On Romanian territory were identified approximate 3868 plant species and from these, until now, 23 species are declared natura [311765]

Impact of human activities on the Danube islands vegetation

Report

Environmental Protection Agency Calarasi

2008

Summary

Introduction …………………………………………………………………………1

Plant protection legislation …………………………………………………………1

The islands and the human activities which generate impact on vegetation …….5

Grazing ………………………………………………………………………………..5

Seedlings planting …………………………………………………………………….9

Forest exploitation ……………………………………………………………………10

Monitoring of the hunting fund ……………………………………………………….10

Conclusions and recommendations …………………………………………………11

Introduction

About 3868 [anonimizat] 23 species are declared natural monuments, 74 species are extinct, 39 species are endangered, 171 species are vulnerable and 1253 are rare. Among these, 623 species are cultivated (Ciocarlan, 2000).

The Romanian flora diversity is a [anonimizat].

[anonimizat]. Usually, they form phytocenosis in which some species are frequent and other are sporadic or rare. The causes which led to the species extinction can be classified in two categories:

[anonimizat]:

[anonimizat], drainages, industry, roads, urbanization;

[anonimizat], [anonimizat];

[anonimizat], pesticides, alien species.

[anonimizat]:

decreasing of biological potential;

ecological disasters ([anonimizat], flood, [anonimizat]);

[anonimizat] (locusts or other phytophagous species) ( Dihoru Gh., Negrean G., 2005).

[anonimizat] a key component of the biodiversity conservation strategy and in this sense Romania is part of many agreements.

1. [anonimizat], D.C., on 3 March 1973, [anonimizat] 22 June 1979 and ratified by Romania through the Law No 69/15 July 1994.

The Convention was opened for signature in 1973 and entered into force in 1975. [anonimizat].

[anonimizat] 3 annexes. Annex I contains endangered species and the trade with these is possible just in exceptional conditions. [anonimizat]. Annex III is a list of species included at the request of a Party that already regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal

2. Bern Convention signed on 19 September 1979 and ratified by Romania through the Law No. 13/11th March 1993.

The Bern Convention originated is a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe elaborated in 1976. After negotiations, a treaty was opened for signature at the 3rd European Conference of the Ministry of Environment. The Convention entered into force in 1982. The objectives of the Convention are:

to assure the conservation of the wild flora and fauna and their natural habitats;

to encourage the cooperation between state;

to pay particular attention to endangered and migratory species

The Convention has 4 Annexes, but the Annex I is referring at strictly protected flora species which necessitate special protection measures.

3. Habitats Directive was adopted in April 1992 and was transposed in Romanian legislation by Emergency Ordinance No.57/20 in June 2007. The Council Directive 92/43/EEC is the main European Union instrument for nature conservation.

The most important provision, not only for plants, is to establish Special Conservation Areas for the habitats listed in the Annex I and for the species listed in Annex II. Annex IV contains species which need strict protection and Annex V contains species of community importance. Annexes IIb, IVb and Vb is referring to plant species.

Special Conservation Areas and Special Protection Areas will form the Natura 2000 network.

4. The Convention on Biological Diversity (Rio de Janeiro Convention) was adopted in 1992 and was ratified by Romania through the Law nr.59/13 in July 1994. The Convention was initially signed by 150 states, and in the present it is ratified by 190 states.

The Convention objectives are:

the conservation of biological diversity;

the sustainable use for the components of biological diversity;

the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

Art. 42 of the Convention clarify what have to be done to maintain the equilibrium between conservation, sustainable development and benefits distribution.

5. The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation was adopted by the 183 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties in The Hague, April 2002.

The new Global Strategy for Plant Conservation marks a new beginning and focus for safeguarding wild plants.

The objectives of the Strategy are:

understanding and documenting plant diversity;

conserving plant diversity;

using plant diversity sustainable;

promoting education and awareness about plant diversity;

building capacity for plant diversity.

The strategy assures the framework to facilitate the harmonization of the plants conservation initiatives, to identify new initiatives and to mobilize the necessary resources.

