This book brings together a selection of original studies submitted to Biodiversity and Conservation that address biodiversity and conservation in Europe. Europe is certainly the most intensively inventoried region of the world; detailed maps are available for species distributions while action plans are being drawn up for species under threat. At the same time, the wildlife of Europe has been subject to enormous human pressures, with limited 'wilderness' sites remaining in most countries. Europe consequently presents a case-study of what the human impact on biodiversity has been, and also what can be done to improve the situation.

The contributions in this volume are drawn from a wide range of countries and discuss diverse organism and habitat types. They collectively provide a snap-shot of the sorts of studies and actions being taken in Europe to address issues in biodiversity and conservation - topical examples that will make the volume especially valuable for use in conservation biology courses.

Reprinted from Biodiversity and Conservation, volume 16:12 (2007)

Contenu
Biodiversity gradients in the Alps: the overriding importance of elevation.- Determining high value areas for steppe birds in Spain: hot spots, complementarity and the efficiency of protected areas.- The BergerParker index as an effective tool for monitoring the biodiversity of disturbed soils: a case study on Mediterranean oribatid (Acari: Oribatida) assemblages.- The effects of fire on communities, guilds and species of breeding birds in burnt and control pinewoods in central Italy.- Indicators for plant species richness in pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests of Germany.- The social negotiation of nature conservation policy: conserving pinewoods in the Scottish Highlands.- Identifying new buffer areas for conserving waterbirds in the Mediterranean basin: the importance of the rice fields in Extremadura, Spain.- Impact of wind turbines on birds in Zeebrugge (Belgium).- The Iberian ibex is under an expansion trend but displaced to suboptimal habitats by the presence of extensive goat livestock in central Spain.- Testing indicators of epiphytic lichen diversity: a case study in N Italy.- Analysis and evaluation of ecosystem resilience: an economic perspective with an application to the Venice lagoon.- Natural oak forest vs. ancient pine plantations: lizard microhabitat use may explain the effects of ancient reforestations on distribution and conservation of Iberian lizards.- Tracking the effects of one century of habitat loss and fragmentation on calcareous grassland butterfly communities.- The distribution pattern of centipedes in four primeval forests of central Slovakia.- Tuber spp. biodiversity in one of the southernmost European distribution areas.- Multi-scale analysis of butterfly diversity in a Mediterranean mountain landscape: mapping and evaluation ofcommunity vulnerability.- Habitat use of booted eagles (Hieraaetus pennatus) in a Special Protection Area: implications for conservation.- Is the wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) a threatened species in spain? Sociological constraints in the conservation of species.- Identifying core areas in a species' range using temporal suitability analysis: an example using little bustards Tetrax Tetrax L. in Spain.- Discovery of a regular nesting area of loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta in southern Italy: a new perspective for national conservation.- Benefits of habitat restoration to small mammal diversity and abundance in a pastoral agricultural landscape in mid-Wales.- Modelling habitat use and distribution of golden eagles Aquila chrysaetos in a low-density area of the Iberian Peninsula.- The arctic fox Alopex lagopus in Fennoscandia: a victim of human-induced changes in interspecific competition and predation?.- Do biodiversity patterns in Dutch wetland complexes relate to variation in urbanisation, intensity of agricultural land use or fragmentation?.- Translocation of an endangered insect species, the field cricket (Gryllus campestris Linnaeus, 1758) in northern Germany.- Conservation of taxonomic and biological trait diversity of European stream macroinvertebrate communities: a case for a collective public database.- Ecotourism disturbance to wildfowl in protected areas: historical, empirical and experimental approaches in the Camargue, Southern France.- The effect of femel- and small scale clear-cutting on ground dwelling spider communities in a Norway spruce forest in Southern Germany.