Bio-diversity

Natural Monument Matka Canyon is protected area in the vicinity of the City of Skopje. Protecting, monitoring and maintenance of natural values are the tasks of Government institutions and NGO-s. Now day situation of Biodiversity, biotopes and ecosystems mast be protected and retain. One of the important goals is to prevent further damages of caves and biodiversity which inhabit them. The highest priority has the caves which are the habitats for globally threatened bats. Cave Kr talna is situated in the territory of Natural Monument Matka Canyon , in the near Cave Vrelo. It s a very important habitat of bats. The species Schreibers bat (Miniopterus schreibersii) is wintering (hibernating) in big number, about some thousand individuals in colony. Beside them in the cave are present the other bat species: Rhinolophus hipposideros (Lesser horseshoe bat), Rhinolophus euryale (Mediterranean bat) Myotis capacinii (Long-fingered bat). All they are under law protection and on Red List of protected species in Europe. They are important part of biodiversity in Macedonia and on the global level. Cave Kr talna, as a natural cave globally important habitat for bats and the biodiversity have to be protected. Now the cave is without protection, and this is a big threat for the populations of bats which use the cave for habitat and shelter, especially Schreibers bat. The access and entrance in the cave in any time and number of visitors (speleologists and other), to burn fire in front of the cave and the other negative actions of visitors of the protected area, can provoke the leaving and death of bats. The Project goal is to protect the globally thretaned species of bat: Schreibers s bat (Miniopterus schreibersii) in the cave Kr talna. The Project is proposed with the intention to be realized the IN SITU protection of habitat of bats with C according the standards and regulation in EUROBATS /Mitchell-Jones, A.J., Bihari, Z., Masing, M. & Rodrigues, L. (2007): Protecting and managing underground sites for bats, EUROBATS Publication Series No 2 (English version). UNEP/ EUROBATS Secretariat, Bonn, Germany, 38 pp., IISBN 978-92-95058-02-6. The fence will be the measure for IN SITU protection of Schreibers bat colony, and other populations of bats in the Cave Kr talna. The promotion of bats and protection measures of their habitat, to the visitors of Natural Monument Matka Canyon and public in Macedonia will be done. The printed materials (leaflet) and info-warning table will be the tools for building the awareness and ecological behavior of people.

Macedonia