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Throughout history traditional land uses have created small natural features (SNFs) that can serve as biodiversity hotspots or remnants in agricultural landscapes that may otherwise support little biodiversity. SNFs in these landscapes include field and pasture margins, forest fringes, hedges, hollow ways (sunken lanes), stone walls, sand and gravel pits, and quarries. Many of these SNFs were established thousands of years ago as humans began to establish agricultural practices in Europe and other parts of the world. In some cases, these SNFs are old enough to have allowed unique ecological communities to develop or even new species to evolve. The consolidation of lands and intensification of agriculture and mining practices, however, have eradicated many of these SNFs; this decline started in the 19th century and has accelerated in recent years. Conservation practices that aim to maintain these anthropogenic SNFs are increasing, largely due to the growing recognition of their conservation value. New government initiatives, agro-environmental schemes, and greenways and ecosystem networks are being implemented with some success. These efforts, however, are far from perfect; much more work on management, restoration, and re-creation of anthropogenic SNFs is required to ensure that they persist and continue to support biodiversity in highly modified landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-mining sites often offer secondary habitats for various amphibians endangered in common agricultural landscapes. On the other hand, there is a general lack of quantitative studies on the effects of the common restoration practices on colonisation of such artificial freshwater habitats by amphibians. Here, we focus on two newts decreasing in Central Europe, Lissotriton vulgaris and Triturus cristatus , in pools within lignite (brown coal) spoil heaps in the western Czech Republic. We compared their abundances in pools established by technical reclamation, spontaneous succession, and their combination. In spring 2016, we sampled 29 freshwater pools in five spoil heaps and 10 fishponds in the surrounding agricultural landscape by funnel trapping. We captured 52 L. vulgaris and 138 T. cristatus in all the studied habitats together. As only two L. vulgaris and no T. cristatus were caught in fishponds, the high potential of pools in post-mining landscapes was confirmed. Both newt species generally avoided the artificially established pools, but the spontaneously established pools were equally suitable for them in both technically reclaimed and spontaneously developed heaps. L. vulgaris preferred more transparent water, higher cover of cattails and the pool placed in the forest, but with fewer trees on the pool banks, whilst T. cristatus preferred narrower zone of littoral vegetation , more trees on the pool banks, smaller water bodies and absence of fish. Such habitat preferences fully corroborate with natural habitats. The technical reclamation still prevails in restoration of post-mining sites in many regions. We reveal it is an unsuitable practice for amphibians, if not combined with natural succession processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landscapes intensively farmed over a long time period represent a threat for natural habitats and high levels of biodiversity. Information on the historical land use and spatial changes of natural habitats can help to explain the causes of a number of contemporary phenomena, which are important for the development of effective conservation and ecosystem management. This case study from the Czech Republic shows that archival written sources describing landscape quality, including vegetation cover, allow the reclassification of old maps to the level of natural habitat categories (sensu Natura 2000), with the aim of analyzing historic changes in land cover. Significant natural habitat decreases began by the middle of the 19th century. Over the course of 250 years, this area of formerly widespread natural wet meadows has declined by 99 %. An area of water vegetation was reduced by 95 %, willow carrs by 98 %, and a mosaic of willow carrs, wet Cirsium meadow, and alder carrs has decreased by 100 %. These decreases were caused by the conversion of meadows, pastures, and ponds into arable lands. Areas of oak-hornbeam forest, acidophilous oak forest, and thermophilous oak forest were primarily converted into monocultures of coniferous trees. Similarly, the areas with alluvial forests decreased. We conclude that old maps and other archive materials, despite their coarse accuracy, can serve as useful tools for disclosing natural habitat changes and their causes, providing a foundation for formulating biodiversity conservation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]