Subsidized Common Agricultural Policy grazing jeopardizes the protection of biodiversity and Natura 2000 targeted species. Kindvall, O., Franzén, M., Askling, J., Forsman, A., & Johansson, V. Animal Conservation, 25(5):597 – 607, John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2022. Cited by: 8; All Open Access, Green Open Access, Hybrid Gold Open Access
Subsidized Common Agricultural Policy grazing jeopardizes the protection of biodiversity and Natura 2000 targeted species [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
In Europe, Natura 2000 sites should protect threatened target species and networks of habitats. The management of Natura 2000 grasslands is often financed by subsidized grazing as part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). We studied the extent of CAP grazing for Natura 2000 management and how this affects a butterfly target species (the marsh fritillary) and floral resources. Based on extensive capture-mark-release studies from 2 years in >550 ha grid cells in a 225 km2 landscape in Sweden that includes 15 Natura 2000 sites, we compared marsh fritillary occurrence probabilities and population densities in ungrazed and CAP-grazed habitats. Moreover, we analyzed how nectar resources and orchids were affected by CAP grazing based on plants records from 2347 sample plots. We estimated the proportion of butterfly habitats that were CAP-grazed within and outside Natura 2000 sites. In total, 10 453 and 4417 butterflies were marked in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The grid cell occurrence probability was 1.8 times higher and the population density was 2.3 times higher in ungrazed compared with CAP-grazed habitats in 2017, and the corresponding numbers for 2019 were 10 and 5.3 times higher, respectively. The number of flowering plants were on average 6.9 times higher and the density of orchids was 12.3 times higher in ungrazed habitats. Roughly, 30% (130 ha) of the marsh fritillary habitat was CAP grazed, and 97% of this grazing occurred within protected areas, of which 111 ha was situated within Natura 2000 area where the marsh fritillary is the target species. Alarmingly, we show that intense yearly CAP grazing, which is the dominant management strategy in all Natura 2000 sites, has devastating consequences for the target species and other aspects of biodiversity. Less intense management, which would benefit biodiversity, requires changes in the CAP, to allow more flexible payments for habitat management objectives and conservation of target species. © 2022 The Authors. Animal Conservation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Zoological Society of London.
@ARTICLE{Kindvall2022597,
	author = {Kindvall, O. and Franzén, M. and Askling, J. and Forsman, A. and Johansson, V.},
	title = {Subsidized Common Agricultural Policy grazing jeopardizes the protection of biodiversity and Natura 2000 targeted species},
	year = {2022},
	journal = {Animal Conservation},
	volume = {25},
	number = {5},
	pages = {597 – 607},
	doi = {10.1111/acv.12773},
	url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85126457360&doi=10.1111%2facv.12773&partnerID=40&md5=5a2d76c59a2386d046f1a109be570b03},
	affiliations = {Calluna AB, Linköping, Sweden; Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden; Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden},
	abstract = {In Europe, Natura 2000 sites should protect threatened target species and networks of habitats. The management of Natura 2000 grasslands is often financed by subsidized grazing as part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). We studied the extent of CAP grazing for Natura 2000 management and how this affects a butterfly target species (the marsh fritillary) and floral resources. Based on extensive capture-mark-release studies from 2 years in >550 ha grid cells in a 225 km2 landscape in Sweden that includes 15 Natura 2000 sites, we compared marsh fritillary occurrence probabilities and population densities in ungrazed and CAP-grazed habitats. Moreover, we analyzed how nectar resources and orchids were affected by CAP grazing based on plants records from 2347 sample plots. We estimated the proportion of butterfly habitats that were CAP-grazed within and outside Natura 2000 sites. In total, 10 453 and 4417 butterflies were marked in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The grid cell occurrence probability was 1.8 times higher and the population density was 2.3 times higher in ungrazed compared with CAP-grazed habitats in 2017, and the corresponding numbers for 2019 were 10 and 5.3 times higher, respectively. The number of flowering plants were on average 6.9 times higher and the density of orchids was 12.3 times higher in ungrazed habitats. Roughly, 30% (130 ha) of the marsh fritillary habitat was CAP grazed, and 97% of this grazing occurred within protected areas, of which 111 ha was situated within Natura 2000 area where the marsh fritillary is the target species. Alarmingly, we show that intense yearly CAP grazing, which is the dominant management strategy in all Natura 2000 sites, has devastating consequences for the target species and other aspects of biodiversity. Less intense management, which would benefit biodiversity, requires changes in the CAP, to allow more flexible payments for habitat management objectives and conservation of target species. © 2022 The Authors. Animal Conservation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Zoological Society of London.},
	author_keywords = {butterflies; Common Agricultural Policy; Euphydryas aurinia; habitats directive; nature reserves; nectar resources; orchids; protected areas},
	keywords = {Europe; Sweden; angiosperm; biodiversity; butterfly; Common Agricultural Policy; conservation management; environmental protection; grazing pressure; habitat management; nature reserve; subsidy system; targeting},
	correspondence_address = {M. Franzén; Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden; email: markus.franzen@lnu.se},
	publisher = {John Wiley and Sons Inc},
	issn = {13679430},
	language = {English},
	abbrev_source_title = {Anim. Conserv.},
	type = {Article},
	publication_stage = {Final},
	source = {Scopus},
	note = {Cited by: 8; All Open Access, Green Open Access, Hybrid Gold Open Access}
}

Downloads: 0