Dresden (dpa / sn) - The Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation in Germany (BUND) will soon be focusing more closely on fire salamanders in Saxony. Monitoring projects are planned for this purpose, the BUND announced on Monday in Dresden. "We are in the starting blocks and are waiting for sufficient rainfall and mild night temperatures above 5 degrees," said organization employees. In the past few days, some of the conspicuously patterned salamanders have already been observed during inspection rounds.
"The animals are currently leaving their winter hiding places in search of food. The pregnant females are now looking for flowing water to give birth to their offspring," it said. "If we can detect larvae in the streams, we know for sure that fire salamanders are present in the area, even if we haven't been able to see any adult animals yet," explained Lorenz Laux, who was involved in the project.
According to the BUND, investigations into the fire salamander have been underway in specified regions of the Mittelsachsen district since March 2021. With funding from the Saxon Ministry of the Environment, further areas in the Saxon Switzerland-Osterzgebirge and Zwickau districts and in the city of Chemnitz are now being added. Monitoring projects by research institutions are also to be expected in Saxon Switzerland.
The BUND hopes that this will provide a comprehensive picture of the condition of the fire salamanders in the low mountain ranges between Zwickau and Bad Schandau. Amphibians and especially fire salamanders are threatened by the deadly skin fungus (Bsal), it said. In addition, the larvae of the animals are in danger because spring streams dry up.
