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• Researchers in Freiburg are participating in the “AI National Park” project and installing Germany's first AI-driven monitoring system comprising camera traps, audio loggers and climate loggers in German national parks and wilderness areas.
• Project objectives: standardised procedures for recording biodiversity and disturbance factors, a reliable inventory of species diversity and recommendations for action on protected area management.
• The federal government is providing €1.8 million in funding for the project, which helps to preserve Germany’s natural heritage and further develop nature-based solutions for climate protection.
Intact ecosystems help national parks and wilderness areas to store the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) and preserve biodiversity. However, in order for protected areas to fulfil these key functions in the long term and meet challenges such as climate change and pressure from human use, their ecosystems must be made sustainable. The nation‘s first cross-protected area monitoring system supported by Artificial Intelligence (AI), which has been installed in 13 German national parks and two wilderness areas since summer 2025 as part of the “AI National Park” project, is intended to contribute to this.
The project team includes researchers led by Prof. Dr Marco Heurich and Prof. Dr Ilse Storch, both from the Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Wildlife Management at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Freiburg, Saarbrücken-based biometrio.earth GmbH and the alliance Nationale Naturlandschaften e. V. (project coordinator). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUKN) is funding the project with €1.8 million as part of the Nature-Based Climate Action Programme (ANK) in the ‘AI Beacons’ funding line. The project will run from 2025 to 2027.
Exemplary nationwide monitoring
From the Black Forest in the south to the Eifel in the west, the West Pomeranian Bodden landscape in the north and Saxon Switzerland in the east: in future, camera traps will provide images of deer, foxes, wild boars and other animals, while audio loggers will record bird calls, bat calls, forestry machinery and leisure activities, and climate loggers will record aspects such as soil moisture and air temperature. The University of Freiburg's computer centre stores the data, which is also used to train the project's AI systems. Their task is to automatically evaluate large amounts of data, identify species and human disturbances, and illustrate the relationships between climate, biodiversity and land use.
Based on this, the team will develop standardised procedures for recording biodiversity and disturbance factors. It also plans to compile a reliable inventory of species diversity in the participating areas and to make specific recommendations for action. The aim of the guidelines is to optimise the management of the protected areas on a scientific basis in a timely and continuous manner. ‘If we recognise that human activities are increasing during the breeding and nesting season or in areas where disturbance-sensitive species such as the capercaillie live, we can redirect visitor flows in a site-specific and data-based manner,’ says Heurich. As a further example, he mentions the option of changing culling plans for hoofed game if necessary, so that forests can develop positively.
“With AI National Park, we are creating a tool that, for the first time, provides protected area managers with fast, reliable and comparable data,” says Marla Schulz, project coordinator at Nationale Naturlandschaften e. V. 2This enables us to better integrate biodiversity and climate protection while securing our protected areas as natural treasures in the long run.”
Funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) on the basis of a resolution passed by the German Bundestag as part of the Nature-based Climate Action Programme.
Contact
University of Freiburg
Prof. Dr Marco Heurich
Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources
Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Wildlife Management
Marco.heurich@wildlife.uni-freiburg.de
https://uni-freiburg.de/en/the-ai-national-park-project-digital-innovations-for-...
One of the monitoring systems for the AI National Park project in the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea Nation ...
Copyright: Florian Packmor, Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Administration
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Biologie, Tier / Land / Forst, Umwelt / Ökologie
überregional
Forschungs- / Wissenstransfer, Forschungsprojekte
Englisch
One of the monitoring systems for the AI National Park project in the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea Nation ...
Copyright: Florian Packmor, Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Administration
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