WILD - Wildtierinformationssystem der Länder Deutschlands

The Wildlife Information System of the German Federal States (WILD) is the first nationwide, standardised monitoring programme for the large-scale assessment of populations of game species in Germany. The project has been established as a permanent component of environmental monitoring.

The urgency of the project, which officially started on 1 January 2003 after a preparatory phase, was underlined by various national and international agreements and obligations, including:

• environmental monitoring as an instrument for safeguarding and monitoring the natural balance, established in the Federal Nature Conservation Act (Section 12) since April 2002;
• the Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora);
• the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992;
• the Bonn Convention (Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, CMS).

Long-term population surveys using scientifically sound and nationally standardised methods are intended to support the development of strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife populations. Data on population densities and trends provide a basis for scientific research, for political and public debate on hunting, and for decisions on hunting policy and nature conservation in Germany. The WILD project also aims to derive recommendations for hunting practice, to assess the impact of hunting on population trends of the selected species, and to document whether the principle of sustainability is being met.

Data collection is based on three pillars:

• systematic wildlife counts in reference areas
• area-wide population estimates in as many hunting districts in Germany as possible
• linking population survey data with hunting bag data

Mapping of habitat structures is a further component of the WILD project.

The extensive data are managed in a central database. Using GIS-based analyses and various statistical software packages, relationships are examined between habitat factors, weather conditions and predator population densities on the one hand and wildlife population densities on the other. During the pilot phase (2000–2002), population densities of brown hare and grey partridge were already recorded nationwide. The project is designed as a long-term programme of at least ten years. Since its official launch in 2003, the red fox, badger, carrion crow and hooded crow have been studied in the reference areas in addition to brown hare and grey partridge.

The data on carrion crow and hooded crow were found to be consistent with those of the Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA, Federation of German Avifaunists). Surveys of these species will therefore be carried out exclusively by the DDA in future.

In addition to the species counted on a permanent basis in the reference areas, further species are surveyed regularly or, where necessary, on an ad hoc basis as part of the area-wide assessment. WILD has been and continues to be linked to a number of accompanying research projects in order to evaluate the survey methods and to address current questions concerning individual species.

Annual reports, survey forms and method descriptions are available for download as PDF files on the WILD website.