In the Romanian legislation, Law nr.265/2006 which approves the government Emergency Ordinance nr. 195/2005 regarding environmental protection assures the legal framework for:

Trade with CITES and non-CITES wild plants

Protected areas designation

Natural monuments designation

Harvesting activities, captures, acquisition and trade on national market of the wild terrestrial and aquatic plants and animals or with parts of their bodies

All international Conventions ratified by Romania contribute to the protection of the plant and animal species more or less endangered.

Law nr. 5/2000 regarding the approval of the Landscaping Plan of the national territory – Third Section – protected areas – includes among the reservations and natural monuments from Annex I, botanical reservations of which protection is an obligation for central and local authorities. Local authorities have to take into account the conservation measures when they elaborate the documents for the territory landscaping .

The Emergency Ordinance nr. 57/2007 regarding the protected areas regime, conservation of natural habitats, wild flora and fauna, which recalls the Law 462/2001, transposes both, Habitats and Birds Directive, the most important legislative instruments for establishing Natura 2000 network. The plants species which need conservation are included in:

Annex 3 – animal and plant species which conservation needs special conservation areas designation and special protection areas designation

Annex 4A – species of community interest. Animals and plants species which need strict protection

Annex 4B – species of national interest. Animal and plant species which need strict protection

Annex 5A – species of community interest. Plant and animal species of community interest which sampling and exploitation need management measures, excepting bird species,

Annex 5B – species of national interest. Plants and animals of national interest which sampling and exploitation need management measures.

In Romania, there is any law regulating, in generally, plants management but the Law 491/ 18 November 2003 for medicinal and aromatic herbs establish the general framework regarding the production, processing, market organization, the relation between the producers, processors and traders. There is also, a bill regarding the “Red list of Romanian plant and animal species”.

These regulations are referring just to a part of the Romanian plant taxa, namely the ones with a special statute and not to all the 3868 plant species existing in Romania.

The islands and the human activities which generate impact on vegetation

The islands along the Danube appear as result of sedimentary processes. They are very dynamic formations because of the permanent erosions and sedimentations which shape and reshape them. These conditions cause a typical vegetation development with a very dynamic terrestrial species which are into a permanently process of colonization and disappearance following the biotope dynamics. On the higher areas, where the sediments have been deposed, the plants colonize the grounds, meanwhile on the areas affected by erosion they disappear. On the islands, submerged and emerged species are not as frequent as in the other wetlands, because during the floods the water level rises just for a short period of time.

One of the most interesting features of the islands is the presence of the “lianas” Periploca graeca, Vitis sylvestris, Solanum dulcamara and Ecbalium elaterium shaping a true vegetal „web”, hard to get through.

The main human activities on the islands are: grazing, planting tress seedling, wood exploitation, monitoring of the hunting fund and hunting.

Grazing

Grazing is practiced especially in the areas without forest vegetation, in a traditional way.

Sustainable grazing has positive effects by increasing the productivity of the meadows and the soil fertility and by stimulating the growing of the perennial plants. Instead, overgrazing leads to major changes in vegetal communities causing biodiversity decreasing and vegetal carpet destruction by settlement.

Regarding the forested areas, the law nr.26/1996 (Forest Code), art.37 foreseen: “grazing in the state forests and in the forest belts is forbidden” but is allowed to “pass with animals through the forest towards the grazing, drinking and shelter places” and “these places are annually approved by the forest authorities, respecting the norms and based on the local authorities proposals”.

On the islands, the provisions of the Forest Code are respected more because the herbaceous level is low represented as result of the competition for space and nutrients with other plants, than because of the existing law. Grazing has an intermittent character and the animals are transported from the river banks to the islands by small boats. Animals remain here for short periods of time but the milk is transported daily.

In very droughty years, like 2007, the islands could be directly linked with the shore. This situation facilitates the access inside them.

In the study area, the pig, sheep, caw and horse effectives are reduced, and do not produce any damage on the vegetal carpet structure. According to on field estimations from 2005, the animal effectives were: caws – 25, horses – 6, sheeps – 120, pigs -50. These effectives are nowadays decreasing.

If the animals grazed on all the 8 islands, each animal would graze on an area bigger than 4 ha (a total area of 864 ha for 201 animals). Frequently, these effectives are concentrated on the area of two islands – Turcescu and Fermecatu (469.1 ha). Even in that case, each animal would graze on a surface bigger than 2 ha (2,3 ha) (Motca &al, 1985), sufficient for not considering an overexploitation on the islands.

