New species are constantly being added to Sweden’s flora and fauna, and yet the country’s plant and animal life is becoming ever poorer. That is one of the conclusions drawn in the book Biodiversity in Sweden, just published by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
Around 800 new plant and animal species have arrived in Sweden since the middle of the 19th century. Some have found their way here unaided, while others have been introduced, intentionally or unintentionally, by humans. Over the same period, more than 200 species have become extinct in the country, but most of them were never particularly common here. Their disappearance has therefore had a limited impact on Swedish ecosystems, and all of them still survive in other parts of the world.
‘Our ecosystems have been affected far more by the fact that many plants and animals that once occurred widely in the landscape are now much rarer here. These days, they are often restricted to very limited areas. Sweden’s “everyday environment” has thus become increasingly poor in species, even though the total number of species in the country has not declined,’ says Claes Bernes, Senior Scientific Officer at the Environmental Protection Agency.
This impoverishment of biodiversity in Sweden is largely due to the habitats of many species having been changed or destroyed by modern forestry and agriculture. The varied countryside of the past has made way for extensive, uniform forest areas or fields where only a small number of plants and animals are able to live.
Much has been done to reduce the adverse impacts of forestry and farming on species richness. The flora and fauna of forests will for example benefit from the fact that more broadleaved trees, old-growth forest and dead trees are now being retained. But nature’s response to these measures is slow, and there is nothing to suggest that the decline in species richness has yet been halted.
‘In recent years, growing demand for timber has once more increased pressure on the plant and animal life of our forests. Forest fertilisation, preventive drainage prior to restocking, and planting of non-native species have become more common again, and in many cases harvesting is still carried out with inadequate attention to the environment. Increasingly, branches, tops and stumps are being removed from felling sites for use as fuel, which is beneficial from a climate point of view, but detrimental to forest biodiversity,’ Claes Bernes concludes.
The new book provides a broad survey of all of Sweden’s landscape types and their current status. Read more about Biodiversity in Sweden (Monitor 22) at http://www.naturvardsverket.se/sv/Start/Om-Naturvardsverket/Vara-publikationer/ISBN1/1200/978-91-620-1291-5/.
For further information, or to request a review copy, please contact:
Claes Bernes, Senior Scientific Officer, +46 10 698 13 05, claes.bernes@naturvardsverket.se
Anneli Nivrén, Press Officer, +46 10 698 13 00, +46 70 206 37 27, anneli.nivren@naturvardsverket.se