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Characterizing the genetic diversity and structure of populations is essential for understanding their evolutionary history and planning species conservation. The lesser spotted eagle (Clanga pomarina) is a large migratory raptor with a relatively small breeding range concentrated in Eastern Europe. We evaluated the level of genetic diversity and population structuring by estimating the length diversity of 23 microsatellite markers in 306 individuals and sequencing 473 nucleotides from the mitochondrial pseudo-control region in 265 individuals across the distribution range. The microsatellite data suggested shallow differentiation between geographical regions and moderate genetic diversity across the range; no recent population bottlenecks were detected. Mitochondrial diversity was relatively low; however, high values were recorded at the southern edge of the distribution range. This, in combination with the star-like distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes, suggests the expansion of the European population from a single (Balkan) refugium during the late Pleistocene or early Holocene after the glacial population bottleneck. However, the Caucasian population may have survived in a separate refugium. We conclude that the lack of clear population structuring and ongoing gene flow across Europe support the treatment of the geographically restricted global population of the lesser spotted eagle as a single evolutionary and conservation unit.

Malus trilobata, is a rare tree species occurring in several small and disjunct populations in the eastern part of the Mediterranean basin. The main European population is found in the region of Evros (NE Greece) and is divided in five distinct subpopulations following the species geographical pattern. The genetic diversity of approximately the entire population (69 trees) was analyzed using nuclear microsatellite and random genomic markers. Polymorphism was discovered in 29 out of 45 genomic marker loci (64.44%), while for nuclear microsatellite markers, all three loci were polymorphic with an average of 3.75 alleles per locus. Our results unraveled a specific grouping pattern for both markers. Both genetic markers exhibited relatively low genetic diversity which is in accordance with the prevalent perception that species with fragmented distributions tend to have low genetic diversity, while the differentiation among individuals, revealed a patchy pattern among small groups of trees separated by roads, firebreaks or distance. These results indicate a high genetic fragmentation level for the main European population of M. trilobata, while the presence of roads, firebreaks, conifer plantations and agricultural land, seem to function as potential barriers to gene flow. Consequently, and since it is well-documented that bees hesitate to change foraging patches, as long as their food is abundant, the observed genetic differentiation patterns could be partially attributed to the foraging and flight behavior of bees, which are the main pollinators of the species. The low levels of available genetic diversity combined with the small overall population and repeated events of forest fires inside the M. trilobata distribution, perils the survival of the species and imposes the necessity for a thoroughly organized conservation strategy.

We characterized the spatiotemporal activities in winter grounds of Red Kites originated from central Europe and wintering in south-eastern Europe. We found not only Red Kites at these places but often also Black Kites Milvus migrans. Birds arrived to winter grounds in Hungary, Croatia, and Greece from 10 July to 12 December (median 22 October) and departed from winter grounds between 14 February and 22 May (median 14 March), thus staying at winter grounds from 121 to 229 days (median 145, mean 161 ± 43 SD, n = 14 cases). We usually found a number of Red Kites wintering together at winter grounds, although some Red Kites wintered alone. We found Black Kites wintering together with Red Kites at the same winter grounds in 6 out of 14 cases. The numbers of Black Kites wintering together with Red Kites were higher than the number of Red Kites at all Greek winter grounds. At winter grounds in Hungary and Croatia, the numbers of Black Kites were lower than the numbers of Red Kites or Black Kites were wholly absent. If we regarded kernel density estimate 80% (area of main foraging and roosting activities) as the best indicator as to the size of home range, we revealed that the size of a home range for birds staying at one place through the entire winter was from 10 to 108 km2 (median 72, mean 60 ± 36 SD, n = 12 cases) and that the size of home range for birds with local shift(s) in winter grounds was from 344 to 620 km2 (median 434, mean 466 ± 115 SD, n = 3 cases) which is substantially larger than the size of home ranges published to date for Red Kites wintering in central and south-western Europe.

