Nature and Landscape Management

Nature Conservation 2/2008 — 22. 4. 2008 — Nature and Landscape Management

The Sandbank near Tuhaň Listed among the Proposed Sites of Community Importance

v návrhu evropsky významných lokalit

author: Daniel  Hrčka

Tuhaň je prakticky neznámá obec nacházející se přibližně 7 km jihovýchodně od okresního města Mělník ve Středočeském kraji.

Due its remarkable well preserved sand plant and animal communities, the Sandbank near Tuhaň Natural Monument was declared in June 2007. The site was probably created by the denuding the original remnant of an Elbe River's sand dune by occasional small-scale sand extraction. Already at the beginning of the 19th century, the site had been known due to occurrence of the critically endangered Cornflower-like Knapweed (Jurinea cyanoides) which was present there by the early 1980s. At present, the area is valuable particularly from a point of view of zoology, due to the occurrence of rare psamophilous insect species. The rarest species include shield bugs of the order He-teroptera, particularly Byrsinus flavicornis, preferring air-borne sands, and the thermophilous Anapus longicornis. Ground beetle (Carabidae) community is also remarkable. Recently, the occurrence of the rare Ten-lined June Beetle (Polyphylla fullo) has been confirmed there. Among plants, the Branched Plaintain (Plantago arenaria) and Blue Hair Grass (Koeleria glauca) have been recorded at the site. Within the Natural Monument, Cornflower-like Knapweed's seeds have been artificially sown. At the same time, grass growth is mown, ground cover is mechanically disturbed and moss biomass removed.