Habitats
Forests (70%)
If humans had not cleared the forests and converted them to fields or meadows, this land would be covered with beech forest today. Only in very wet places would alder and ash form swamp forests. No forest grows in permanently wet places.
If nature is allowed to take its course, forests will again emerge, changing several times over time to eventually become beech forests. Where forest has been destroyed by clearing, fire, overexploitation or the military, flown-in tree seeds germinate and cope with the harsh conditions between hot and cold, wet and dry. Pine and birch trees are the first to take hold of such areas. Foresters also planted pine trees on the sandy soils, which for centuries contained little humus due to excessive use.
But nature continues to intrude. The acorn jay gives wings to the acorns. With the oaks, the coniferous forest becomes a deciduous forest and finally the soil is prepared for beech trees.
The Müritz National Park is a distinct forest national park. Forests in their diversity are present on all hiking routes.
Lakes (14%)
The lakes are what make the Müritz National Park so special! The glittering play of the waves and the atmospheric silence on the water exert an incomparable attraction on all of us.
Each lake has its own character. They differ in size, shape and location, but also in their water supply and nutrient content. Spring lakes are often low in nutrients and rich in limestone - the water is then particularly clear. Lakes flowed through by groundwater or even rivers can be much richer in nutrients. Many nutrients mean good algae growth - the water is then turbid. The water of bog lakes and small forest lakes is often brown in color due to the high content of humic substances. Different plants and animals are adapted to these conditions.
Overall, we find an astonishing biodiversity here: freshwater covers only 2% of the area in Central Europe, but 25% of all Central European animal species live in it! The banks are the most species-rich natural habitats of our landscape, both under and above water. They therefore require special protection!
Tip:
There are several hiking routes around lakes, e.g. around the Feisneck (starting point Waren), around the Granziner und Käbelicksee (from Kratzeburg or Granzin) or around the Havel spring lakes Mühlen lake and Born lake (starting point Ankershagen).
Swamps (8%)
In peatlands, the material cycles are disrupted: carbon and nutrients are stored here, for centuries, millennia and millions of years. The preservative is water.
Every year, plants grow and absorb carbon dioxide from the air and nutrients from the environment. If they get under water at the end of their lives, they are often incompletely decomposed. These remains collect and ultimately form peat. Over centuries, lakes silted up in this way, and mighty peat deposits were formed. Brown coal and hard coal are also former peatlands!
When coal is burned or peatlands drained, this conservation is reversed: carbon is burned and carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Therefore, peatland conservation is climate protection at the same time.
Swamps are very special habitats for plants and animals that have become rare. Most of these are survival artists in a permanently wet environment and with very few nutrients. Such specialists are, for example, the alder, which can meet its nitrogen requirements from the air in a symbiotic relationship with bacteria, or the insect-eating sundew.
Tip:
The largest contiguous moors can be experienced by bike on the east bank of the Müritz between Schwarzenhof und Boek. Many small enchanted swamps can be explored in the Serrahn District , near the village Serrahn on a footbridge over a swamp.
Grassland and arable land (7%)
Areas where agriculture is practiced are little represented in the national park. Modern agriculture is then usually ecologically oriented.
For the biodiversity and cultural history of our landscape, however, the open lands are particularly valuable, where rural farming landscapes are still preserved. The grassland at the Müritzhof, wich is managed by the Lebenshilfswerk Waren, is well-known. Originally, the Müritzhof was established as a brickyard. However, the clay deposits did not last long and the brickyard became a farm. The foreland of the Müritz, which was created by the lowering of the lake level around 1800, was grazed by the domestic animals of the citizens of Waren. Thus an extremely species-rich herding landscape developed, which could be preserved as a historical cultural landscape like a landscape museum until today. Since 1969 Fjäll cattle have been kept in the foreland of the Müritzhof for this grazing. This breed of cattle comes from the Baltic Sea region and Scandinavia. It is particularly robust, but threatened by extinction worldwide.
Tip:
A guided tour of the Müritzhof pastures is offered once a week. An equally species-rich pasture landscape can be hiked ateeast of Feisneck lake (starting point Waren). Also particularly varied in terms of landscape is the hilly country in theHeadwaters of the Peene between Kargow, Schwastorf and Groß Dratow.
