The research station and the founding of the national park
The founding of the research station was closely linked to the creation of the Hohe Tauern National Park. The path to the national park in the 1980s – especially in Salzburg and Tyrol – was characterized by a hard struggle for general approval. The opposition in the planned national park regions was partly great.
Eberhard Stüber then director of the Museum Haus der Natur and at the same time President of the Austrian Nature Conservation Association, and since 1987 the first state environmental walt of Salzburg has been heavily involved in public will formation “Pro National Park” in this phase. Stüber tried to win the youth for the idea of the national park.
He succeeded in public appearances and long discussions, the then governor Dr. Wilfried Haslauer sen. to convince of the meaningfulness of the establishment of a national park in the Hohe Tauern. During these conversations, the scientific and ecological support of this national park was also discussed by the House of Nature. As a result, the House of Nature was involved in the conception and implementation of numerous apprenticeships and educational institutions in the Hohen Tauern, among other things in the Raurisertal, Fuschertal, Felbertal, Hollersbachtal, Obersulzbachtal, Murtal and in the national park components of Carinthia and East Tyrol.
In these plans, the main focus of the Großglockner High Alpine Road, which has been connected as a pass road the three parts of the Hohe Tauern Salzburg, Carinthia and East Tyrol National Park for more than 90 years. The idea of developing it into a national park road was born.
A central idea was the creation of a contact point for research in the Hohe Tauern. An empty company building in 2,273 m above sea level was offered. The basic agreement of the then eco -partnership between the House of Nature and the Großglockner Hochalpenstraßen AG (GROHAG) provided for Grohag to take over the renovation of the building and later the operating costs, the house of nature facility and support of the research station. After lengthy discussions with other funding agencies, the research station on September 16, 1989 finally managed. In the 36 years since then, the station has developed into a popular and well -used research base. It became a central base for scientific work in the Hohe Tauern National Park.
“The research station connects the Großglockner Hochalpenstraße with the Hohe Tauern National Park and the House of Nature. Its foundation is directly connected with the founding of the national park, it has contributed to making the national park in science visible. Since the opening in September 1989, this research base has been doing great things for the national park and science. At the same time, the road through the National Park has received a new dimension and task in outstandingly does justice to. “
— HR Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Eberhard StüberDirector of the House of Nature from 1976 to 2009
Monitoring in the special reserve Piffkar
The first work at the research station dealt with the documentation of the animal and plant species found here. When the Piffkar, the area below the Edelweiß tip and the Baumgartlkopf was declared a special protection area in 1989, a central research question arose: What changes would the usage task here have in the high layers of the Hohen Tauern? The idea of a long-term monitoring program was born. According to the first recording of the plant species, the birds of the small mammals and the grasshoppers began in 1990, i.e. the long-term inventory controls of selected species groups began in 1990, i.e. more than a quarter of a century ago.
Housing frames in the high mountains
While many of these monitoring programs were discontinued in the early 2000s, a scientist-unimpressed by lack of financing-proved particularly long breath. Dr. Inge Illich developed an incomparable time series about the development of grasshoppers in the high mountains – over more than 35 years. In this way, she managed to document development processes here on how to go largely unaffected by humans.
The Upper Piffkar, a high alpine, climatic extreme location, was colonized by five grasshoppers over the entire examination period from 1990 to 2025. The long -term influence of global warming led to different reactions of the individual grasshoppers. The area of the common grasshopper, a kind of good ecological adaptability, expanded, especially in higher locations. On the other hand, the Nordic mountain shelf, a pronounced refrigeration high mountain type, was only found on the highest examination area at 2,450 m above sea level. It is to be feared that this type of high -rays will increasingly come under pressure due to global warming, another dodging upwards is no longer possible.
The long-term examinations also show that the two to three years of development periods of the alpine grasshoppers examined are one of the key to understanding their biology. The embryonic development of the eggs stored in the ground lasts two or even three years, then only the tiny larvae that feed on fresh grass and herbs hatch. This extension of the development period is a necessary adaptation to the sometimes extreme weather conditions in the high mountains.
The long data series also show that the grasshopper populations are sometimes subject to extreme fluctuations from year to year. Reliable statements about the development of the stocks can therefore only be made by such long -term examinations. In addition, the results of the annual number of grasshoppers on the examination areas showed that the revocation of the grazing in the climatically extreme high -ranking of the special protection area had a positive effect on the diversity of locusts.
“Such studies on the natural dynamics of communities are only possible in areas in which the influence of humans is minimal. A national park, like the Hohe Tauern National Park, offers exactly these framework conditions. Only here can we learn more about the nature of the high mountains. For me it was not just a challenge, but also a privilege in such a area.”
— Dr.in Inge Illichformer employee in the House of Nature
Glockner-Öko research fund
In 1993 the “Glockner Öko Research Fund” became GDR on the initiative of the then Grohag board. Karl Gollegger and Professor DDR. Eberhard Stüber, who subsequently conducted the chair of the jury for many years.
„Grohag has been supporting basic research in the Hohe Tauern National Park for over 30 years. Numerous research work in the vicinity of the Großglockner High Alpine Road was made possible. The eco-moon is aimed primarily at scientific “start-ups” research approaches, in the pilot phase their feasibility and potential must first be explored. Some of them then developed into scientific success stories.“
– Dr. Robert LindnerDirector Haus der Natur and today’s jury chairman
“For us, the Glockner-Öko research fund is more than just promoting science-it is an expression of our responsibility to preserve the unique high mountain world around the Großglockner for future generations. By enabling research, we create the basis for sound decisions in the area of tension between nature conservation, tourism and infrastructure.”
– Dr. John HearingBoard of Directors Grohag
To this day partnership
Comparable to the Sonnblick Observatory, the research station offers a basis for a wide range of research. Just a few meters from the street you can observe ecological processes here. It has been an expression of a partnership -based cooperation for more than 35 years, which connects the Haus der Natur and Grohag institutions.
„The research station has been an ideal base for scientific work in the high alpine nature of the Hohe Tauern for 36 years. Grohag has made a lot of things possible with the creation of the research station. From university excursions to long -term studies, from unicellular people to alpine birds to glaciers and geological processes. So Grohag helps that we learn to understand the high mountain nature better. ”
– Dr. Robert LindnerDirector Haus der Natur and today’s jury chairman
“The partnership with the House of Nature has taught us to understand and appreciate the high mountain nature even more intensively. Above all, the founding father of the research station, Prof. Eberhard Stüber, and his successors as directors in the house of nature cannot be thanked enough. Research in the Hohe Tauern National Park opens up unique insights into ecological processes that have remained without long -term observation. indispensable in order to operate the Großglockner High Alpine Road in accordance with nature and climate protection. ”
– Dr. John HearingBoard of Directors Grohag
You can find the press release in our Mediadatenbank Under the following link: https://media.grossglockner.at/de/presse/text~1283