Zoological mapping Sulzkaralm, NP Gesäuse — Department of insects — grasshoppers bedbugs

The identified locust and bedbug communities correspond to a locally adapted, species-rich and characteristic socialisation of species for the habitat types investigated. Especially for bedbugs, there is a high-quality habitat, sometimes close to nature, which is populated by a highly diverse community in which rare and endangered species increasingly occur.

The most valuable habitats are the calcareous grassland (for locusts and bedbugs), the wetland and the (wool grass) moor (both for bedbugs). It has been shown how important often small-area, extensive meadow types are for the preservation of the characteristic alpine fauna. Due to their importance, the decited identification of calcareous grassland is recommended as an addendum to the present alpine management plan. While the relative species poverty in the wetlands and the (wool grass) bog is due to the near-natural state (occurrence of hygrophil-steneker species), the impoverishment and also shifting of dominances towards undemanding, widespread species in the fat pasture is due to more intensive pasture use.

With reference to the sub-habitants studied, the current use of alpine pastures in the Sulzkar area represents an important and local contribution to the preservation of the alpine cultural landscape. There is no recognisable threat to the high-quality habitats.