Atlas of Mammals in Ireland

A new Mammal Atlas for Ireland has just been published. The Atlas of Mammals in Ireland 2010-2015 is the first publication to map all 72 terrestrial and marine mammals that occur in Ireland. Almost a quarter of a million mammal sightings were used to produce the distribution maps. The full colour maps compare the pre-2010 distribution to 2010-2015 distribution. The 200 page hardback book also contains especially written species accounts by 42 leading authorities on Irish mammals as well as chapters on: legal protection, the origins of Irish mammals, mammal research in Ireland, advances in genetic techniques and more.

The Atlas is now available to purchase online: http://www.nhbs.com/title/213914/atlas-of-mammals-in-ireland-2010-2015?bkfno=234271

EMMA II - Updating the European Atlas

The Atlas of European Mammals was published in 1999, with most of the data being rather older than this. The Atlas is now out of print and the underlying data, though still available through this website, are getting more and more out of date. Is the time right for a new project to update the Atlas?

Since the beginning of the first atlas project in 1988, mammal mapping across Europe has improved greatly. Many countries have now published their own mammal atlas, or have a project to do so, and some have live on-line databases that can produce a new map on demand. However, the picture is uneven and our Atlas remains the only publication that covers a significant part of Europe in a consistent and objective way, using mammal records supplied by each country. It remains an important source work for anyone studying the distribution of mammals at a large scale.

A new atlas project would, of course, be a cooperative venture, involving input from mammalogists or mammal mappers from each country. For some, this may be relatively straightforward, for others much more challenging. An immediate question is whether it would be possible to extend coverage to the whole of geographic Europe, rather than just western Europe as previously. This almost doubles the area to be mapped and includes large areas where mammalogists are few and far-between.

In order to stimulate debate and help us decide whether such a project is worthwhile, we have prepared a short discussion document setting out some of the challenges and questions to be addressed. We would welcome views on this and also indications of interest from national Mammal Societies, holders of national mammal records or others with an interest in the subject. Please e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your comments and questions about collaboration.

Update

A meeting will be held in Rome on 25-26 November 2016 to discuss this proposal. An invitation for the meeting can be found here, the Agenda here and some notes about the topics to be discussed can be found here. If you are interested in attending this meeting, please e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

 

 

5th International Berlin Bat Meeting

Dear Colleague,
We wish to extend a cordial invitation to you to participate in the 5th International Berlin
Bat Meeting: Are bats special? to be held in Berlin, Germany. We have some important
new information for you.

We had to shift the days of the conference from 10-12 March to 24-26 February 2017
(two weeks earlier), because we learned recently that all hotels in Berlin are fully booked in
mid-March owing to a convention (the few hotel rooms available are exceedingly expensive).
We hope that this does not cause any problems and apologize for any inconvenience.
Please note the new date.

Our conference web page is now open for registration! Please go to http://www.leibnizizw.
de/registration-336.html or register directly at http://www.bayceer.unibayreuth.
de/bat2017/. Please register as soon as possible since you may then benefit from
the early-bird registration fees.

The revised program is now available.

Atlas der Säugetiere Nordrhein-Westfalens

A new German regional atlas, the Atlas der Säugetiere Nordrhein-Westfalens has recently been published on-line. This covers 86 species of mammals (including humans) occuring in the Land at a resolution of 5 x 5 km. The atlas maps are interactive, so that clicking on a square will display the underlying biological record.