Analyzing the rapport between pig, sheep, horse and caw effectives, the most numerous are sheep, herbivores of small size which consume the smallest vegetation biomass per capita.

The survey of the herbaceous layer of the islands, in summer 2007, revealed that the presence of indicators for meadows quality (Festuca species) is low. That signifies the herbaceous layer is not enough appropriate for grazing. (Țucra & al, 1987). (see photo 1, 2).

Foto 1: Grassy area dominated by Foto 2: Grassy area dominated by

Conyza canadensis Euphorbia cyparissias

Moreover, the “lianas” Periploca graeca, Vitis sylvestris, Humulus lupulus, Solanum dulcamara and Ecbalium elaterium climb over the trees stock and constitute true hedges which reduce the areas available for grazing ( see photo 3, 4).

Foto 3: Hedges of Periploca graeca Foto 4: Hedges of Vitis sylvestris

The interest for using the vegetal resources from the islands varies according to the temperature and precipitations regime throughout the year.

The years 2005, 2006 had been very rainy and severe floods were registered in springs and autumns. The dry areas from islands were reduced a great while. Consequently, the terrestrial vegetation installed later and the structure of the vegetal carpet was significantly simplified for a long time to hydrophilic species (Typha angustifolia, Butomus umbellatus, Iris pseudacorus, Sagittaria sagittifolia, etc.), the only ones specialized in supporting a high water saturation of soil. Because of these changes the vegetal layer became inatractive for animals, and the grazing presure decreased.

The year 2007 was a very droughty year and as a result the green biomass on the river banks was missing. The early spring and the late installation of drought comparing with river banks made that the vegetal carpet from the islands grows up earlier and remains green longer. Consequently, local breeders kept the animals on the islands for a long time, thus the pressure on islands increased.

Grazing creates special conditions for ruderal, euribiont, heliophytic species development, inequitable distribution of different species and nitrophilous vegetation appearance. Calamagrostis arundinacea, Conyza canadensis, Cynodon dactylon, Digitaria sanguinalis, Elymus repens, Xanthium strumarium, Amaranthus retroflexus, Aristolochia clematitis, Atriplex patula, Chenopodium album, Portulaca oleracea, Cirsium arvense, Echinochloa crus-galli are typical plants for crop borders or for forest clearings, and usually they are not present in the vegetal carpet of the wetlands. In areas affected by grazing, Elymus repens and Xanthium strumarium become dominants and sometimes Urtica dioca is present as a nitrophilous species which grow on the soil reached in azote by animal urine and excrements.

Generally, on the islands, the vegetal carpet is not affected by overgrazing. During the survey from June 2007, no signs of overgrazing were present. No domestic animals footmarks, important quantity of excrements or modifications of vegetal layer have been identified. In August 2007, when another survey was performed, horse excrements, tracks and animal grazing (photo 5) could be observed. Because of low level of Danube, the islands became connected with the river banks and the access on them was easier. But the vegetal layer was still not affected by overgrazing.

Photo 5: Horses grazing on Turcescu Island.

In Romania, animals husbundry is in decline because of its low profitabiliness for small farms. In the project area as in the entire country, animals husbandry has a subsistence character. Families are raising in average 2 animals each and the products are used just for their own consumption.

The actual level of grazing on the project islands has a minor impact.

Seedlings planting

Seedlings plantation is preceded by soil preparation which favors ruderal, heliophytic species installation. After the growing of seedlings, heliophytic species are replaced by sciadophytic species.

Hybrid poplars introduction shortens the ecological succession because the trees grow up faster and after their cutting the cycle restarts. The ecosystem does not have the time to get in the advanced stages of ecological succession and become vulnerable as the presence of the invasive species, Amorpha fruticosa, indicates.

Hybrid poplar plantations are supposed to assure a greater productivity because of faster growing trees and their upright and flat trunks. Unfortunately, these plantations are very vulnerable and their natural regeneration is very low comparing with a natural floodplain forest made by native poplars and willows. Furthermore, hybrid poplar roots are not adapted to intense erosion and deposition processes affecting the river banks and consequently, the banks covered by hybrid poplar plantations are more eroded then the ones cover by willows where sedimentary beaches shape and maintain (see photo 6,7).

