Research projects of the Bavarian Academy for nature conservation and landscape management

Research project – nature conservation in the forest: Clean up or leave small-scale windfalls?

The focus of the research project is the analysis of the differences between areas where windfalls have been cleared or left undisturbed in an exemplary area of the National Park Bavarian Forest. Data collected during this project provides a basis for recommendations toward professional conservation forest management, and is represented by multivariate analyses from a database of results collected over 24 years of continuous observation on six study sites, as compared to the current development of vegetation (vascular plants and mosses) at various altitudes within the Bavarian Forest. The project will run between February 2013 and April 2014.

Research objectives in detail:

The work to be carried out is the responsibility of the Department of Botany, University of Regensburg, which served to achieve the following aims:

1. Recognition of floristic and structural differences between cleared and undisturbed windfall areas

The focus is on the composition of the vegetation and the vertical structure of the stock timber. It is particularly important to recognize potential benefits of leaving stocks after windfalls, in terms of the stand stability and/or-development to combine nature conservation and forestry issues synergistically.

These findings are discussed in relation to management recommendations in protected forests and made available to supplement applied nature conservation information in the form of publications or event programs of the ANL.

2. Detailed analysis of processes of vegetation adjustment, which are underlying the differences in the management regime and in the altitudinal gradient

Here, vascular plants and mosses are considered. The aim is to recognize whether leaving windfalls undisturbed leads to the formation of a more diverse species composition. The occurrence of species as related to the environmental conditions in the windfall transect is examined. Can adaption strategies (certain characteristic features) be correlated with certain environmental conditions? This knowledge can be used to benefit potentially occurring rare species, because functional feature analysis allows conclusion to be drawn, for example, on their competitive ability or their ability to spread. In these analyses, the focus will be on mosses, because in this organism group as compared to the vascular plants, a higher biodiversity is to be expected.

Area under investigation

Within the National Park Bavarian Forest, six windfalls transects have been selected in the main forest community. Per altitude zone, a cleared transect (dead wood removed) and an undisturbed transect have been chosen. Permanent observation plots exist since 1988, and were established after windfalls in the middle of the 1980s.The transects are divided into 10 by 10 m sample squares, which cover a gradient from the stock disturbed by the windfall back into the undisturbed stock.

Area of research: grazing in nature conservation

What are the possibilities and limitations in Bavaria for the use of grazing as a landscape conservation measure? What must be considered and how are the different forms of grazing suitable?

The ANL provides two new tools, namely the “Online manual: grazing in the nature conservation" and the “Online database of grazing projects in Bavaria", which support nature conservation practices and landscape management during the planning and implementation of grazing projects

As a comprehensive compendium, the online manual contains recommendations for grazing management in different habitats and for the use of grazing animals. The online database complements the manual by providing the opportunity for users to participate directly in experiences from existing projects and promote the networking of participants.

Grazed areas characterize the cultural landscape of Europe. Due to the complex adaptions to feeding and grazing in a variety of species, diverse and species-rich landscapes have developed that invite you to experience nature and enjoy recreation.

Today, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain old land-use traditions. The agricultural structure is rapidly changing and the competition for cultivation has increased strongly. There are parallels in these two far-reaching developments in their consequences for our native species and landscape diversity: the intensification of surface use through increased nutrient intakes and increased stocking rates on productivity sites and, elsewhere, the abandonment or reduction of livestock densities at low productivity sites. The latter often leads to areas that lie fallow or that experience succession towards forests or shrublands. In these two developments, open- and nutrient-poor grazing lands are lost as valuable habitats.

Under these circumstances, nature conservation, but also the cultural and landscape management, are faced with the challenge to obtain areas with high biodiversity in our countryside and to preserve and develop essential elements of our cultural landscape. In view of steady reductions in funding, an efficient species- and habitat protection strategy is also necessary in economic terms. For example, the establishment of grazing methods for the conservation of many habitat types could represent an economical alternative to mowing or mechanical wood reduction processes.

