Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes „Analyse, Bewertung und Prognose der Landschaftsentwicklung in Tagebauregionen des Mitteldeutschen Braunkohlenrevieres“ (FLB1) werden seit August 1999 in mehreren ehemaligen Braunkohlentagebauen Sachsen-Anhalts umfangreiche vegetationskundliche Kartierarbeiten durchgeführt. Innerhalb dieser Arbeiten wurden Massenbestände von Thymelaea passerina (Acker-Spatzenzunge) und Erucastrum nasturtiifolium (Stumpfkantige Hundsrauke) gefunden. Beide Arten gelten in Sachsen-Anhalt als ausgestorben bzw. verschollen (KORNECK et al. 1996, FRANK et al. 1992).
Species-rich wet grasslands in floodplains are on focus of European nature conservation policy. However, since the seventies of the last century large areas with grasslands in floodplains have been meliorated, ploughed and used for intensive cropping in Germany. Therefore, restoration strategies for large-scale conversion of former arable land into species-rich grasslands and integration into a long-term sustainable land use regime are needed. Dealing with large areas in restoration projects causes high costs which often exceed the possibilities of NGO’s or other stakeholders. Aiming to develop and implement new cost-efficient strategies for restoration and long-term management of wetlands on former arable land local NGO’s and the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences started a co-operation within a project in a heavily degraded floodplain in the Elbe river valley. Up to now, more than 40 ha former arable land was successively bought and immediately grazed by large herbivores (Heck-cattle and Przewalski-horses). The local farmers apply a year-round grazing regime without additional feeding and low stocking density. Scientific evaluation of the project progress and experiments with different re-vegetation variants (natural recovery, hay transfer, seeding of commercial seed mixture) revealed the following results: (1) on former arable land immediate grazing with large herbivores without additional feeding is possible and leads to a successive development of typical grassland communities with low nutrient status, (2) integration of old pastures into the grazing system enhances colonization of native grassland species alongside animal tracks, (3) seeding of a commercial seed mixture impedes the colonization of native grassland species, (4) transfer of species-rich hay accelerates the colonization rate of several grassland species, and (5) highest cover of target species was found on regularly wet sites. Therefore, we conclude that grazing with large herbivores proved to be successful in converting former arable land into species-rich grasslands. Nevertheless, rising of the groundwater table is most important for further development of species-rich wet grasslands in the Wulfener Bruch.