Photo 6: The border of the island fixed Photo 7: The border of the island planted

with Salix alba and with sedimentary beach with hybrid poplars and

Forest exploitation

Forestry operations on the islands are realized in hard conditions. The islands soil is unstable, with high humidity, predisposed to settlement, and does not allow the use of the heavy equipments. Even during the winter when the trees are not in their vegetation period and the soil is frozen and covered with snow, the heavy equipments may destroy the seeds. Moreover, wood water transport can become dangerous when the Danube ice packs shape. Sometimes the costs for set up, maintenance and exploitation of hybrid poplar plantations are higher than the price offered for the softwood they produce which makes the plantations unprofitable.

Monitoring of the hunting fund

Species which can be hunted on the islands are birds, deer, wild boars and small carnivores. The wild boar species are representative for islands and have directly influence on the vegetal carpet. Others herbivorous as deer are not so good represented, because they are easy hunted by wolfs, jackals and raccoon dogs.

The hunting fund stretches on the eight project islands contains 180 boars, and the hunting quota established for County Hunters and Fishermen Association is 60 boars.

The hunting maintains wild boar population under control and this has a positive effect on vegetal carpet. Generally, wild boars do not have a negative impact on vegetal carpet. Through grubbing on very small areas, the soil is not destroyed but breaks up and the seeds are mixed with it. This process increases the number of seeds which germinate favoring plants multiplication and dissemination. Because they feed with fruits, boars spread the seeds through their excrements.

Grubbing is also favorable to the plants with vegetative multiplication through rhizomes and tubers fragmentation spreading them on larger areas.

Wild boars are omnivorous animals. Therefore, their impact on vegetal carpet is insignificant and because they have a large trophic spectrum cannot be suspected for overgrazing a special plant species.

Analyzing the list of plant species from the eight islands, the conclusion was that the islands specific biodiversity is smaller if the human impact is reduced.

On Haralambie, Ciocanesti and Soimu Islands which are still in natural regime and totally covered with forest, the biodiversity is reduced, and the specific taxa number is around 30.

On the Cianu Nou Island, still in natural regime, where the forest is mixed with clear zones, the biodiversity is greater and the number of taxa is 40. This difference is determined by grazing.

On Turcescu, Pisica and Albina Islands the specific biodiversity is represented by more than 60 taxa. This diversity is the result of the grazing and trees planting.

The greatest biodiversity was recorded on Fermecatu Island, approximately 80 taxons. This is the result of the island size, vegetations type and grazing, logging and wild boars grubbing cumulated impact.

Conclusions and recommendations:

Analyzing existing data and taking account of the direct observations from the field, the conclusion is that the major human impact is generated by replacement of natural floodplain forest with hybrid poplar plantations.

The grazing has not an important impact on the vegetal carpet, and no special measures are needed for its limitation.

Moreover, the actual grazing level has a positive impact on vegetal carpet biodiversity and its maintenance is recommended.

References

1. Dihoru Gh., Negrean G., 2005, Red book of the vascular plants from Romania, In: Bioplatform – Romanian National Platform for Biodiversity, Eds. Mihăilescu Simona, Ed. Academiei Române, București

2.Vasile Ciocârlan, 2000, Flora ilustrată a României-Pteridophyta et Spermatophyta-, Ed. Ceres

3.Motcă Gh., Roșu C., Belu C., Productivitatea diferitelor tipuri de pajiști, 1985, Lucrări Științifice ale Institutului de Cercetare și Producție pentru cultivarea pajiștilor Măgurele-Brașov, Ministerul Agriculturii și Industriei Alimentare, Academia de Științe Agricole și Silvice

4.Țucra I., Kovacs A. J., Roșu C., Ciubotaru C.,Chifu T., Marcela Neacșu, Bărbulescu C.,

Cardașol V., Popovici D., Simtea N., Motcă Gh., Dragu I., Spirescu M., 1987, Principalele tipuri de pajiști din R.S. România, Institutului de Cercetare și Producție pentru cultivarea pajiștilor Brașov, Ministerul Agriculturii și Industriei Alimentare, Academia de Științe Agricole și Silvice