Surveys and field measures for nature conservation

Project on saving the Tadpole shrimp (Lepidurus apus) population on D11 Highway

Sunday, October 31, 2004
In 2004, NaturaServis Ltd. developed and implemented a project on saving the Tadpole shrimp (Lepidurus apus) populations living along D11 Highway. Pursuant to Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic No. 395/Gazette, as amended later, the crustacean species is specially protected, because it is considered to be critically endangered. Some of its few remaining populations are threatened by building activities during building D11 Highway from city of Poděbrady (central Bohemia) to city of Hradec Králové (eastern Bohemia). 

     

The duty to implement measures to save the above invertebrate populations was imposed on the Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic by administrative decision issued by the Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic. The measures taken dealt also with other wild animal (fairy shrimps Anostraca spp.), as well as wild plant communities (e.g., tall sedges) inhabiting the same habitats as the Tadpole shrimp. Thus, project´s implementation maintains tadpole shrimps, other invertebrates and threatened wild plant species at the site. According to our data, the project is the first successful Tadpole shrimp translocation in the Czech Republic. All the measures taken were supervised by the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic. Thus, all requirements set by the Minister of the Czech Republic have been met.