News
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9-13 Sept 2024: Emys-R at the 15th European Wildlife Disease Conference, Strasslund, Germany
PhD candidate Dr Vet Caro Eichert and her supervisor Dr Vet Benoît Quintard wil present her research on Emys microbiome-health relations.
More here
9-12 Sept 2024: Colloqium of the Long-Term Survey in Ecology and Evolution (SEE-Life) Program of CNRS in Paris, France
Since 2023, the DE-FR cross-bordering study site of Neu-Woerr is one of the 65 labelled SEE-Life of CNRS for 5 years. SEE-Life Neu-Woerr is led by Dr Jean-Yves Georges (IPHC Strasbourg) and Pr Kathrin Theissinger (Justus Liebig University Giessen).
30 Aug-6 Sept 2024: IPHC-NABU joint field session for monitoring Emys and associated biodiversity on Neu-Woerr
Wiebke Pasligh (NABU) joined Dr Jean-Yves Georges (IPHC, SEE-Life Neu-Woerr) for the second last field session of the year on the cross-bordering Neu-Woerr study site. Former field assistant Isabell Kuhn also met for discussing a work in progress on the Emys predatory behaviour on invasive species, including calico crayfish.
2 Sept 2024: New publication by Oksana Nekrasova et al. in Scientific Reports!
In their new publication, Oksana Nekrasova et al. developed bioclimatic models of the distribution of the Emys, which they compared to 7 species of exotic freshwater turtles already established in Europe. They show that by 2050, the areas favourable to the Emys where the risks of competition will be limited are mainly located in Eastern Europe and in particular in Ukraine, which are now becoming the priority long-term conservation areas for the Emys.
26-30 Aug 2024: Emys-R at the 14th European Conference on Ecological Restoration in Tartu, Estonia
PhD-candidate Kari-Anne van der Zon and Pr Isabelle Combroux presented WP1 and WP3 results at the SERE conference!
More here
20 Aug 2024: Experimental pond survey on the Woerr
Isabelle Combroux, Corinne Grac and their teams ran their monthly survey of the new adaptive pondscape on Woerr. Water levels turned back to quite normal but the vegetation cover is still very light as a result of long months of high waters since mid May 2024.
7 Aug 2024: The new generation of Emys turtles hatched in SEA LIFE Speyer!
Most reintroductions rely on captive-bred individuals. Breeding facilities, both private and institutional, are major actors of such conservation actions. In the German part of Emys-R, reintroductions in Neuburg am Rhein rely on both kinds of breeders, namely Mathias Maehn and SEA LIFE Speyer (under supervision of Arndt Hadamek). This year 2024 sounds a productive one, with 91 eggs incubated in SEA LIFE Speyer, and the first hatchlings today!
photo by Arndt Hadamek
5 August 2024: Emys-R at the 10th World Congress of Herpetology, Borneo
Dr Oksana Nekrasova (she, again! :D) presented the poster Unveiling Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis distribution in Europe: Identifying threats and potential refuges for Amphibians.
More here
Paris, 2024: The Will to win, Воля до перемоги
The golden knights, Olga Kharlan, Alina Komashchuk, Olena Kravatska, Yuliia Bakastova (sabre, Olympics Paris 2024)
Ukraine on the top of the world, Yaroslava Mahuchikh (high jump, Olympics Paris 2024)
Another good reason for being friendly with Ukrainians, Oleksandr Khyzhniak (boxing >80Kg, Olympics Paris 2024)
30 July 2024: BiodivRestore Knowledge Hub met online
Project leader Jean-Yves Georges attended the first of a long series of online meetings with other experts from all around the world gathered for the BiodivRestore Knowledge Hub. The Hub aims for a more sustainable and structural contribution by the European scientific community and knowledge holders in support of the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Law.
29 July 2024: WP and WP3 monitoring adaptive ponds on Woerr
Water levels finally dropped a little bit on the Woerr site in Lauterbourg. So Isabelle Combroux and her team were able to make the adaptative ponds surveys today!
24-27 July 2024: Emys-R at the Biology of Lizard 2 conference, Rodeo, NM, USA
3rd conference in North America for Dr Oksana Nekrasova, presenting Past, current and future states of green lizard (Lacerta viridis) populations in Eastern Europe.
This happened in one of the most stunning, full of history, emblematic place in North America: the Chiricahua Desert Museum and Geronimo Event center.
More here
25 July 2024: Dr Oleksii Marushchak video on YouTube
Part of his activities within the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, Oleksii Marushchak debunks the most common myths about snakes in this short video (keep focused on the text!).
More about UNCG here
More about Oleksii
13 July 2024: A travelling turtle makes its show across DE-FR borders
An Emys turtle was found near the road on the location shown on the map by a private lady. Thanks to the information she found on the Internet about the reintroduction initiatives in the area, she behaved properly and feed the turtle back.
We thank our friend Ingo Hamman for sharing the content.
27-30 June 2024: Emys-R at the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles 2024 Meeting, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Dr Oksana Nekrasova attended a major international conference where she presented The impact of climate change on the prospects for transcontinental two-way invasion of reptiles between Europe and America.
More here
22-28 June 2024: Third WP2 field session in all three study sites
Drs Mihails Pupins and Reinis Brics deployed additional TOTITAGS in Latvia while the NeuWoerr team has been strengthened with David Bock (animal carer, IPHC) and Hugo Salis (apprenti field trainee, IPHC) who had their first field experience on site – monitoring Emys and associated biodiversity sometimes in unconventional manners due to still high water levels, excavating nests laid in 2023, contacting exotic invasive calico crayfish that disperses on the DE side – plus meeting Project manager Dr Kathrin Theissinger (happy birthday!) who joined for assessing water levels in the Woerr gravel pond.
16-21 June 2024: Massive contribution at the World Biodiversity Forum, Davos
All contributions available here
30-31 May 2024: Emys-R invited at the BiodivRestore Knowledge Hub, Paris, France
Dr Jean-Yves Georges attended, as expert of the BiodivRestore Knowledge Hub, a 2-day event aiming for a more sustainable and structural contribution by the European scientific community and knowledge holders in support of the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Law.
24 May 2024: President of the European Community of Alsace (CeA) and Landrat of the Landkreis Germersheim (KG) meet Emys!
