Greetings from Greece - Report from the Greek Summer School

Science and fun - the Greek Summer School for young conservationists has begun. 

Check out the SCB-ES blog for new updates sent by the participants in the coming days!

Day 1: 27^th June 2016,

The day started with the introductory lecture of Dr. Kaliopi Stara. She referred to the region of Zagori and its cultural heritage. She made an overview of the flora and the fauna of the region, mentioning the particularity of the local natural environment. Finally, she talked about the sacred natural sites, which include trees more than 300 years old and their significance for the local society, as well as the myths that evolved for them.

Afterwards, we departed for the first field excursion from Ano Pedina to Monodendri. On our way we stopped to do an exercise about the evaluation of sacred trees. We were asked to mark the characteristic features that define the tree Platanus orientalis as a veteran. Furthermore, we had the chance to observe and identify many plant species as well as some insects and reptiles. We visited the monastery of St. Paraskevi and we enjoyed the spectacular view of Vikos Gorge.

In the evening we went to Kato Pedina for the opening dinner of the Greek Summer School. 

Day 2: 28^th June 2016,

Today, Prof. Alessandro Chiarucci talked about measures and factors who define species diversity. After that, Prof. Gabor Lovei introduced us to the theories about the function of biodiversity. After lunchtime, Prof. Zoltan Elek applied all the theory acquired from the previous lectures using R software. Later in the evening, we had the first discussion about the potential projects and the formation of the teams.

sent by Evi Papantoniou