On 29 June 2025, DANUBEPARKS and the Public Institution Nature Park Kopački rit joined forces with OSPERA Association to celebrate International Danube Day through a special citizen science field visit within the Kopački rit Nature Park, Croatia.
The event was part of the "Osijek-Baranja Citizen Science Hub" project, led by OSPERA and supported through the IMPETUS Accelerator Programme. The main objective was to identify and map invasive alien plant and animal species threatening the local biodiversity. Among the most frequently recorded species were: pokeweed (Phytolacca decandra), goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea), ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia). A particularly interesting observation was that of the invasive coypu (Myocastor coypus)!
This is the first field activity implemented within the OSPERA's project "Osijek-Baranja Citizen Science Hub", the one of synergy CS initiatives that will work together with the latest DANUBEPARKS' Citizen Science project Persina4Nature. You can read more about all Citizen Science initiatives which are part of the IMPETUS Accelerator HERE.
Special thanks to the Biology Students’ Association ZOA for their valuable contribution to this citizen science monitoring. Together, we are building a more connected Danube community!