Forestry Ideas

10-19

Authors: Indra Gumay Febryano, Rusita, Irwan Sukri Banuwa, Agus Setiawan, Slamet Budi Yuwono, Shinta Dewi Marcelina, Subakir, and Elisabeth Devi Krismurniati

Sumatran elephants are one of the endangered species that are protected, and some of them have been tamed (and trained) to support tourism activities. The purpose of this study was to determine the carrying capacity of elephants in supporting tourism activities at the Elephant Training Centre, Way Kambas National Park. Data obtained through interviews and observations, followed with analysis on the carrying capacity of elephants for various tourist activities, including Elephant Riding, Tracking, Safari, Night Safari, and Full Day. The results showed that the elephant carrying capacity was still maintained, with up to 390 people per day that could be entertained by 23 elephants. The balance between the purpose of protection and elephant tourism can be achieved if the elephant carrying capacity is not exceeded. Intensive promotion and provision of adequate tourism facilities and infrastructure need to be carried out by managers of Elephant Training Centre to increase the number of tourists, moreover on special interest tours; where this will have a significant impact on increasing non-tax state revenues following the elephant carrying capacity.

37-48

Authors: Javed Iqbal

Himalayan moist temperate forests have the highest contributing values in the forest resources of Pakistan. These forests provide timber for commercial and domestic use, non-wood forest products that are abundantly available for local farmers and the international market. These forests are also source of fresh water to the lowlands. Locals and nomads are highly dependent on these forests for their livestock production. Silvicultural systems and tending operations are important management tools for the optimization and utilization of forest resources. Edaphic and biotic factors are also influenced by these systems for biomass production. There are two different silvicultural systems applied in the management: protection and conservation, i.e. selection system (also including group selection) and clear felling system. The group selection and clear felling system were applied for experimental purpose in the 1980s. At present, only selection system with 3D’s (dead, dying and diseased), and damaged trees logging is accepted in different parts of the Himalayan moist temperate forest. Before 1992, 1.9 % and 88.6 % of activities were found for clear felling and selection system, respectively. Tending operations are also inactive in different parts of the forests. Tending activities i.e. weeding 21.1 %, cleaning 88.6 %, thinning 16.1 % and improvement felling 1.43 % average, were recorded to examine the active status in the study area. Studies must be conducted for the protection, conservation and management optimisation of these valuable forest resources.

56-69

Authors: Boyan Milchev and Valeri Georgiev

Food spectrum was based on 62,314 prey specimens belonging to 367 taxa collected between 1994 and 2013. The diet included 40.9 % new taxa for the Eagle owl food in Bulgaria. Mammals and birds were most hunted, while reptiles, amphibians, fishes and arthropods were negligible with total 7.8 % by number and 0.8 % by biomass. Voles (Microtus spp.) 18.2 %, true mice (Mus spp.) 8.2 % and Northern white-breasted hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus) 5.9 % were the most numerous prey. The staple prey for food biomass were Northern white-breasted hedgehogs 22.9 %, European hares (Lepus europaeus) 8.9 %, Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) 6.5 % and Common moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) 5.5 %. The individual diets of successful pairs were dominated most often by the same taxa. The present study reports increasing shares of small prey in total diet and first records of dominance in individual diets by a number of passerines, amphibians and arthropods. Hunting on predatory birds and mammals accounted for 11.4 % by biomass. Dominance by a carnivorous mammal, Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) – only young individuals, of the biomass of three individual diets is first reported for the country. The large share of small unusual prey and more predators in the diets were most likely the Eagle owl adaptation to local unfavourable food supply.

91-118

Authors: Svetlana Sandakova, Aleksandr Toushkin, Olga Matveeva, Аlia Toushkina, and Aleksandr Samchuk