Denis Schwab (Collectivité européenne d’Alsace) and Uwe Meissner (Kreisverwaltung Germersheim, represented by M. Christoph Buttweiler) presented the former INTERREG project “Cistude sans frontière – Sumpfschildkröte ohne Grenze” (2009-2012) during the “cross-border Roadtour” organized as part of Europe Month and in the run-up to the European elections (9 June 9 2024) where Mr. Fréderic Bierry (President of the European Community of Alsace, CeA), Mr. Fritz Brechtel (Landrat of the Landkreis Germersheim), and Ms. Susanne Ganster (Landrätin of the Landkreis Südwestpfalz) enjoyed holding an Emys moulage used for eduction purpose (photo C. Buttweiler).
22-24 May 2024: Emys-R invited at the LIFE Platform Meeting on Amphibian and Reptile Conservation: Challenges and Opportunities in Europe, Santander, Spain
Drs Andris Čeirāns, Kathrin Theissinger and Jean-Yves Georges attended this LIFE platform meeting (more here) aiming at providing practical advice to be addressed to EU-LIFE, IPBES/IUCN experts and policy makers involved in forthcoming EU Nature Restoration Law and EU Life fundings.
13-20 May 2024: Field session on Neu Woerr during heavy floods
During this field session, Master students Julia Collery (WP3, LIVE), Chloé Fernando (WP4, GESTE) and Fanny Kuttler (WP2, IPHC) took part of several field protocols. On 16th May, the equivalent to one entire month of rain felt during 29 continuous hours, offering an exceptional – yet hardly recognizable – pondscape with some risks for the equipment. Beside, first captures of Emys that were released last year by NABU on the land managed by Germersheim Landkreiss, Germany!
8 May 2024: Emys-R at the Erasmus project Road to Green Future
As part of the ERASMUS Project «Road to green future: Sustainable approach to combat climate change» (more here) hosted by Daugavpils University, Drs Mihails Pupins and Jean-Yves Georges presented major achievements of Nature-based-Solutions research and educational projects to a delegation of 15 teachers from Italy, Spain and Turkey.
More here
3-11 May 2024: Joined WP2 field session in Latvia
Project leader Jean-Yves Georges visited Pr Arturs Škute and Dr Mihails Pupins for major improvements in WP2 actions in Latvia, with 1) the deployment of the newest TOTITAGS (Sextant Technology Ltd, NZ) for studying the ecology of Emys reintroduced in Silene study site and 2) the sampling of the population of captive Emys -with major support from Dr Vet Reinis and Vet Assistant Virginia at Latgales zoo- for extended genetic assessment of the breeding stock and best management.
3 May 2024: Call for applicants for PhD on Emys
IPHC (CNRS UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France) is looking for a highly skilled and motivated candidate to the entrance examination (concours) of the Doctoral School ED414 at University of Strasbourg, France, for running a PhD project on Comparative behavioral ecology and ecophysiology of the European pond turtle along a latitudinal gradient.
Read the call here
Dateline: 24. May 2024
20-27 April 2024: Highly active week on the DE-FR transbordering study site Neu Woerr
For their first field session of the year, WP2 (IPHC) has been running Emys and non-target species survey, WP3 (LIVE & ENGEES) has been implementing measurements and plant translocations in the newly created adaptive ponds, and WP4 (GU, CC and GESTE) performed intensive interviews with German inhabitants and stakeholders. Meanwhile, land managers of the National Office for Forestry introduced their new agent in charge of biodiversity on the Domain Forest of Lauterbourg (FR).
23 April 2024: Welcome to Elżbieta Głowacka-Adamek!
Ela is working as an interpreter and translator in support to interviews run in Germany by WP4
18 April 2024: Meeting with land managers and scientists
Land manager of the Woerr FR study site (CeA) and FR scientific force task (IPHC, LIVE and ENGEES) met for discussing forthcoming season protocols, data sharing and long term partnership on the Woerr study site and CNRS-labelled SEE-Life Neu Woerr.
17 April 2024: Ukraine is the best proof that life and humanity prevail
In their last publication in Responsible Herpetology Journal, Dr Oleksii Marushchak and colleagues from Ukraine published this stunning paper about herpetofauna on the war front and how, despite all risks, people from Ukraine keep taking care of wildlife and life.
Proof that life and humanity will prevail darkness.
Read the article here
12 April 2024: Emys-R becomes a member of the BiodivRestore Knowledge Hub!
In the context of its ‘BiodivRestore’ ERA-NET COFUND Action to support research on “Conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems and their biodiversity, including a focus on aquatic systems”, Biodiversa+ and Water4All/Water JPI have established a pan-European Knowledge Hub with the aim to strengthen the knowledge base for the implementation of the Nature Restoration Law.
The BiodivRestore Knowledge Hub will take the form of a dynamic ‘community of practice’ and will be composed of two task forces addressing two main objectives: 1) Strengthening the knowledge base of the implementation of the NRL, based on a needs-driven approach; 2) Advance the Research & Innovation Agenda.
Project leader Dr Jean-Yves Georges has been selected as a member of the Knowledge Hub by the selection committee and will attend the first meeting Paris, 30-31 May 2024, Paris, France.
April 2024: a new documentary about L.H. Bojanus
Enjoy this just-came-out documentary about Bojanus, the FR-born, LT-adopted author of the most famous Anatome Testudinis europeaeae (1819). A very pleasant journey throughout Europe and time… by the Cercle d’histoire Alsace-Lituanie (Strasbourg)… so far in Fr, soon in Lithuanian, hopefully in EN too!
29 March 2024: Emys-R first public outreach to the people of Ukraine
Dr Oksana Nekrasova, Dr Oleksii Marushchak and Dr Jean-Yves Georges published this very article in the Ukrainian popular science magazine Krainaz about the mysterious world of amphibians of the Middle Dnieper in the context of climate change.
Nekrasova O, Marushchak O, Georges JY (2024) Загадковий світ земноводних Середнього Подніпров’я в умовах глобальних змін клімату. Krainaz 2024(4): online, pdf in Ukrainian and pdf in AI-English
28-29 March 2024: Emys-R at French Emys Workshop (Journées Techniques Cistude, Arles, France)
During the Journées Techniques Cistude, part of the Action National Plan for the European pond turtle held at Tour du Valat (Arles, France; 80 attending people), Dr Vet Benoît Quintard, Dr Jean-Yves Georges and colleagues presented the last updates on veterinarian surveys and scientific monitoring associated to the conservation initiatives in favor of the Emys led on the Neu Woerr transbordering site and beyond.
