Dry heath
Quick facts
Red List habitat type | code RLF4.2 |
---|---|
Threat status | |
Europe | Vulnerable |
EU | Vulnerable |
Relation to |
|
Source | European Red List habitat factsheet |
European Red List of habitats reports | |
European Red List of habitats (Excel table) |
Summary
Heaths dominated by sub-shrubs of the genera Erica, Calluna, Vaccinium and Daboecia, with some species of woody, often spiny, legumes of the genera Ulex and Genista, grasses and other ligneous plants, occurring on siliceous soils, often podsolised but rarely or never waterlogged. This habitat has its main distribution in Atlantic Europe, a region of oceanic climate with high precipitation and a low continentality, with some extensions towards interior areas of the continent in some siliceous mountains and on sandy plains. To the north, where it extends to the western coasts of Norway, it behaves like a thermophilic unit under the warming effect of the Gulf Stream and, in the south, like a montane high moisture-demanding vegetation. Its optimum, in terms of floristic richness, is probably related with glacial refugia and is in SW Atlantic Europe, particularly in the northern and western Iberian Peninsula, areas from which the habitat has extended outwards. From NW Morocco, where it is found in the rainy areas of the western Rif, its range encompasses western and northern Iberia, western France, British Isles, Belgium, The Netherlands, NW Germany, Denmark, and SW Sweden, with some important occurrences in the inner Central European siliceous mountain systems. These heaths are transitional to subalpine and boreal heathlands of the Vaccinio-Piceetea (type F2.2a), common in northern Scotland and Scandinavia, while in the south there are transitions to the Mediterranean siliceous scrubs of the Cisto-Lavanduletea. In Central Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary) several pannonic species are associated with this habitat.
In most situations out of its primary stations, this habitat is associated with a particular well-defined and intense disturbance regime. Since early times (probably since the Neolithic), mowing, burning and grazing have been the main practices carried out by humans on heathlands and nowadays rural abandonment and the relaxation of such activities have triggered secondary succession and led to its disappearance in many locations. Many of the areas formerly and nowadays still covered by heaths are secondary stands resultong from such human interventions. Primary stations of this habitat type are most probably linked to the coastal cliffs of Atlantic SW Europe, where shallow soils in the rocky habitats provide the adequate conditions for preventing succession and even an adequate refuge for survival during Pleistocenic ice ages. Dry heaths form dense sub-scrubs in which dominance is dependent on the type of management: high fire frequency combined with grazing leads to the dominance of graminoids, even to a sort of grassland with small heaths; regular mowing without grazing leads to the dominance of heathers, gorses and ferns (particularly Pteridium aquilinum), in a treatment much oriented to obtaining large quantities of vegetative material for cattle bedding and for manuring. The model of management is particular for each of the regions involved and adapted to the natural conditions and to the associations present in those places.
In the vast range through which dry heaths develop, there can be quartzic coastal non-dune sands with Calluna vulgaris and Empetrum nigrum in northern Europe, mesophile or xerophile heaths on siliceous, podsolic soils in moist Atlantic and sub-Atlantic climates of plains and low mountains of Southern, Western, Central and Northern Europe and true coastal heaths occurring on maritime cliff tops where they survive under the strong wind conditions, low salt spray and low temperature oscillation regime determined by the proximity to the sea, originating typical prostrate maritime formations.
Indicators of good quality:
- dense scrubs with many herbaceous plants: ferns, grasses, etc, without having a clear dominance of one particular species, nor heathers neither gorses or grasses.
- evenness in the species populations, especially characteristic fauna, depending on microclimate and horizontal and vertical structure
- presence of rare and/or threatened species
- Absence of exotic species
- Absence of nitrophilous species
- Absence of trees and tall shrubs invading with lack of management
- Presence of lichens and/or bryophytes
- Presence of old Calluna shrubs with cycles of regeneration
- Signs of traditional management including a low frequency fire, mowing, grazing, etc.
