Webinar “Long-term urban bat monitoring and notes on the effects of full-scale war on urban wildlife”

Friday 28th February 2025, at 16 CET Professor Anton Vlaschenko will have a talk about outcomes of long-term urban bat monitoring in Ukrain, in the second webinar organized under the framework of the Horizon Europe project OneBAT.

This webinar will highlight the outcomes of long-term urban bat monitoring in Ukraine, emphasizing the effects of full-scale war on urban wildlife. An unprecedented dataset of over 40,000 individual records across 300+ settlements was compiled, covering primarily the period from 1999 to 2024. Bat rescue operations served as the primary method for data collection, enabling the documentation of species, sex, age, and interactions with other animals (pets or urban birds).

Analyses revealed shifts in Nyctalus noctula wintering group structures, urban-specific species diversity, and seasonal phenological patterns, reflecting the influence of urbanization. The war’s impact, including reduced light pollution and habitat destruction, has significantly shaped bat behaviors.

Dr. Anton Vlaschenko

Dr. Anton Vlaschenko, Ukrainian-born zoologist, has 25 years of experience in bat research and conservation. He currently holds two positions: co-head of the Ukrainian Bat Rehabilitation Center and Head of the Educational and Research Bat Biology Laboratory at H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University. Since December 2023, he has been an MSCA4Ukraine Fellow at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany. His main specialization is the ecology and distribution of Eastern European forest and urban bats.

The webinar is free and open to everyone. You can register for the webinar and find more information on the OneBAT website. For any need, you can contact the webinar organizers by writing to: andrea.spotti@warranthub.it