Biodiversity
One important area of focus in AGRANA's sustainability strategy is the eco-efficiency of our production. As stipulated in AGRANA's environmental policy, our goal is to reduce or avoid negative impacts on the environment at and around our own sites. As part of this commitment, a pilot project has been launched that uses bats as bioindicators of environmental quality at selected Austrian production sites. The aim is to record ecological impacts and maintain a long-term balance between our industrial productivity and our responsibility towards the environment.
Why bat monitoring?
Bats are sensitive and meaningful bioindicators: they are sensitive to environmental changes such as light, noise and sealing. There are 28 legally protected species living in Austria, around half of which depend on forested habitats. Many of these biotopes are located near AGRANA sites – some of them in Natura 2000 areas, which are considered particularly worthy of protection under EU directives. It is particularly important to constantly minimise our environmental impact in these sensitive zones.
Scientifically based monitoring with state-of-the-art technology
The analysis, which is to be repeated over several years, began at the Pischelsdorf site, followed by Gmünd, Tulln, Aschach and Kröllendorf. Initial results show that the plants' biological wastewater treatment facilities in particular are attractive hunting grounds for numerous bat species – a positive sign for the ecological quality of the environment.
To measure activity, AGRANA uses ultrasonic detectors that record calls at a height of 2.2 metres in the 20–150 kHz range over several nights. The data is converted into sonograms using software, assigned to species and checked manually.
A reliable basis for environmental decisions
The project follows a clearly defined set of objectives:
• In the short term, an ecological baseline will be established for all relevant sites. This will provide information about local biodiversity and help to identify areas of particular ecological value.
• In the medium term, influencing factors such as lighting, sealing or edge area design will be identified and incorporated into our site planning.
• In the long term, a cross-site database will be created. This will enable the impact of industrial processes on adjacent protected areas to be additionally assessed in order to protect and specifically promote biodiversity even in industrially used areas.
The data collected will provide us with a reliable basis for future environmental decisions.