Promising networking also occurred with colleagues from Spain, Switzerland but also France who are working on similar topics. More here
18 March 2024: Interview by BMBF (DE Funding Agency)
In an interview to the German funding agency BMBF, Project manager Dr Theissinger highlighted the rationale of reintroducing Emys and presented some of the major results of the Emys-R Consortium. More here
4 March 2024: Welcome to our new Master students
We are pleased to welcome our two newest Master students: Julia Collery is biologist (Strasbourg University), supervised by Pr Combroux and Dr Grac (LIVE-ENGEES) and Chloé Fernando is geograph (Lyon University), supervised by Pr Barbier and Dr Heitz, (GESTE)
22 Feb 2024: New public outreach
In the last issue of Responsible Herpetoculture Journal, Dr Oleksii Marushchak and colleagues published a rationale about bilateral benefits for herpetology and herpetoculture experts in sharing knowledge and practices for best species conservation.
Marushchak O, Nekrasova O, Pupins M, Georges JY (2024) Herpetology and herpetoculture: the bridge between. Responsible Herpetoculture Journal 13: 6-12 (pdf)
More about the Responsible Herpetoculture Foundation
20 Feb 2024: Project Manager Dr PD Kathrin Theissinger joined her new lab at Justus Liebig University Giessen
Project Manager Dr PD Kathrin Theissinger joined her new lab at Justus Liebig University Giessen, where she starts her prestigious DFG Heisenberg Program funded GroupLeader position on Key factors shaping interactions between freshwater crayfish and their invasive disease. Please note her new contact details and affiliations on her page
20 Feb 2024: Dr Oksana Nekrasova awarded by ANR for an extended PAUSE grant
Our colleague Dr Oksana Nekrasova from Ukraine has been successfully awarded for an extension of her PAUSE grant by ANR. This will permit her to maintain her research in a safer place at IPHC, Strasbourg, while extending her activities through new research projects under her leadership.
19-29 Feb 2024: Creation of 9 new adaptive ponds on Woerr study site
Part of WP3, LIVE, ENGEES and land manager CeA have organized the digging of 9 new adaptive ponds on the French study site, with experimental compartments made of different substrates for testing original designs aiming at preventing the spread of invasive crayfish. This new pondscape will be monitored partly by Master student Julia Collery, under supervision by Pr Isabelle Combroux and Dr Corinne Grac.
15 Feb 2024: Field visit with new stakeholder
Land manager Lydia Razafindralay (CeA) and Project leader Jean-Yves Georges met a new stakeholder, Gilbert, hunter and trapper. All partners will contribute to an emerging field study to assess habitat use, biometry and diet (for a start) of this alien species that recently settled on the Woerr and is a major preedator for most local species including the Emys.
In add, nice sightings of beavers and some Emys that already benefit from mild weather… summer is coming!
14 Feb 2024: Dr Oksana Nekrasova granted by GARD24 for the 10th World Congress of Herpetology
Dr Oksana Nekrasova received a GARD24 travel grant for attending the 10th World Congress of Herpetology, Borneo, 5-9 August 2024, where she will present a joint contribution Nekrasova et al. entitled Unveiling Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis distribution in Europe: Identifying threats and potential refuges for amphibians.
Read abstract here
4 Feb 2024: Woerr topography measurements
Jean-Yves Georges and Komlan Toudji (just back from Togo) measured the topography of an existing trench between the acclimatization ponds and the gravel pond. This is part of the (hopefully) forthcoming Emys-Disperse project, that aims at creating a permanently watered dispersion channel between the two most resilient water bodies of the Woerr site for facilitating the seasonal forth-and-back movements of Emys while limiting predation by terrestrial predators and preventing settlement of burrowing invasive calico crayfish.
Included, a visit of the flooded meadow and. view of the adaptive calico-proof meadow pond
2 Feb 2024: World Wetlands Day
16 Jan 2024: First publication of the year!
Dr Oleksii Marushchak signed as first author a stunning data paper revealing massive helminth diversity in common amphibians and reptiles, including the Emys, based on very uncommon field monitoring conditions and even more incredible overall conditions in Ukraine.
Marushchak O, Syrota Y, Dmytrieva I, Kuzmin Y, Nechai A, Lisitsyna O, Svitin R (2024) Helminths found in common species of the herpetofauna in Ukraine. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e113770. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e113770 (
pdf)
8 Jan 2024: Welcome Fanny Kuttler!
Fanny joined IPHC for running her Master research project entitled Habitat use and reproduction strategies of populations of European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) in contrasted environmental conditions.
More here
01 Jan 2024: Some traffic-jam on the Emys-R website
More than 15.000 unique visitors clicked on the Emys-R website last year!
18 Dec 2023: Emys-R highlighted in the worldwide spread Responsible Herpetoculture Journal Issue#12
In the last 2023 issue of the Responsible Herpetoculture Journal, Project Leaders Dr Jean-Yves Georges and Kathrin Theissinger presented the origins, rationale, goals and first outcomes of the Emys-R project, with a special focus on the contributions from our EmyStars and other EmySparkles.
Many thanks to our dedicated Editor Dr Oleksii Marushchak!
Read the article here
More about the Responsible Herpetoculture Foundation here
12 Dec 2023: WP1 and WP2 joined effort in genomics lab
PhD candidates Kari-Anne van der Zon (WP1) and Johannes Meka (WP2) share their efforts for processing samples collected in the 3 study sites of the project.
1 Dec 2023: Emys-R highlighted in Senckenberg Newsletters
In the last 2023 issue of Senckenberg Newsletters « Nature Forschung Museum », Project Leaders Dr Jean-Yves Georges and Prof-in-the-making Kathrin Theissinger (see News on 10 Nov 2023) presented the origins, rationale, goals and first outcomes of the Emys-R project, with a special focus on the contributions from our EmyStars and other EmySparkles.
Read more here
29 Nov 2023: Steering Committee
Emys-R partners met for their monthly Steering Committee for reviewing 2023 achievements and organising 2024 individual and collective tasks.
28 Nov 2023: Meeting with FR land manager ans stakeholders
Corinne Grac (LIVE & ENGEES), Thierry Holl (National Forestry Office), Benoît Quintard (Parc Zoologique et Botanique de Mulhouse) and Jean-Yves Georges met Lydia Razafindralay and Denis Schwab (Collectivité européenne d’Alsace) and more stakeholders for sharing achievements for 2023 and discussing forthcoming co-constructed actions for 2024.
