Nature conservation; biotopes

The word biotope is derived from the Greek - "bios" stands for life and "topos" for space and means habitat. However, the biotope mapping of the Bavarian State Office for Environmental Protection defines the term "biotope" more narrowly and refers to areas that are particularly important for nature conservation and are therefore worth preserving. These biotopes worthy of protection are mostly remnants of former large-scale habitats that have developed over the centuries, partly naturally and partly through human intervention. They are the last refuges for many plant and animal species.

Section 30 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act and, in addition, Art. 23 of the Bavarian Nature Conservation Act. Nature Conservation Act stipulate protection by law for the following ecologically particularly valuable biotopes, which still occur in small areas in Erlangen:

• Bogs and marshes, reedbeds, wet meadows and wet meadows rich in sedges and rushes, meadows with whistling grass and spring areas
• Bog, swamp, marsh and riparian forests
• Natural and near-natural sections of rivers and streams
• Sedimentation areas of standing waters
• Nutrient-poor grasslands, heaths, open inland dunes, heat-loving fringes
• Forests and bushes in dry and warm locations

Hedges, copses and bushes as well as caves, dry stone walls and ponds are specially protected in the wild under Art. 16 of the Bavarian Nature Conservation Act. Pruning is regulated by §39 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act.

The nature conservation and landscape planning team is committed to the preservation, improvement and creation of new biotopes in the urban area.