caa a22 4500 605527342 CHVBK 20210128100808.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10531-015-0937-1 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10531-015-0937-1 Are species listed in the Annex II of the Habitats Directive better represented in Natura 2000 network than the remaining species? A test using Spanish bats [Elektronische Daten] [Fulgencio Lisón, David Sánchez-Fernández, José Calvo] One of the main aims of protected areas is to be effective in the conservation of target species, i.e. those of the highest conservation concern. The Natura 2000 network (N2000) of protected areas is the main pillar of European action to halt biodiversity loss. Within N2000, special areas of conservation (SACs) are designated to protect habitats and species of the highest conservation interest, i.e. habitats from Annex I and species (other than birds) listed in Annex II of the Habitat Directive. Thus, a critical and urgent task is to assess the effectiveness of N2000 in the protection of these species. Here, we used distribution data for Spanish bats to test whether the species included in Annex II are better represented in N2000 than the remaining bats found in Spain, since SAC sites were specifically designated to protect the former species. In general, we found significantly high overlapping values between species distribution and N2000 sites (both groups of species are in general over-represented in N2000). However, contrary to our expectations, N2000 (even when only SACs were considered) did not offer higher representation values for the species listed in Annex II than for other species. We found that N2000 performed well even for non-target species, and that species from Annex II could have acted as effective umbrella species for the remaining bat species. Finally, the usefulness of including a species in Annex II is discussed, and guidelines to improve the efficiency of the N2000 for bat conservation are offered. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, 2015 Chiroptera nationallicence Protected areas nationallicence Management police nationallicence Special areas of conservation nationallicence Special protection areas nationallicence Umbrella species nationallicence Lisón Fulgencio Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain aut Sánchez-Fernández David Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC), Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain aut Calvo José Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain aut Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/10(2015-09-01), 2459-2473 0960-3115 24:10<2459 2015 24 10531 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0937-1 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0937-1 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Lisón Fulgencio Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Sánchez-Fernández David Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC), Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Calvo José Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/10(2015-09-01), 2459-2473 0960-3115 24:10<2459 2015 24 10531