3^rd International Bat Research Online Symposium (IBROS):
Replacement roosts for bats at buildings

Content

Many bats use buildings as a daytime roost, however buildings are regularly renovated. Recently, these renovations have increased due to the necessity to improve insulation. Renovations represent a major challenge for house-dwelling bats since in most cases roosting opportunities are  lost during the construction work. Owing to the strong legal protection of bats in most European countries, the law requires adequate replacement measures when bat roosts are lost during renovations. These replacements follow the concept of maintaining a continuous ecological function (CEF). Improved insulation of buildings is now turning into a major strategy of cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus combat climate change. Consequently, many renovations are currently underway, specifically with composite systems. However, preserving the continuous ecological function of lost roosts is rarely practiced during renovations, and if practiced the efficacy of these conservation actions is rarely evaluated. As part of a project together with the NABU Rheinland-Pfalz, which is sponsored by the BfN with funds of the Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz (BMUV), we invite you to participate in the upcoming 3rd International Online Symposium on Bat Research, which will take place on 12th March 2024. We have invited a number of keynote speakers who will report on different aspects of replacement roosts with a focus on Europe. In particular, we seek to understand the use of artificial roosts by bats and species-specific preferences of different roost models. In this regard we want to gather information about techniques used to record and document the inhabitation of replacement roosts like acoustic and visual surveys as well as means to reliably identify roost occupants on the species level. We invite researchers with scientific knowledge on replacement roost usage of bats to contribute to this project and hope to also get an insight into possible procedures from other continents as well.

The online symposium is aimed at scientists and experts as well as representatives of authorities and non-governmental organizations. The event will be held in English.

Speakers

• Martin Ceľuch (Slovak Bat Conservation Society)
• Joanna Ferguson (Bat Conservation Trust)
• Thomas Frank (ChiroPlan - Büro für Fledermauskunde)
• Uwe Hoffmeister (natura - Büro für zoologische und botanische Fachgutachten)
• Kate McAney and Marina Bollo Palacios (Vincent Wildlife Trust)
• Bruno Schröder and Didier Samyn (Volunteers Plecotus Natagora)
• Anton S. Vlaschenko (H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University)
• Andreas Zahn (Koordinationsstelle für Fledermausschutz in Südbayern)

Registration

If you would like to participate in the symposium, please register until 10th March 2024 at: https://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/izw_akademie2/en/

Registration is free of charge.

The event is part of a project sponsored by the BfN with funds of the Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz (BMUV).

Event format & technical details

The event will be delivered remotely with live lectures in Central European Time.

Our symposium will be presented via the video conferencing tool "Zoom". Registered participants will receive the access link to the symposium a few days prior to the event.

From a technical point of view, you merely need a stable internet connection. We recommend using a laptop/PC instead of a smartphone to best follow along.

During the symposium, you will have the opportunity to ask questions to the presenters.

In addition, the symposium will be recorded and will be available for registered participants for two weeks afterwards, yet without the opportunity of asking questions to the presenters.

Newsletter

Subscribe to our event newsletter to receive regular updates about the International Bat Research Online Symposium and other events organised by the Leibniz-IZW.