Nihad Omerović

Mountains cover large areas of the territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With mean altitude of 625 meters a.s.l. it is one of the highest countries in the Southeast Europe. Most of its mountains belongs to the Dinaric Alps system that stretches in the northwest-southeast direction through several other countries as well. These mountains are built from different geological components and are home to scattered and various types of freshwater ecosystems many of which are well preserved and isolated primarily thanks to their remoteness and unapproachability. Alpine mycobiota of Southeast Europe is poorly understood in general. On the one hand, there are a significant number of mountainous lakes that mostly originate from glacial activity in the high mountains of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but mycobiota of these refugia is completely unexplored. Nevertheless, these specific habitat types could be one of the last well-preserved alpine reservoirs for some extremely rare stenovalent fungal species. Our intention is to discover as much fungal species inhabiting these unique natural phenomena as possible and to publish the results with adequate launch of sustainable conservation program for their long-term protection. Glacial and other type of mountainous lakes are under severe threats, predominantly pronounced in the processes of natural overgrowing, which might lead to their complete disappearance and possible extinction of some still undiscovered fungal species in the near future. So far only scarce data about several ascomycetous fungal species inhabiting one glacial lake (Lokvanjsko lake on Bjelašnica Mt.) exists in the private mycological database and fungarium of Mycological Society MycoBH. Main project goals are: • To create checklist of fungal species inhabiting glacial and other mountainous lakes in Bosnia and Herzegovina • To conduct relevant IUCN risk assessment for every recorded species • To identify new or to confirm earlier identified IFAs • To propose new fungal species to be included in the update of the official Red list and/or List of protected and strictly protected fungal species • To publish comprehensive monograph • To make documentary

U svrhu pokretanja inicijative za izradu prijedloga zakonskog okvira zaštite područja izvora i kanjona rijeke Orlje u općini Olovo sprovesti ćemo biološka istaživanja kako bismo dobili jasnu sliku o nultom stanju bioraznolikosti područja rijeke Orlje te smjernice i potrebe zaštite. Prikupljenim podacima formiramo bazu za otvaranje dialoga i uspostavljanje saradnje sa predstavnicima lokalne uprave, kao i pokretanje promotivne i zagovaračke kampanje. Promotivnom kampanjom ćemo kroz upotrebu različitih medijskih alata s jedne strane vršiti pritisak na predstavnike lokalne uprave da rade na konkretnim koracima za trajnu zaštitu ovog područja, dok ćemo u isto vrijeme raditi na direktnom uključivanju lokalnog stanovništva u projektne aktivnosti.

To establish preliminary check-lists of ascomycetous fungi in some potential protected territories in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to make risk assessment evaluation for recorded endangered species.