This article is based on long-standing data (2013–2017), which takes into account the number of birds during the winter route census (WRC) in the Amur region, where 5 hunting types of Galliformes occur (the black-billed capercaillie, black grouse, hazel grouse, willow ptarmigan, and the common pheasant). The collected data about their numbers and density were visualized using the ArcGIS 9.3.1 (2009) software with Spatial Analyst special analysis tools. The spatial distribution of birds in biotopes in places of our research is taken into account. The main limiting factors that cause fluctuations in the abundance of these bird species are identified. Such results of censuses of hunting birds and their analysis should be used by specialized hunting and nature protection organizations, which are obliged to regulate annually hunting of trade birds and animals in the region. In addition, data on the population and hunting ceiling for the hunting birds are the basis for the rational planning and opening of the hunting season, as well as establishing the maximum percentage of game production with no harm to the population. The study of ecological and biological features of bird species is of great importance for more successful and rational organization of hunting farms: biodiversity conservation, population monitoring, organization of reproduction, biotechnical and conservation measures, forecast of the number of hunting resources for long-term planning of the economy. Thus, such a generalized analysis of the state of populations of hunting’s Tetraonidae birds in the Amur region will help ornithologists and any specialists in the field of protection and use of wild animal resources to assess the current state and adaptive features of local populations of Tetraonidae. Such research is a prerequisite for predicting the number of these birds and provides a solid foundation for the development of conservation measures.

136-146

Authors: Іvan Khomiak, Oleksandr Harbar, Nataliia Demchuk, Іryna Kotsiuba, and Іryna Onyshchuk

It was found that a regular growth in the above-ground phytomass occurs during autogenic succession, which is approximated by logarithmic dependence with high reliability indices. External, including anthropogenic, effects on the process of succession lead to a decrease in the rate of phytomass growth. Besides, the rate of phytomass changes is influenced by endo-ecogenesis caused by various plant species, entering the ecosystem at certain stages of succession. The above-ground phytomass portioning behaviour makes it possible to use it to create a unified indicator of dynamics. Each plant species can be only within certain indicators of the phytomass of their plant communities. At the same time, there is a normal distribution of the projective cover value. This allows us to work out synphytoindication methods for determining the dynamics indicator.

160-170

Authors: Mohamed Zouidi, Amine Habib Borsali, Kadda Hachem, Ayoub Allam, Amel Naimi, and Imane Hakmi

Arid and semi-arid ecosystems cover a large part of the southern fringe countries of the Mediterraneanbasin. Drought and salinization are the major processes of steppe land degradation. The objective of this work was to investigate the tolerance to water and saline stress of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.) seeds at the germinating stage. The adopted methodology used increasing concentrations under a controlled temperature of 20 °C for 30 germination days of seeds. Germination responses of seeds to different degrees of salt stress caused by NaCl (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 g·L-1) and the water stress caused by polyethylene glycol (–0.05, –0.25, –0.5, –1, and –2 bars) under a temperature of 20 °C showed that salt and water stress have decreased the percentage of seed germination of Aleppo pine seeds for a period of 30 days. In the control treatment (distilled water) with no stress the seeds showed a germination rate of 89 % for salt stress and 90 % for water stress. The results of the study showed that salt and drought have a depressive effect on the germination rate of Aleppo pine with a tolerance of 4 g·L-1 and –1 bars for the stresses used.

196-219

Authors: Andrii Bilous, Maksym Matsala, Vladimir Radchenko, Raisa Matiashuk, Sergii Boyko, and Svitlana Bilous

Forest ecosystems play crucial role in climate changes mitigation, providing the carbon (C) sequestration process. Here we overview increasing ecological importance of mature and over-mature oak forest stands in Ukraine, with strong focus on dead biomass compartment of those. We examined respective national forest inventory data, permanent sample plots, logs’ samplings for estimation of decomposition dynamics. Founding out that coarse woody debris (CWD) is insufficiently accounted in forest inventory data, we have estimated potential of this compartment to store 4.5 % of total oak stand biomass C according to empirical data. Mean dead biomass C stock (CWD and fine litter together) is nearly 9.3 % of total biomass stock. Obtained C stock estimations based on field measurements correspond to previous studies in Ukraine. Modelling of oak downed logs decomposition indicates that deadwood may remain in ecosystem for decades, achieving 40–50 kg·m-3 wood density at 100 years point after tree death, thus playing substantial role not only as habitat for species, but also as C sink in mid-term perspective. Imperfections in national forest inventory system and local management regimes lead to unrecognized biases in efforts to assess oak deadwood values in Ukraine. Herewith, target consideration of CWD importance in current silvicultural practices is needed for maintaining this important ecosystem component.

