On October 31th, 2020, the IVth Romanian Bat Research Conference took place online, organized by the Centre for Bat Research and Conservation, together with Wilderness Research and Conservation. The event was sponsored by Pettersson Elektronik AB, Natural Timber and Lotek, as well as funded by an EPI project from EUROBATS. Technical support for the online meeting was provided by the TechSoup Association.
The 32 participants of the online meeting came from 20 different entities, namely universities in Romania and abroad, research institutions, public authorities, as well as from NGOs. The conference also benefited from the participation of several colleagues from the Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Poland. Thanks for the effort!
The conference included the following 10 presentations:
- Daniela BORDA: Bats in the context of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic: biohazard, victims, or models for improving disease resistance?
- Ágnes BALÁZSI, Andreea-Rebeka ZSIGMOND, Ildikó GÖNCZI-VASS, Szilárd Lehel BÜCS: Stakeholder perceptions on bat conservation in Romania.
- Vlad CALDARI, Natalia DIBOLSCAIA, Alina LARION, Victoria NISTREANU: Maternity colonies of rare bat species from underground roosts of the Republic of Moldova.
- Branka PEJIĆ, Ivana BUDINSKI, Jelena BOGOSAVLJEVIĆ, Branko KARAPANDŽA, Milan PAUNOVIĆ: Bat research and conservation challenges in Serbia.
- Anna MARCHEWKA, Tomasz POSTAWA: The use of cameratraps in the evaluation of bat activity in caves.
- Flaviu Valentin BODEA, Ildikó GÖNCZI-VASS, Szilárd Lehel BÜCS: Inventory of the chiropterofauna in Cluj-Napoca and its surroundings.
- Henrietta ONODI, Ildikó GÖNCZI-VASS, Mihai SZIGETI, Szilárd-Lehel BÜCS: Bat research in the forgotten caves of the Pădurea Craiului Mountains.
- Natalia DIBOLSCAIA, Victoria NISTREANU, Vlad CALDARI, Alina LARION: Bat (Chiroptera, Mammalia) diversity in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova.
- Szilárd-Lehel BÜCS: Zidită de la Mada Cave: reconfirming Rhinolophus blasii after 60+ years.
- Dragoş Ştefan MĂNTOIU: Methods for evaluating and reducing the impact of wind energy on bats.
At the end of the conference, the participants awarded, based on votes, the best student presentation, as well as the best presentation from the other presenters. Thus, the prizes offered by Pettersson Elektronik AB and Natural Timber were awarded to:
- Anna MARCHEWKA (Institute of Systematics and Animal Evolution, Polish Academy of Sciences), best student presentation, and
- Ágnes BALÁZSI (Sapientia University), the best presentation from the other presenters.
Congratulations!
The volume of abstract of the conference (in Romanian) can be downloaded here. Thanks to all participants, sponsors and funders for a successful event! See you in 2022.
