High Mountain Sampling za nami!

We have just finished the research season on the high-mountain entomofauna of the Tatra National Park, as part of the High Mountain Sampling task.

We have just finished the season of research on the high-mountain entomofauna of the Tatra National Park, as part of the High Mountain Sampling task in the EU Horizon Europe project "Biodiversity Genomics Europe". Thanks to cooperation with the TPN Scientific Department and the dedicated work of foresters and park guards, we managed to collect over 200 collective insect samples from 10 Malaise traps placed at five altitudes from Łysa Polana (970 m above sea level) to the Za Mnichem Valley (1788 m above sea level). It was not without adventures. We started the campaign with spring snowstorms and thaws, and we ended with the first attack of winter. The traps resisted the attempts of Tatra bears with greater or lesser success. However, the losses were small. The campaign also met with keen interest from tourists visiting the Morskie Oko region. The collected samples are currently being catalogued and will soon set off on a journey to the Canary Islands, where, together with samples from other mountain ranges in Europe, they will undergo genetic testing. We are eagerly awaiting the results and further stages of analysis. We will certainly write about this.