The Eco Studia Society, the youth wing of the Transylvanian Museum Association, organized the workshop in Romania with the support of Milieukontakt Oost-Europa. The participants, beside the ESS members, were from the "Grigore Antipa" Natural History Museum of Bucharest, the "Emil Racovitza" Speleological Institute from Bucharest and Cluj, professors and students from the Biology-Geology Department of the "Babes-Bolyai" University of Cluj, members of the Romanian Bat Protection Society and members of the Rhinolophus Speleological Club from Lupeni, in total 14 persons.

After a theoretical and practical tuition on the site, for the participants were donated six Petterson D200 type bat detectors, free of charge. The detectors were uniformly distributed among the most experienced bat-workers of the country.

Since the faunistical research is far to be complete in our country, the detectors were another tool with which one could gather data efficiently.

In 2000 the detectors were used in many field trips and camps.

Members of the ESS and RBPS participated at the volunteer fauna inventory programs of the Retezat National Park and the Piatra Craiului Nature Park. The most of the species were determined with the help of detectors. In the Retezat National Park 15 species and several roosts were identified, while in the Piatra Craiului Natural Park 17 species and roosts were identified. In these parks none or sporadic data on bat occurrence were available. These surveys represent a first attempt of the authorities on setting up a list of the endangered species, which inhabit these protected areas.

Colleagues from the Grigore Antipa Natural History Museum and the Emil Racovitza Speleological Institute researched the southern karstic regions of the country, and evidenced 13 species.

At the "For Whom the Bell’s Ring" eco camp, organized by Alfa Youth Society (Romania) we hold lectures on demonstrating the use of detectors in research, and made practical demonstrations combining the method with mist netting at a nearby creek. At the neighbor Mere?ti cave we succeed to demonstrate the presence of 11 species, among them the highly endangered Miniopterus schreibersii and Rhinolophus hipposideros.

We participated at joint field trips with Hungarian, Bulgarian and Polish colleagues. In August 2000 we co-operated with Bulgarian colleagues for the research of Southern Dobrogea (Romania) bat fauna as part of the Central European Miniopterus Protection Program, financed by the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (Budapest, Hungary), and we determined 8 species in the region, contributing this way to the accumulation of distribution data. A member of the ESS participated at a common research on the bat fauna’s dynamics at the Duna-Dráva National Park (Hungary). In September we received a visit of the Polish colleagues and had a common field trip. As a result of the visit Romania joined the Atlas of Bats in Europe project coordinated by the Chiropterological Information Center from Krakow (Poland).

In 2001 we continued our research in the presented areas adding some new species to our list, and noticed the change in dynamics at the sites.

We organized workshops for speleologists in order to familiarize them with the protection of bats and the use of the bat detector. The workshops were organized as part of the ESS’s "Popularization of Bats in Romania" project sponsored by the USA Bat Conservation International’s Global Grassroots Fund.

Our colleagues from the RBPS continued the research in the Retezat National Park and evidenced a new species for the park (Myotis mystacinus).

Colleagues from the Grigore Antipa Natural History Museum and the Emil Racovitza Speleological Institute researched the Piatra Craiului Natural Park, and discovered several new species and roosts. They also initiated a research in the southern part of the Southern Carpathians karstic regions.

Colleagues from the RBPS participated at the second edition of the eco camp "For Whom the Bell Ring", and continued the research of the region with a lesser success than a year ago, evidencing only four species.

Although we were constantly using the detectors during the field work, several problems aroused during the research, especially in the determination of forest dwelling bats. Since the Petterson D200 detectors are heterodyne ones, we could not use them for sound recording and computer analysis. The lack of proper software was also an impediment for us, since we have no funds for purchasing them. Since with these Pettersson D200 detectors we were able to do just the basic research in the identification, using ultrasounds, in the future for more adequate investigations, should be used computer analyses, with the proper detectors and software’s. Organizing additional detector workshops, even on European scale with the participation of few batworkers from each country, will help to solve these problems. Also these meetings could become one important tool for promoting one more efficient international monitoring of the target species.

We are thankful for Herman Limpens in carrying out the workshop in Romania, and especially for the German Government that supported this action and made possible the donation of detectors.