Research pf the climate of the Uvir cave (Bosnia) as a basis for the protection of the largest colony the Western Barbastelle bats in the Dinarides

Aims / Goal of the project

The goals of the project are to identify the climatic conditions in the Uvir cave near the town of Kladanj in Central Bosnia. There, during the winter monitoring in 2021, a large colony of the Western Barbastelle bats was discovered with a minimum of 263 animals in several small groups along the cave channel that was under the influence of ice. It is the largest known hibernation colony of this species in the area of ​​the Dinarides and the surrounding area. So far, we have known colonies from Huda luknja cave near Gornji Dolič (village Mislina, Slovenia) – 37 animals and the Ledenljača cave (settlement Miljevina, BiH) – 15 animals. In addition, in the further parts of the cave, the colonies of the Schreiber’s bats and the mixed colonies of the Great Horseshoe bats and the Mediterranean Horseshoe bats are covered. The finding of these species that prefer the cold and warm part of the cave in the same speleological object is surprising for us, so we want to see the temperature conditions throughout the year. We also want to establish long-term monitoring of climatic conditions in this cave after the completion of the project with the installed equipment. As a potential future area of ​​the NATURA 2000 network, we want our goal to give the project results additional value and special protection.

BARBASTELLA regionalni susret

21.—23. 10. 2022., Sarajevo — Kladanj

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