20 Nov 2023: gathering WP1 & WP2 PhD candidates at Senckenberg
Until end 2023, PhD candidates Caro Eichert, Johannes Meka (WP2) and Kari-Anne van der Zon (WP1) and Master student Melina Werner will gather at Senckenberg to process their numerous field samples at TBG genomics labo, under Leonie Schardt’s and Kathrin Theissinger’s supervision. A good opportunity to meet and share productive and friendly times with other members of Kathrin’s team.
Nov 2023: New internship at LIVE & ENGEES
Isabelle Combroux and Corinne Grac offer an opportunity for a Master student on Mitigating an alien invasive species in restored wetlands – testing ecological engineering methods.
Read the job description here
10 November 2023: Kathrin Theissinger moving upward!
Project manager Kathrin Thessinger has been selected joining the most prestigious DFG Heisenberg Program building on her research at Senckenberg Institute and LOEWE TBG on host-pathogen interactions of crayfish & the crayfish plague disease.
7 November 2023: PhD candidate Caro Eichert awarded by Sainte-Croix Biodiversité – Fonds de Dotation – for her microbiome approach
Sainte Croix Biodiversité – Fonds de Dotation – awarded our self-funded PhD candidate Caro Eichert for running the « characterization of the intestinal microbiome as an indicator of the health status of European pond turtles as part of reintroduction programs ».
Read more about Sainte-Croix here
See all Emys-R contributions here
9-13 Oct 2023: PhD candidate Johannes Meka awarded by the eDNA Collaborative
eDNA Collaborative awarded a Physalia Microgrant to PhD candidate Johannes Meka aiming at strengthening expertise in big data processing and analysis related to his eDNA approach aiming at reconstructing food web and ecosystem functioning centered around the Emys.
Read his blog post here
26 Sept 2023: Our partner Collectivité européenne d’Alsace presents the Woerr site to local stakeholders
The mayor of Lauterbourg and several municipal councillors visited the Woerr site accompanied by the technical services of the CeA to discover or rediscover this natural area. They were informed of the preservation and renaturation actions carried out by CeA and ONF as well as the specific actions of Emys reintroduction program.
The follow-up and research work carried out by the partners was presented and an emphasis was placed on the new approaches developed by the EMYS-R program, which make this site a real life-size research center.
This event also permitted to mobilize these local stakeholders for forthcoing sociological surveys led by WP4 partners.
22 Sept 2023: Fare well Sylvia!
After two years at IPHC where she contributed to several Emys-R field sessions including the very last one of 2023, field engineer Sylvia Pardonnet left for other horizons… West… Fare well Quenelle!
17 Sept 2023: Emys-R highlighted during the Heritage Day, Munschhausen, France
PhD candidate Kari-Anne van de Zon, Master student Zoé André and Dr Corinne Grac have been representating the Emys-R project during the French national public event Heritage Day – Journée du Patrimoine, at the Center for Introduction to Nature and the Environment, CINE, Munschhausen, France.
15-22 Sept 2023: Last field session of the year on Woerr, France
PhD candidate Johannes Meka and field engineer Sylvia Pardonnet closed the 2023 field season on Woerr site while running their very last field contribution to the Emys-R project, with 1) monitoring Emys and associated biodiversity (concluding, despite a new wild born Emys found, that ponds are more populated by invasive calico crayfish – including the meadow pond :/ – than the camp site by tourists – at least this time of the year); 2) running public outreach to 132 engineer-students from ENGEES for highlightening the relevance of wetland restoration and wildlife conservation; 3) providing support to colleague Ljudevit Luka Boštjančić who investigates Evolution of immunity in Decapods under Dr Kathrin Theissinger supervision at Senckenberg Institute (more here); 4) accompagning our colleague from Ukraine Dr Oksana Nekrasova for her first autonomous nocturnal frogging trip on Woerr for her PAUSE-funded project (combined with her anticipated birthday); and 5) last but not least packing all field material for complete check and fixing before next field season in 2024.
Fair well all!
1 Sept 2023: Oksana Nekrasova has arrived from Kyiv, Ukraine to Strasbourg, France!
Our colleague expert in herpetolology and bioclimatic modelling made it!… from I.I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, National Academy of Science of Ukraine, to IPHC thanks to her successful application to the PAUSE Programme from Collège de France – Agence Nationale de la Recherche. This makes our project stronger thanks to Ukrainian woman power!
24 AUGUST
Happy Day of Independence Ukraine 1991-2023!
The Trident suits Her best!
23 August 2023: Major step in the eDNA approach
Today was a pivotal day for our Master student Melina Werner and her project « Assessment of passive eDNA sampling from freshwater via DNA traps ». The project aims to investigate whether a new sampling method can be used to detect species diversity in freshwater ecosystems. To achieve this, water samples from the restored wetlands of Neuburg am Rhein will be analyzed using genetic techniques such as PCR and Metabarcoding. Given that there are approximately 2000 (!!!) samples to be processed, Melina is fortunate to have the assistance of a pipetting robot, and the supervision of Damian Baranski and Dr Kathrin Theissinger.
19-31 August 2023: Massive sociological survey in Latvia
Welcome Diana Tihomirova!
Diana joined Emys-R as the assistant of our PhD candidate Patrycja Romaniuk for running sociological surveys in local languages.
Our PhD candidate Patrycja Romaniuk and assistant Diana Tihomirova are running a massive sociological survey, starting in the vicinity of our study site of Silene, in the most southern Latvia, where Emys have been released.
19 August 2023: The Woerr study site labelled as CNRS-INEE « Long Term Life Observatory »
The Woerr site has been awarded as one of the 61 new « CNRS-INEE Long Term Life Observatory ». This is a very timely and promising acknowledgement of all efforts there since >10 years and most specially our transdisciplinary approach thanks to CeA, ONF, LIVE, ENGEES, IPHC and other partners (Parc Zoologique de Mulhouse, Réserve Naturelle Nationale de la Petite Camargue Alsacienne, Station de recherche de la PCA), and hopefully to be extended to Neu Woerr including Landkreis Germersheim, NABU and Senckenberg. The laureates were selected based on the quantity (duration) and quality (diversity) of the existing and forthcoming databases Emys-R is presently collecting thanks to the efforts of each of us.
17-18 August 2023: More sights of life in Ukraine!
Oleksii Marushchak still in action in the field, now in the Steppes of Mykolaiv region seeking for reptiles and amphibians during dedicated – and less related, i.e. bat monitoring – field sessions.
16 August 2023: Life still goes on in Ukraine!
Our colleague Oksana Nekrasova and our postdoc Oleksii Marushchak went hunting (friendly but successfully) Emys in Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv region.