121-130

Authors: Vikaspal Singh, Sunil Prasad, and Dhanpal Singh Chauhan

A plant quantitative investigation was carried out at six oak (Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus) dominated stands in different locations of Gahrwal Himalaya. A total of 28 tree species with 17 families, 41 shrub species with 21 families and 50 herb species with 22 families were observed in all studied oak stands. In tree layer maximum 15 genera were recorded in Chaurangikhal oak stand and minimum number of genera (11) was found in Chadrabadani, Diwalikhal and Ghuttu oak stand. For shrub layer highest number of genera (25) was observed in Ghuttu oak stand and lowest (18) – for Chadrabadani, Chaurangikhal and Makku oak stands. Herb layer showed maximum 32 genera, found at Ghuttu oak stand and minimum genera (15) – at Chandrabadani oak stand. Comparatively Quercus leucotrichophora have greater values of density, basal area and Important Value Index (IVI) among all studied oak stands to the rest of associated dominant tree species. Highest density (823.6 plant∙ha-1) and IVI (170.8) for Quercus leucotrichophora was observed at Diwalikhal oak stand, while, lowest density (176.7 plants∙ha-1) and IVI (126.3) was found at Makku and Chaurangikhal oak stands, respectively.

141-162

Authors: Nadiia Oleksiichenko and Nadiia Gatalska

The paper presents the spectrum of the research of aesthetic assessment of the landscape with the involvement of respondents (23 people), which was carried out during the summer-autumn period directly in the park environment and with the use of photographs. When using different methodological approaches and according to a comparative analysis of peculiarities of perception of the scenery park environment, the interconnections between aesthetic assessment of park landscape and features that affect its formation were revealed. It was discovered that while evaluating the park environment directly in the place, the estimation is reduced in comparison with the pictures, although at the same time the positive features of the landscapes noted by the respondents are similar, and the negative ones have significant differences in the summer and autumn periods, which are also present when using different methods of the research. Thus, the relationship between the assessment of the aesthetic qualities of the landscape and the frequency of references by respondents, both positive and negative features of the park environment are determined primarily rather by the season, than by the method of conducting research. Despite the significant difference in the frequency of references of the features of the park landscapes under the different conditions and methods of conducting the research, it has been discovered that the force of influence of a particular feature on the assessment of aesthetic quality of park landscape does not determine its factor weight in the assessment, but it is related to it. At the same time, the features (subliminal and compositional) are revealed and their influence on the aesthetic evaluation is significant, which can be taken into account during green space planning. It is revealed that conducting the research of park landscapes directly in the park is reasonable, first of all, if it is necessary, to determine the positive features of the park environment, which influence the formation of a subjective ‘general-landscape’ emotional reaction to a certain landscape, which is revealed in the definition of subliminal features by the respondents

171-181

Authors: Mehrdad Mirzaei, Amir Eslam Bonyad, Reza Akhavan, and Ramin Naghdi

Recent dust and droughts caused stress to physiological weakness of oak trees, so that insect outbreaks and pathogens lead to decline of oak trees in the Zagros forests. In addition to evaluate the effects of physiographic factors (elevation, slope and aspect) on the amount and distribution of decline, the objective of present study was to make a model of decline of Quercus brantii species in semi-arid forests of Iran. For this purpose, 509 hectares of Zagros forests, known as Dalab forests in Ilam province, were selected. Based on systematic-random sampling method, 100 circular plots (2000 m2) were measured in grid inventory of 200×250 m dimensions. In each plot, physiography factors and percentage of decline were measured. ANOVA and Duncan tests were used to compare the decline of oak trees in different physiography factors. Then, an individual tree decline models were developed with a data set from a total of 1370 oak trees. To evaluate the effects of physiographic factors on the decline of oak trees, a logistic regression model was used. Omnibus test, log-likelihood, and pseudo r-square coefficients were used to evaluate the logistic regression model. The results showed that physiography factors had significant effects on the decline of oak trees. Also, the results showed that with increasing slope and elevation, the decline of oak trees was increased. Lowest and highest declines belonged to east and south aspects, respectively. Values of both statistics related to the pseudo determination coefficient are acceptable (0.395 and 0.584), and these values indicated that the three independent variables of this study had the power of a relatively high explanation of the variance and changes in the dependent variable of trees decline. The results of this study can be effective in the oak decline area conservation.