The biodiversity of Mediterranean agrosylvopastoral ecosystems has been extensively studied, because the Mediterranean Basin is a crossroad of biogeographical influences between cold temperate biota and subtropical species. Here, we systematically reviewed biodiversity studies published on natural and managed agrosylvopastoral ecosystems between 2000 and 2013 to obtain information on animal and plant species richness and diversity and the factors that affect biodiversity. Overall, 774 studies of potential relevance were identified, of which 230 provided information on biological monitoring and 154 met the requirements for the systematic review. Most articles were published in 2004, 2007, and 2011, and most were conducted in Spain. There was sufficient data on species richness to perform a meta-analysis comparing the species richness of 18 different terrestrial ecosystems containing seven taxonomic groups: plants, birds, invertebrates, reptiles, fungi, mammals, and amphibians. Ecosystem type, experimental design, number of study sites, habitat characteristics, and landscape structure were the most frequently mentioned factors affecting biodiversity. Plants were primarily analyzed (42.9% of reviewed studies), with patches and plots being the most common experimental design (64.8%). In comparison, amphibians were the least studied group (1.7%), with transects being the least used experimental design (11.1%). Plants had the highest average species richness (128.25) in managed woodlands, while birds had the lowest (18), with invertebrates generally representing good indicators of biodiversity. Overall, our review indicates that habitat heterogeneity is of importance for safeguarding species adapted to the variety of microhabitats, with it being important to implement traditional cultivation and grazing practices when managing these areas (such as the maintenance of the agro-forestry systems).

Landscape metrics are commonly used indicators of ecological pattern and processes in ecological modelling. Numerous landscape metrics are available, making the selection of appropriate metrics a common challenge in model development. In this paper, we tested the performance of methods for preselecting sets of three landscape metrics for use in modelling species richness of six groups of organisms (woody plants, orchids, orthopterans, amphibians, reptiles, and small terrestrial birds) and overall species richness in a Mediterranean forest landscape. The tested methods included expert knowledge, decision tree analysis, principal component analysis, and principal component regression. They were compared with random choice and optimal sets, which were evaluated by testing all possible combinations of metrics. All pre-selection methods performed significantly worse than the optimal sets. The statistical approaches performed slightly better than random choice that in turn performed slightly better than sets derived by expert knowledge. We concluded that the process of selecting the most appropriate landscape metrics for modelling biodiversity is not trivial and that shortcuts to systematic evaluation of metrics should not be expected to identify appropriate indicators.

Nature conservation should ideally build on the scientific recommendations that are concluded from applied conservation research, as well as on monitoring schemes that evaluate the effectiveness of recommendations. We considered as a case study a system of six protected areas located in the Eastern Rhodopes mountains in the southern part of the European Green Belt (EGB). To investigate nature conservation effectiveness, we reviewed 196 articles from scientific journals and books, eight doctoral and master theses, and 39 scientific reports regarding the Greek (one protected area, 428 km2) and the Bulgarian (five protected areas, 904 km2) part of the study area. We extracted 743 conservation recommendations, and through questionnaires completed by 10 local experts, we found that 74% of the recommendations were familiar for the experts. In the Greek (GR) and the Bulgarian part (BG) only 52% and 16%, respectively, of the recommendations were implemented, and only 15% (GR) and 3.1% (BG) were implemented and evaluated regarding their effectiveness. According to the experts, the main reasons for non-implementation and non-evaluation were absence or incompetence of the responsible authorities. Some recommendations obtained a remarkable low rate of implementation, such as those regarding agriculture and livestock rearing practices (GR: 29%, BG: 16%) or mammal conservation (GR: 0%, BG: 16%). Some other recommendations obtained rather high rates at least for Greece, such as tourism and environmental education (GR: 57%, BG: 42%) and bird conservation (GR: 57%, BG: 11%). We found that researchers and conservation managers at both sides of the Greek-Bulgarian border face similar implementation problems, related often to the lack of political will for nature conservation and establishment of competent authorities. The role of the EGB is crucial in enhancing the established cross-border collaborations between stakeholders involved in nature conservation.

Summary. Population estimates for the diverse raptor assemblage of Dadia National Park, Greece. Dadia National Park, which is situated in north-eastern Greece, close to the border with Bulgaria and Turkey, is characterised by one of the most diverse arrays of breeding raptorial species in Europe. The first raptor survey was undertaken in the 1970s, but until 1999 most surveys were circumstantial and nonsystematic. Considering some of these species are globally endangered and included in Annex 1 of the Birds Directive, and that raptors in general are considered key indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem health, a systematic raptor monitoring programme was established by WWF Greece in 2000. This paper presents the results of this programme including the population status, trends and breeding densities of raptors from 2001 to 2005. Some 18–19 species bred in the area regularly, at densities ranging from one pair per 100 km2 (e.g. long-legged buzzard Buteo rufinus and peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus) to 3...

