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| Habitats |
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 The distribution of animal and plant species depends on factors such as altitude, climate, water, soil, insolation and air humidity. The plant communities in this park offer a vast diversity, which ranges from the sub-alpine spruce woods to the sub-Mediterranean coppice woods, the latter needing much higher temperatures. On the calcareous soils we find steppe-like grasses, coppice, Scots pine woods and mixed forests. The high porphyry plains with their abundance of water are covered with lavish coniferous woods interspersed with damp meadows and moors.
In the Trudner Horn Nature Park , coppice with hop hornbeams, downy oaks and manna ashes reaches its northern climate limits. At first sight, this "coppice" may seem a rather monotonous landscape. Nevertheless, it hosts a great diversity of species the whole year long. In late Winter the yellow flowers of the cornel trees, which bear red fruits in Summer, blossom on the bare branches. At the end of April the white umbels of the Mahaleb cherry can be seen. One of the most outstanding creatures of the sub-Mediterranean zone is the green lizard, the skin of which shimmers in different shades of blue and green. On hot days the strident chirping of the cicada can be heard and the praying mantis lurks in the shrubs.
 Scots pines, which need much light, predominate in barren places. As pioneer plants, they are better adapted to such areas than the more pretentious species of trees. Under the light canopy one can see heather, dwarf-sedges, bearberries and bracken ferns. These pine woods are an ideal habitat for different mammals, birds and small animals. In the rocky areas, wood mice and badgers find ideal conditions to build their dens. In the dry Scots pine woods a special "pine-race" of the European red wood ant is found. Also typical for these areas is the pine procession moth with its conspicuous white nests on top of the Scots pines.
 On the northern and the western slopes of Königswiese and Cislon, there are magnificent beeches and firs. In valleys and basins with high air humidity, beeches grow also in the sub-Mediterranean climatic zone and co-exist with yews, littleleaf linden, hop hornbeams and maples. Cloven-hoofed game likes these forests. There are also a great number of birds, which either build their nests in these mixed forests or nest in tree holes. Among the latter are the nuthatch, the woodpecker and the owl.
At an altitude of around 1,000 m, the spruce and fir woods, interspersed with larches, mountain-ashes and Alpine clematises, substitute the beech forests.
 Among the particularities of the nature park are also the grasslands with larches on the large porphyry plateau between Truden and Altrei. They are often covered with flowers, like soldanels, crocuses, orange lilies and Martagon lilies. The living conditions for animals in these forests are about the same as in the Scots pine forests; one can find mammals and birds which like building their dens and breeding places in the cracked bark or holes of old trees or in piles of stones and twigs. As for insects, some specialists like the larch bud moth and the larch casebearer live in these areas.
 A sub-Alpine spruce wood, interspersed with scattered cembra pines, covers the rough areas around Hornspitz and Weißsee. Only at this extreme altitude the raven and the mountain hare can be found.
The bogs at Weissensee, Schwarzsee and Langes Moos are jewels of nature. While birches and pines only find a meager existence in these areas, sundews and butterworts are able to integrate their nutrition with insects, as they are carnivorous plants. |
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