Phänologisches Indikatorsystem

To choose the right mowing time for meadows and grasslands is an important issue for conservation and restoration of such biotops. Because it is necessary to be familiar with the phenology of all the plant species, that task cannot be handled by normal farmers. In our project we want to test, whether it is possible to find indicator species for several important mowing times. Those indicator species should help the farmer to easily recognize the right mowing time, depending on the actual phenological stage of the certain meadows and not on fixed deadlines. The basis of such an indication system is that stable phenological species groups exists, which are independent of the location, elevation of the meadow or the specific weather. Therefore we map the phenology of more than 50 species on 15 meadows for 4 years. For the mapping we use a special key, which describes the stages of flowering, fruiting and dispersal independent for each species. That phenological data we use to cluster species and look how stable those groups are. If we find stable phenological species groups, indicator species can be choosen.

Duration: January 2007 to December 2009

Contact: Dipl. Biol. Frank Richter

Leader: Prof. Dr. Christoph Neinhuis

Collaborational partners:

• For the care of meadows and grasslands
  • • Förderverein für die Natur des Osterzgebirges e.V.
    • Grüne Liga Osterzgebirge e.V.
    • Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz e.V.
    • Beschäftigungsgesellschaft Pirna e.V.

For the hay transfer

• • • DEGES GmbH
    • Plan-T
    • Beschäftigungsgesellschaft Pirna e.V.
    • Gärtnerei Dietze
    
    
     

Funded by: Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz e.V. (DBU)