European Union's Natura 2000 network: an effective tool for nature conservation? The relic pine forests of the Franconian Jura

Land use change and intensification are the most important direct drivers of decreasing biodiversity globally. Therefore, the European Union created the Natura 2000 network to protect endangered species and habitats. Here we are interested how the ambitious European goals are actually implemented studying a Natura 2000 habitat, the Sarmatic steppe pine forests (Code 91U0) in a national hotspot of biodiversity in Franconia (Germany). These forests are a relic of the postglacial warm stage, preserved by human land use since the Neolithic, but are now heavily declining due to abandonment of traditional land use practices. Applying a long-term monitoring over 30 years including all existing (> 600) stands and a Random Forest classification model, we show that less than a quarter of the area of 1990 and only about 1% of 1950 still exists. Immigration of spruce and beech and forest conversion was responsible for this massive loss, impacting the light-demanding species composition. However, nearly no conservation efforts were undertaken, and replanting with broadleaved trees is still ongoing even after the designation as protected habitat in 2008. Therefore, these forests demonstrate how land use change and intensification (i.e. global change) continuously endanger a habitat protected by national and European law.

Automated summary

Land use change and intensification are major drivers of global biodiversity decline. The European Union established the Natura 2000 network to protect endangered species and habitats. This study examines a Natura 2000 habitat, the Sarmatic steppe pine forests in Franconia, Germany, and finds that the area has significantly decreased over the past 30 years due to forest conversion and immigration of non-native tree species.