Project name: NATURAVITA Project – Habitat, Flora and Fauna Monitoring: Group 6. Otter and Beaver Monitoring (Kopački Rit)
Client: Hrvatske vode (Croatian Water)
Period: 02/2021 – 07/2023
Location: Croatia
The purpose of otter and beaver monitoring within the Kopački Rit Nature Park and the Special Zoological Reserve, which are part of the NATURA 2000 area (HR2000394), was to obtain approximately accurate data on the state of otter and beaver populations and the quality of their habitats. These data should serve as a baseline for clearly defining the indicators of changes in hydromorphological, biological and ecological characteristics of the area, the extent of changes in the water ecosystems of the researched area and associated habitats, flora and fauna. The implementation of this monitoring provided one of the foundations for the creation of a study on the revitalization of the floodplain of the Kopački Rit Nature Park and defined short-term and long-term measures for the management of aquatic ecosystems with particular importance for the preservation of endangered taxa such as otter and beaver mammals. The following activities were carried out as part of the project:
a) Habitat reconnaissance for otters and beavers and determination of the distribution limits of otters and beavers and the number of beaver families in the Kopački Rit Nature Park
b) Determining favourable locations for setting up live traps for catching otters and beavers and live trap implementation
c) Catching beavers with nets
d) Marking of otters and beavers with GPS devices
e) Determining beaver and otter mortality on the collected carcasses
f) Implementation of Park employees training for further data collection, handling of animal traps and monitoring of the species in question
g) Data processing and preparation of reports
- Data processing collected by reconnaissance
- Telemetry data processing
- Analysis of the living space size, habitat quality and use for the species in question
- Results analysis and interpretation to determine the abundance, distribution, number of territories, habitat capacity and potential for the spread of species
- Revitalization measures proposal.
