Finally, spring has arrived. This is the time of our first annual census of the spring meadow saffron population that we have been monitoring since 2018. This year Réka Kiss, Laura Godó and Katalin Lukács performed the monitoring.
In the project coordinated by Réka Kiss, we focus on the population dynamics of the spring meadow saffron (Bulbocodium vernum), an early spring geophyte species marked as ‘Vulnerable’ in the Carpathian Basin and ‘Critically Endangered’ in Hungary. Being one of the first flowering plants in spring, in the past it was intensively collected; this fact together with the destruction of its natural habitats resulted in the severe decline and in some cases extinction of its populations. Human-mediated and natural processes, as well as climatic changes further threaten the survival of the species in Hungary. In the project we monitor the population dynamics of the spring meadow saffron, and correlate it with climatic parameters, in order to understand the effect of climatic changes on the populations. The results can contribute to the protection of this endangered species.
Please find below some pictures about this beautiful plant, taken by Laura Godó.
