Project of Leuphana University Lüneburg:
"Conservation of the endangered Danube Clouded Yellow butterfly (Colias myrmidone) in Natura 2000 sites of Romania"
The project was funded 2017–2022 by the German Federal Environment Ministry’s Advisory Assistance Programme (AAP) and was supervised by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the German Environment Agency (UBA). There are several documents to download from the AAP Project database on the homepage of "Umweltbundesamt.de":
- Project information (English) as pdf
- Projektinformation (Deutsch) als pdf
Background
The habitat of the Danube Clouded Yellow butterfly is characterised by a small-scale functional and niche diversity in the transitional zone between forests and pastures. Thus, this butterfly species is dependent on a diverse cultural landscape. Landscape standardisation and homogenisation through overgrazing or succession leads to a significant and rapid decline of its occurrences. In the last 15 years, this butterfly has become extinct in numerous EU member states. To protect its habitats and occurrences, the EU listed it in the Annexes II and IV of its Habitats Directive. Some of the last known habitats of the species are in Romania. There, however, their populations are now endangered, too.
Project details
The project aimed at supporting the conservation efforts for the butterfly in three Natura 2000 sites and to prevent a further decline of the species together with the local population. Therefore, experts from Romania and Germany investigated the requirements of the species for its habitat as well as – in dialogue with the local population – the land use methods, which have enabled the survival of the species in Romania so far. Together they derived proposals, which integrate conservation efforts and land use. The knowledge gained during this project can contribute to the management plans of the Natura 2000 sites in the project region as well as be used for conservation or reintroduction efforts in other European countries, where the butterfly once occurred, e.g. in Germany.
In order to provide access to this information also after the end of the project, a brochure and a short documentary film were produced in
English and in the languages of the project region: Romanian and Hungarian. Scientific findings of this project were published in international scientific journals.