Peter Kaufmann arbeitet bei der Herpetologischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft (kurz: HerpAG) im Haus der Natur, Salzburg.
Abstract:
The herpetological workgroup is one of eight citizen-science groups at the museum Haus der Natur. In addition to nature conservation and PR- work, this group is involved in mapping reptiles and amphibians. The obtained data are recorded in the biodiversity database of Salzburg. This database manages not only volunteer data, but also the museological collection and data from environmental assessments. At the moment roughly one million records documenting Salzburg’s flora and fauna are stored there, about 23,000 of which concern the herpetofauna. These data are a valuable tool for applied species protection and also serve as a basis for scientific studies and distribution maps. In the course of future developments, the biodiversity database should also be made available to the digital public in different ways.
The administration of amphibian protection along roads is another task carried out by Haus der Natur on behalf of the nature conservation authority of Salzburg. In the course of this conservation project, amphibians were counted along Salzburg’s roads for over two decades. Statistical analyses of these data have shown very different long-term trends for our two most common amphibian species. The common toad (Bufo bufo) seems to be stable, while the common frog (Rana temporaria) shows a substantial decline. Similar to the recently discovered declines of insects and birds, this loss must be interpreted as a result of the intensification of agriculture.