2019 Pfaff, Timo: Fotofallen-Monitoring zur Untersuchung der Aktivität der Wildtiere auf Grünäsungsflächen im Nationalpark Schwarzwald

In Central Europe grasslands are the habitat of a significant number of endangered plants and animals. It plays an important role for the conservation of biodiversity. Game grazing meadows were created to protect forests against herbivores such as red deer (Cervus elaphus) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). These artificial created grazing grounds have not just a positive effect on the forests, but also onto the wild animals. The better nutritional capacities of these meadows compared to the forests have a positive effect on herbivores. Especially in forests which are used for commercial purposes those artificial meadows are very important for the settled wildlife because in general there is no natural gap formation. But what role do these meadows play in national parks if natural gaps arise independently and offer a natural alternative to the artificial game grazing meadows. Determining the current use of the game grazing meadows is important to be able to pursue this question with a longer-term monitoring in future.
The following study will investigate the current use of selected game grazing meadows in the Black Forest National Park involving a camera trap monitoring to investigate the occurrence and the activity of wild animals as an initial point for a longer-term monitoring. In addition, the influence of hunting on the activity of the animals is examined and discussed. This research is the first of its kind on game grazing meadows in the area of the national park and it should be the basis for further projects.