Nicola Arndt und Matthias Pohl - Neobiota

Nearly all vegetation units in the Danish part of the European map of potential natural vegetation
correspond more or less to one or several NATURA 2000 habitat types (Table 1). Three units
correspond to specific high priority types: T1 (wet alder woodland) (91E0), E10 (dune heath) (2140),
and S8 (raised bog) (7110), and one unit, P5 (NW European sand dune complex) includes several high
priority types: Dunes with Juniperus spp. (2250) and stable dunes with herb vegetation (2130).
Table 2: Current land use/vegetation types of Denmark (Compiled from various sources, mainly statistics
from the Ministry of Environment and Energy). For explanation, see Table 1.
Current land use and vegetation
Natura 2000 Land use/vegetation type Area (ha) Area (%) Local
species
density
Weighted
species
density
Xx Deciduous forest 162,000 3.8 25 95
Coniferous forest 269,000 6.2 10 62
Dune plantation 30,000 0.7 15 11
Xο Grassland 26,200 0.6 60 36
Xx Fresh meadow 103,700 2.4 40 96
Xx Heathland 46,900 1.1 15 17
Xο Fen and mire 91,400 2.1 20 42
Small, rural biotopes 102,000 2.4 20 48
Xx Salt marsh 43,600 1.0 40 40
Xο Sand dune 50,000 1.2 60 72
Ο Dune heathland 35,000 0.8 15 12
Arable land 2,426,700 56.3 10 563
Urban/infrastructure areas 851,000 19.8 – –
Xx Freshwater areas 70,000 1.6 – –
Total 4,307,500 100.0 1,094
In the current Danish landscape these types are still present. But the current landscape further includes
several NATURA 2000 habitat types which are not depicted on the European map. Specifically,
grasslands, fresh meadows, heathlands and fens and mires each include more than one NATURA 2000
habitat type, several of which are high priority types: grassland on calcareous soil (6120), species-rich
grassland on acid soil (6230), calcareous fen with Cladium mariscus (7210) and springs (7220).
5 Natural vs. current vegetation in relation to Holocene vegetation development
The difference between current vegetation and the natural vegetation as shown by the European map,
is largely ascribed to the influence of humans. It may therefore be of interest to compare the European
map with the vegetation at the time when significant influence of humans started. This happened at the
transition to the Neolithic about 4000 BC. Before that time, about 90 % of the land was covered by
forest (Figure 6) as is also the case on the European map. After that time, humans increasingly
influenced the landscape by felling, grazing and cultivation. This is demonstrated by the declining
forest curve in Figure 6.
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