{"id":6644,"date":"2021-04-13T12:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T10:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/snsb.de\/gefaehrdete-pflanzenarten-in-bayern\/"},"modified":"2022-03-24T07:19:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T06:19:57","slug":"gefaehrdete-pflanzenarten-in-bayern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snsb.de\/en\/gefaehrdete-pflanzenarten-in-bayern\/","title":{"rendered":"Endangered Plant Species in Bavaria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Individual Successes and Unfortunately Many Further Deteriorationsle weitere Verschlechterungen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In cooperation and with funding from the Bavarian State Office for the Environment (LfU), a new Red List of endangered ferns and flowering plants of Bavaria is currently being compiled by scientists from the Bavarian State Collection for Botany (SNSB-BSM), as well as volunteer botanists and mappers from Bavaria. The aim is to take into account the development of the populations of rare and endangered plant species, especially over the past 30 years. There is some good news about species that were on the verge of extinction 20 years ago, whose populations have however recovered well thanks to targeted species assistance programs in Bavaria. The majority of Bavaria\u2019s endangered plant species continue to fare poorly, or their status has even deteriorated significantly since the last Bavarian Red List was published in 2003.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bavaria is home to almost 5,000 different species of ferns and flowering plants, of which 3,156 are naturally occurring native (indigenous) species and the rest are so-called neophytes and adventitious flora, i.e. newcomers to our native flora that have been intentionally or unintentionally introduced by humans. These species numbers are known from the last inventory of the Bavarian flora, which was published in 2014 (and updated in 2018) under the leadership of Prof. Lenz Meierott and Dr. Wolfgang Lippert and the Bavarian Botanical Society (BBG e.V.). However, for many species there is insufficient knowledge of their current population numbers, endangerment, and population trends; the most recent data on this were collected as part of the last Red List of Plants of Bavaria in 2003. A new, updated Red List of naturally occurring ferns and flowering plants in Bavaria (neophytes are explicitly excluded) has been under development since 2017 and is scheduled for publication in early 2022. Special attention will be paid to those plant species that are endangered in their populations, i.e. those that are considered \u201cthreatened with extinction\u201d (Red List category 1), \u201ccritically endangered\u201d (RL category 2), or \u201cendangered\u201d (RL category 3) in Bavaria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The downward trend of many endangered plant species in Bavaria, like in all of Germany, unfortunately continues unabated, as the new data show. For example, many plant species that were still classified as \u201ccritically endangered\u201d in 2003 must now already be placed in the highest endangerment category \u201cthreatened with extinction\u201d because their populations have continued to decline, so that extinction of these plant species in Bavaria is likely in the next few years or decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBavaria is the most botanically diverse state in Germany \u2013 there are even some plant species that globally only occur in Bavaria and nowhere else. Unfortunately, all these endemics and botanical rarities can now be found in the Red List of Threatened Species,\u201d says Dr. Andreas Fleischmann, a scientist from the Bavarian State Collection for Botany (SNSB-BSM) and first chairman of the Bavarian Botanical Society, who was involved in the preparation of the new Red List. Together with six freelance botanists, he is currently compiling the inventory and status of Bavaria\u2019s rare and endangered plant species. And in many cases things are unfortunately not looking good. \u201cThe rare yellow-white strawflower, Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum<\/em>, could not be found at any of the only 6 known growing sites in Bavaria anymore, the species is probably extinct in our country,\u201d says J\u00fcrgen Klotz from Regensburg, who has remapped many of the known occurrences of rare plant species on behalf of the LfU. \u201cEven the sand rush, Juncus tenageia<\/em>, a very rare plant species that occurs in Bavaria only in the Erlangen pond area, has disappeared from 9 of the 10 known growing sites where it still occurred in the 1990s and early 2000s,\u201d Klotz continues. Unfortunately, he could cite many more such examples. Nearly every other plant species he mapped, which was already listed as \u201cthreatened with extinction\u201d in Bavaria\u2019s Red List in 2003, has seen its population decline again in the last 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have, of course, been efforts for decades to counteract this downward trend in species diversity. \u201cOne measure that works well in many cases are the species assistance programs,\u201d says Marcel Ruff of the LfU\u2019s newly founded Bavarian Species Conservation Center. He coordinates botanical species conservation programs throughout Bavaria. \u201cBut in most cases, the successes of such targeted species assistance programs depend on the dedication of a few individuals who continuously and meticulously carry out biotope maintenance and protection measures. Their efforts cannot be praised highly enough for species conservation in Bavaria \u2013 without their commitment, we would already have lost many botanical treasures completely,\u201d says Ruff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example of successful botanical species conservation is the white-flowered spring pasqueflower, Pulsatilla vernalis<\/em>. In Germany, it can only be found in Bavaria (it is already extinct in all other German states), and there has always been found only in a few places with acidic soils \u2013 outside the Alps, mainly in sparse sand pine forests in eastern Bavaria. For more than 20 years Martin Scheuerer has been taking care of species conservation measures for the preservation of the extra-alpine populations of this rare species. The populations at 6 growing sites in the sandy areas in the district of Kelheim have fortunately increased in the meantime, but a survival of this rare plant species will also depend on the care measures of botanical species protection in the long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Literature:<\/strong>
Scheuerer, M. (2020). Artenhilfsma\u00dfnahmen zu Pulsatilla vernalis<\/em> in Bayern au\u00dferhalb der Alpen \u2013 eine Zwischenbilanz. Hoppea, Denkschriften der Regensb. Bot. Gesellschaft 81 (im Druck).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zehm, A., Klotz, J., Horn, K., Wecker, M., von Brackel, W., Blachnik, T., von Brackel, J., Buchholz, A., Diewald, W.,Elsner, O., Feulner, M., Kohler, U., Lausser, A., Radkowitsch, A., Ruff, M., Sch\u00f6n, M., Wagner, A., Wagner, I. & Wimmelb\u00fccker, A. (2020). R\u00fcckgang seltenster Pflanzenarten ist ungebremst \u2013 Freilanduntersuchungen zur Bestandsentwicklung vom Aussterben bedrohter Gef\u00e4\u00dfpflanzenarten Bayerns. Berichte der Bayerischen Botanischen Gesellschaft 90: 5-42.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact:<\/strong>
Dr. Andreas Fleischmann
Botanische Staatssammlung M\u00fcnchen (SNSB-BSM)
Menzinger Str. 67, 80638 M\u00fcnchen
Tel.: 089 17861 240
E-Mail: fleischmann@snsb.de<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n