The primary objective of the thesis was to gather data on the presence of dragonflies (Odonata) and amphibians (Amphibia) along the highway section between Šentjakob and Blagovica on the A1 Šentilj-Koper. We compared the species richness of dragonflies and amphibians between the sampling sites with a direct influence of the highway and those without. We registered 33 species of dragonflies and 9 species of amphibians. We found that water bodies with the direct impact of the highway had a lower diversity of dragonflies and amphibians compared to those without direct impact, however the difference was not statistically significant. On the other hand, we recorded significantly more dragonfly species that completed their life cycle on water bodies without direct impact of the highway than on sites impacted by highway. We also found a positive correlation between the size of the water body and extent of riparian vegetation on the number of recorded dragonflies on sampling sites. We could not confirm the impact of closeness to the highway on dragonfly species richness. The role of water bodies with the direct impact of highways is not yet completely known. In any case, they likely perform an important connecting function between better preserved habitats and therefore require proper management.
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