1. International Field Trip in Turkey (27th May - 14th June 2009)
Kadir Bogaç Kunt, Altuɠ Kiziltuɠ and Yuri Marusik went on a field trip throughout Turkey, collecting spiders in Marmara Region, Aegean Region, Mediterranean Region, Black Sea Region and in the Central Anatolian Region. Between 11th and 14th I joined them, coming from my study areas in western Georgia, taking part in the excursion in the Eastern Black Sea Region around Artvin during the last three days of this field trip.
The participants spent the days either travelling to remote habitats of spiders and other Arachnids or collecting specimens in interesting places. Collecting was accompanied by valuable exchange of knowledge concerning the most prospective collecting methods. In the evenings, such discussions were sometimes extended to thorough evaluation of the latest preservation fluids from Turkey and Georgia.
As the main result, the participants of the 1. IFTT enriched their collections by several hundreds of new specimens, which will most probably lead to new insights into the Turkish arachnofauna in the near future. Some new family records for Turkey are already certain …
Furthermore, I am sure, the cooperation between the participants will be more intense in the future, e. g. in joint taxonomical studies, field trips or during the suggested 1. Black Sea Arachnological Meeting in Trabzon 2010. Also, I might extend my study of spider communities in Colchic forests from Georgia to Turkey.
