Holidays in Provence : V. ursinii and almost nothing else

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

A disaster, for sure, for what is/was a unique population (like all ursinii, perhaps...)... If I see how disastrous fire has been here in one of the main Coronella populations in Flanders (though only preliminary results), I really hope for good news. Apart from direct impact, this type of habitat, imho, is very fragile and probably takes decades to recover. For instance, also food populations need to restore... Recovery also depends on species-specific stuff like n° of offspring per female etc., I would guess. Some species are much easier to "help" than others in managing habitats too - e.g. short-lived vs. long-lived species, large number of offspring vs. few offspring ... (r vs. K strategists in ecology).

Interesting to study, but for my weak heart mainly a sad thing...

[Berislav Horvatic]

Apart from direct impact, this type of habitat, imho, is very fragile and probably takes decades to recover.
For instance, also food populations need to restore...

Yes, and as for the immediate prospects of possible survivors, their meadows are gone, and with them
their FOOD as well... No crickets, no grasshoppers, and probably no baby lizards to eat, so, no fat
reserves for the oncoming winter - go into hibernation hungry and exhausted... How many would survive
till spring?
Also, no grass to hide them from hungry avian predators who, of course, as winged creatures capable
of flight, did survive the fire...
Could not be worse...

@ Gerald: No, we have never done regular monitoring of that particular population; we have been
doing it elsewhere, on the Southern Velebit. So, nothing reliable to start with on this spot.
In any case, as Jeroen said, "Interesting to study, but for my weak heart mainly a sad thing..."

[Berislav Horvatic]

An another unfavourable detail comes to my mind:

Just on the critical day of the 18th of July 2012 the airplanes dropped 204 tons of SEAwater on our "ursinii zoo".
As the average salinity of the Adriatic sea amounts to 3.83%, this means 7.8 tons of salt (mostly NaCl) sprayed
all over the habitat... In the short run, the survivors of any kind, not just ursiniis, must have been very thirsty for
sure (with almost no rain since then!), and in the long run this could hardly facilitate the regeneration of the
habitat... Neither plants nor animals living there are used to salinity.

[Pierre-Yves Vaucher]

hope maybe big rain wash ... the problem, as you spoke is the feeding before the winter... and you will see next spring.

[Matthijs Hollanders]

This is a weird discussion. Who cares what someone wants to do for an animal? If you visit many places not close to home, and you want to come back with pictures of animals you haven't seen, you see MUCH more by asking for advice. The only reason I ticked off 20 species of salamander last October is because I asked people for advice on specific species. Hell, I got coordinates to certain spots. Sure, the year before it was badass to scope out habitat for Plethodon jordani and hike for four hours before finding one. It's awesome to head out to an area where you suspect to find an animal, work forever, and finally see one. But if you want to see as many herps in your lifetime as possible, you will find more by asking people. I've been taken out by people many times to their best spots to see animals. Who cares? They share knowledge, you see a species. You might not get the same fulfillment, it's subjective. I, also, got a "holier than thou" attitude from the poster talking about "ursinii zoos"...