The Wienerwald Biosphere Reserve covers an undulating landscape in the area between the Northern Alps and the Pannonic Basin, to the west of the city of Vienna. On the east slopes of the Wienerwald there is a geological rupture zone, with hot springs and impressive marine terraces of a former sea. The limestone part of the Wienerwald is dominated by steep and rugged limestone and dolomite rock formations and sharply cut gullies.
Description
Map
Surface : 105,004 ha
- Core area(s): 5,413 ha
- Buffer zone(s): 29,060 ha
- Transition zone(s): 70.531 ha
Location: 48°8'28"N - 16°4'56"E
Administrative Authorities
Wienerwald Biosphere Reserve Management, Government Office of the federal state of Lower Austria, Municipal Administration of Vienna.
Biosphärenpark Wienerwald Management GmbH
Norbertinumstraße 9
3013 Tullnerbach
Tel.: (43.2233) 54187
Email: office@bpww.at
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Ecological Characteristics
The Wienerwald is an important biodiversity hot spot throughout Europe.
Diverse types of habitats have developed here due to numerous factors such as the meeting of different bio-geographical and climatic regions, different geological conditions, considerable altitude difference and, -last but not least- the human influence.
The habitats in the open-land cultivated area in the Wienerwald are of outstanding international importance. Vast meadows and pastures which are the result of centuries of cultivation dominate large parts of the region. Dry grasslands are particularly characteristic in this region.
There are also a few unimproved grasslands on moist and wet sites, with moor grass meadows and calcareous fens. Ancient vineyards and fruit orchards, areas dominated by agriculture, rich sources of water and numerous structural elements enrich the landscape diversity of the Wienerwald. Large areas of the Wienerwald are contiguously wood covered (more than 60%).
The dominant tree species is beech (Fagus sylvatica). However, there is more to the Wienerwald then beech forests. It is home to 25 different types of forest vegetation. Austria's largest forests of downy oak (Quercus pubescens) and sub-Mediterranean pine forests with the endemic Austrian pine (Pinus nigra) at the easternmost edge of the region are of European significance.
Socio-Economic Characteristics
The Biosphere Reserve Wienerwald is close to the agglomeration of Vienna, Austria's most important economic area. In Lower Austria, 51 communities with about 282,000 inhabitants are either completely or partly within the Biosphere Reserve. Parts of seven municipal districts of Vienna with a population of about 477,000 are part of the Biosphere Reserve.
Therefore more than 750,000 people live in the region that is all set to become a model region for sustainability. In addition to scientific research projects about biodiversity (ecological sustainability) other projects facilitated by the biosphere reserve management take ecological, economical and social sustainability into account. For example the “Wienerwald Pasture Cattle Project” integrates conservation of culture landscape, livestock friendly breeding, short transport (ecological sustainability), cooperation between farmers, a butcher, restaurants (social sustainability) and a high quality - high price product (economic sustainability).
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Last updated: June 2020