On Wednesday, April 15, 2026, a public lecture—a biology evening—entitled “Caught Between Two Fires: The Story of the false ringlet” was held via the Zoom platform, presented by Dr. Sara Zupan from the University of Primorska. The event was organized in collaboration with the Kras4us project.
The lecturer is a biologist and works as a researcher and lecturer at UP Famnit. She studies the impact of a changing environment on the biosphere, from the genetic level to ecosystems. She has devoted most of her career to species of conservation importance; for example, her doctoral thesis focused on the study of the endangered butterfly species, the false ringlet (Coenonympha oedippus). She has also participated in numerous international projects, some of which she has led.
In her lecture, she presented the status of the false ringlet’s populations in the Karst and the Dragonja river valley, and also provided a detailed overview of the research process and results, which in recent years have focused on surveying and monitoring the presence and abundance of this species in the aforementioned areas. We learned that the population status in the Dragonja river valley is in better condition (abundance is higher), while in the Karst, the species is somewhat more threatened due to overgrowth and increasingly frequent fires. There, numbers are declining, as fires are becoming more frequent and extensive, which negatively impacts a species like the false ringlet since it has very small and spatially isolated populations. Butterflies lay their eggs on the above-ground parts of plants, which also does not help them survive fires.
Nevertheless, the lecturer concluded her talk on an optimistic note, mentioning that she does not expect the species to disappear from this area so quickly. In addition to the species attempting to adapt, she also hopes that we humans will be able to establish more favorable long-term conditions for biodiversity conservation.
The lecture was attended by about 25 participants, who had the option of listening in Slovenian or to an interpretation in Italian with simultaneous translation. This was the final biology evening of this season, during which the lectures were held primarily with the support of the Kras4us project. On
this occasion, the organizers would like to thank everyone for the high turnout. Recordings of all lectures are available in both languages on the organizer’s YouTube channel (UP Famnit).
