Three field researches across Croatia
During my internship, I had the opportunity to do fieldwork. This was part of another scientific project. The aim was to map the distribution of all reptiles terrain and amphibians in Croatia, and so update the data. The project manager was Boris Laus, president of HYLA. Despite my work about my internship subject, I had the opportunity to go three time on the field with Boris.
The first fieldwork was in April, on three small islands around of Zadar : Premuda, Sestrunj et Zverinac. These are beautiful and peaceful islands, with little habitation. We spent seven days of researches on these islands, housed in guest house. I was really surprised to find french people as host for the second island. So, from our first day on the island we started the research, 8 hours per day, more 1 to 2 hours by night. Fortunately, we had good weather during all the week, what helped in our surveys. In total, it's nine species that we found (see below). Among these species, there were Dalmatian wall lizard (Podarcis melisellensis), a endemic species from Balkans, which find only on the Adriactic coast. Croatian islands are really rich in wildlife. In this field, we caught thirty snakes. Sestrunj that is the wildest and most varied.
Regarding my second fieldwork, it was really different from the first, whatsoever from the environment or species recorded. We left nine days in the northeast of Croatia, close to the border. We conducted our surveys in the area of Baranja and Spačva. There was a palce (which I unfortunately forgot the name) where it was possible to see two of countries close to Croatia : Hungary and Serbia. For this fieldwork, it's with Senka (employed in HYLA) and Vito (volunteer in HYLA) that we left. However, the weather wasn't on our side the first days, we had only the rain, and no small drops. Nevertheless, there was no problem to find amphibians. We find many species as common spadefoot, yellow-bellied toad or common frog. Unlike the reptile, where we found the first species only after two days. It was an excellent fieldwork, we found more species than the first field. Twenty species recorded. Among all species recorded, there were two special species : the Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius) and viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara). These two species were included in another study, which is the monitoring of their populations in Croatia. For this purpose, it was necessary to capture each individual met to record measurements such as size, weight, sex, etc.
For my last fieldwork, I left several days in July. This time, the fieldwork was with Maddlen and Katarina, both employed in HYLA, in addition to Boris. Our surveys took place from National Park of Plitvice Lakes until to the mountains behind Senj, a small coastal town. The majority of time, we were in mountain, so, it's in bivouac that we spent a part of our nights. It was under a bright sun that we could perform our surveys, with only two days of bad weather. But at this moment, it was possible to sleep in a house. So, we have been lucky. In any case, this fieldwork was really various regarding the environment. We spent two days in the forests and grasslands of Plitvice Lakes National Park that I will never forget. Personally, I found this place really beautiful. Their forest are wonderful, so wild, with huge trees and a dense vegetations sometimes. One could almost believe in Jurassic Park, except that the super predator living in these territories were not T-rex or velociraptor but bears, lynx and wolves. But, fortunately or not, no meeting took place. With Boris, we only found footprints of bear (fresh footprints) when we were in the mountains. In same mountains, we also found the remain of a deer corpse (see below in the pictures). Otherwise in terms of reptiles and amphibians, here, we met many individuals, especially horned snake. It was great fieldwork like the two others, with wonderful landscapes.
Finally, assessment of these three field researches, I had a great experience at every time. I saw beautiful landscapes which I will never forget. I learned many things on the reptiles, amphibians, fieldwork and also Croatia. I hope to be able to renew this kind of experience in Croatia or in other countries. Anyway, a big thank you, Boris, for allowing me to live everything.
I leave you now watch video summarizing my last fieldwork.