In the National Park of Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest (Dadia NP, Greece), seven "target" PCBs and 16 organochlorine pesticides (OCs) were analysed in blood samples of cinereous vultures (Aegypius monachus) and Eurasian griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus). PCB congeners 138, 153 and 180 predominated in both species' blood samples. In both species, no differences were detected in congener levels between successive age classes, but in cinereous vulture, there were significant differences between adult and nestling in levels of PCB 28, 52, 101, 118 and between nestling and immature in levels of PCB 101. Regarding pesticides, p,p'-DDE dominated in both vultures followed by beta-HCH, lindane and endosulfan sulphate, but aOCs were higher in griffon vulture. Significant differences were detected only between nestling and sub-adult cinereous vultures in heptachlor levels and between nestling and adult in p,p'-DDT. The origin of pollutants differs between the two vulture species and pollution patterns may not reflect those at Dadia NP. Environ Monit Assess

Spatial heterogeneity has an important influence on a wide range of ecological patterns and processes, and many landscape metrics in GIS environment are used to facilitate the investigation of the relation between landscape structure and biodiversity. Data reduction analyses have been applied to tackle the problem of highly correlated indices, but valid landscape predictors for fine scale Mediterranean forest-mosaics are still missing. Therefore, we analyzed the landscape structure of Dadia National Park, Greece, a Mediterranean forest landscape of high biodiversity, characterized by pine, oak and mixed woodland. By distinguishing nine land cover classes, 119 variables were computed and factor analysis was applied to detect the statistical dimensions of landscape structure and to define a core set of representative metrics. At landscape level, diversity of habitats, fragmentation and patch shape and at class level dominance of mixed forest and the gradient from one pure forest type to another turned out to be the crucial factors across three different scales. Mapping the encountered dimensions and the representative metrics, we detected that the pattern of landscape structure in Dadia National Park was related to dominating habitat types, land use, and level of protection. The evaluated set of metrics will be useful in establishing a landscape monitoring program, to detect the local drivers of biodiversity, and to improve management decisions in Dadia NP and similar mosaic-landscapes.

Abstract The current study attempts to explore the diversity patterns and the ecological structure of herpetofauna in order to provide a guideline for its conservation management, taking as case study the Dadia national park, in Greece. We surveyed 36 sites by conducting time constraint visits and random transects to sample semi-aquatic (amphibians and freshwater terrapins) and terrestrial (lizards and terrestrial tortoises) herpetofauna respectively. We recorded 20 herpetofauna taxa, including five protected species. The park authorities should maintain brooks as a high priority habitat for semi-aquatic herpetofauna, periodically flooded land and lowland streams as important habitats, and to a lesser degree anthropogenic wet habitats. Semi-aquatic species have narrow habitat requirements related to substrate type and humidity. Terrestrial herpetofauna species are influenced by the degree of shade and the type of substrate; they favour a diversity of semi-open habitats (open oakwoods, heaths), located in the buffer zone rather than in the core of the park that contains densely forested habitats. Management focusing on raptors, the initial conservation priority of the national park, is compatible with the conservation of the terrestrial herpetofauna, as the proposed maintenance of an open forest structure is beneficial for terrestrial herpetofauna as well. Our research indicates that future management programs will have to address the needs of herpetofauna species independently and that they should also be integrated in the monitoring programme of the park, with emphasis on the conservation status and trend of the five protected species.

Environmental education and financial support of nature conservation are considered among the primary components of the environmentalist dimension of ecotourism. The potential of environmental education calls for enhancing visitor environmental knowledge and prompting change of visitor behavior. The present study addressed the evaluation of the environmentalist dimension of ecotourism in the Dadia Forest Reserve. The first objective of the research was to study the influence of variables determined prior to the visit, namely, visitor and visit characteristics, visitor environmental information sources, visitor pro-environmental behavior, and visitation goals, on variables determined during the visit, that is, visitor participation in and satisfaction from ecotourism activities. The second objective was to study the effect of selected variables on visitor knowledge and behavior intentions. Visitor participation in and satisfaction from ecotourism activities were primarily controlled by visit characteristics. Levels of visitor knowledge were quite satisfactory; however, coherence among knowledge items was rather loose. On the other hand, behavior intention items revealed the highest possible degree of coherence, which should be attributed to the pervasive influence of visitor satisfaction from watching birds at the Bird Observatory within the Dadia Forest Reserve. Ecotourism activities, during which the main part of environmental knowledge was offered, exerted no effect on visitor knowledge; all the same, they significantly influenced visitor behavior intentions. Overall, visitor behavior intentions revealed a considerable potential of financing environmental protection and providing voluntary work in the frame of the environmental management of the Dadia Forest Reserve.

