- Biodiversity Fund Project Amphibians and Reptiles of Austria
Project duration: January 2024 to October 2025
The Biodiversity Fund Project Amphibians and Reptiles of Austria aims to create a comprehensive database on amphibians and reptiles in Austria by consolidating, completing, and analyzing existing data. Currently, Austria is home to 21 amphibian and 15 reptile species. All species are protected and listed as at least "potentially endangered" in the Red List. Habitat loss, diseases, the introduction of non-native species, and the ongoing climate warming are just some of the factors threatening amphibians and reptiles. A solid data foundation is crucial and necessary for assessing the conservation status and population trends. According to an initial rough estimate, there are currently more than 300,000 records of native amphibians and reptiles across Austria.
The problem: All this data varies in quality and structure. Additionally, there are duplicates, different coordinate systems are used, and the accuracy of locations varies. By collecting, merging, verifying, and standardizing data, data gaps can be analyzed and subsequently closed. The resulting data pool will serve as a basis for creating the new Red List, starting point for a new distribution atlas of amphibians and reptiles in Austria, and foundation for the report according to Article 17 of the Habitats Directive. And most importantly: All data will be freely available via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and later the distribution atlas of Austria.
