Laura Torrent delivered a workshop on bats Ecology in Equatorial Guinea
News
Slide from the workshop presentation.
Photos from the workshop in the classroom. Photo credits: Joxerra Aihartza and Laura Torrent
Photos from the workshop in the field. Photo credits: Joxerra Aihartza and Laura Torrent
Photos from the field training. Photo credits: Joxerra Aihartza and Laura Torrent
Tropibio junior researcher Laura Torrent (Tropibio PhD student) togheter with Dr Joxerra Aihartza Azurtza and Dr Ignacio Garin Atorrasagasti – professors of Zoology at the Faculty of Science and Technology from the Basque Country University (Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea) delivered a 14 hours workshop entitled: Bats, how to identify species and methods to study them in Equatorial Guinea on 18th and 19th May 2022 at INDEFOR-AP headquarters in Bata, Equatorial Guinea.
Background: Equatorial Guinea is one of the world’s richest regions in bat diversity and endemism. The bat fauna from the continental region has not been surveyed since the 1970s, while major threats to the bat populations continue to rise. On the other hand, the governmental institution INDEFOR-AP (National Institute for Forest Development and Management of the Protected Areas System) oversees biodiversity conservation of protected areas. Due to limited funding, language barrier (Spanish is the official language) and underdeveloped capacity for research, INDEFOR’s actions are limited. Thus, there is an urgent need to know the bats and provide local researchers and authorities with basic expertise. Up until now TROPIBIO had not done activities in Equatorial Guinea and through this workshop has started to stablish some relationships with local authorities and institutions that can end up in bigger synergies and create stronger relationships in the near future. Hopefully we will repeat the same workshop for other people and institutions and open the opportunity to others to do the same.
Aims
•Provide INDEFOR-AP researchers basic knowledge on African bats, their ecology, diet, etc.
•Provide information on methods to survey bats: mist-nets, harp traps, roost surveys and bioacoustics.
•Provide field training on how to set mist-nets, extract bats from the nets, safely manipulate them, take external measurements, and identify the species.
Please check here for the full programme.
Slide from the workshop presentation.
Photos from the workshop in the classroom. Photo credits: Joxerra Aihartza and Laura Torrent
Photos from the workshop in the field. Photo credits: Joxerra Aihartza and Laura Torrent
Photos from the field training. Photo credits: Joxerra Aihartza and Laura Torrent