194-200

Authors: Alireza Ghomi Motazeh, Roghaye Baniasadi, and Rosanna Gahler

Many natural disturbances accrue in Iran because of its geographical condition. Mostly the recovery of this damage is impossible or requires a lot of time and cost. The general purpose of this research is to find out the relationship between slope of the terrain and the vegetation cover from one side and the mass movement of land from the other and to finally illustrate applicable data in the field of forest road construction. In this research, 39 cluster samples at a distance of 700 m along the 28 km of road were taken by systematic random method. In each cluster, the first sample was taken 50 m upward from the road; the second sample was taken 50 m downward from the road and the third sample was taken 10 m off the road. The number of landslides in each area and its relationship with road construction was analyzed in dependence of the terrain slope and the percentage of vegetation cover. Results showed that a road construction could be an effective factor for increasing mass movements. Moreover, excavated slope causes an increase of mass movement, too. Results of the research also indicated that there was an inverse relationship between an increased percentage of vegetation cover and the frequency of landslide occurrence.

208-216

Authors: Christo Mihajlov, Gradimir Gruychev, Stoyan Stoyanov, and Evlogi Angelov

Rock Partridge (Alectoris graeca Meisner, 1804) is endemic to Europe, occurring only in the Alps, the Apennines, Sicily and the Balkans. It is suspected to be declining moderately rapidly, particularly in the Balkans which hold a substantial proportion of the species population and range, based on a balanced assessment of the available evidence. Survival rates of 50 released rock partridges in typical habitats in ‘Vrachanski Balkan’ Nature Park were studied during the reintroduction program. Almost all released birds were monitored for 110 days. Twenty of them were marked with radio transmitters, which allowed the survival rate to be determined, dispersion and habitat preferences. Birds mortality reached 70 % at the end of survey period and only 6 (30 %) of them survived and bred in the next spring. Most birds (65 %) died in the first month after release due to predation. The main predators were mammals (92 % of mortality) while the avian raptors caused an insignificant part of mortality (8 % of mortality). In cold winter days with temperatures lower than -25 °C only one dead bird was found. The survival rates of Rock Partridges did not depend on sex (χ2 = 0.05, p = 0.82, df = 1) and age (χ2 = 0.1, p = 0.9, df = 1). The birds’ dispersion varied from 35 m to 1.3 km. However only single birds moved more than 1 km away from the release point.

23-36

Authors: Konstantin Zavyalov, Sergey Menshikov, Pavel Mohnachev, Nadezda Kuzmina, Anton Potapenko, and Sezgin Ayan

Deforestation due to air pollution is a serious problem in industrial sites. Aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of magnesite dust on growth of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Sukachyov’s larch (Larix sukaczewii Dylis; Syn. Larix sibirica Ledeb.) and Silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) planted in soil plots between 1980 and 1983 in Satkinsky District, Chelyabinsk. The trees in zones of moderate and low pollution survived, while those in strongly polluted zones died with the exception of Silver birch in soils ameliorated with 12 cm thick peat layer. However, in the zone of strong pollution, coniferous species treated with only 2 cm thick peat layer and weak sulphuric acid solution, grew better than the Silver birch. Twelve centimetres of peat layers could mitigate dust impact on Silver birch, while their 2 cm thickness was not adequate. The dust pollution hit the plants at strongly polluted sites more severely than those at sites with moderate and low pollution. Silver birch and Scots pine trees were more severely impacted by dust pollution compared to Sukachyov’s larch trees. Soil remediation is needed in strongly affected areas. While soil remediation is not needed at moderately and low affected sites, these sites should be monitored to avoid their degradation

51-72

Authors: Oksana Tarnopilska, Sergiy Musienko, Oleksandr Lyalin, Ludmila Tkach, and Vira Babenko

