Plants provide much information about the area
North and south of the Fehmarnbelt, biologists are systematically studying an extensive series of localities encompassing such natural settings as lakes, watercourses, forest, grassland, bogs and marshes, salt meadow, and fallow field. At each individual locality, plant species are surveyed and reports describing and assessing the quality of these localities are prepared.
Overabundance of highly resource-intensive, high-growth plant species such as stinging nettle and great willow herb indicate poorer natural conditions than the occurrence of more demanding species such as white sticky catchfly and meadow saxifrage, which are dependent on light and nutrient-poor soil.
|
Similarly, the presence of species that spread slowly may indicate that a site is old and therefore a probable habitat for particular insects and fungi. Examples of such species include forest plants such as hollow-root and enchanter’s nightshade. Hunting for rare species
|
As both Fehmarn and Lolland are coastal locations they have several areas with salt marsh and sand dunes. The Lolland dyke, for example, is one of the area’s most valuable botanical locations, while the coastal lagoons with salt marsh and reed beds on Fehmarn also are home to rare species.
Further inland, the landscape is dominated by cultivated fields, where only a small number of plant species can be found. Between these fields, however, are bogs, forests and meadows, each with their own plant communities. Especially numerous are the ponds, of which there are several hundred in the area.
