Panel 13 - (En)vironment in Change
We are currently in the midst of climate change. This means that weather, precipitation, heat and cold periods are changing in all natural habitats. At this station, we show you how bees and beneficial insects respond to climatic changes and how our environment is also changing inexorably. Therefore, we also introduce the beautiful dragonfly "Calyx", which has only recently become native to our region (e.g. around Reither Moor). However, it is now warm enough in the Tyrolean mountains for the dragonfly to feel at home with us. If you encounter her here in the forest, feel free to follow her to her home at Reither Moor – there she will lead you further along the climate educational path around the moor and the Wildsee!
Nature Alarm Stage
Friends in Need
Habitat destruction, intensive agriculture, soil sealing, and climate change are making life difficult for our native animals and plants. The significant decrease in flowers and nesting areas has led to a notable decline in wild bees and pollinators, amphibians, birds, and other animal groups. Austrian landscape ecologist and wild bee expert Heinz Wiesbauer confirmed in early 2023 population declines in the local wild bee population of Eastern Austria by 50 to 80%:
“Agricultural landscapes that were once species-rich are now completely emptied. There are no more colorful meadows, and mowing occurs up to seven times a year. Natural slopes and bare soil areas, such as those along field paths where wild bees could nest, have disappeared.” – Heinz Wiesbauer (Ecologist Essl: “Humans are the only cause of the sixth mass extinction,” by Martin Stepanek published in STANDARD, April 19, 2023)
Concrete Tracks: Saving Bees at Home!
Soil sealing means: flower meadows are lost. Take a walk with your parents at home: how many construction sites do you notice, where were meadows before? Think together: how can you help the bees at home?
Insects in Danger
Biodiversity and Insects
Although insects, with around one million described species, are the most diverse class of animals, this diversity is severely threatened by intensive agriculture, the use of insecticides, land sealing, and light pollution. Some insect species are already extinct or considered missing. The importance of insects and honeybees for food security is often underestimated. Optimal pollination also ensures fruit formation and thereby the nutrition of humans.
THE ZUAGROASTE
Banded Demoiselle
– Calopteryx splendens –
- Characteristics: Body length approx. 5 cm, wingspan 6 to 7 cm, belongs to the largest "native" damselflies, males with greenish tinted wings and black-blue shimmering bands.
- Habitat: loves warmth, slow-flowing streams and rivers, sandy and sunny banks.
- Behavior: Males defend territories that they vigorously protect against intruders. Mating-ready females are courted by males with a back-and-forth display flight. Egg-laying occurs after mating in floating aquatic plants, where they even dive below the water surface to do so.
- Observation Tip: identifiable by the butterfly-like flight; males can be observed guarding their territory from a perch - their behavior and courtship can be well observed there.
- Observation Time: late May to September.
The warmth-loving banded damselfly has only recently moved to the Wildsee.
