Other activities

 

Additional activities of BHHU ATRA concern inventarization of herpetofauna diversity of areas of interest, and to provide assistance and support to projects of our partner associations ...

Pelobates fuscus: The Paradox of Metamorphosis

Common Spadefoot (lat. Pelobates fuscus) is the rarest species of tailess amphibians in Bosnia and Hezegovina; It has a fossorial lifestyle: during the day it is buried in the ground, while it comes to the surface at night when humidity is high. When they feel threatened their skin glands secrete a defensive fluid that smells like garlic (that is why the local name of the speices is: garlic toad!).Tadpoles are extremely large and can grow up to 10 cm in length. However, during the metamorphosis, larvae turns into a juveniles that are only a few centimeters in length ...

The project is being conducted in cooperation: Society for Research and Conservation of Biodiversity / BHHU ATRA and is funded by the Rufford Small Grants Foundation and Hetetological Society „Hyla“. Official website of the project.

Inventarization of Janjići area

BHHU ATRA in cooperation with Dušan Jelic (CHS-Hyla) participated in field activities related to construction of hydroaccumulation in Janjići area, just before the entrance to the city of Zenica in B&H. These types of projects are regular practice of investors since they must account for their impact on the environment and associated biodiversity which is going to be destroyed / damaged by the construction of the accumulation. From May to August 2015 regular, detailed monthly multi-day field research were carried out close to the road and river bed (river: Bosna) and the surrounding buffer zone (radius 1 km) along the entire road: Kakanj - Zenica with a focus on Janjići area. Biodiversity of Janjići area is very scarce since the construction of the highway has already significantly contributed to reducing the biodiversity of this site. It is an interesting fact that in the planed construction area of the future dam we found two species that were not present in the reference zone and are allocated on annexes of Habitat Directive: Natrix natrix (Grass Snake - annex IV) and Bombina variegata (Yellow-bellied toad, annex II).

Vrh