Maria Kachamakova

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences | BAS · Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research

Mink farming has seen a resurgence in Bulgaria since 2013, and this has led to a high risk of American mink escaping and establishing feral populations. The largest active commercial farm in the country has a capacity of nearly 130,000 animals. The aims of this study were to gather first-hand evidence of the presence of mink in the wild around the...

Научно-популярна статия в списание "Лов и риболов" за два от общо трите вида хомяци, които се срещат в България - Обикновен хомяк (Cricetus cricetus) и Черногръд хомяк (Mesocricetus newtoni) . В статията се коментират местообитанията им, заплахите и мерките за опазването им. Popular scientific article in the magazine "Hunting and Fishing" about two...

Научно-популярна статия за европейския лалугер (Spermophilus citellus) в списание "Лов и риболов". В статията се коментира намаляването на популацията на лалугера и броя на колониите в България и причините за това. Popular science review about the European ground squirrel/ souslik (Spermophilus citellus) in the journal "Lov i Ribolov". The articl...

Saker Falcon Conference, Project: Securing the recovery of the endangered Saker Falcon in Bulgaria and Southern Romania (LIFE20 NAT/BG/001162)

The European ground squirrel is an endangered rodent whose populations are declining throughout its range. Only in Bulgaria, the genetic hotspot of the species, are some abundant populations still present. We employed 12 microsatellite loci in ten Bulgarian populations to look at population structure, gene flow and recent bottlenecks. We found that...

Gastrointestinal helminth parasites can be transferred during conservation translocations and impact their outcome. The current study applied non-invasive coprological sampling to investigate the helminth infection rates and dynamics in translocated and resident European ground squirrels, during and after a population reinforcement. The FLOTAC meth...

Global climate change is expected to affect the species distribution and even to contribute to their extinction. Small mammals are a major part of the mammalian fauna of Bulgaria. Here we attempt to analyze the vulnerability of 28 small mammals species including standard vulnerability analysis, and vulnerability to climate change of species in Rila...

Rila National Park is the largest national park in Bulgaria with the highest peak on the Balkan Peninsula (Moussala-2925 m a.s.l.). Small mammals, 25 species of which occur in the park, are an important part of the mountain ecosystems. Between 1994 and 2020, 5 localities in the park were investigated and the presence of 13 species of small mammals...

The Sciuridae family is generally referred to as herbivorous and occasionally omnivorous. Although sciurids are known to opportunistically feed on carcasses of other vertebrates (including cannibalism), the active predation on vertebrates is presumably rare. Here, we present a case of a European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) catching and...

The current publication gives a detailed assessment of the results from a population reinforcement of a European ground squirrel's ( Spermophilus citellus ) colony in south-eastern Bulgaria. The reinforcement was planned and implemented along with multidisciplinary research of the adaptation process (including radiotelemetry, parasitological study...

The spatial behaviour of 47 European ground squirrels (Spermophilus citellus) was investigated through radio-collars in the frame of a conservation project for population reinforcement in south-eastern Bulgaria. For the first time both translocated and resident individuals were collared. After the release, each individual’s movement was followed ho...

The European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) is a rodent inhabiting the open grasslands of central and southeastern Europe. The species is endangered, and various conservation activities are being conducted to preserve and improve the populations’ status, especially during the recent years including translocations of individuals. The succes...

The European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) is a vulnerable species, whose populations are declining throughout its entire range in Central and South-Eastern Europe. To a great extent, its conservation depends on habitat restoration, maintenance and protection. In order to improve the conservation status of the species, reintroductions are...

The European ground squirrel ( Spermophiluscitellus ) is a vulnerable species (IUCN) living in open habitats of Central and South-eastern Europe. Translocations (introductions, reintroductions and reinforcements) are commonly used as part of the European ground squirrel (EGS) conservation. There are numerous publications for such activities carried...

Научно-популярна статия свързана с природозащитният статус на европейския лалугер (Sermophlius citellus) и нуждата от неговата промяна в по-висок - застрашен? A scientifically popular article on the conservation status of the European ground squirrel (Sermophlius citellus) and the need to change it to a higher - endangered?

Introduction In search of more data about the EGS individuals' fate after conservation translocations we equipped 18 animals with radio-collars during new reinforcement project in "Zapadna Strandzha" SPA, Bulgaria. Methods The animal's location was recorded daily for 13 days (July-September) and the distance to the mean release point was calculated...

Introduction Repatriations of European ground squirrel (EGS) are commonly used for its conservation in Central Europe, but until now there is no data about such activities in Southeastern Europe. Methods The current study presents an overview of authors’ personal data and publicly available data (published articles, unpublished records etc.) fo...

Most of the motorways in Bulgaria were built before the implementation of EC regulations related to the ecological corridors’ preservation. As consequence a lot of them are barriers for the wildlife movements, moreover when they lie in important natural areas, connecting distant populations. One such an example is the Lyulin Motorway. Because of th...

Today, due to a number of socio-economic and ecological processes, the European lynx population is recovering in Bulgaria (Picture 1), but its survival is uncertain. One of the key elements of successful conservation is the comprehensive knowledge about the species’ biology and behaviour in nature. Being a cryptic animal, the lynx is very difficult...

Current studies on Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in the wild rarely include behavioural traits of this species. Moreover, being a cryptic species, its behaviour is very difficult to be studied in the wild. In order to record and analyse the lynx behaviour during the breeding season, a cameratrap was put in a lynx enclosure in Sofia Zoo for 64 days to f...