Nature

The high mountain landscapes of Berchtesgaden National Park display an unusual diversity of habitats: nearly all vegetation zones from the mid-latitudes to the polar circle with their typical plant and animal species are present here. To date, the numerous genuses can be listed as 15 fish species, 8 amphibian species, 6 reptile species, roughly 100 nesting bird species, 40 migratory bird species and 55 species of mammals. In the local plant world species, we know of about 2,000 species of fungi, 640 of lichens, 400 species of mosses and 1,000 species of vascular plants. At present we have an incomplete list of invertebrates: roughly 700 were detected in springs, eight of which were first finds. The Wimbach valley showed an additional inventory of 118 species of spiders and 27 species of ground beetles.

In general all the plant and animal species in the National Park are under protection, some of them are on the ‘red list’. Among other influential factors, it is geology, soil, water and climate that have contributed to the creation of these diverse habitats.

The following pages feature descriptions of Berchtesgaden National Park’s ecosystem as well as data and facts.