Grey plover (Pluvialis squatarola) A team of young scientists and postdoctoral fellows at the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, has published results of the first study in Bulgaria using DNA metabarcoding for examination of the dietary spectrum of a species of shore birds at a resting stopover place during migration along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The grey plover (Pluvialis squatarola) breeds in the Arctic and winters on the coasts of Africa, reaching as far as the Republic of South Africa. It is observed on the Black Sea coast only during migration. The places where it stops for a few days to rest are very important for the survival of the birds because there they feed and [...]

A national workshop on the CASRI project (Collaborative Action coordinating and enhancing systemic, actionable and transversal Sustainability Research and Innovation) was held at the Botanical Garden of the BAS. The project is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, launched in January 2024. BAS is a full member in a consortium of 13 European countries, including the European Environment Agency. Assoc. Prof. Ina Aneva (project leader for the country) and Corr. Mem. Prof. Dimitar Ivanov presented the results of the project to stakeholders. The aim of CASRI is to improve cooperation between European environmental agencies and to promote innovative research and solutions in the field of sustainability. CASRI uses an approach that involves collecting and analysing information from participating countries, identifying common [...]

A new publication in the European Journal of Wildlife Research reports the discovery of the largest nursing colony of the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) and the Geoffroy’s bat (Myotis emarginatus) worldwide. It is located in the Eastern Rhodopes, near the town of Madzharovo. The study is a collaborative work of a team of Bulgarian and Czech researchers, with lead author Dr Heliana Dundarova  of the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.     Dr Heliana Dundarova during field studies Fig. 2. Lesser horseshoe bats from the colony near Madzarovo Bulgaria has a rich bat fauna and large colonies recorded in caves, mines and other underground shelters. Only a small proportion of nursing colonies of bats has been found [...]

  Fig 1 Graphical Abstract A new article by the staff members of the Laboratory of Marine Laboratory in Sozopol (unit of IBER-BAS) Nikola Bobchev (PhD student), Dr Dimitar  Berov, Dr Stefania Klein and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vencislav Karamfilov was published in the internation journal Marine Pollution Bulletin (IF 5.3). It presents data on microplastic pollution in sediments of beaches and the seabed along the southwestern coast of the Black Sea, specifically in the area of Sozopol Bay, the mouth of the Ropotamo River and Maslen Cape. Fig. 1 The results show that the highest concentrations of microplastics were found near urbanized areas (Sozopol Bay - 464.44 ± 272.50 particles per kg of beach sand and 825.93 ± 396.30 particles per kg of seabed [...]

A team led by Asst. Vladimir Nikolov from the National Museum of Natural History at BAS (NMNHS-BAS) published the description of the first fossil remains of armoured gars in Bulgaria in the specialized scientific journal Cretaceous Research. The fossils are about 83 million years old and were discovered in the dinosaur locality near the town of Tran in the period 2020-2023. Co-authors of Asst. Vladimir Nikolov are Dr. Plamen Andreev (Research Center of Natural History and Culture, Qujing Normal University, China), geology student Georgi Voykov (Sofia University) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Docho Dochev (Sofia University). The studied fossil material includes 9 teeth and 3 scales of placoderm gars found in the Tran locality which are one of the few in Europe that are older than [...]

The seventh palaeontological expedition of the National Museum of Natural History at BAS to the locality of dinosaurs and other vertebrate fauna of Late Cretaceous epoch near the town of Tran took place from 2 to 10 August 2024. The team led by Assoc. Prof. Latinka Hristova included Asst. Vladimir Nikolov and Ralitsa Bogdanova from NMNHS-BAS, Prof. Marlena Yaneva and Assoc. Prof. Lubomir Metodiev from the "Strashimir Dimitrov" Geological Institute of BAS as well as volunteers Gergana Velyanova from the Institute of Mineralogy and Crystallography of BAS and Georgi Sevov. As a result of the activities carried out by the team, more than 30 new vertebrate fossils were collected which not only enrich the palaeontological scientific collection of the NMNHS-BAS but will also allow palaeontologists [...]