Floodplain forests offer a diversity of habitats and resources for a very wide range of plant and animal species. Nevertheless, throughout the world they are suffering the most intense of anthropogenic pressures so are, of all ecosystems, among the most endangered. This paper brings together existing ecological understanding of the mechanisms underlying the high heterogeneity and diversity of temperate floodplain forests and of the pressures threatening their high biological value due to habitat homogenisation.
Restoration projects or the preservation of existing floodplain forest ecosystems should combine the restoration of watercourses with the mitigation of other important threats acting at different scales of the landscape (spread of invasive species, eutrophication of watersheds and inappropriate forest management).
More details in this paper :
- Havrdová Alena, Douda Jan, Doudová Jana,
- Threats, biodiversity drivers and restoration in temperate floodplain forests related to spatial scales,
- Science of The Total Environment, Volume 854,
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158743