Summer near the city – Use of monitoring technologies in protected areas

Monitoring Technologies
Hannes Egger, Kathrin Pascher, Isabella Sophia Clemens Fotocredit: Laura Schnabl

“Although working in the marshland was muddy, hot, exhausting and accompanied by lots of mosquitos, we had a lot of fun.” These conclusions are drawn by Isabella. She is a student at the Federal Technical College Klagenfurt and is currently working in the team of the UNECO Chair within the framework of an FFG project "Talente Regional-Praktika für Schüler*innen."

The pilot study she is involved in takes place in the Natura 2000 site “Lendspitz-Maiernigg” at the Wörthersee. The study focuses on devices for vegetation and habitat monitoring. As the test site is dominated by wetland vegetation, water and soil are key aspects for mapping different vegetation types. In particular, the aim is to test the applicability of traditional as well as modern technologies to successfully assess the effectiveness of management strategies. Isabella, along with trainees Laura and Hannes and the BioMONITec team, installed soil temperature and soil moisture loggers, as well as water level loggers capable of sending real-time data to the laboratory. These sensors help track the site temperature and moisture regimes, and with the help of drones can be used for assessing the current extent of vegetation types.

Overall, the monitoring activities at Lendspitz-Maiernigg will deepen the insights of current possibilities to track site factors. Activities shall improve expert understanding of the capacity of various devices to contribute to biodiversity monitoring programmes.