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Conservation of biodiversity and sustainable resource use are central aims within ecology. This thesis focuses on the current data and environmental frameworks used to support these aims across different states in Europe. In particular, it examines the impact of geo-political boundaries on data-use, funding and planning for temporal movement of species in response to climate change. It also examines the current environmental framework agreements in Europe and their capacity to deal with trans-boundary aspects of biodiversity change. Through examination of European biodiversity datasets, undertaking species distribution modelling of forest taxa, examining economic data, palaeo-ecological data, and assessing international environmental framework agreements, this thesis identifies a number of important knowledge gaps. Probably unsurprisingly, the distribution of biodiversity in Europe mostly does not match political entities, all of which have individual aims, financial resources, and biodiversity management regimes in place. All have a significant impact on biodiversity conservation planning because i) the use of geo-politically truncated data influences modelling predictions, ii) financial commitment to biodiversity conservation varies between countries influencing success outcomes, iii) biodiversity persistence in current and future climate change does not recognise geo-political boundaries, and iv) many of the key environmental frameworks are implemented within countries and do not considering trans-boundary issues. Overall these findings significantly improve the understanding of conservation and resource management in Europe and fill a number of important knowledge gaps. They highlight the importance of appropriate trans-boundary ecological datasets and the need for more consistency across Europe in financial resources for biodiversity conservation. They also highlight the need for appreciation of areas of high-persistent biodiversity regardless of geo-political boundaries and environmental framework agreements that support cross-border conservation measures.

Biologisk mångfald minskar kraftigt i hela världen som ett resultat av mänskliga handlingar. Den biologiska mångfalden hos svenska boreala skogar hotas av det moderna skogsbruket där trakthyggesbruk som är en vanlig skogsbruksmetod skapar en miljö som är svår att överleva i för naturvårdsarter. I denna studie är syftet att undersöka om observationer av sex stycken naturvårdsarter är högre i skyddade värdekärnor bestående av gammal barrskog än i produktionsbarrskog i Dalarnas län, Sverige. Detta genom att analysera andelen av de totala observationerna i proportion till andelen av den totala arealen för respektive skogstyp samt andelen observationer av varje naturvårdsart för sig i proportion till andelen av den totala arealen för respektive skogstyp. Då tidigare studier visat att artantalet och den biologiska mångfalden är högre i skyddade områden, inkluderat gammal skog, förväntades det att resultatet för denna studie skulle följa samma trend. Rumsliga data för skyddade värdekärnor och produktionsskog erhålls från Naturvårdsverket, Skogskarta från Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU) och rumsliga data för artobservationer från SLU Artdatabanken. Den rumsliga analysen utfördes i QGIS och en statistisk analys genom ett Pearson Chi square-test i SPSS. Resultatet i studien visade att det inte finns en signifikant skillnad i proportionen mellan andelen observationer och andelen areal för respektive skogstyp vilket är skyddade värdekärnor och produktionsskog. För varje enskild naturvårdsart var det endast för rynkskinn (Phlebia centrifuga) som det fanns en signifikant skillnad i proportionen mellan andelen observationer och andelen areal för respektive skogstyp vilket indikerar på att den arten föredrar skyddade värdekärnor över produktionsskogar. Studiens resultat överensstämmer inte med tidigare studier men trots detta är bevarandet och främjandet av gamla skogar som är skyddade en viktig del i arbetet mot att stoppa minskningen av den biologiska mångfalden. / Biodiversity is declining rapidly worldwide as a result of human actions. The biodiversity of Swedish boreal forests is threatened by modern forestry, where clearfelling, which is a common forestry practice, creates an environment that is difficult for conservation species to survive in. In this study, the aim is to investigate whether observations of six conservation species are higher in protected high conservation value forests consisting of old coniferous forest than in production coniferous forest in Dalarna County, Sweden. This by analyzing the share of total observations in proportion to the share of the total area for each forest type, and also the share of observations of each conservation species separately in proportion to the share of the total area for each forest type. As previous studies have shown that species numbers and biodiversity are higher in protected areas including old-growth forests, it was expected that the results of this study would follow the same trend. Spatial data for protected high conservation value forests and production forests were obtained from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Forest Map from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and spatial data for species observations from the SLU Swedish Species Information Centre. The spatial analysis was performed in QGIS and a statistical analysis through a Pearson Chi square test in SPSS. The results of the study showed that there is no significant difference in the proportion of observations to area for each forest type that is protected high conservation value forests and production forests. For each individual conservation species, only for Phlebia centrifuga fungus was there a significant difference in the proportion between the share of observations and the share of area for each forest type which indicates that this species prefers high conservation value forests over production forests. The results of the study are not consistent with previous studies, but despite this the conservation and promotion of protected old-growth forests is an important part of efforts to halt biodiversity loss.