Juniper heather
Juniper heather is a general name for heather-like biotope types in which - regardless of the plant communities occurring there - the juniper characterizes the landscape. Formative plant communities can be, for example, poor or dry grasslands , semi-dry grasslands or dwarf shrub heaths .
Juniper heaths stand on dry, nutrient-poor, steep locations that are mostly remote from localities and that rarely allow any other use than grazing. They emerged in the last centuries through sheep and goat grazing or cattle grazing. The browsing by sheep , goats and cattle kept all tasty plants short. The sheep spared prickly plants such as juniper , silver thistle , pasque flowers and the poisonous swallowweed . In addition to the occurrence of numerous plant species, juniper heaths are characterized by a wealth of insects, especially butterflies. Furthermore, bird species such as the woodlark occur (but only in the lowlands such as the Lüneburg Heath ). Juniper heaths are the most species-rich biotopes in Central Europe. Most juniper heaths, especially large areas, in Germany and other European countries are now protected as nature reserves or natural monuments. Many of the nature reserves have also been designated as FFH areas in the European Natura 2000 protection program. Juniper heaths are protected under European law according to Annex I of the Habitats Directive (habitat type 5130).
As long as the sheep pastures were still being cultivated, the shepherd cut out the prickly plants with the shepherd's shovel . In this way, a minimum quality of the willows was achieved and prickly trees could not get out of hand.
Since the decline in migratory sheep farming, the juniper heaths have run the risk of becoming overgrown like forests again. Many juniper heaths were afforested with pines and spruces even after the sheep farm was abandoned. Others became forests by themselves through natural succession . However, since extensively used, open lean sites have become rare, juniper heaths are now kept open for reasons of nature and landscape protection. For grazing, shepherds all over Germany are paid money from nature conservation or agricultural programs such as the cultural landscape program (KLP) in North Rhine-Westphalia . In some cases, grazing now takes place in paddocks. In some areas such as B. in the nature reserve Wulsenberg near Marsberg in the Hochsauerlandkreis , areas in the nature reserve there were cleared of bushes and trees. In many juniper heaths, areas are mowed by farmers, official and voluntary nature conservationists with brush cutters or single-axle mowers in order to keep them open. The cuttings are removed or burned.
literature
- Reinhard Wolf , Peter Zimmermann. Juniper heaths on the eastern edge of the Black Forest. State Institute for Environmental Protection Baden-Württemberg, 1996, ISBN 3-88251-249-0 .
- Helga Keikut: Juniper Heath of the Eifel. Verlag Eifelkrone, Neroth 2005, ISBN 3-937640-10-X . (Volume 2 of the series Die Eifel - Naturally good. )
- Thomas Fartmann: The butterfly community of the semi- arid grass complexes of the Diemel valley . In: Abh. Ad Westf. F. Naturkde. 66/1, 2004.