14-17 August 2023: Four days of reportage on Woerr site with ARTE team
Reporter Suzanne Roser and her team Arndt and Christoph followed Project Manager Kathrin Theissinger and Project Leader Jean-Yves Georges from the field in Lauterbourg-France and Neuburg am Rhein-Germany to captive facility at Speyer Sea Life, catching most relevant moments and highlights from our Emys-R Project, for a 30′ reportage – to be released early 2024.
12-19 August 2023: Emys strike back on Woerr site!
Our PhD candidate Johannes Meka monitoring Emys found new proofs of reproduction in the wild on the Woerr site (despite some extrem weather conditons), witnessing positive sights for the reintroduction initiatives led by our Partner Collectivité Européenne d’Alsace.
7 August 2023: Emys baby boom in captive facility in Speyer SeaLife
First hatchlings of the year in Speyer SeaLife, the captive facility providing Emys for releases in Germany. Eggs are incubated at 30°C for promoting female hatchlings, since sex is temperature dependent in the Emys, with a pivotal temperature of 28.5°C.
Photos by Arndt Hadamek
29-31 July 2023: Preparing Emys hatchling monitoring
Jean-Yves Georges and Kathrin Theissinger, with expert support from Charlotte&Matthis, deployed meshed devices for protecting the Emys nests identified ealier this year and ran first deep fishing in the Woerr gravel pond for assessing the habitat use of the invasive calico crayfish (more results coming soon).
🇺🇦 27-30 July 2023: New expedition to the Pikuy mountain, Carpathian mountains, Ukraine 🇺🇦
Our postdoc Oleksii Marushchack on an expedition near the Pikuy mountain seeking for promising spawning sites for local amphibians (yellow-bellied toads, newts, salamanders) while making records of local herpetofauna. Eastern slowworms were pretty active despite rainy weather, while several sand lizards were registered basking during short periods of sunny weather. And lots and lots of Bombina variegata in almost every puddle yet facing major risks of crushing on ground roads nearby.
Photos by Yuri Kuzmin
12-19 July 2023: Intense research activity on Woerr
Isabelle Combroux and newly hired Master student Mathilde Velle run a phyto-sociological survey on Vielle Lauter River.
PhD candidates Caro Eichert and Johannes Meka, with assistance from Stefanie Knell, Ina Schäfer and her family, run the field monitoring targeting the Emys turtles – with new evidence of reproduction on site, and the calico crayfish – with first evidence of immigration in the adaptive pond.
5-6 July 2023: Expedition along the valley of Trubizh River near Yahotyn, Kyiv region, Ukraine.
Our postdoc Oleksii Marushschak took part of a complex expedition including botanists, ornitologists, entomologists and of course – herpetologists. We confirmed that the studied areas are important for conservation of 2 species of newts, relict population of Pelophylax lessonae (which actually was a surprize for us as we didn’t expect to find it there). Separately, an amazing number of nests of Emys orbicularis were found on the plains, some obviosuly hatched whereas other were unfortunatelly ruined by predators. So in the nearest future Ukrainian nature, despite the war, will gain a new object of nature reserve fund (Regional Landscape Park), aimed on protection of aquatic ecosystems and European pond turtles in particular.
Photos by Roman Lysenko
5 July 2023: Second release of the year in Neuburg am Rhein in presence of Federal State Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate for Environment – Katrin Eder
A second release was organised by NABU and SeaLife Speyer in presence of local primary school children, Katrin Eder – Federal State Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate for Environment with Peter Sound, and major stakeholders Fritz Brechtel and Uwe Meissner – Landkreiss Germersheim, Herrmann Knauss – Mayor of Neuburg am Rhein, Kathrin Theissinger and Jean-Yves Georges – representatives of the Emys-R Consortium, and massive media coverage! (read more here!)
5 July 2023: Emys field session in Latvia
3-10 July 2023: WP1 team in the field in Latvia
Our PhD candidates Kari-Anne van der Zon and Alberts Garkajs are running a second collaborative field session in Latvia with support from French (Isabelle Combroux, Corinne Grac) and Latvian (Mihails Pupins, Arturs Skute) supervisors.
🇺🇦 1 July 2023: Field in Denyshi Canyon, Zhytomyr Region, Ukraine 🇺🇦
Our postdoc Oleksii Marushchak* in expedition to Denyshi canyon in Zhytomyr region of Ukraine. This place is famous to be the only one in Ukraine inhabited by Armenian and Dahl’s lizards. Both species of these partenogenetic reptiles were introduced to the canyon by soviet herpetologist I. Darevsky in the 2nd part of XX century. They had acclimatized very well and now occupy almost all rocky structures along the canyon, including several nearby villages. This time Oleksii monitored them and collected some specimens for helminths analysis. During the expedition were spotted 1 pond turtle, several grass snakes Natrix natrix and even an eastern slowworm Anguis colchica. The results of this expedition will be included in the dataset of the herpetofauna records in 2023.
*with the EmysAward awarded to him during the 2nd Consortium Meeting in Warsaw for his major scientific contribution to Emys-R 
Photos by Yuri Kuzmin
18 June 2023: Massive public attendance for the Emys release in Neuburg am Rhein
Up to 70 people inhabiting Neuburg am Rhein, including the Major Hermann Knauss and from surrounding villages attended the release of 50 Emys organised by Wiebke Pasligh from NABU with active supports from our PhD candidates Patrycja Romaniuk for the sociological survey and Johannes Meka for the following Emys monitoring.
30 May 2023: First – ever! – observation of nesting on Woerr
The first eggs have been laid on Woerr! During the next 12 nights, 12 nests have been spotted and individually marked for further monitoring. This brings significant hopes for the future of the Emys population on Woerr.
See more on the video!
30 May 2023: Photo-reportage for CNRS
Nicolas Busser – CNRS Grand Reporter – and his assistant Victor have followed JY Georges in the field during the monitoring of the first nesting wave on Woerr.
27 May 2023: Welcome Thierry Holl!
Thierry Holl is a forestry enginner now in charge of the land management of the Woerr site for the National Office of Forestry (better hopefully photo soon 😉
23-25 May 2023: Emys-R participated to the Crayfish eDNA workshop in Stockholm, Sweden
Emys-R joined the pan-European initative aiming at improving detection of crayfish and crayfish plague from water samples by using eDNA methodology. The workshop was a joint effort to improve cooperation and knowledge exchange between universities, organisations, private companies and authorities, organised by Dr Patrik Bohman, from Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).
