REAL

Top-down segregated policies undermine the maintenance of traditional wooded landscapes: Evidence from oaks at the European Union’s eastern border

Bobiec, Andrzej and Podlaski, Rafał and Ortyl, Bernadetta and Korol, Mykola and Havryliuk, Serhii and Öllerer, Kinga and Némethné Mázsa, Katalin and Varga, Anna (2019) Top-down segregated policies undermine the maintenance of traditional wooded landscapes: Evidence from oaks at the European Union’s eastern border. LANDSCAPE AND URBAN PLANNING, 189. pp. 247-259. ISSN 0169-2046

[img]
Preview
Text
Bobiec_etal_Ollerer_LUP_ms.pdf

Download (1MB) | Preview
[img] Text
Bobiec_etal_Ollerer_LUP_publ_vers.pdf
Restricted to Repository staff only

Download (2MB)
[img]
Preview
Text
Bobiec_etal_Ollerer_LUP_suppl_mat.pdf

Download (492kB) | Preview

Abstract

Semi-open oak woods and solitary oaks commonly dominate the wooded fabric (i.e. the ‘oakscape’) of European traditional rural agricultural landscapes based on animal husbandry. However, modern land use systems fail to perpetuate oakscapes, posing a serious threat to biodiversity conservation and the associated diversity of ecosystem services. Reconstructing the dynamics of oakscape remnants can provide valuable insights concerning the maintenance of oakscapes. We used the socio-economic transitions at the European Union’s eastern border as a natural experiment to explore the drivers for successful oak recruitment in 27 selected units representing 4 oakscape categories. Analyses of tree-ring data, historical maps, and orthophotos were used to reconstruct the oakscapes’ establishment trajectories in relation to land use changes in the period 1790–2010. The oaks in cultural semi-open woods and wood-pastures differed substantially from those in closed canopy forests by more stocky shape and faster early age DBH annual increase. We found two distinct recruitment patterns: (1) FAST – recruitment usually completed within 2–3 decades, attributed to an unconstrained succession of abandoned agricultural land, and (2) SLOW – recruitment extending over several or more decades. In Ukraine, frequent illegal grass burning in marginal woods was the most successful mechanism perpetuating oak recruitment. Top-down policy encouraging specialized intensive farming, sustained yield forestry, and conservation efforts concentrated on the preservation of closed canopy forests compromise the future of traditional agro-silvo-pastoral systems. Maintenance of traditional integrated agro-silvo-pastoral management sustaining oakscapes needs to combine local traditional knowledge and landscape stewardship.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Q Science / természettudomány > QH Natural history / természetrajz > QH540 Ecology / ökológia
S Agriculture / mezőgazdaság > SD Forestry / erdőgazdaság
SWORD Depositor: MTMT SWORD
Depositing User: MTMT SWORD
Date Deposited: 24 May 2019 08:35
Last Modified: 24 May 2019 08:35
URI: http://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/93456

Actions (login required)

Edit Item Edit Item