Management actions based on vehicle rides support threatened species of multiple taxa in open-habitat biodiversity hotspots - Abandoned military training areas

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41330%2F25%3A101994" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41330/25:101994 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/00216208:11310/25:10500188 RIV/61989592:15310/25:73634404

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125055" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125055</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125055" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125055</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Management actions based on vehicle rides support threatened species of multiple taxa in open-habitat biodiversity hotspots - Abandoned military training areas

Original language description

Abandoned military training areas are recognized as biodiversity hotspots. Here, threatened species benefit from low nutrient levels and a heterogeneous habitat mosaic that includes early successional stages created by military training activities. However, after abandonment, these areas are encroached by forest, and their conservation value may be lost without active management. Management can be approached in various ways, and it is important to determine which strategies are most beneficial for biodiversity. Here, we conducted a large-scale survey of vascular plants, grasshoppers, butterflies, and birds in more than 40 abandoned military training areas across Czechia, a country in Central Europe. We tested the responses of each taxon, as well as multitaxonomic diversity, to six management types: woody plant cutting, mowing for agriculture, mowing for conservation, grazing for agriculture, grazing for conservation, and vehicle rides. After accounting for spatial autocorrelation, we found that vehicle rides were the only management type positively related to the multitaxonomic diversity of threatened species. Additionally, it supported the abundance of threatened birds and the total species richness of grasshoppers. Although other management options also showed conservation benefits for some taxa (e.g., woody plant cutting for threatened grasshoppers), none had such a broad positive impact across taxa, and some had opposing effects (e.g., grazing for conservation benefited threatened butterflies but negatively affected threatened grasshoppers). While management decisions must always be tailored to local goals and conditions, we propose vehicle rides as a promising tool for managing biodiversity-rich areas where threatened species depend on early successional stages.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

Project

<a href="/en/project/SS03010162" target="_blank" >SS03010162: The military training areas over the time: More effective care in former military areas, based on evaluation of their utilisation and long term biodiversity monitoring</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Environmental Management

ISSN

0301-4797

e-ISSN

0301-4797

Volume of the periodical

380

Issue of the periodical within the volume

APR 2025

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

12

Pages from-to

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UT code for WoS article

001455994400001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105000365459