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Description
The initiative focuses on best practices sharing and information exchange on species of Sicista betulina in the Czech Republic (which is Red listed and registered in the Annexes to the Berne Convention) and Sciurus vulgaris. The initiative assumes a cooperation on project preparation within the calls 1a) Ecosystems, 1b) 1c) of the Programme (protection of ecosystems) focusing on the above mentioned and other animal species. It comprises bilateral trips and a study visit to Norway. During this visit, at least one seminar will be organized including the presentation of current projects and
Summary of the results
We organized 2 bilateral meetings within the initiative. In may 2022 we organized a field trip to visit localities of interest in the Czech Republic. We invited 2 partner organizations and 4 local experts. We focused on areas of occurrence of northern birch mouse, we visited also localities of other interesting species (amphibians, European ground squirrel, collared flycatcher and edible dormouse) and research and conservation actions (underpasses for otters, small mammal capture study). We visited Prof Henrik Jensen, at the NTNU in August 2022. During the visit, they imparted four seminar talks at the NTNU to present projects and activities of ALKA Wildlife. Prof Jensen gave presentation about his work with house sparrow populations. Together they had several meetings to discuss the potential of joint projects. Additionally, an office in the Science building was prepared to host further discussions with attendees of the seminars and members of NTNU. Before and after both trips partners communicated by emails and Zoom meetings. The two weeks spent together granted us time to learn, share knowledge and discuss many topics. We have found common themes for future cooperation I.e, project on birch mouse, wider project on small mammal communities, project on European ground squirrel, all of them using classic field methods combined with tools such as e-DNA methods and genetic analyses connected with isolation of rare species.