High-tech for moth protection – top researchers from Austria are helping in the Forchheim district”
It is a drastic situation that in Upper Franconia in the last 165 years an increase of urban areas by 2600% and a strong loss of farmland and meadows (almost 28%) have been documented (Ulloa-Torrealba et al. 2020). This creates problems for animal species that depend on such habitats. The two strongly protected species of moths, the Blue and the Light Blue. Where they can be found, there are still wet meadows, on which many other animal species also specialize. The two blues are listed as key species in the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive (FFH) and should therefore receive special attention in applied nature conservation. The government of Upper Franconia therefore started the biodiversity project “Blue ants in the Forchheim district” with the Ebermannstadt landscape conservation association last year, which is also actively supported by the BN local group in Neunkirchen am Brand and the surrounding area and the BN district group in Forchheim.
When mapping the entire district in 2021, it was found that there are fewer habitats in Forchheim and the surrounding area in which the animals still occur, but it was also shown that there are significant stocks of both species in Neunkirchen a. B. can be found. A circuit analysis should now clarify which areas are particularly suitable for creating a network system to counteract biotope fragmentation. The analysis follows the assumption that animals in the field behave like electricity in a circuit (circuit). The Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research at the University of Vienna helped with this complex high-tech analysis. There, over several days, a large amount of landscape data is compared with the locations of the habitats by high-performance computers in order to determine the best possible routes for the natural spread of the animals to one. The results can then flow directly into decision-making in applied nature conservation (e.g. contractual nature conservation programs etc.).
In addition to the use of cutting-edge technology, the biodiversity project also receives support from female students at the University of Würzburg. In the coming summer, a bachelor’s and a master’s thesis will be carried out, in which the local landscape elements and their influence on the distribution of ant nests and moths will be scientifically analyzed in detail. Two student teachers will also go to schools to inform students about the blue ants. The BN local group in Neunkirchen am Brand and the surrounding area and the BN district group in Forchheim will actively support the students in their work in order to promote the success of the biodiversity project.
Author: Dr. Mirko Wölfling, project manager of the WKAB biodiversity project in the Forchheim district