Wildlife Research and Conservation

Registration №

MGSII-26

Funding

Small Grant Scheme Rescue Programs for Special Protected Species II of Program CZ02

Supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

This project also had financial support from EEA funds 2009-2014 and the Ministry of the Environment. Its content is exclusively the responsibility of ALKA Wildlife, o.p.s. and cannot in any way be regarded as the opinion of the donor or the Ministry of the Environment.

Budget

1 169 954,77 Kč

Date

Partners

Museum Karlovy Vary - partner

Website

www.syslinavinici.cz/

Contact

Kateřina Poledníková: katerina.polednikova@alkawildlife.eu, 606598903

Target species

European souslik

Target area

South Moravia

Project objectives

European sousliks used to be a common species in the Czech Republic. In the second half of the 20th century, however, its abundance dropped sharply and eventually only occurring in 28 localities across the Czech Republic. Most of the identified populations were isolated, had very little abundance and were at risk of extinction. Therefore, in 2008, the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic adopted the “European Souslik Rescue Programme in the Czech Republic”.

The aim of the project was to implement four key measures of this rescue programme, focussing in South Moravia: monitoring beyond the scope of regular annual monitoring, demographic study of selected population population, population viability analysis, public awareness.

sysel ve vinici

South Moravia Region

The project focused on South Moravia for two reasons:

  1. South Moravia has so far received little attention under the recuse programme. As parts of the area are difficult to align within the framework and standard monitoring methodology, which is more suitable for clear areas such as airports, the monitoring conducted in this area is insufficient.
  2. Due to the nature of land use (functional agricultural landscape) and the distance to the main area of ​​European sousliks (Slovakia, Austria and further south and east), thus the possibilities of creating a functional meta-population, the area of ​​South Moravia is one of the most favourable areas for the souslik in the Czech Republic. In recent years, it now seems that this area could be absolutely crucial for maintaining their population in the Czech Republic.

Further information on this project can be found here.

Project outputs

Trademarks - Sysli na vinici

Our trademark, supporting winemakers with sousliks on their land, is further supported within this project. Further information can be found here.

Website - syslinavinici.cz

Our website, containing information about sousliks, further information about our trademark, information about our winemakers, news, articles, TV reports and more, is further supported within this project.

Flyers

Leaflet: European souslik - Help us save it! (pdf)

Leaflet: Buy wine with a souslik stamp and you can help protect the European souslik (pdf)

Publications

Nature Conservation Forum 1/2017: Can marketing be used as a means of protecting a species? (pdf)