Report ragweed finds: We ask for your support!
Citizen Scientists have already reported almost 2,500 ragweed occurrences in Austria for the year 2025. We depend on every entry to make a difference. Please support the project! The reports will be forwarded collectively to the provincial governments. Please report ragweed!
Ragweed is a herbaceous plant from the composite family. It is actually native to America and was first introduced to Europe in the 19th century. From here, the plant, also known as ragweed, spread mainly through contaminated seeds and is now particularly widespread in parts of France and the Pannonian Plain. In Austria, Burgenland, parts of Lower Austria, Styria and Carinthia are particularly infested with ragweed. However, the plant can now also be found sporadically in all other federal states.
Many plants are currently in full bloom. Unlike many other composite plants (e.g. sunflowers or daisies), ragweed does not specialise in pollination by insects but in wind pollination, so the flowers produce a lot of pollen in order to achieve good pollination success. As ragweed pollen can cause allergic symptoms even in very low concentrations in the ambient air, allergic symptoms can also occur in the immediate vicinity of affected people in regions where the plant only occurs sporadically.
The "Ragweed Finder" citizen science project was launched to inform allergy sufferers about the occurrence of ragweedhotspots and to enable them to avoid the affected regions for leisure activities during the exposure phase. Another aim is to draw the attention of the relevant authorities in the federal states to the problem.
Over 2,600 potential ragweed populations have already been reported this year via this platform, which can be used by the public via a website and an app. Each of these reports is checked by an expert to ensure that the reported plants are actually ragweed. In total, well over 2,400 reports have already been verified. They have all been forwarded to the relevant authorities in the federal states so that they can decide how to proceed.
With your support, you can not only make life easier for many allergy sufferers in late summer, but also help to raise awareness of this problem among political decision-makers. This has already paid off in Burgenland, where the Burgenland Ragweed Control Act was passed in 2021. With your support, it will also be possible to realise this in other federal states. This is because there is still no legal obligation to report or remove ragweed in Austria.
The Ragweed Finderteam would like to thank all citizen scientists who have once again supported this system so actively this year and will reward the three top reporters of the 2025 season with a 100-euro voucher from Pluxee at the end of the year (no legal recourse).
