The annual meeting of the SE Asian chapter of the ATBC was held in Phnom Penh from 30 March – 2 April and attracted over 300 researchers and conservationists from throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including 100 delegates from Cambodia.
Plenary speakers at the event included the renowned bat specialists Dr. Merlin Tuttle (USA) and Dr. David Westcott (Australia) who spoke at length on ‘The amazing world of bats and a novel view of conservation’ and ‘Living at a landscape scale – flying fox movement and its consequences’ respectively.
The conference included a well-attended symposium dedicated to ‘Understanding and conserving the diversity and ecology of Southeast Asian bats’ which was chaired by Merlin, Dr. Alice Hughes and Dr. Neil Furey.
Twelve papers were presented in the session on topics including bat biogeography, echolocation and systematics, insect pest consumption, pollination and reproductive ecology, flying fox diets, colony assessments and conservation challenges, new methods for prioritizing caves for bat conservation and of course the SEABCRU initiative.
Four of these also won prizes for the best student presentations at the event, namely papers given by Tuanjit Sritongchuay, Sheema Abdul Aziz, Ith Saveng and Krizler Tanalgo. Congratulations bat folks!
Abstracts of all papers presented at the meeting are included in the latest issue of the Cambodian Journal of Natural History which can be downloaded from www.fauna-flora.org/publications/cambodian-journal-of-natural-history/