Read more here
🇺🇦 24 April 2023: Some news from Ukraine 🇺🇦
Dr Oksana Nekrasova is back from Uzbekistan where she has been studying the Central Asian tortoise Testudo horsfieldii for 10 days.
Our new postdoc Oleksii Marushchak was in the field for some herpetological survey with successful Emys observations around Kyiv, Ukraine.
Looking foreward seeing you fresh and safe friends!
22 April 2023: #EarthDay
« In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves… »
« Like it or not the Earth is where we make our stand… »
« It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known… »
Reading by Carl Sagan of his book Pale Blue Dot: A vision of the human future in space
Music by Thomas Bergersen Promise – Two Steps from Hell
Image by Voyager, Earth as it stands at a distance of 6 billions km
18-21 April 2023: First session of water eDNA of the year
PhD candidate Kari-Anne van der Zon and Master student Melina Wernert completed the first session of water sampling aimed at being processed through environmùental genomics for assessing biodiversity in wetlands of the three study sites.
18 April 2023: Filming « Expedition in die Heimat-Mit dem Hausboot auf dem Rhein » with Annette Krause, SWR3 TV
Kathrin Theissinger hosted Annette Krause and her TV team on the Woerr study site for highlighting the relevance of wetland restoration and species reintroduction in Europe. Reportage planned 12 May 2023… Keep posted!
11-17 April 2023: First joint Emys&Calico field session of the year
While the 21 adult Emys from PCA, including 9 females equipped with TOTITAG prototypes (more sooon!) were released in the north acclim pond, the annual monitoring of the Emys population led by Johannes started, whereas the calico crayfish monitoring keeps going on with major improvements for Jeanne’s field lab.
7-10 April 2023: Closing Emys conservatory husbandry at Petite Camargue Alsacienne, FR
Since the target of 500 released Emys has been reached by the FR local council CeA, the Emys conservatory husbandry of Petite Camargue Alsacienne is shutting down. Twenty one adult Emys were captured by Komlan Toudji and JYG, then driven to PZBM for a pre-release veterinary check by Dr Vet Benoît Quintard (and his dedicated young helper Lucile before being translocated to the Woerr release site.
Easter 2023: Egging time
Some eggs from LV Emys real turtle sculpture in our Zoo based on a specimen living in the LV study site Silene park (Courtesy Mihails Pupins)
5 April 2023: When calico crayfish bound students…
Jeanne Bosson presented the first data from last field session of her Master project showing the significant efficiency of the traps developped at IPHC designed for targeting crayfish.
Then with Marion Schaffner for setting most efficient IPHC-LIVE collaborative work for calico crayfish monitoring on the DE+FR study sites.
31 March 2023: Task4.1 in action
Anne Rozan, Isabelle Combroux and newly arrived Master student Enola Vuillez visited the Woerr study site where will be implemented the Economic benefits analysis of habitat units created by the restoration of the site.
30 March 2023: Field visit of German TV SWR3 preparing a 26′ reportage on calico crayfish
German TV SWR3 came back in the French-German study site to meet our Project manager Dr PD Kathrin Theissinger leading the monitoring the calico crayfish population and the impacts on native ecosystems and species on the French-German study area (watch the teaser here).
29 March – 2 April 2023: First successful calico crayfish trials
Part of her Master project, Jeanne Bosson ran preliminary trials for identifying the best settings capturing and individually identify crayfish, and counting eggs with promizing first results.
22 March 2023: WorldWaterDay
« One day, says the legend, there was a huge forest fire. All the terrified animals watched helplessly as the disaster struck. Only the little hummingbird gets busy, fetching a few drops of water in its beak to throw them on the fire. After a while, the armadillo, annoyed by his derisory actions, said to him:
– Hummingbird?! Aren’t you crazy?? You think it’s with these drops of water that you’re going to put out the fire ??
– I know, replies the hummingbird, but I’m doing my part. »
Translated from La part du colibri, Pierre Rabhi (2018)
21 March 2023: Melina Werner presents her Master project at TBG Lab meeting
Melina Werner presented the context, hypotheses, predictions and methods of her Master project aiming at comparing different methods of sampling for developing a standard was to assess biodiversity in small freshwater bodies based on eDNA.
20 March 2023: LIVE-ENGEES field day on the Woerr site
Dr Corinne Grac, PhD-candidate Kari-Anne van der Zon and Master student Marion Schaffner have been prospecting Woerr study site for monitoring plants and calico crayfish nests at the onset of spring.
The 2023 EmysSparkles have arrived!
Zoé André, geograph, GESTE (WP4) – more about Zoé
Jeanne Bosson, ecologist, IPHC & SGN (WP3) – more about Jeanne
Marion Schaffer, ecologist, LIVE & ENGEES (WP3) – more about Marion
Enola Vuillez, biologist, GESTE & LIVE (WP4) – more about Enola
Melina Werner, genomist, SGN (WP1 & WP2) – more about Melina
27 Feb-10 March 2023: Visiting crayfish experts in University of Eastern Finnland, Kuopio, Finnland 
Kathrin Theissinger and JYGeorges visited Harri Kokko (molecular biologist, Dept of Environmental and Biological Sciences) and Dr Japo Jussila (environmental scientist, King of the Seven Crayfish Realms) for discussing state-of-the-art methods, pitfalls and drawbacks in capture-mark-recapture-ing crayfish and visiting laboratory facilities where major experiments on crayfish plague were held by Theissinger et al.
27-28 February 202: First trials of calico crayfish trapping
Cold temperatures obliged the team to postpone the first calico crayfish trapping session. Yet it permitted Jeanne Bosson, Sylvia Pardonnet and Gildas Lemonnier to assess the high vegetation cover of the German ponds newly added in the study area and to observe frog’s eggs and proof of crayfish consumption by land predators.
One day later, Kari-Anne van der Zon observed a fully gravid calico crayfish: one proof of the extremely high invasive potential of this species.
Crayfish monitoring is scheduled every 2 weeks. Next trial soon then.
17 February 2023 CONTEST #01: calico-trap
Crayfish remain active in winter whereas other species do not. Emys-R took advantage of this to test newly designed calico-traps while preventing potential bycatch.
Then raised the first contest of the year: how many crayfish will be captured by the 5 calico-traps deployed for 96 hours in DE and FR ponds?
AND THE WINNER is JEANNE! (proof that she knows what is going with crayfish!)… and no one single crayfish captured in the calico-proof pond newly designed by the Collectivité Européenne d’Alsace, manager of the Woerr site.
