CT BETA and BiBio collaborate to draw up conservation plans for 9 mammal species
There are two groups linked to rivers and other aquatic environments
In 2024, the BETA Technology Centre of the UVic-UCC and several experts from the BiBio group of the Museum of Granollers have collaborated to develop the basic document of the recovery or conservation plans for 9 species of mammals included in the Catalogue of endangered fauna of Catalonia. This document will be used, with some adjustments, to prepare the regulatory documents of the plans that, with legal effects, will have to be approved by the Generalitat.
A recovery or conservation plan includes summary information on the situation of each species, a proposal of actions for their conservation and the definition of the areas of Catalonia in which they will have to be applied.
There are two groups linked to rivers and other aquatic environments, for each of which a group plan has been drawn up with specific treatments for each species. One group are the small mammals of semi-aquatic life: muskrats, two water shrews and water rats. The other are the bats whose lives depend to some extent on riverside environments: big-footed bats, little whiskered bats, Bechstein’s bats, Mediterranean horseshoe bats and Nathusi’s pipistrelle.
All these mammals have become rare due to the general degradation of a large part of Catalan rivers, and in the case of bats, due to the added pressure of the loss of suitable shelters. The clearest example is the water rat, a rodent that was very common throughout Catalonia until the end of the 20th century and which has now disappeared from most of the territory.
This work has been carried out thanks to the Grant for natural areas of Catalonia, habitats and species for 2023-2024 with the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda.