Enable alpine pastures – new ways for diversity (INTERREG IV A-Project)

As part of the European developments in agriculture, habitats of the alpine cultural landscape are acutely threatened. The INTERREG-project “Enable alpine pastures – new ways for diversity" shows how this trend can be countered.

The nature conservation department of the Provincial Government of Salzburg (lead partner) and the Bavarian Academy for nature conservation and landscape management (project partner) started the INTERREG IV-project “Enable alpine pastures – new ways for diversity" in mid-2009 as an EU co-funded research and implementation project. As the first cross-border project of its kind between Salzburg and Bavaria, it is actively involved in the construction of counter-strategies against the loss of attractive alpine pastures.

From2009 till 2012, five alpine pastures were activated, which had previously lain fallow for decades. Thereby, extensive grazing was combined with studies for optimal agricultural use from a conservation and pasture management point of view. An interdisciplinary approach clarified how extensive grazing with old grassland breeds must be initiated and implemented. It examines the removal of trees, the effect of different grazing management systems and the impact of grazing care of nature conservation and agricultural quality of alpine pastures. Business and socio-economic analyses for the transferability to other areas and touristic aspects contributed to the investigations. The sensitive handling of the renaturation of alpine pastures, which were blocked from use, is in the foreground. The results were directly implemented in the project and checked for practical suitability.

Development of management strategies for protected butterfly species in Europe – protective and care measures for Maculinea

Initial situation

Because of their unique myrmecophile developmental biology (larval development in close symbiosis with ants of the genus Myrmica) and the inclusion of three species of this genus in the annexes of the FFH-directive (fauna, flora and habitats directive), the Maculinea butterfly became the subject of special nature conservation interest. The European research project “MacMan" played a prominent role in the research efforts for this butterfly. From 2002 to 2006, more than 100 experts from 20 European countries working on “Maculinea Butterflies included in the Habitats Directive and European Red List as Indicators and Tools for Habitat Conservation and Management" as part of this project.

The Bavarian Academy for nature conservation and landscape management (ANL) has performed intensive research on the habitat requirements and the development of management strategies for the three wetland Maculinea species (Maculines teleius, Maculinea nausithous and Maculinea alcon) in this project. Continuing this research approach and, especially, investigating the effects of different mowing frequencies and cutting dates on the mentioned species is the current focus in this project.

Project content

Implementation and technical support of the continuation of the experimental mowing attempts for Maculinea teleius, Maculinea nausithous and Maculinea alcon in different areas of Bavaria. Based on the obtained results, management recommendations are being developed to ensure the long-term viability of the species in different natural areas in Bavaria.

Causal Analysis of the Large-Scale Decline in the Moorland Clouded Yellow (Colias palaeno)

Initial situation

The moorland clouded yellow (Colias palaeno) has been observed in fens and marshes in Bavaria near the foothills of the Alps until recently. For several years, however, it has been noted that even formerly favored habitats have been abandoned or massive losses have been recorded. A complete chronological account of the decline is currently not possible, although tendencies toward decline have been observed since about 2002 in some areas.

Up until now, no obvious habitat changes have been observed, and the declines cannot currently be explained satisfactorily. Because lower lying fens and marshes seem to be more heavily affected, however, it is suspected that climatic factors play a role. In addition, there are regional focal points for the decline. For example, eastern Bavaria seems to be the most highly affected.

Due to the alarming nature of this situation, there is an urgent need to analyze the causes of decline and form a complete picture of the threat facing the moorland clouded yellow. For this purpose, a research project was started in 2007 by the Academy for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management (ANL), which examines these issues in close cooperation with the State Office for the Environment (LfU). The core objective is to develop management strategies to preserve the moorland clouded yellow in Bavaria on the basis of the basic causal analysis. Because it has been shown that complex changes affecting the entire ecosystem could be behind the declines of the moorland clouded yellow, a close collaboration with the University of Regensburg, Institute of Botany (Prof. Dr. Poschlod), was established in 2010. In addition, research collaborations have been formed with some neighboring countries (especially the Czech Republic and Italy).

