Management interventions

Set up of plots for management interventions

Aim: To prioritize the sites and measures and mark them in the field

• Suggest appropriate management actions based on the results of WP 2 and WP 3.
• Physically identify and mark the boundaries of the suggested actions directly on site.
• Capture the exact geographic coordinates of all marked interventions.
• Import the recorded GPS data into QGIS and generate the corresponding shapefile layers.
• Review and verify the spatial extent of the implemented management interventions every year.
• Assess and monitor the intensity of the ongoing management work every year.
• Adapt and update the scope or intensity of future actions according to the evaluation results.

Reduction of competition by grazing 

Aim: to reduce competition and biomass accumulation by introduction of grazing on 12 ha in Czechia and 14.3 ha in Germany

• Introduce annual grazing (contracted as an external service once per year in CZ and DE) to reduce competition and enhance plant fitness.
• Suppress dominant grasses, shrubs, pioneer trees, and their resprouting to prevent competitive displacement of J. cyanoides.
• Create patches of bare soil through trampling to enable the rejuvenation of typical plant species.
• Form a mosaic of microhabitats with sparse or low vegetation to support high overall biodiversity.
• Shift microhabitats and floral resource availability to support flower-visiting insects and foster positive shifts in community composition.
• Deploy preferred livestock (cattle, horses, or donkeys) based on their feeding preferences, or utilize sheep and goats where preferred animals are unavailable.

Creation of open patches without vegetation

Aim: to create bare soil patches without vegetation on 12 ha in Czechia and 33.3 ha in Germany by removing top-soil layer using diggers or manually by raking and removing moss, lichen and litter layers

• Remove topsoil using diggers to create open patches of bare soil required for seed germination.
• Manually rake and remove moss, lichen, and plant litter to expose the bare substrate and favor J. cyanoides recruitment.
• Strip nutrient-rich topsoil to prevent rapid weed regeneration and maintain low-nutrient conditions.
• Expose bare soil patches to provide essential nesting microhabitats for ground-nesting bees, wasps, and beetles.

Support of pollinators

Aim: to establish buffer zones along site boundaries using regional seed mixtures and other measures to support pollinator occurrence

• Develop and apply regional wildflower seed mixtures tailored to site-specific conditions and local pollinator requirements to provide continuous floral resources.
• Harvest seeds using a brushing machine repeatedly throughout the vegetation season to maximize species diversity in the mixtures.
• Hand-collect seeds of species that cannot be harvested mechanically or yield low seed quantities.
• Establish "mother plantations" (e.g., Dianthus) at ČSOP Vlašim and IBOT to propagate hand-collected species.
• Clean, process, and store harvested seeds from both direct field collection and mother plantations for future mixture blending.
• Sow the custom seed mixtures to establish functional buffer zones along site boundaries.

Additional interventions for securing plant survival

Aim: To support plant growth by specific interventions

• Plant native trees (pines and oaks) in target areas to establish long-term natural shade and reduce drought stress.
• Install temporary artificial shading to protect sensitive seedlings and young plants from high temperatures and heat stress until planted trees mature.
• Fence selected patches to protect vulnerable plants from animal grazing and trampling.