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10 messages for 2010 – Cultural landscapes and biodiversity heritage

Key messages: 1) Diverse climatic conditions, varied geology and morphology and centuries of pre- and post-industrial land use created Europe's diverse mosaic of cultural and natural landscapes, rich in biodiversity. 2) Europe's landscapes have become highly fragmented and homogenised, threatening their biodiversity and affecting their multifunctional role. 3) By managing its multifunctional culture-historical landscapes and related biodiversity sustainably, Europe can secure valuable ecosystems services while preserving its cultural and natural heritage. 4) Various legal instruments and initiatives address European biodiversity heritage at the landscape level. Incorporating these into regional and local planning and involving local communities is necessary to secure Europe's biodiversity heritage and maintain multifunctional landscapes.

Six groups of regions identified and used for separate analysis

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Spatial pattern of land take in the EEA-39, 2000-2018

Land take as a result of urban sprawl is measured from the Copernicus Corine Land Cover dataset between 2000-2018. The map shows for each grid cell the area in km2 which was converted to urban areas. For visualization land take data is presented in a 10km grid. The original data which statistics are derived from is from the 100m spatial resolution CLC dataset series.

Spatial pattern of net land take in EEA-39 in the period 2000-2018

Net land take as a result of urban sprawl is measured from the Copernicus Corine Land Cover dataset between 2000-2018. The map shows for each grid cell the area in km² which was covered with sealed surfaces. For visualisation land take data is presented in a 10km grid.

Urban sprawl around Copenhagen

Notes: Example of urban sprawl along coasts and roads.

Urban sprawl around Grenoble

Notes: Example of urban sprawl along valleys.

Urban sprawl around Padua and Venice

Notes: Example of urban sprawl in rural landscapes.

National patterns of core forest loss (%) by type of forest conversion and forest fragmentation process

How to read the graph: In Netherlands, nearly 60% of core forest loss is towards artificial/agricultural cover and dominated by shrinkage (around 45%), then attrition (above 10%)

Overlay of the Natura 2000 network with fragmentation geometry FG-A2 'Major and medium anthropogenic fragmentation', showing Spain and Portugal as an example

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Overlay of the wildlife corridor network of trans-regional importance in Switzerland with the Swiss fragmentation geometry FG4 'Land areas below 2 100 m'

The trans-regional corridor network in Switzerland for terrestrial fauna includes the wildlife corridors and the trans-regional movement axes. Red, yellow and green colours indicate the sizes of the remaining patches.

Predicted and observed values of effective mesh density according to the pan‑European predictive model

Effective mesh density values by NUTS-X region for Fragmentation Geometry FG-B2 in 2009. The NUTS-X regions represented by points above the diagonal line are more fragmented than predicted (e.g., FR107 Val de Marne) and those represented by by points below the diagonal line are less fragmented than predicted (e.g., CH04 Zurich).

Predicted and observed values of effective mesh density according to the six predictive models for the six groups of regions studied in Europe

Effective mesh density values by NUTS-X region for Fragmentation Geometry FG-B2 in 2009. The NUTS-X regions represented by points above the diagonal line are more fragmented than predicted and those represented by by points below the diagonal line are less fragmented than predicted. All models shown include all available variables in each group and use a square root transformation for seff.

Pressures from urbanisation and transport on semi-natural areas

Urban sprawl is increasing, but there are insufficient data available to enable an assessment of the extent to which the re-use of previously developed land is reducing pressures for development on virgin land.

Regional coincidence of some environmental pressures and impacts (hot spots)

Regional predominant pressures on coniferous forest

Regional predominant pressures on dry grassland

Regional predominant pressures on wet grassland

Example illustrating the relationship between effective mesh size and effective

In this hypothetical example, the trend remains constant. A linear rise in effective mesh density (right) corresponds to a 1/x curve in the graph of the effective mesh size (left). A slower increase in fragmentation results in a flatter curve for effective mesh size, and a more rapid increase produces a steeper curve. It is therefore easier to read trends off the graph of effective mesh density (right).

Examples of the use of effective mesh density in monitoring systems of sustainable development, biodiversity, and landscape quality

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Four ecological impacts of roads on animal populations and the time lag for their cumulative effect

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Fragmentation by major roads of large forest complexes (&gt;600 km²)

Fragmentation by urbanisation, infrastructure and agriculture

Fragmentation increase in Europe during 2009-2015

The map shows the difference of the years 2015 and 2009 and presents the increase in fragmentation in that period. The original 100m values were resampled to a 5 km grid for visualisation purposes.

Absolute differences between the observed and the predicted values of seff according to the pan-European model

Map shows the differences between the level of fragmentation for FG-B2 calculated and the level of fragmentation predicted by the pan-European model in the 28 countries investigated

Absolute differences between the observed and the predicted values of seff using the six global models for groups A to F

Map shows the differences between the level of fragmentation for FG-B2 calculated and the level of fragmentation predicted by 6-group-European model in the 28 countries investigated