description, distribution map, corresponding syntaxa and characteristic species combination. Conclusions: EUNIS habitats were characterized for the first time in terms of their species composition and distribution, based on a classification of a European database of vegetation plots using the newly developed electronic expert system EUNIS‐ESy. The data provided and the expert system have considerable potential for future use in European nature conservation planning, monitoring and assessment

Reconstructing the Holocene environments in the Russian sector of the Neman Delta area, Kaliningrad Region

A history of landscape development in the Russian part of the Neman Delta area during the Holocene, with an emphasis on the formation of forests and wetlands, is deduced based on pollen analysis, radiocarbon dating, a field topography survey, and macrofossil analysis of peat deposits in a coastal mire, the Koz’ye Bog. Several 1,000–2,000-year time lags in vegetational development were revealed here, though they have not been recorded for other landscapes in the Kaliningrad Region and the adjacent areas in the southeastern Baltic. The causes are still not completely clear, but they presumably related to some of the regional patterns of climate development and the submergence of the area during the second Littorina transgression (7,500–7,000 cal. yr BP). It is established that cryophilic open tundra-like vegetation existed here not only in Late Glacial time (Younger Dryas) but up to the mid-Boreal (9,700–9,500 cal. yr BP). A transition from the open landscapes of the Late Glacial to birch and then pine forests occurred here 9,700–8,700 cal. yr BP, whereas the expansion of thermophilic broadleaf species of the nemoral (temperate) association (Quercus, Ulmus, Tilia, Corylus) was recorded only in the period 6,400–3,500 cal. yr BP. Peak expansion of Alnus occurred here only in the late Subboreal (3,500–2,700 cal. yr BP), while in adjacent areas it reached its maximum as early as the Atlantic. The general vegetation dynamics in this area during the Late Glacial and the Holocene could be referred to as a transition from the dominance of pine forests to a wide dispersal of alder carrs. This environmental shift was caused not only by climatic factors but probably also due to the transformation of the hilly coastal terrace into a low-lying plain landscape after flooding during the transgressions of the Baltic

Assessment and Spatial Planning for Peatland Conservation and Restoration: Europe’s Trans-Border Neman River Basin as a Case Study

Peatlands are the “kidneys” of river basins. However, intensification of agriculture and forestry in Europe has resulted in the degradation of peatlands and their biodiversity (i.e., species, habitats and processes in ecosystems), thus impairing water retention, nutrient filtration, and carbon capture. Restoration of peatlands requires assessment of patterns and processes, and spatial planning. To support strategic planning of protection, management, and restoration of peatlands, we assessed the conservation status of three peatland types within the trans-border Neman River basin. First, we compiled a spatial peatland database for the two EU and two non-EU countries involved. Second, we performed quantitative and qualitative gap analyses of fens, transitional mires, and raised bogs at national and sub-basin levels. Third, we identified priority areas for local peatland restoration using a local hotspot analysis. Nationally, the gap analysis showed that the protection of peatlands meets the Convention of Biological Diversity’s quantitative target of 17%. However, qualitative targets like representation and peatland qualities were not met in some regional sub-basins. This stresses that restoration of peatlands, especially fens, is required. This study provides an assessment methodology to support sub-basin-level spatial conservation planning that considers both quantitative and qualitative peatland properties. Finally, we highlight the need for developing and validating evidence-based performance targets for peatland patterns and processes and call for peatland restoration guided by social-ecological research and inter-sectoral collaborative governance