The nature is threatened

In spite of many landowners’ fine work in the nature areas, the distinctive habitats of nature are slowly vanishing. A mix of inappropriate management, nutrient load, draining and shortage of space threatens the nature areas and causes the habitats to lose their quality or slowly disappear.

Unfortunately the threats against the nature areas enhance each other. If you drain the moist areas a consequence will often be that the area will overgrow with a few regular plant species. Overgrowing happens faster when plenty of nutrients are available. It goes completely wrong is the areas are not grazed or cared for otherwise.

Here you can read about the threats usually present in alkaline fens and petrifying springs.

Overgrowing
Most kinds of light-open habitats of nature are dependent of grazing or hay harvest – often as part of extensive farming. If the management stops, the nature will overgrow. It can be tall herbs and/or trees and bushes. It is more destructive to the area if it overgrows with trees or bushes because the original vegetation then disappears faster. If the area overgrows with grasses or herbs the original species will persist longer and hence the area is easier to rescue.

Improper water level
Water catchment or drainage with ditches, drain or pumps make the nature areas drier thereby changing the existing nature at these sites. Transformations happens e.g. when the characteristic and special wet ground vegetation (plants that have adapted to moist and wet ground) is replaced by a vegetation consisting of regular and competitive dry ground species.

Too many nutrients
A supply of too many nutrients will transpose the competition and relation between plant species. Big, regular and fast growing plants will have an advantage and replace and repress the smaller and thriftier plants. An increase in nutrients supply will result in more homogeneous and generally taller vegetation in nature areas.

Lack of space
With the development of society more space is needed for infrastructure, agriculture and industry including more and bigger cities. Nature areas are gradually shrinking and becoming more fragmented. A greater distance between nature areas means that it is harder for both animals and plants to spread across the areas. In other words small and divided nature areas are vulnerable. The quality automatically worsens and the species become extinct.

Invasive species
Plants and animals, which originally does not belong in the Danish nature, comes, settle down and take over space, food or light from the species originally found in the area. The invasive species are a threat because their consumption of space, food and light happens much faster than for the original species. Furthermore is it possible for a single invasive species to overtake an area and in just a short time it will be the only specie there.