Analysis of Urodel populations on the Sulzkaralm in Gesäuse National Park

Diploma thesis at the Karl-Franzens-University Graz Amphibians play a very important role in the ecosystem, but their meaning is often not recognised and their habitat is massively restricted or destroyed. They are an important factor in the food chain, both as prey and as predators. Amphibians are considered food by a variety of animals, from fish, reptiles, birds and mammals. They serve as prey to insects, spiders, aces, worms, but also small crabs or tadpoles. The food usually depends on the supply, only the few species of amphibians have specialised. The often very sparse knowledge of these animals and their occurrences is due to the fact that little research has been carried out in this field. It was only in recent years that herpetology experienced a boom and the amphibians became the subject of numerous scientific papers, especially in Germany and Switzerland. But also in Austria, the amphibians were again on the subject of works such as those of Haidacher (1986), Strampfer (1990), FABER (1996, 1997) or Siment (2004) concerning Styria. The earth toad (Bufo bufo), the grass frog (Rana temporaria) and the yellow belly (Bombina variegata) were also examined by my colleague Claudia Freiding in the Sulzkaralm investigation area as part of her master’s thesis (Freiding 2006). Amphibians are endangered by numerous factors, such as traffic, the destruction of their habitat or agriculture and grazing. About the species covered in this work (Mountain Molch: Triturus alpestris Alpine salamander: Salamandra atra, fire salamander: Salamandra salamandra) is still very little known in the study area. This is also shown in Figure 1 from the amphibian and reptile atlas of Austria (CABELA et al. 2001).