The Eberswalde WILD Center

Since the beginning of 2014, the Wildlife Ecology Working Group at the Thünen Institute of Forest Ecosystems in Eberswalde has been a so-called WILD Center. The long-term WILD program documents the occurrence and dynamics of wildlife populations - an indispensable prerequisite for many hunting policy, landscape ecology and nature conservation decisions, as well as for questions concerning animal disease prophylaxis.

The program was initiated in 2001 by the German Hunting Association together with the state hunting associations. Data collection is carried out by trained hunters on a voluntary basis; it is based on the one hand on wildlife censuses using standardized methods in selected census areas ("census in reference areas"), and on the other hand on population assessments of wild animals in numerous hunting districts in Germany ("area-wide census").

As one of four WILD centers, the Thünen Institute for Forest Ecosystems scientifically evaluates data collected as part of the nationwide program. It also collects factors that may influence the density of the wildlife species studied, such as the type of land uses, disease incidence, and climate and weather factors. In addition, nationwide hunting bag data are evaluated to assess population densities and trends.