A multitaxonomic assessment of Natura 2000 effectiveness across European biogeographic regions.

The Natura 2000 (N2K) protected area (PA) network is a crucial tool to limit biodiversity loss in Europe. Despite covering 18% of the European Union's (EU) land area, its effectiveness at conserving biodiversity across taxa and biogeographic regions remains uncertain. Testing this effectiveness is, however, difficult because it requires considering the nonrandom location of PAs, and many possible confounding factors. We used propensity score matching and accounted for the confounding effects of biogeographic regions, terrain ruggedness, and land cover to assess the effectiveness of N2K PAs on the distribution of 1769 species of conservation priority in the EU's Birds and Habitats Directives, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, arthropods, fishes, mollusks, and vascular and nonvascular plants. We compared alpha, beta, and gamma diversity between matched selections of protected and unprotected areas across EU's biogeographic regions with generalized linear models, generalized mixed models, and nonparametric tests for paired samples, respectively, for each taxonomic group and for the entire set of species. PAs in N2K hosted significantly more priority species than unprotected land, but this difference was not consistent across biogeographic regions or taxa. Total alpha diversity and alpha diversity of amphibians, arthropods, birds, mammals, and vascular plants were significantly higher inside PAs than outside, except in the Boreal biogeographical region. Beta diversity was in general significantly higher inside N2K PAs than outside. Similarly, gamma diversity had the highest values inside PAs, with some exceptions in Boreal and Atlantic regions. The planned expansion of the N2K network, as dictated by the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, should therefore target areas in the southern part of the Boreal region where species diversity of amphibians, arthropods, birds, mammals, and vascular plants is high and species are currently underrepresented in N2K.

Análisis multitaxonómico de la efectividad de Natura 2000 en las regiones biogeográficas de Europa Resumen La red de áreas protegidas (AP) de Natura 2000 (N2K) es una herramienta importante para reducir la pérdida de biodiversidad en Europa. A pesar de que cubre el 18% del área terrestre de la UE, todavía es incierta la efectividad que tiene para conservar la biodiversidad en los taxones y las regiones biogeográficas. Sin embargo, es complicado analizar esta efectividad porque requiere considerar la ubicación no azarosa de las AP y la posibilidad de muchos factores confusos. Usamos el pareamiento por puntaje de propensión y consideramos los efectos confusos de las regiones biogeográficas, lo accidentado del terreno y la cobertura del suelo para analizar la efectividad de las AP de N2K en la distribución de 1,769 especies (mamíferos, aves, anfibios, reptiles, artrópodos, peces, moluscos y plantas vasculares y no vasculares) con prioridad de conservación en las Directivas de Aves y Hábitats de la UE. Comparamos la diversidad alfa, beta y gamma entre las selecciones pareadas de las áreas protegidas y no protegidas en las regiones biogeográficas de la UE con los modelos generalizados lineales, mixtos y pruebas no paramétricas de las muestras pareadas, respectivamente, para cada grupo taxonómico y para el conjunto completo de especies. Las áreas protegidas en N2K tuvieron una mayoría significativa de especies prioritarias en comparación con el suelo no protegido, pero esta diferencia no fue coherente entre los taxones y las regiones biogeográficas. La diversidad alfa total y la diversidad alfa de anfibios, artrópodos, aves, mamíferos y plantas vasculares fue significativamente mayor dentro de las AP que fuera de ellas, excepto en la región biogeográfica boreal. La diversidad beta fue significativamente más alta dentro de las AP de N2K que fuera de ellas. De forma similar, la diversidad gamma tuvo los valores más altos dentro de las AP, salvo algunas excepciones en las regiones boreal y atlántica. Por lo tanto, la expansión planeada de la red N2K, como dicta la Estrategia de la UE sobre Biodiversidad para 2030, debería enfocarse en las áreas del sur de la región boreal, donde es alta la diversidad de especies de anfibios, artrópodos, aves, mamíferos y plantas vasculares y cuyas especies están poco representadas dentro de N2K.

Distance education during COVID 19: an Italian survey on the university teachers' perspectives and their emotional conditions.

BACKGROUND: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, distance education (DE) replaced traditional "face-to-face" teaching and has become the main method of teaching. The aim of this study was to 1) evaluate the impact of DE by teachers in our department during the second semester of the 2019-20 academic year following the March-May 2020 Italian national lockdown and 2) evaluate the relationship between DE and the emotional well-being of teachers during the period of home confinement. METHODS: Ninety-seven university teachers (51.5% women; most represented age group 60-69 years range, 40.2%) responded to an anonymous online cross-sectional survey between July 15 - September 30, 2020, on the advantages and disadvantages of DE, developed by one online teacher focus group. The emotional conditions were assessed by a short version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). The internal consistency reliability survey and the 10-item BDI-II were measured by Cronbach's alpha. A correlation analysis (r-Pearson) was conducted between the overall evaluation of the experience of DE and the variables included in the study. RESULTS: Teachers reported difficulties in technical aspects, and in psychological factors, as the discomfort of "speaking in the void" (64.7%). The absence of "face-to-face" eye contact with the students was complained by 81% of teachers. Significant impairments in sleep patterns and loss of energy were reported, with female teachers having greater difficulty concentrating than their male colleagues. A quarter of teachers showed depressive symptoms of varying severity. The most satisfied teachers were those most stimulated by DE (r = 0.752, p < 0.000), who showed a lower impact of depressive symptoms (r = - 0.289, p = 0.005). The teaching load in hours influenced the perception of disadvantages (r = 0.214, p = 0.035) and contributed to a lower appreciation of the challenges of DE. The more significant the manifestation of depressive symptoms during the lockdown was, the greater the subjective recovery of a good emotional condition once the domestic confinement was over (r = 0.344, p = 0.001), despite maintaining DE. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the impact of technical, didactic, and psychological difficulties of DE, reported by our teachers. The appreciation of their new learning promoted by DE seemed related to better emotional well-being of university teachers accepting this "challenge" in their important role in the high-education system, influencing good learning and promoting students' professional success.

Impact of invasive alien plants on native plant communities and Natura 2000 habitats: State of the art, gap analysis and perspectives in Italy.

Invasive alien plants are a major threat to biodiversity and they contribute to the unfavourable conservation status of habitats of interest to the European Community. In order to favour implementation of European Union Regulation no. 1143/2014 on invasive alien species, the Italian Society of Vegetation Science carried out a large survey led by a task force of 49 contributors with expertise in vegetation across all the Italian administrative regions. The survey summed up the knowledge on impact mechanisms of invasive alien plants in Italy and their outcomes on plant communities and the EU habitats of Community Interest, in accordance with Directive no. 92/43/EEC. The survey covered 241 alien plant species reported as having deleterious ecological impacts. The data collected illustrate the current state of the art, highlight the main gaps in knowledge, and suggest topics to be further investigated. In particular, the survey underlined competition as being the main mechanism of ecological impact on plant communities and Natura 2000 habitats. Of the 241 species, only Ailanthus altissima was found to exert an ecological impact on plant communities and Natura 2000 habitats in all Italian regions; while a further 20 species impact up to ten out of the 20 Italian administrative regions. Our data indicate that 84 out of 132 Natura 2000 Habitats (64%) are subjected to some degree of impact by invasive alien plants. Freshwater habitats and natural and semi-natural grassland formations were impacted by the highest number of alien species, followed by coastal sand dunes and inland dunes, and forests. Although not exhaustive, this research is the first example of nationwide evaluation of the ecological impacts of invasive alien plants on plant communities and Natura 2000 Habitats.