Alarm on the North Sea: The invasive potato roses threaten coastal protection!

Alarm on the North Sea: The invasive potato roses threaten coastal protection!

on the German North Sea, the potato rose, which is known as Adolf-Hitler-Rose , spreads. This dazzling plant, once used to camouflage bunkers in the Second World War, is now a significant threat to the domestic ecosystem. Its explosive distribution not only endangers native plant species, but also weakens the stability of the coastal stems, which undermines the coastal protection measures.

The Lower Saxony Ministry of Environment is fighting against the invasive nature, which occurs particularly on the East Frisian Islands and parts of the Cuxhaven coast. While the potato rose was originally inserted to stabilize dunes, it now turns out that its roots neither provide sufficient stability in protective dunes nor in dikes. On the contrary, the colonization by the potato rose reduces biodiversity and endangers coastal protection.

The control of the plant is extremely difficult and resource -intensive. The Lower Saxony state company for water management, coastal and nature conservation (NLWKN) relies on selective measures, but due to the robustness and the rain growth potential of the plant, the successes have so far been limited, and a quick flowering is likely. A detailed analysis of this phenomenon offers The article on www.tz.de .