The Eurasian black vulture (Aegypius monachus) is a globally endangered species, vulnerable in Europe and endangered in Greece. We modelled its nesting preferences in Dadia reserve, northeastern Greece using logistic models at multi-scale level combined by Bayesian statistics. Compared with the random sites, the vultures nested at trees with greater diameter (DBH), lower height, and lower total number of trees around the nest tree, steeper slopes and greater distance from forest roads. Our results indicate that conservation and management guidelines for black vultures must aim: (1) to preserve old, isolated mature trees in the reserve, (2) to maintain the zones of strict protection as vulture sanctuary, including most of the suitable nesting habitat, (3) to protect the apparently suitable but still unused habitat in the rest of the reserve from disturbance and logging, (4) to monitor any changes in habitats and use our models to evaluate and predict their effect on vulture nesting in the reserve.

Migrating raptors and black storks (Ciconia nigra) were studied in Dadia National Park, Greece, during spring 2003–2005. Vantage points and transects were used to evaluate magnitude, phenology, local variation and direction. We observed 23 species and 2030 individuals, including 715 common buzzards (Buteo buteo), 547 black storks and 136 short-toed eagles (Circaetus gallicus). Species-specific migration peaks were detected, starting in the second half of March, e.g. common buzzard, short-toed eagle, black stork, and ending early May, e.g. Levant sparrowhawk (Accipiter brevipes), red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus), honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus). Most raptors were observed in the Evros valley, which may function as a migration corridor. The average direction of passing raptors was north. Species’ proportions and phenology in the study area were similar to those in neighbouring Bosphorus and Marmara Flyways. Further migration monitoring should be established in the area, which will provide important information not least to inform wind farm development location.

Landscape metrics are widely used to investigate the spatial structure of landscapes. Numerous metrics are currently available, yet only little empirical research has comparatively examined their indicator value for species richness for several taxa at several scales. Taking a Mediterranean forest landscape - Dadia National Park (Greece) - as a case study area, we explored the performance of 52 landscape level landscape metrics as indicators of species richness for six taxa (woody plants, orchids, orthopterans, amphibians, reptiles, and small terrestrial birds) and for overall species richness. We computed the landscape metrics for circular areas of five different extents around each of 30 sampling plots. We applied linear mixed models to evaluate significant relations between metrics and species richness and to assess the effects of the extent of the considered landscape on the performance of the metrics. Our results showed that landscape metrics were good indicators for overall species richness, woody plants, orthopterans and reptiles. Metrics quantifying patch shape, proximity, texture and landscape diversity resulted often in well-fitted models, while those describing patch area, similarity and edge contrast rarely contributed to significant models. Spatial scale affected the performance of the metrics, since woody plants, orthopterans and small terrestrial birds were usually better predicted at smaller extents of surrounding landscape, and reptiles frequently at larger ones. The revealed pattern of relations and performances will be useful to understand landscape structure as a driver and indicator of biodiversity, and to improve forest and landscape management decisions in Mediterranean and other forest mosaics. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Landscape metrics are widely used to investigate the spatial structure of landscapes. Numerous metrics are currently available, yet only little empirical research has comparatively examined their indicator value for species richness for several taxa at several scales. Taking a Mediterranean forest landscape – Dadia National Park (Greece) – as a case study area, we explored the performance of 52 landscape level landscape metrics as indicators of species richness for six taxa (woody plants, orchids, orthopterans, amphibians, reptiles, and small terrestrial birds) and for overall species richness. We computed the landscape metrics for circular areas of five different extents around each of 30 sampling plots. We applied linear mixed models to evaluate significant relations between metrics and species richness and to assess the effects of the extent of the considered landscape on the performance of the metrics. Our results showed that landscape metrics were good indicators for overall species richness, woody plants, orthopterans and reptiles. Metrics quantifying patch shape, proximity, texture and landscape diversity resulted often in well-fitted models, while those describing patch area, similarity and edge contrast rarely contributed to significant models. Spatial scale affected the performance of the metrics, since woody plants, orthopterans and small terrestrial birds were usually better predicted at smaller extents of surrounding landscape, and reptiles frequently at larger ones. The revealed pattern of relations and performances will be useful to understand landscape structure as a driver and indicator of biodiversity, and to improve forest and landscape management decisions in Mediterranean and other forest mosaics.

