Projects

CarEx – Taking care of dry grasslands important for biodiversity. We will define key parameters for the management of threatened dry grasslands in two protected areas: Kozjanski Park (in Slovenia) and Žumberak Samoborsko Gorje Nature Park (in Croatia). The goals are to develop meadow management methods that will ensure a favorable state of biodiversity and to raise awareness of the importance of connecting ecological corridors between patches of similar ecosystems.

Outcomes:

• Determining the biodiversity of protected areas - classical and DNA metabarcoding methods
• Photo contest and exhibition of photographic works
• Creation of a protocol for sampling invertebrates
• Protocol for comparable laboratory analysis of DNA metabarcoding
• Meadow management strategy
• Advice on good management practices for meadows
• Testing new practices with pilot measures
• Strategy for integrating eco-corridors into the network of protected areas

Five partners:

• National institute of biology (leading partner) (SI)
• Kozjansko regional park (SI)
• Institute of ornithology, Croatian Academy of Science and Art (HR)
• Croatian Natural History museum (HR)
• Nature park Žumberak – Samoborsko gorje (HR)

Materials:

• Protocol for sampling invertebrates