This book brings together a selection of original studies that address biodiversity and conservation in Europe. Europe is certainly the most intensively inventoried region of the world; detailed maps are available for species distributions while action plans are being drawn up for species under threat. At the same time, the wildlife of Europe has been subject to enormous human pressures, with limited wilderness sites remaining in most countries. Europe consequently presents a case-study of what the human impact on biodiversity has been, and also what can be done to improve the situation.
The contributions in this volume are drawn from a wide range of countries and discuss diverse organism and habitat types. They collectively provide a snap-shot of the sorts of studies and actions being taken in Europe to address issues in biodiversity and conservation.
Plantation forests and biodiversity: oxymoron or opportunity?; Brockerhoff.- Epiphytes of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) plantations in Ireland and the effects of open spaces; Coote.- Bird assemblages in pine plantations replacing native ecosystems in NW Patagonia; Lantschner.- Identifying practical indicators of biodiversity for stand-level management of plantation forests; Smith.- Options for biodiversity conservation in managed forest landscapes of multiple ownerships in Oregon and Washington, USA; Suzuki.- Impact of four silvicultural systems on birds in the Belgian Ardenne: implications for biodiversity in plantation forests; Du Bus De Warnaffe.- The early effects of afforestation on biodiversity of grasslands in Ireland; Buscardo.- Multi-scale habitat selection and foraging ecology of the eurasian hoopoe (Upupa epops) in pine plantations; Barbaro.- Diversity and composition of fruit-feeding butterflies in tropical Eucalyptus plantations; Barlow.- Impact of landscape and corridor design on primates in a large-scale industrial tropical plantation landscape; Nasi.- Non-native plantation forests as alternative habitat for native forest beetles in a heavily modified landscape; Pawson.- Importance of semi-natural habitats for the conservation of butterfly communities in landscapes dominated by pine plantations; Van Halder.- Relevance of exotic pine plantations as a surrogate habitat for ground beetles (Carabidae) where native forest is rare; Berndt.- Stand-level management of plantations to improve biodiversity values; Cummings.