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Portrait of Henrik Smith. Photo.

Henrik Smith

Professor

Portrait of Henrik Smith. Photo.

Land sharing complements land sparing in the conservation of disturbance-dependent species

Author

  • Malin Tälle
  • Erik Öckinger
  • Therese Löfroth
  • Lars B. Pettersson
  • Henrik G. Smith
  • Martin Stjernman
  • Thomas Ranius

Summary, in English

Alteration of natural disturbances in human-modified landscapes has resulted in many disturbance-dependent species becoming rare. Conservation of such species requires efforts to maintain or recreate disturbance regimes. We compared benefits of confining efforts to habitats in protected areas (a form of land sparing) versus integrating them with general management of production land (a form of land sharing), using two examples: fire in forests and grazing in semi-natural grasslands. We reviewed empirical studies from the temperate northern hemisphere assessing effects of disturbances in protected and non-protected areas, and compiled information from organisations governing and implementing disturbances in Sweden. We found advantages with protection of areas related to temporal continuity and quality of disturbances, but the spatial extent of disturbances is higher on production land. This suggests that an approach where land sparing is complemented with land sharing will be most effective for preservation of disturbance-dependent species in forests and semi-natural grasslands.

Department/s

  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Biodiversity
  • Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
  • Department of Biology
  • Lund University

Publishing year

2023

Language

English

Pages

571-584

Publication/Series

Ambio

Volume

52

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article review

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Ecology

Keywords

  • Fire
  • Forest
  • Grazing
  • Mowing
  • Protected area
  • Semi-natural grassland

Status

Published

Project

  • Quality indicators for protected land - a roadmap for Sweden

Research group

  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0044-7447