The effect of selective and combination (row + selective) thinning of varying intensities on mensuration characteristics, differentiation, and productivity of middle-aged plantations of Scots pine was studied in southern Forest-Steppe in Ukraine. The experiment on thinning by combination method in planted Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands was established in 1967 in 16-year-old pine plantations. The plantations were created in 1950 by one-year seedlings with 1.5 × 0.7 m spacing. The initial density of the stands was 9.5 thousand stems per ha. The experiment included five variants of different thinning regimes: selective thinning of moderate intensity; combination thinning with removal of every 4th row; combination thinning with removal of every 3rd row; combination thinning with removal of every 2nd row; combination thinning with removal of every 4th row at 16 years followed by combination thinning of middle rows at the age of 23. Thereafter, up to 40 years of age, the plantations were thinned twice using selective thinning from below of low and moderate intensity – 24 % by the growing stock volume. During the thinning, the plantations were kept to a specified density. 64-years-old planted Scots pine stands with a density of about 650 stems∙ha-1, in which thinning was carried out by selective method of moderate intensity and by combination (row+ select thinning) method of moderate and high intensities (with complete removal of trees in every 2nd, or 3rd, or 4th row) at the age of 17 and the subsequent selective thinning of moderate intensity, are scarcely different in mensuration characteristics. The best method was the combination thinning with the removal of each 3rd or 4th row; the method can be recommended for practice, given the high mensuration characteristics, productivity, and resistance of the thinned stands against a physical load.

85-100

Authors: Nadiia Gatalska

The purpose of the research is to identify the specific features and patterns in the formation of the communicational and informational structure of the park environment as an aesthetic object of anthropogenic origin, which provides a connection in space-time continuum between its formation and perception subjects. As a result of analytical researches of scientific sources of literature, it is revealed that an important general aspect of natural landscape perception, as well as urban and park landscape perception as an aesthetic object, is multisensory (perception is due to all senses), which is fundamentally different from works of art that are calculated on the visual sphere of perception (works of fine art) or hearing (music). Along with the multisensority of the perception, park landscape, as a rule, is impossible to reach immediately, perception occurs as a series of landscapes. It is revealed that the main factors limiting the formation and the perception of the park landscape as a communicative-informational aesthetic object is the time that affects the variability of the material forms of the object on one hand and the aesthetic experience of the person – on the other. Such circumstances determine the logical changes in the information- value function of the landscape in the structure of the object-subjective relations of the park environment-man system. On the basis of the results of the analysis of scientific works aimed at studying the aesthetics of the landscape, a model of subject-object relations of man and a park environment as a unified system was developed.

103-112

Authors: Yahia Omar Adam

The objective of the study was to recognize the baobab fruit consumers’ preferences and factors affecting the urban demand. For this purpose, data was collected in 2015 from 100 and 150 fruit consumers in Elobeid and Khartoum markets, respectively, using structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (frequency and percentages) were used for data analysis. The study results reveal that there is demand for the baobab fruit and its secondary products, and thus substantial fruit pulp commercialization exists in Sudan. The most important attraction factor for the consumer is the nutritional value (vitamins) of the fruit pulp. The study suggests a need for promoting fruits processing, and this could further create a desire for domesticating and managing baobab trees in private farms and rural livelihoods improvement.

122-144

Authors: Santosh Ojha and Luben Dimov

The effects of stand structure and species composition on the forest diversity-productivity relationship have received much attention during the last few decades. The objective of this study was to compare dry live aboveground biomass (AGB) growth among species structures (pure hardwood, mixtures of hardwoods, mixtures of pines, mixtures of pines with hardwoods, and pure pine) for different stand age, stand stocking, and site productivity classes. We also examined the relationship between AGB growth and the predictors species richness, quadratic mean diameter, height, compacted crown ratio, relative density, slope, aspect, precipitation, and elevation. We used data from 2554 USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots in Alabama. Tukey-Kramer procedure with multiplicity adjustment was applied to compare AGB growth among the five species structures. Species richness was 1–17 and AGB growth was 0.01–15.68 Mg ha-1 yr-1 across the plots. For the pooled data, there was a weak overall correlation between AGB growth and species richness (r=0.07, p=0.001). The AGB growth of pure and mixed stands was statistically the same. In high-stocked stands productivity (AGB growth) was statistically the same in the different structures. There was no difference between the AGB growth rate of pure pine stands and mixtures that contained pine. However, pure pine stands outperformed mixed stands that did not contain pines in the mix. Species identity was an important factor for AGB growth in pure and mixed stands. As stocking increased, species structure became less important for the AGB growth rate. Among stands with high-stocking, pure stands were as productive as mixtures with no overall growth benefit of monocultures. If high or medium stocking level is maintained, there is no obvious growth benefit from monocultures or mixtures. In stands with low-stocking however, there appeared to be a benefit to having multiple species in the composition.

