Biology Evening: Fight or Flight

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You are invited to the 3rd Biology Evening of the 2025/26 season, titled “Fire or Flight: the link between forest fire dynamics and the movement ecology of the Short-toed Snake Eagle on the Karst”. The lecture will be given by Domen Stanič and Davide Scridel from DOPPS (BirdLife Slovenia – the Slovenian Association for the Observation and Study of Birds).

About the lecture:
The lecture will be divided into two parts.
In the first part, the results of a study on how birds on the Karst responded to the fires of 2022 will be presented. The study uses state-of-the-art approaches that combine remote sensing, machine learning, and field research to provide a detailed picture of the winners and losers of this event. It will also demonstrate how species traits—such as wing length, nesting strategy, foraging behavior, body size, and migration pattern—help explain these contrasting responses, offering new insights into the conservation of fire-prone Mediterranean landscapes.
The second part of the lecture will focus on the post-natal dispersal of the Short-toed Snake Eagle (Circaetus gallicus), a snake-eating raptor that breeds on the Karst and winters in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2025, five individuals were equipped with state-of-the-art GPS trackers, allowing their dispersal and migratory routes to be monitored in unprecedented detail—from local movements after leaving the nest on the Karst to their entire southward migration.

About the speakers:
Domen Stanič is a graduate conservation biologist with a lifelong passion for nature. He began birdwatching at the age of 14 and soon expanded his interests to other fields of natural science. Since his university studies, he has developed a strong passion for botany and ecology, later broadening his knowledge to butterflies, insects, and other wildlife. He feels most at home in nature, especially in forests, grasslands, and the mountains of western and southern Slovenia. He works at DOPPS as a conservation ornithologist, focusing on bird monitoring and research in the Škocjanski zatok Nature Reserve and elsewhere in Slovenia. He is also the editor-in-chief of the magazine Svet ptic (Bird World). As a former wilderness guide, he has led numerous trips for companies such as Naturetrek, Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays, and Wildlife Worldwide. He is the main figure behind the WildSlovenia concept and manages its website, blog, and social media.
Davide Scridel recently joined DOPPS as a conservation ornithologist. He holds a PhD in ecology from the University of Pavia and the Museum of Science in Trento, and through years of collaboration with environmental and research institutions across Europe and North America has gained extensive professional experience. In his research, which uses birds as bioindicators of environmental change, he covers a wide range of habitats—from marine and agricultural landscapes to mountain ecosystems—and employs innovative approaches such as remote sensing, bioacoustics, and GPS telemetry. He is the author of more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and serves as an associate editor of Ardeola – International Journal of Ornithology. 

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