Ana Golubović
Other projects
11 Oct 2012
Distribution and Conservation of Hermann’s Tortoise (Testudo hermanni boettgeri) in Serbia
26 Mar 2015
Distribution and Conservation of European Pond Turtle (Emys orbicularis) in Serbia
3 Feb 2017
Turtles in Serbia – Population Status, Conservation and Distribution of the Understudied European Pond Turtle and Hermann’s Tortoise
European Pond Turtle (Emys orbicularis) is the only semiaquatic turtle naturally inhabiting Serbia. It is considered Data Deficient at the national level (Red Book of Reptiles of Serbia, Krizmanić, Džukić 2015) due to, thus far, chronic lack of research focused on European Pond Turtle in Serbia. Within my previous two projects (in 2015, and in 2017), invaluable data on distribution and population characteristics started to pile up.
This project aims to achieve five main goals:
1. Gathering additional reliable and precise data on the distribution of European Pond Turtle in Serbia, by the surveys of the skilled team of scientists and biology students, and by citizen science effort via Biologer platform. Such public participation in research has proven to be effective before and has led to the current distribution map of this species in Serbia. Join us in Biologer community and let us know about your encounters with wildlife of Serbia!
2. Gathering additional data on population characteristics and trends at five localities in Serbia. We will continue already established Capture-Mark-Recapture population studies, which provide extremely valuable population data but also provides options for collecting samples for genetoxicity and parasite analyses.
3. Networking with colleagues from surrounding countries who are also working on population studies and conservation of freshwater turtles and their habitats.
4. Educating young conservationists with hands-on experience on favourable habitat detecting and population monitoring, which brings not only sustainability to our project but enables these future conservationists to take up challenges of their own one day, using experiences they obtained during our project.
5. Re-evaluation of national conservation status of European Pond Turtle in Serbia, according to IUCN criteria, is the final goal of the project. The re-evaluation of the conservation status of the European Pond Turtle will enable targeted and more efficient protection of the species, specific populations and their habitats.