Back from Cornell - and right into the field

Luis Santamaría was back from his six-month sabbatical leave at Cornell University, right on time to join the first field survey of the PARIS project, together with Elena Gomez Díaz (Institut de Biologia Evolutiva, CSIC-UPF); Jordi Figuerola, David Roiz y Carlos Moreno (Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC); and Asier R. Larrinaga (from the LSE at IMEDEA).

The PARIS project, coordinated by Elena Gomez Díaz, analyzes the blood parasites of Balearic wall lizards Podarcis lilfordii and P. pityusensis, as well as the role of their vectors (mosquitos, mites and tics) and the ecological setting in which the interaction takes place. The field survey included sites at Ibiza, Formentera, Sa Dragonera and Cabrera Islands.

Clockwise: One of our field sites, at Sa Dragonera Islet. David, handling his MosquitoBuster in search of fed females; next to him, one of the suction traps used to sample mosquitos.Elena taking a small blood sample from introduced Podarcis pityusensis at Illetes. A large male of Podarcis lilfordi from Sa Dragonera.