How did slavs adapt to dry karst terrains of western balkans?

[Nausevar]

This summer I was in southern Croatia, Dalmatia, and I thought about the huge differences between that land and the homeland of the Slavs from which they came.
As we know the homeland of the Slavs was the region of Ukraine, eastern Poland and Belarus, more or less. Those places are cold, with evenly distributed rains, cold winters, mild summers, flat fertile land and lots of water (rivers, lakes).
Southwestern balkans are nothing like that: carsic land that doesn't hold water, few relatively fertile karst fields surrounded by vast barren lands, few rivers, irregular terrain, rocky mountains. It's not impossible to live there, if you know how to wisely use the resources hidden in the middle of nothing but it surely is much harder than in most other places in central-eastern Europe.
My question is: how did Slavs adapt to such different places from the ones they came from? Did they learn from the natives? Also, why did they even settle there to begin with?

[Cybele]

My question is: how did Slavs adapt to such different places from the ones they came from? Did they learn from the natives?

They most probably modified their tools and their agricultural techniques, in order to become more adapted to the new landscapes. They began cultivating the land with more resistant cereals like millet, but also wheat, rye etc. In hilly areas some became shepherds, near rivers, lakes, seas they were fishermen. They of course came in cultural contact with other ethnically and culturally different populations, who influenced them (acculturation). For example they learnt viticulture.

It seems that the Slavs introduced more resistant types of cereals, for example millet, as well as new or modified agricultural tools which were better suited for the mountainous landscape of the mainland. This has been interpreted as evidence of their swift settlement as sedentary farmers in the newly occupied regions.

They were actively engaged in animal husbandry, using horses for military and agricultural purposes, and raising oxen and goats. Those living in hilly terrain mostly lived as shepherds. Those living near lakes, rivers, and seas also used various hooks and nets for fishing. They were known to be especially skilled in woodworking and shipbuilding, but also knew about metalworking and pottery.

A very important aspect of the economy of the early Slavs was cattle breeding. Without large herds of cattle, which provided food and served as beasts of burden for transporting supplies and the modest amount of property, the long journeys of the Slav tribes at the time of the migration of nations would not have been possible. Cattle breeding, however, was not the main but a subsidiary way of making a living — in this the Slavs differed from the typically nomad tribes such as the Huns, Avars or the ancient Magyars.

According to finds of bones they kept mainly beef cattle (Bos primigenius f. taurus L.), relatively small in size with short curved horns. Then pigs, but it is not certain to what extent they hunted wild pigs, from which the domestic animals do not greatly differ in appearance. Sheep and goats held third place together, it being difficult to distinguish the bones of one from the other. Then followed domestic or wild poultry, and the rest comprised the horse, dog, and hunted animals. In the case of domestic animals, they were hardy beasts that ran free around the village and did not require roofed stables or pens, which were a later feature.

In the early Middle Ages advances were made in farming methods not always on the same level. In the eighth and ninth centuries there was a substantial improvement in agricultural techniques and a certain intensification of production, as shown by the larger quantity of tools found and a dense network of permanent settlements that were no longer shifted. This development is in accordance with social changes, which led to the establishment of the first Slav states in the ninth century.