152-159

Authors: Mariana Doncheva-Boneva, Ivanka Koleva-Lizama, Svetoslav Mitkov, and Lyudmila Gosteva

Urban climate is the most modified by humans among local climates. Industry, traffic and heating emit artificial heat, water vapor and pollution to the atmosphere. Air pollution and air temperature are becoming ones of the major factors for the quality of life of urban dwellers. The aim of present paper is to analyze the temperature conditions in Sofia, Bozhurishte and Bankya. For this purpose long term (1961–2011) meteorological data of their stations were used. The amendment of certain atmospheric pollutants, observed in southwestern areas of Sofia city – Hipodruma and Pavlovo, where there is high urbanization, intensive traffic and industrial activity is studied too. The relationship between pollutants and the temperature has been examined.

166-178

Authors: Radka Koleva and Nina Nikolova

Very High Resolution local component products provide information on specific land cover characteristics, which are necessary for land cover/land use mapping. The main objectives of this study are the Natura 2000 areas on the territories of the Natural Park Rusenski Lom and the protected area Lomovete. A Dataset and a Sample collection are created and a Validation exercise is provided, using the open access online portal LACO-Wiki. A specific land cover/land use nomenclature is used which is fully compatible with the MAES (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services) nomenclature.

11-23

Authors: Purna Jana and Nagendra Prasad Todaria

Clean water is necessary to support the healthy living. Water is one of most important natural resources which supports several aspects of human development. Access to safe clean drinking water has a direct bearing on both quality and prosperity of human life. In Himalaya due to several natural and anthropogenic problems this precious natural resource is facing threat. The present study has attempted to form a water quality index (WQI) of three sacred groves located in Uttarakhand. Sacred grove is an age-old tradition where a forest patch or a water body is dedicated to local deity where cutting plants or killing animals are strictly prohibited, and is supposed to have high hydrological value. Water Quality Index is renowned effective method to express water quality in a simple, stable and reproducible unit of measure which communicates information of water quality to the concerned citizens and policy makers. Also a household survey was carried out in the year of 2015 in order to gather information regarding safe drinking water availability and sanitation. The results show that the water of all sacred groves is safe for different household purposes except for drinking as it needs treatment to make it perfect for this purpose.

32-38

Authors: Gradimir Gruychev

Thirty-seven nests of Turtle Doves were found in the Sakar Mountains in 2014–2016. The average height of their situation was 5.3±1.8 (2.1–10) m. The average height of the trees-substrates was 7.9±2.5 (3–12) m. The earliest nesting was observed at the beginning of May. First laid eggs were found in the second half of May. Groups of flying juvenile Turtle Doves appeared in early June to the end of the research period. The first nests were observed on 01.05., eggs – on 21.05., and well-flying juveniles on 04.06. The largest number of nests was found in Oak (Quercus spp.) forests (n=12) and Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra) plantations (n=9). Breeding in small villages of the turtle dove in Bulgaria was established.

57-64

Authors: Vladimir Tomov

Four-year-old container Norway maple seedlings were forced in a glasshouse and were shaded. Etiolation of the shoots, as well as banding their base with black electric tape, was used in order to increase the rooting ability of the softwood cuttings. IBA as a 0.8 % powder was used for root stimulation. Both methods and the combination of them resulted in high percentage of rooted cuttings, but those which were only etiolated stroke faster and developed a better rooting system. Further research with mature genotypes can be included in future studies.

77-81

Authors: Gradimir Gruychev

The distribution and density of Coypu were researched in the downstream of the Maritsa River. Twenty-four new localities were found, twenty of them are situated along the Maritsa River. Three more new localities were found in ponds near the researched area. The average density was 3.4±2.3 (0–8 ind./9.6 km) – 0.35 ind./km. The average size of the social groups was 1.6±0.9 (1–4 ind.; n=42) from the Maritsa River and 2.4±0.99 (1–4 ind.; n=12) in the other three new localities in the ponds. An invasion of Coypu in the downstream of the Maritsa River is observed.