Administration of Krkonoše National Park

www.krnap.cz

Czech Geological Survey
Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research, Ltd.

The aim of the project is to contribute to the fulfillment of one of the fundamental missions of Krkonoše National Park (Krkonošský národní park - KRNAP), the territory of which was also declared a significant European location (EVL) and the bird area (PO). The KRNAP administration necessarily needs to have a good updated data on the status and development of the individual components of the ecosystem that could contribute to the preservation and improvement of the natural environment, especially the protection or restoration of self-governing functions of natural ecosystems. Administration of KRNAP together with the project of the partners of the project of Czech Geological Survey (Česká geologická služba - CGS) and IFER - Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research (Ústav pro výzkum lesních ekosystémů, s.r.o. - IFER) prepared to implement the four sub-projects, which aim at: - Getting current exact data on the status and development of forest and aquatic ecosystems and the impact of negative effects associated with the acidification in the area of EVL Krkonoše with a focus on the current health status of forests, the current and proposed air pollution load, exceeding critical loads of sulfur and nitrogen, affecting the chemistry of soils and watercourses. - Extending the existing forest monitoring scheme with the most important bioindicating groups (in the proposed project with epiphytic lichens; in future then with the mushrooms and Saproxylic beetles) and starting a new systematic collection of data on the status and development of biodiversity (zoobenthos, phytobenthos) of flowing waters, to which hitherto only marginal attention has been paid in the territory of Krkonoše. Consolidating the existing schema of the forest monitoring and linking it to the maximum extent to the single network of monitoring areas. Sub-project: 1. The development of the chemistry of soils, atmospheric depositions, critical loads of sulfur and nitrogen in forest ecosystems in EVL Krkonoše 2. Monitoring and evaluation of the current health status of forests in the territory of EVL Krkonoše 3. Monitoring of epiphytic lichens as a key bioindicating group for finding out the current status and development of the biodiversity of forest ecosystems in the territory of EVL Krkonoše 4. The assessment of the acidification and current ecological condition of waterways in the territory of EVL Krkonoše. The contribution of the project lies in the usability of the gained results as significant grounds for making the most important policy documents governing the protection of nature in the assigned territory and performed management measures – the plan of the care for the national park, forest management plans for individual forest management units and annual operational plans. The collected data will also be immediately used for can corrections of the existing management and the care of forest ecosystems, with the primary objective to ensure their stability and flexibility while minimizing financial costs. The harmonization of data collection will streamline the data collection from carried out monitoring, minimize the duplication of data collection, increase the compatibility and the possibility of their synergistic use for complex analyses of the state and development of forest ecosystems. The collected data thanks to their compatibility will allow the comparison of the situation and developments in linked EVL and PO on the Polish side of Krkonoše and in the future open the possibility to model and predict the development of forest and aquatic ecosystems comprehensively throughout the mountains. The planned monitoring of the current status and the development of forest and aquatic ecosystems stem from the valid concept of monitoring and research in the Krkonošský National Park, and in case of monitoring the atmospheric depositions (sub-project 1) and the forest health condition (sub-project 2) with its methodological procedures is directly linked to the previously carried out research projects, the results of which will be used for partial and final syntheses of the state and the development of forest and aquatic ecosystems in the territory of EVL and PO Krkonoše. (for more details see suggestions for individual parts of the project) Planned activities are also methodologically and conceptually linked to the monitoring of forest ecosystems in cross-border Karkonoskie Park Narodowy. For more detailed description of the project as well as individual sub-projects see separate annexes to the application.

Approximately 278 240 EUR