Reintroduction of the German Tamarisk 2017

Published, on 25 September 2022
Project status: completed
Nature conservation project
© Anette Kestler

Reintroduction of the German Tamarisk 2017

Beginning of June 2017 In the context of an expert conference of the ANL (Bavarian Academy for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management), employees of the Donau-Auen National Park were invited to Visit to the Tyrolean Lech Nature Parkin order to achieve a successful Reintroduction area of the dwarf bulrush and natural habitats of the German tamarisk view. Anette Kestler, managing director of the nature park, led the guests to the riverbank areas and informed them about protection programmes of the nature park as well as about current observations and threats to the two pioneer species. During the joint inspection, the protected area managers were able to exchange their different experiences, e.g. in site selection or with different breeding methods.

Due to the disappearance of open riparian areas after regulation and power plant construction, the character species of dynamic riverine landscapes, such as the dwarf bulrush (Typha minima) and the German tamarisk (Myricaria germanica), have been pushed back to a few sites in Austria. Through river engineering measures in the framework of renaturation projects, it has already been possible to partially improve the river engineering situation of the water bodies in the Gesäuse National Park and the Danube Floodplain National Park. In the long term, it should be possible for the two pioneer species to re-establish themselves within their natural distribution areas in the protected areas and to build up a stable, self-sustaining population. Within the framework of Species conservation programmes breeding programmes and reintroduction trials are therefore taking place.

At Danube Floodplains National Park the dwarf bulrush (Typha minima) has been successfully propagated since 2011 with source material from the Tyrolean Lech and since 2015 it has also been planted outdoors again in some areas on an experimental basis. At Gesäuse National Park a conservation and propagation breeding programme for the reintroduction of the German tamarisk has been carried out since 2005. The first attempts at reintroduction in 2005 and 2008 were not crowned with success. Ten years later, the aim is now to achieve a permanent establishment with larger quantities of specimens grown by the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein.

For reintroduction in the field, it is of great importance to be able to fall back on a secure backup stock of plants of the respective species, which is based on the greatest possible genetic diversity, i.e. on different individuals from different populations. Therefore, the visit of the national park staff was also used for the conservation programme of the two national parks within the framework of a nature conservation permit of the province of Tyrol and under the management of the Tiroler Lech Nature Park. at two sites near Weißenbach and Elmen from some individuals of the German Tamarisk seeds. to collect.
That same evening, some of the seeds were handed over to Daniel Kreiner from the Gesäuse National Park. To safeguard the rare autochthonous plant material, the seeds are to be cultivated in as many different places as possible and thus preserved. Therefore, further shares went to the conservation garden of the BOKU (University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna) and the university's botanical garden. There, the plants are now to be propagated and preserved for future reintroductions.

This project is funded by:

Project
Overview