17 February 2023: Visit of potential new release site nearby Neuburg am Rhein
Uwe Meissner, Deputy Department Leader of the District Administration in charge of the management of the Neuburg am Rhein area, invited Senckenberg Institute and CNRS-IPHC colleagues to visit a potential new site for releasing the next 100 Emys in the surroundings of Neuburg am Rhein in Spring 2023.
16 February 2023: DE+FR partners meet in SeaLife, Speyer
Arndt Hadamek and his team at SeaLife Speyer organised a meeting where all DE Partners (NABU, Landkreiss Germersheim, Senckenberg Institute) and FR Partners (Zoo of Mulhouse, CNRS-IPHC) agreed for the first international release and monitoring of about 100 Emys raised in SeaLife Speyer and Mulhouse Zoo in Spring 2023 in Neuburg am Rhein and surroundings. Also a key event for Benoît Quintard and animal keepers to share expertise on Emys husbandry.
2 February 2023: World Wetlands Day
Why wetlands are important? Here is the answer in images and numbers!
NEW OFFER: Master Internship in Biology, Ecology or related fields, starting early 2023 for 6 months
Kathrin Theissinger and Johannes Meka offer a Master internship in Biology to conduct research for « comparing life-history traits of invasive Sun perch (Lepomis gibbosus) in contasted habitats ».
The candidate will conduct fieldwork in Germany and France and laboratory work at Senckenberg Institute, Frankfurt (Germany) where the student will be hosted, and Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, Strasbourg (France). (more here).
Please send your application to Johannes before 20nd February 2023
12 December 2022: Emys-R highlighted in DE TV Nano Programm, The struggle for diversity
« The state of our nature affects us all – and it is bad » says Ingolf Baur, reporter at ARD Alpha TV. « Biodiversity is decreasing dramatically despite all efforts. Over one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction. »
In this reportage, Kathrin Theissinger highlights the relevance of species reintroduction as a strategy for preventing loss of native biodiversity also facing speeding biological invasions such as the invasive calico crayfish.
Within Emys-R, calico crayfish is studied by Jeanne Bosson
See Emys-focused reportage at 21’20 here
22 January 2023: 
Happy birthday Lydia! 
Lydia is permanent technician at CeA where she is in charge of the Emys release and public communication strategy in Alsace, land manager of the Woerr reintroduction site in Lauterbourg, and also regional referent person for the French Action National Plan in favour of the Emys.
Read more about Lydia
18 January 2023: Emys-R and the release of the 500th Emys as one of the 3 major environmentally-relevant events in Alsace in 2022!
In its special issue « Toute l’Alsace » of the New Year, the Conseil européen d’Alsace (CeA, partner of the Project), highlights Emys-centered actions as one of the three major events in favour of biodiversity in Alsace. The newspaper was delivered for free in every post box of the ~2 millions inhabitants of Alsace, from the most southern Saint-Louis, Mulhouse (where the Emys captive facilities stand) to the most northern Lauterbourg (where Emys were reintroduced).
Let say its a kind of public communication act!
Read more here
15 January 2023: Emys-R highlighted in local Est Républicain press release!
Emys-R is spreading out!… and is highlighted as part of the major 2022 events in the Région Grand Est (to which Alsace belongs, as do Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne).
Read more here
3 January 2023: Welcome to Jeanne!
Jeanne Bosson joined Emys-R for 6 months for running her master (Université d’Angers, France) research project on the « Ecological evaluation of adaptive anti-crayfish management of an experimental pond by demographic and spatial monitoring of Faxonius immunis » on the DE+FR study site.
Read more about Jeanne
1 January 2023: Happy birthday Johannes! 
Johannes is running his PhD on population monitoring and food web analysis of reintroduced Emys to evaluate the success and propose best practices of such conservation initiatives.
Read more about Johannes
31 December 2022: Almost 10.000 unique visitors!
Our website has been entered by almost 10.000 unique visitors, exceeding more than 40.000 visits!
Thank you all for your loyalty!
30 December 2022: Emys-R in the yearly highlights in DNA press release
The release of the 500th Emys by the CeA local council in association with school children is considered as one of the major event that occurred in 2022 in northern Alsace!
29 December 2022: Happy birthday Lady Iris Falconburrow!
Since 2021, Iris contributes as field assistant to the Emys monitoring in DE and FR. Soon she will start her Bachelor thesis on Detection of the European pond turtle Emys orbicularis via environmental DNA in the Upper Rhine Valley.
A great piece of science in the making after hundred of kilometers of proper paddling! 
Read more about Iris Schmidt
16 December 2022
Great news from Ukraine!!! Oleksii Marushchak defended his PhD thesis “Current state of amphibians of the forest zone of Ukraine”.
Oleksii is a junior researcher at the Department of Animal Monitoring and Conservation of I. I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, NAS, Ukraine.
He is the author of more than 150 scientific publications related to herpetology, biodiversity, nature conservation, morphology, herpetoculture, GIS-modeling, biochemistry, faunistics, invasive species.
Congratulations from the Emys-R Consortium and beyond!
!!! SLAVA OLEKSII !!!
PhD thesis abstract available here
(read more about Oleskii)
NEW JOB OFFER: Internship for a students in Social Sciences, starting early 2023 for 3 months
Krzysztof Kasianiuk and Patrycja Romaniuk offer a 3-mo internship in social sciences « Understanding human-nature connection and public engagement in the context of wetland restoration » (more here).
EMYS Acció Ecologista Agró, Valencia, Spain 
Europe counts two species of native freshwater turtles: the European Emys orbicularis and the Mediterranean Mauremys leprosa pond turtles. The Tancat de la Pipa nature reserve (Valencia, Spain ) was created after the restoration of wetlands formerly used as rice fields, to protect EU biodiversity #ForNature. This also involves management of exotic invasive turtles harming native ecosystems and biodiversity.
Here is a nice video from the EMYS Acció Ecologista Agró program, our supporting Partner. Enjoy Valencian language (or help yourself with Spanish subtitles
It is our turn to support AEAGRO at https://accioecologista-agro.org/
9 December 2022: WELCOME Grazyna and Wiebke!
Following Gosia leave on 30th Sept, we are pleased to welcome Grazyna Chaberek (new WP4 leader) !