Threat status
Synthesis of Red List assessment
EU | |
Red List Category | Red List Criteria |
Vulnerable | A3 |
Europe | |
Red List Category | Red List Criteria |
Vulnerable | A3 |
Confidence in the assessment
Pressures and threats
- Agriculture
- Agricultural intensification
- Abandonment / Lack of  mowing
- Abandonment of pastoral systems, lack of grazing
- Fertilisation
- Sylviculture, forestry
- Artificial planting on open ground (non-native trees)
- Pollution
- Nitrogen-input
Habitat restoration potential
Trends in extent |
|
Average current trend in quantity |
|
Decreasing ![]() |
Decreasing ![]() |
EU28 | EU28+ |
Trends in quality |
|
Average current trend in quality |
|
Decreasing ![]() |
Decreasing ![]() |
EU28 | EU28+ |
Conservation and management needs
List of conservation and management needs
- Measures related to agriculture and open habitats
- Other agriculture-related measures
- Measures related to wetland, freshwater and coastal habitats
- Restoring coastal areas
Distribution
Geographic occurrence and trends
EU28 | Present or presence uncertain | Current area of habitat (Km2) | Recent trend in quantity (last 50 years) | Recent trend in quality (last 50 years) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spain mainland | Present | 11075 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Ireland | Present | 1094 | Increasing | Decreasing |
Lithuania | Present | 10 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Belgium | Present | 93 | Increasing | Increasing |
Bulgaria | Present | 2 | Stable | Increasing |
Czech Republic | Present | 19 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
France mainland | Present | 1200 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Germany | Present | 550 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Finland mainland | Present | 15 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Hungary | Present | 0.5 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Italy mainland | Present | 221 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Netherlands | Present | 258 | Decreasing | Stable |
Romania | Present | 0.1 | Stable | Stable |
Slovenia | Present | 2 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Sweden | Present | 132 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
United Kingdom | Present | 8935 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Northern Island | Present | 8935 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Portugal mainland | Present | 204 | Unknown | Increasing |
Denmark | Present | 238 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
Slovakia | Present | 6.9 | Stable | Decreasing |
Croatia | Present | 2 | Stable | Decreasing |
Poland | Present | 128 | Decreasing | Decreasing |
EU28 + | Present or presence uncertain | Current area of habitat (Km2) | Recent trend in quantity (last 50 years) | Recent trend in quality (last 50 years) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Guernsey | Present | Unknown | Unknown | |
Isle of Man | Present | Unknown | Unknown | |
Jersey | Present | Unknown | Unknown | |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Present | 12 | Increasing | Increasing |
Norway Mainland | Present | 1625 | Unknown | Unknown |
Extent of Occurrence, Area of Occupancy and habitat area
Extent of Occurrence (EOO) (Km2) | Area of Occupancy (AOO) | Current estimated Total Area | Comment | |
---|---|---|---|---|
EU28 | 7530700 | 8215 | 24185 | Based on existing data provided by EU member States |
EU28+ | 8269 | 25822 | Insufficient data for an accurate calculation |
EOO = the area (km2) of the envelope around all occurrences of a habitat (calculated by a minimum convex polygon).
Characteristic species
Species scientific name | English common name | Species group |
---|---|---|
Caprimulgus europaeus | Nightjar | Birds |
Sylvia undata | Dartford Warbler | Birds |
Pteridium aquilinum | Ferns | |
Agrostis curtisii | Flowering Plants | |
Allium ericetorum | Flowering Plants | |
Avenula lodunensis | Flowering Plants | |
Avenula sulcata | Flowering Plants | |
Calluna vulgaris | Flowering Plants | |
Carex asturica | Flowering Plants | |
Cistus psilosepalus | Flowering Plants | |
Daboecia cantabrica | Flowering Plants | |
Drosophyllum lusitanicum | Flowering Plants | |
Empetrum nigrum | Flowering Plants | |
Erica ciliaris | Flowering Plants | |
Erica cinerea | Flowering Plants | |
Erica mackaiana | Flowering Plants | |
Erica scoparia | Flowering Plants | |
Erica umbellata | Flowering Plants | |
Erica vagans | Flowering Plants | |
Erythronium dens-canis | Flowering Plants | |
Genista anglica | Flowering Plants | |
Genista germanica | Flowering Plants | |
Genista pilosa | Flowering Plants | |
Genista triacanthos | Flowering Plants | |
Genista tridens | Flowering Plants | |
Halimium alyssoides | Flowering Plants | |
Halimium ocymoides | Flowering Plants | |
Halimium umbellatum | Flowering Plants | |
Lavandula viridis | Flowering Plants | |
Lithodora prostrata | Flowering Plants | |
Luzula lactea | Flowering Plants | |
Pedicularis lusitanica | Flowering Plants | |
Polygala microphylla | Flowering Plants | |
Scorzonera humilis | Flowering Plants | |
Stauracanthus boivinii | Flowering Plants | |
Thymelaea coridifolia | Flowering Plants | |
Thymus villosus | Flowering Plants | |
Tuberaria lignosa | Flowering Plants | |
Tuberaria major | Flowering Plants | |
Ulex europaeus | Flowering Plants | |
Ulex gallii | Flowering Plants | |
Ulex jussiaei | Flowering Plants | |
Ulex micranthus | Flowering Plants | |
Ulex minor | Flowering Plants | |
Vaccinium myrtillus | Flowering Plants | |
Vaccinium vitis-idaea | Flowering Plants | |
Viola lactea | Flowering Plants | |
Hylocomium splendens | Mosses & Liverworts | |
Hypnum jutlandicum | Mosses & Liverworts | |
Pleurozium schreberi | Mosses & Liverworts | |
Lacerta schreiberi | Schreiber's green lizard | Reptiles |