Prague, May 23, 2023 - A new project by experts from the Faculty of the Environmental Sciences of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague and partners from the Podyjí and České Švýcarsko National parks deals with the elimination of invasive species in the most valuable natural areas of the Czech Republic, i.e. in the national parks. Invasive species are a long-term problem for nature conservation, worldwide it is one of the most serious factors reducing biodiversity.
As a result of the spread of invasive species, the competitive exclusion of native species and the degradation of entire communities of plants and animals occurs. The most threatened are rare biotopes and biotopes that are subject to legal protection. Scientists point out that the most effective solution is to prevent the spread. Therefore, they monitor threats to rare communities, determine the number of occurrences of invasive plant species and prepare for their elimination in already invaded locations. The goal of the project financed by Norwegian funds will also be to propose methodological procedures for the management of areas and to evaluate the effectiveness of the elimination itself. Invasive non-native plant species reach new territories through human activity and are capable of long-term survival, reproduction and further spread. "The main parameters for assessing the invasive spread are the impacts on native communities, ecosystem services, the economy and public health. The most affected localities in the Czech Republic are located mainly in warmer areas with a high influence of human activity, but some species of invasive plants also spread in the most valuable parts of our nature - in national parks and other specially protected areas. Their influence on native and rare communities is often fatal," explains the head of the project entitled Elimination of invasive species in practice doc. Kateřina Berchová from the Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, CZU. The elimination of invasive plant species from such locations is then demanding from a financial and time point of view. The best way to protect rare communities from invasion is prevention – finding the locations of invasive plants in the vicinity of protected areas, monitoring their spread and eliminating potential outbreaks in time. "Through well-thought-out and well-planned management of entire territorial units, e.g. national parks, it is possible to prevent both the spread of invasive plants into threatened biotopes and to save funds for the subsequent elimination of invasive species," points out doc. Berchova. Another aspect of the problem is the elimination itself. Elimination interventions must be carried out in a coordinated manner and their effectiveness evaluated over a longer period of time. All it takes is one small, forgotten location, and the invasive plant will spread again within a few years to places where it has already been eliminated.
A team of experts investigating biological invasions from the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague (CZU) together with National park Podyjí and National park České Švýcarsko proposes and tests in practice a comprehensive methodical approach to the management and elimination of invasive plant species in the territory of national parks. As part of the "Elimination of invasive species in practice" project, supported by the "Environment, Energy, Climate Change and Low Carbon Economy" program and financed by the Norwegian Funds 2014-2021, experts are testing a uniform method of mapping invasive plant species in selected locations, creating generally usable map outputs and subsequent design prioritization of sites designated for eimination. The goal of the project is also to propose generally applicable methodological management approaches and evaluation of the effectiveness of elimination. The project is based on the close cooperation of the researchers with the staff of the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of the Environment and experts dealing with the issue of biological invasions from the Botanical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
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Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague (CZU)
CZU is the fourth to fifth largest university in the Czech Republic. It combines a 150-year-old tradition with the most modern technologies, progressive science and research in the fields of agriculture and forestry, ecology and the environment, technology and engineering, economics and management. Modernly equipped laboratories with top facilities, including school enterprises, enable excellent education with the possibility of personal growth, including involvement in scientific projects at home and abroad. CZU provides complete university studies, summer schools, special courses, a university of the third age. According to international rankings, the university belongs to the top three percent in the world. In the Academic Ranking of World Universities (the so-called Shanghai ranking) in 2022, it was ranked 801st-900th in the world and shared 4th place among ranked universities in the Czech Republic. In 2022, CZU became the 45th greenest university in the world thanks to its placement in the UI Green Metric World University Rankings.
Contact for journalists:
Karla Mráčková, CZU spoke woman, +420 603 203 703; mrackovak@rektorat.czu.cz