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The Role of Published Information in Reviewing Conservation Objectives for Natura 2000 Protected Areas in the European Union

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Abstract

Protected areas are designated to protect species and other features known to be present at the time of designation, but over time the information about the presence of protected species may change and this should call for a continued review of conservation objectives. Published scientific literature is one of the possible information sources that would trigger a review of conservation objectives. We studied how published data on new discoveries of protected animal species were taken into account by the nature conservation authorities in updating species lists of Natura 2000 sites in the European Union, which are the basis for conservation planning at the site-level. Over the period studied (2000–2011) only 40 % of published new protected species records were recognized by the authorities. The two main reasons for this seem to be a reliance on other sources of information by authorities and the difficulty in finding relevant information in scientific papers. The latter is because published faunistic information is very fragmented among different journals, and often insufficient in details. We recommend better cooperation between authors, publishers, and nature conservation authorities in terms of information presentation, publishing policy, and a regular review of published information.

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Acknowledgments

Data collection and analysis was supported within a framework of the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity of the European Environment Agency. We thank Mora Aronsson, Marita Arvela, Michael Hosek, Ilona Mendzina, Dominique Richard, Carlos Romao, Frank Vassen, and Zita Zsembery for useful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Bruno Opermanis helped with R. We thank the three referees for valuable suggestions on manuscript improvement. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be taken as views of the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 57 Rue Cuvier, 75231, Paris, France

    Otars Opermanis, Brian MacSharry, Jerome Bailly-Maitre, Douglas Evans & Zelmira Sipkova

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  1. Otars Opermanis
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  2. Brian MacSharry
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  3. Jerome Bailly-Maitre
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  4. Douglas Evans
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  5. Zelmira Sipkova
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Otars Opermanis.

Appendix

Appendix

List of journals which were systematically searched for this study (publishing authority in brackets)

Acta Chiropterologica (Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences)

Acta Entomologica Slovenica (Slovenian Entomological Society)

Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (National Museum Prague)

Acta Herpetologica (Firenze University)

Acta Ichthyologica et Pisatoria (West Pomeranean University of Technology)

Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemicae (Czech Zoological Society)

Acta Theriologica (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Acta Universitatis Latviensis, Biology (University of Latvia)

Acta Zoologica Bulgarica (Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research)

Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientarum Hungaricae (Hungarian Natural History Museum/Biological section of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences)

Acta Zoologica Lituanica (Institute of Ecology/Nature Research Centre)

Annales Zoologica Cracoviensia (Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences)

Annales Zoologici (Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences)

Beitrage zur Entomofaunistik (Austrian Socitety for Entomofaunistics)

Biharean Biologist (University of Oradea)

Biologia Bratislava (Slovak Academy of Sciences)

Bonn Zoological Bulletin (Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig)

Bulletin de la Société Herpétologique de France (Herpetological Society of France)

Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society (Irish Biogeographical Society)

Cynthia (Catalan Butterfly Monitoring Scheme)

Entomologia Hellenica (Hellenic Entomological Society)

Entomologica Fennica (Entomological Society of Finland)

Entomologische Berichten (Netherlands Entomological Society)

Entomologisk Tidskrift (Swedish Entomological Society)

European Journal of Entomology (Czech Entomological Society)

Faunistische Abhandlungen (Museum of Zoology, Dresden)

Fragmenta Faunistica (Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences)

Folia Malacologica (Association of Polish Malacologists)

Folia Zoologica (Institute of Vertebrate Biology (Brno))

Graelsia (National Museum of Natural Sciences, Madrid)

Gredleriana (South Tyrol Nature Museum)

Herpetozoa (Austrian Herpetological Society)

Hystrix (Italian Theriological Association)

Insect Conservation and Diversity (Royal Entomological Society)

Italian Journal of Zoology (Italian Society of Zoologists)

Journal of Insect Conservation (Springer)

Journal of Conchology (The Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland)

Latvijas entomologs (Latvian Entomological Society)

Lynx (Natural History Museum, Prague)

Mammalia (De Gruyter)

Malacologica Bohemoslovaca (Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences)

Mitteilungen der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft (German Malacozoological Society)

Mollusca (Museum of Zoology, Dresden)

Natura Sloveniae (Ljubljana Biotechnical Faculty/National Institute of Biology)

Natura Somogyensis (Somogy County Museums)

Nederlandse Faunistische Mededelingen (Naturalis Biodiversity Center)

New and Rare for Lithuania Insect Species Records and Descriptions (Lithuanian Entomological Society)

North-Western Journal of Zoology (University of Oradea)

Oryx (Flora and Fauna International)

Phegea (Flemish Entomological Society)

Salamandra (German Society for Herpetology)

Silva Gambreta (Sumava National Park)

Small Carnivore Conservation Newsletter (IUCN, Species Survival Commission)

Tentacle (IUCN/SSC Specialist Group)

Tiscia (Tisza Research Committee, University of Szeged)

Travaux du Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (‘Grigore Antipa’ National Museum of Natural History, Bucharest)

Vertebrate Zoology/Zoologische Abhandlungen (Senckenberg Nature Research Society)

Vespertilio (Czech Society for Bat Conservation)

Wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen aus dem Niederosterreichischen Landesmuseum (State Museum of Lower Austria)

Zoologische Mededelingen (Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity)

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Opermanis, O., MacSharry, B., Bailly-Maitre, J. et al. The Role of Published Information in Reviewing Conservation Objectives for Natura 2000 Protected Areas in the European Union. Environmental Management 53, 702–712 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-013-0212-8

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