Identifying Major Factors for Success and Failure of Conservation Programs in Europe.

In Europe, various conservation programs adopted to maintain or restore biodiversity have experienced differing levels of success. However, a synthesis about major factors for success of biodiversity-related conservation programs across ecosystems and national boundaries, such as incentives, subsidies, enforcement, participation, or spatial context, is missing. Using a balanced scorecard survey among experts, we analyzed and compared factors contributing to success or failure of three different conservation programs: two government programs (Natura 2000 and the ecological measures of the Water Framework Directive) and one conservation program of a non-governmental organization (NGO; Rewilding Europe), all focusing on habitat and species conservation.

The reproductive potential and importance of key management aspects for successful rejuvenation on abandoned Continental heaths.

The abandonment of traditional pastoralism as well as the use of heath areas for military purposes has had a major impact on dry heaths in the Continental biogeographical region of Europe, causing severe degradation of its key species (L.) HULL. The reproductive potential of this species in a Continental climate is assumed to be low, although there is yet no observational or experimental evidence for this.

Twelve years of succession on sandy substrates in a post-mining landscape: a Markov chain analysis.

Knowledge of succession rates and pathways is crucial for devising restoration strategies for highly disturbed ecosystems such as surface-mined land. As these processes have often only been described in qualitative terms, we used Markov models to quantify transitions between successional stages. However, Markov models are often considered not attractive for some reasons, such as model assumptions (e.