7 December 2022: TEASER of the forthcoming TV SWR reportage on the invasive calico crayfish
Get prepared! Kathrin Theissinger will set the German TV SWR on fire, explaining the impacts of calico crayfish on native ecosystems and species and associated risks for the reintroduction of the Emys on the French-German study area (watch the teaser here)
TWO NEW JOB OFFERS: Internships for a Master students in Economy and in Ecology, starting early 2023 for 5-6 months
Isabelle Combroux, Corinne Grac and Anne Rozan propose TWO internships on « Evaluation économique des bénéfices de la restauration de zones humides » (more here) and « Limitation d’une espèce invasive sur des plans d’eau restaurés : tests de méthodes de génie écologique » (more here).
The interns will be hosted at GESTE for the Economy (Anne Rozan), and LIVE-ENGEES for the Ecology (Isabelle Combroux, Corinne Grac), all in Strasbourg, France.
ANOTHER JOB OFFER: Internship for a Master student in History-Geography-Land management-Sociology, starting early 2023 for 5-6 months
Jean-Yves Georges and Rémi Barbier propose an internship on « Restoring a wetland to reintroduce an endangered species: tracing the recent history of a territory using chronosystemic frames » (more here).
The intern will be hosted at IPHC, Strasbourg, France and will work in close association with our PhD candidate Patrycja.
17 November 2022: Workshop with German stakeholders at Senckenberg, Frankfurt
15 November 2022: WELCOME Wiebke!
14 November: HAPPY BIRTHDAY Prof & Boss!
JOB OFFER! Internship Master 2 in Geography-Sociology, starting early 2023 for 6 months
11 November 2022: HAPPY BIRTHDAY Caro!
NEW INTERNSHIP OFFER: 3 month internship on Understanding human nature-connection and public engagement in the context of wetland restoration
Krzysztof Kasianiuk and Patrycja Romaniuk, in association with Arturs Skute and Mihails Pupins, propose an internship on « Understanding human nature-connection and public engagement in the context of wetland restoration » with a focus on our study site in Latvia (more here).
Do apply!
17-23 September 2022: field session completed in DE+FR
After the 7th DE+FR field week has been completed comes the time for lab work, data analyses and publication writing!
16 September 2022: Calico crayfish in the focus of TV SWR3 forthcoming long reportage
The calico crayfish is studied by Emys-R as an example of biological invasions that potentially threatens the success of reintroduction projects.
16 September 2022: Release of the 500th Emys on the Woerr site, FR
The initial goal of Collectivité Européenne d’Alsace, Project partner, for releasing 500 captive bred Emys in the restored Woerr site, FR, has been reached! Local schoolchildren attended the event and contributed to an original survey of public perception of nature conservation actions.
12-16 September 2022: Massive eDNA sampling field session on DE+FR sites
eDNA (for environmental DNA) is a cost-efficient powerful method for exhaustively assessing species occurence and diversity in any matrix. eDNA is used mainly in WP1 and WP2 to evaulate the degree of recovery of restored ponds (see Kari-Anne van der Zon PhD project), to reconstruct the foodweb centered around the reintroduced Emys (see Johannes Meka PhD project) but also to identify potential pathways of Emys between release sites (see Iris Schmidt project). eDNA approach is led by Dr Kathrin Theissinger.
15 August 2022: The crayfish tale: new version released
A new version of the educational film describing the fascinating and complex history of the European freshwater crayfish, and the current environmental and human made issues that they face (link to YouTube).
28 July 2022: Release on the Woerr site (FR) of 35 Emys born and raised in Mulhouse Zoo
To date, about 450 Emys have been released on the French site by Collectivité Européenne d’Alsace (Local Council), Partner of the Project.
28 July 2022: Launch of the first EmyStery: What is the deepest depth of the gravel pond on Woerr (FR)?
A friendly contest was launched to determine the deepest depth of the gravel pond on Woerr (FR). Congratulations to the EmyStars who bet, specially to Johannes whose estimation was the closest from the 38.7 m measured in the field.
Bathymetry is one of the multiple parameters of the pondscape used to
properly assess the habitat of the study species, including the Emys.
23-30 July 2022: 5th field session on DE+FR study sites
Summer 2022 is exceptionnally dry, water levels dramatically low, but the team is still going on for monitoring Emys and other species (– more pictures).
18-24 July 2022: WP1 fieldwork in Latvia
First fieldwork in Latvia for the LIVE team. On the first day, Isabelle Combroux and her team got a tour by Mihails and met Aija and Jana. The rest of the week was dedicated to eDNA and macroinvertebrate sampling and macrophyte surveys.
2-9 July 2022: 3rd field session on LV study site
Mihails Pupins and his team carry on the monitoring of Emys in Silene study site.
25 June-2 July 2022: 4th field session on DE+FR study sites
Intriguing « rainbow » Emys captured in Neuburg am Rhein (DE): analyses in process. Start of the field protocol of Caro Eichert’s PhD on Emys microbiome. Welcome of Evan Lindecker for his summer intership (– more pictures).
17 June 2022: Emys on Radio RCF Le 18-19 en Région Alsace-Lorraine
An interview « La cistude d’Europe, gardienne des zones humides » by Bénédicte Bossard (link to the podcast)
16 June 2022: End of the nesting season at PCA conservatory husbandry
A total of 10 nests, totalizing 100 eggs, have been collected on the dedicated nesting mount at PCA. In add, a wild nest discovered by PCA agents in the heart of the nature reserve was excavated and transported to Mulhouse Zoo in order to identify the species after artificial incubation.
4-11 June 2022: 2nd field session in Silene study site, LV
19 May 2022: Start of the nesting season in the captive breeding facilities
The first nest of the year laid at petite Camargue Alsacienne has been excavated for bringing eggs in artificial incubators at Parc Zoologique & Botanique – Mulhouse, in order to maximize their chance of survival.
10-18 May 2022: WP2 and WP3 people meet in the field in LV
DE, FR and LV people involved in the monitoring of released Emys, food web centered around Emys, and not-target species met in Silene Park for setting common field protocols.
10 May 2022: Emys-R is on LinkedIn!
https://www.linkedin.com/company/emysr/
26-28 April 2022: Kick-off meeting in Strasbourg, France
The Emys-R consortium met for the official start of the project in Strasbourg and visited the field sites in Lauterbourg (FR) and Neuburg am Rhein (DE).
Emys-R is funded through the 2020-2021 Biodiversa & Water JPI joint call for research proposals, under the BiodivRestore ERA-Net COFUND programme, and with the funding organisations Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR, France), Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, Germany), State Education Development Agency (VIAA, Latvia), and National Science Center (NSC, Poland).