Context This study investigates post-fire natural regeneration of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) forests at Ilia region (Peloponnesus, Greece) following the catastrophic fire of 2007.

In this paper, we present a novel approach for using ecological heterogeneity in reserve design. We measured five ecological heterogeneity indices (EHI) and we used a database of six biological groups (woody plants, orchids, orthopterans, aquatic and terrestrial herpetofauna and passerine birds) across 30 sites in a Mediterranean reserve (Greece). We found that all the five EHI were significantly related to the overall species richness and to the species richness of woody plants and birds. Two indices, measuring vertical vegetation complexity (1/D) and horizontal heterogeneity of landcover types (SIDI) in terms of Simpson's index, predicted well overall species richness and had significantly higher values inside the complementary reserve networks designed after five of the six biological groups. We compared five methods of forming reserve networks. The method of ecological heterogeneity (selecting those sites with the greatest 1/D and then SIDI) was less efficient (non-significantly) than the species-based methods (scoring and complementary networks) but significantly more efficient than the random method (randomly selected network). We also found that the method of complementary ecological heterogeneity (selecting those sites where each EHI had its maximum value) was not that efficient, as it did not differ significantly from the random method. These results underline the potential of the ecological heterogeneity method as an alternative tool in reserve design. Biodiversity and Conservation

Remote sensing now routinely provides environmental information ranging from global to local scales, and geographical information systems provide, among other applications, necessary interfaces to store, analyse and visualise spatial data; increased computational capacities triggered even more such applications. In this chapter, we demonstrate how the combination of landscape approaches, remote sensing and GIS aids conservation and management of biodiversity. We therefore summarise six case studies from Dadia National Park (Dadia NP), in northeastern Greece. The studies aimed at (1) modelling of nesting habitat for a flagship species, (2) evaluation of land-use change, (3) detecting statistical dimensions and spatial patterns of landscape structure, (4) testing the performance of landscape metrics as indicators of biodiversity, (5) developing a GIS approach for a systematic raptor monitoring, and (6) developing a decision-support system to optimise conservation of biodiversity in managed forests.

The population of the Eurasian black vulture in the Dadia National Park was nearly extinct in 1979 (26 individuals and 4–5 pairs) and since 1988 it has been the only breeding population in Greece and the Balkans. During the period 1987–2005, the number of breeding pairs increased from 6 to 22. The protection of the nesting sites and the establishment of one supplementary feeding site could have contributed positively to this increase. Overall, during 1994–2005 the number of breeding pairs remained stable but breeding success showed a significant decrease. During this period, two remarkable drops in the number of the breeding pairs were recorded in 1995–1997 and in 2003–2005. Concurrent with these decreases, a considerable number of individual adult fatalities were recorded, caused mainly by the consumption of poisoned carcasses. Poisoning can be considered as one of the main reasons of black vultures mortality in Dadia National Park and the adjacent areas.

Although the importance of understanding stakeholder beliefs regarding environmental policy has been noted by many authors, research focusing on the heterogeneity of stakeholder views is still very scarce and concentrated on a product-oriented definition of stakeholders. The aim of the present study is to address this gap by examining environmental policy beliefs of stakeholder groups engaged in protected area management. Questionnaires containing 73 five-point Likert scale items were administered to eight different stakeholder groups involved in the management of Greek protected areas. Items referred to core beliefs on environmental policy, namely, the value framework and sustainable development, and secondary beliefs, that is, beliefs on social consensus and ecotourism development. Our study used as a starting point respondent recruitment on the basis of a traditional product-centered approach. We investigated whether environmental policy beliefs can be used to effectively segregate stakeholders in well-defined segments, which override the product-oriented definition of stakeholders. Indeed, K-means clustering revealed an innovation-introduction and an implementation-charged sample segment. The instrument utilized in this research proved quite reliable and valid in measuring stakeholder environmental policy beliefs. Furthermore, the methodology implied that stakeholder groups differ in a significant number of belief-system elements. On the other hand, stakeholder groups were effectively distinguished on a small set of both core and secondary beliefs. Therefore, the instrument used can be an effective tool for determining and monitoring environmental policy beliefs of stakeholders in protected area management. This is of considerable importance in the Greek case, given the recent establishment of 27 administrative bodies of protected areas, all of which are required to incorporate public consultation into management practices.