D2C - What is new at the Croatian project partner?

31-07-2019

The summer season is a period of holidays but also of intensive project work at the  New person was employed on the D2C project in March 2019 as a professional asisstent – biologist. She is a profesor of biology and chemistry, Tatjana Lesić. 

Several meetings with Ivan Darko Grlica, president of the „Natural History Society Drava“, the project external expert, were held. Planning and organization of project field activities were themes of the meetings. Based on the current field experience, we sugessted research locations by the river Drava and buffer zone.

Most of our field research is based on exploring of situation on the ground and finding aproppriate locations for monitoring of selected indicator species. We contacted the project partber Uni Vienna about SENTINEL ground truthing. However, part of our work - research on the otter (Lutra lutra) and freshwater mussel (Unio crassus) - was difficult up to now because of high water level of the river Drava. .

Collected data refers to the fragmentation of the area along the Green Belt and determination of present butterflies. A target species of the butterflies is Large Copper (Lycaena dispar). In the first generation of butterflies we noticed only one individual on the forest path. Anyway, we collected data about other buterflies like  Common Glider (Neptis sappho), Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) and others, which are located in Red Book of butterflies of Croatia.

We at the Public Institution for management of protected parts of nature and ecological network in  Virovitica – Podravina County are preparing the next project meeting of all partners which will be held on 29-31 October 2019. 

... and we are keeping our work on. 

Programme co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA, ENI)