Applied species protection: Management strategies to keep raised bogs of Schönramer Filz open by grazing

Based on its species inventory, the Schönramer Filz is one of the most valuable bog complex in Upper Bavaria and worthy of nature conservation efforts. Its value for the conservation of typical bog species and its size were essential for the inclusion in the Natura 2000 network of protected areas within the Bavarian regional setting . Also, its inclusion highlights the European-wide responsibility to maintain or restore the favorable conservation status of raised bog areas degraded by ditch systems and peat mining in many regions.

In 2000, a research project was initiated with the aim to determine the importance for nature conservation of these areas for selected groups of invertebrates, using the example of Schönramer Filz, and to supplement these results by with those from terrain experience from other moorland. The results of inventory surveys show that the degraded raised bogs have zoocoenosis that are highly worthy of protection, which is composed of species of the original raised bog biocoenosis, and which is also composed of thermophilic or xerophilic species. In accordance with nature conservation evaluation criteria, the non-forested areas of the Schönramer Filz are of nationwide importance for the protection of species whose conservation significantly depends on the open habitat present in degraded raised bogs.

Another key objective for the investigations in the Schönramer Filz is scientific monitoring of attempts to keep degraded raised bog areas open by grazing. “Rotational coupling grazing" has been carried out with five Bavarian forest sheep types or Moorschnucken and three goat types on different 5.000 square meter experimental plots. The grazing period is between two and four weeks. In addition to vegetation surveys, the spectrum of species of beetles, non-flying insects, butterflies, grasshoppers and some spiders were detected with a combination of methods using pitfall traps and manual capture.

The results of the studies indicate that well-managed light grazing can be a promising way to keep the landscape open at least for moor-heather areas with only initial woodland growth. However, negative side effects for significant species cannot be excluded. As with the previous test period, only initial trends have been documented and these questions are in the foreground during the second phase.

Faunal surveys on rewetted peat digging fields in Schönramer Filz and Ainringer Moos

Moors are among the most threatened habitats in Central Europe and are now destroyed as a result of drainage and cultivation experiments with few exceptions, such as small-scale core areas. The aim of this conservation effort is to extensively increase near-natural moorland areas by rewetting areas that have dried out, in addition to preserving existing residual deposits. In 1998, extensive rewetting of former peat digging fields started in the Schönamer Filz. In the same year, the ANL began to conduct a faunal inventory of peat digging fields to document the initial conditions and to assess the success of rewetting from a conservation point of view. In 1999, the surveys continued and were expanded to the Ainringer Moos – an area of lowland moor with extensive peat mining.

A total of six groups of animals were specifically detected during the investigations. Among the 261 detected species in Schönramer Filz, 82 taxa were registered on the Red List (especially birds, dragonflies, ants and beetles). Also in the Ainringer Moos, these four animal species groups play an important role in the representation of endangered species. There were 40 representatives of 152 detected species on the Red List. In the first year after the rewetting of the peat digging fields in Schönramer Filz, an improvement in the limnic avifauna resulted, especially for resting and foraging Limmikolen, whereby different specis of this group are now represented on the areas as breeding birds. Some newly occurring rare dragonfly species are now among the fixed species repertoire of rewetted peat digging fields. The distinct areas of shallow water are of crucial importance, and are caused by the terrain relief and the extent of the riparian zones. Flooding the surface with a uniform depth of water would certainly not result in the creation of valuable transition zones. Due to the impoundment, a deterioration of the stock situation for some terrestrial arthropods resulted due to habitat loss. Further investigations will show which development the accumulated peat digging fields (in the medium to long term perspective) will take from a conservation point of view.