It is with great pleasure that we present the proceedings of the 7th Symposium for Research in Protected Areas 7 to 9 September 2022, Vienna. The National Parks Austria Research Symposium is an international meeting where experts come together to discuss science and research in protected areas. It takes place around every four years.
It has its roots in the Hohe Tauern National Park, where it was set up in 1996 to promote the exchange of research in the alpine region. At the 5th symposium in 2013, the umbrella organisation National Parks Austria took on the role of organiser and also opened up the research conference to the scientific concerns of non-Alpine protected areas. For the 7th symposium this year, the event was held in Vienna for the first time, and the University of Vienna was entrusted with running the symposium as scientific partner. After a considerable break, this conference was an incredible opportunity for scholars and professionals from Austria and neighbouring countries to re-join and share their knowledge and experience in the field of ecological and interdisciplinary research. Although the announcement of this conference in autumn 2021 was well received, and the organizers saw great support from all sides, the process of preparing was somehow disrupted by the COVID pandemic, leading to a postponed date. Despite these challenges, the event could take place in September 2021 in the “Campus of the University of Vienna”, one of most atmospheric conference venues in the heart of Vienna. Not surprisingly, it finally became a great success, with 400 active participants, more than 100 oral presentations and numerous interesting poster presentations. The global biodiversity crisis has become increasingly prominent in recent years. As already stated in the national biodiversity strategy, protected areas make a special contribution when it comes to counteracting the loss of biodiversity. This year’s research symposium named “Protected areas confronting the biodiversity crisis” focused on this issue. Organized in four parallel sessions the conference provided a sound mixture of basic and applied research. As intended by the organizers, a higher share of presentations focussed on topics relevant for National parks and Biosphere reserves in Eastern Austria, but not neglecting the network of alpine reserves. It could be demonstrated, that long term research, like consistent monitoring programmes are beginning to yield eminent insights into fundamental ecological processes, that can ideally be studied in well-protected landscapes. Protected areas such as national parks or wilderness areas are in a unique position in this respect. Almost undisturbed natural processes can only be observed in natural landscapes. Many surveys on biodiversity or changes in biocenoses are not even possible elsewhere, as the species are simply missing. On the other hand, it became evident, that changes outside the reserves are of increasing influence, highlighting the important role of protected areas as early-warning system for environmental policies. In this sense, the urgency of some management topics, like water-management in dry periods or visitor guidance during the pandemic was stressed by entire sessions.
