Animals as an indicator of carbon sequestration and valuable landscapes

• Published in: ZooKeys
• Main Authors: Jan Szyszko, Axel Schwerk, Jaroslaw Malczyk
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Pensoft Publishers 2011
• Subjects: Zoology; QL1-991; White-tailed eagle
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.100.1547; https://doaj.org/article/154b8915454b4ec5bd800e5c465bf8c0

Possibilities of the assessment of a landscape with the use of succession development stages, monitored with the value of the Mean Individual Biomass (MIB) of carabid beetles and the occurrence of bird species are discussed on the basis of an example from Poland. Higher variability of the MIB value in space signifies a greater biodiversity. Apart from the variability of MIB, it is suggested to adopt the occurrence of the following animals as indicators, (in the order of importance), representing underlying valuable landscapes: black stork, lesser spotted eagle, white-tailed eagle, wolf, crane and white stork. The higher number of these species and their greater density indicate a higher value of the landscape for biodiversity and ecosystem services, especially carbon sequestration. All these indicators may be useful to assess measures for sustainable land use.