About the project

Gentianella praecox subsp. bohemica is living example of how a relatively common species can become a critically endangered one and get on the verge of extinction in not even a whole century. This subendemic species of the Czech Republic occurred in the past sporadically almost everywhere in the country, in hundreds of sites. As a result of changes in management, when many of the habitats has been maintained by human activities in the past, especially by grazing and regular mowing, the present localities become gradually reducing in their size or even extincting and more fragmented and therefore less favorable for the growth and survival of Gentianella individuals. Today, the flowering plants occur very irregularly and often only in a small numbers at a large majority of the remaining localities. For its targeted protection there was therefore created the Action plan for Gentianella praecox subsp. bohemica in the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as ZPZCHD). The purpose of this Action plan is using combination of different types of activities to ensure the existence of stabilized reproducing populations of the species at least at 70% of the sites with the current occurrence of the species. Due to the fact that there are still many unknowns in the area of biology and ecology of the species, the here presented project aims to pursue one of the three main areas of Research referred to in the Action plan, which still remain under-researched and deserve more attention with respect to the conservation of the species. Specifically, it is the “Study of the genetic variability of populations of Gentianella praecox subsp. bohemica and their genetic relatedness to other taxons of genus” and related part “Education and enlightenment “. The study should help to confirm or refute the effect of inbreeding on reducing the viability of populations and identify the most valuable populations deserving protection. It should also help suggest other, more effective, methods for improving the quality of existing populations and identify appropriate source populations for the transfer, repatriation or establishment of new populations.

This project (MGSII – 18) was realized since February 2015 to June 2016 and was supported by EHP funds 2009-2014 and the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic with the sum of 2 212 899.52 CZK.