14 Jun MONITORING OF TRITURUS CARNIFEX AT RADENSKO POLJE
These days, the monitoring of Triturus carnifex is being carried out in the Radensko Polje Landscape Park.
At the beginning of spring, we checked the presence of Triturus carnifex’ eggs in the ponds. Now, we are also looking for the presence of adult newts, which are one of the target species of the LIFE AMPHICON project. In July, we will check whether their larvae are also present in the ponds, and in late summer we will check whether they have successfully metamorphosed and gone to their terrestrial habitats.
The monitoring begins with a tour of the water body, the pond. We listen and record the presence of species that can be noted by observation. Then we examine the surrounding vegetation and look for the folded leaves of the plants in which the female newts lay their eggs (photo 4).
To determine the presence of amphibian species, their abundance and density in stagnant waters, we also use the method of hunting with traps, among other things. The method is extremely effective for poorly detectable species and for sampling in deeper, impassable, and opaque waters and in waters where net sampling is not possible. The same conditions were observed in Radensko polje.
For the needs of monitoring the Triturus carnifex, we made Ortmann’s traps in the Radensko Polje Landscape Park (photo 3). Traps for monitoring amphibians are designed in such a way that only small predators can be caught in them, but not turtles and larger fish. In addition to the newts and larvae of amphibians, the presence of smaller fish and different types of invertebrates can also be observed when inspecting the trap.
Traps are buckets with holes drilled at the bottom. A wider hole on one side allows the newts to enter the bucket, but on the other side, their exit is prevented by a narrower throat. We use fish food as bait, which slowly dissolves in the water.
The traps are in the water for 48 hours. During this time, two inspections of the trap are carried out to ensure that the animals are not trapped for too long. What is caught in the trap is photographed and recorded. After that, all animals are released back into the aquatic environment alive and unharmed.
