Scientific board

• Paolo FORTI, Università di Bologna, Italy
• Leonardo LATELLA, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona, Italy
• Giuseppe MESSANA, Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi, Firenze, Italy
• Andrej MIHEVC, Karst Research Institute, Postojna, Slovenia
• Constantin MARIN, “Emil Racoviță” Institute of Speleology, Romania
• Acad. Octavian POPESCU, member of the Romanian Academy, Dean of Biology and Geology Faculty, “Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
• Dumitru MURARIU, corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, Deputy Director of the “Emil Racoviță” Institute of Speleology, Romania
• Alexandru PETCULESCU, “Emil Racoviță” Institute of Speleology, Romania
• Boris SKET, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Bronislaw WOLOSZYN, Institut of Systematics & Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland

Scientific program

Thursday, Sep 27^th

• Arrival of participants
• 18⁰⁰ – 18³⁰: Cristian Lascu - “The Explorer” (movie)
• Welcome reception in the lobby of Afrodita Resort & SPA

Friday, Sep 28^th

• Arrival of participants
• 10⁰⁰ – 10¹⁵: Symposium opening
• 10¹⁵ – 10⁴⁵: Dumitru Murariu - Homage to Emile Racovitza at 150 years since he was born
• 10⁴⁵ – 11¹⁵: Bronisław Wojciech Wołoszyn - Scientific cooperation between Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals – Polish Academy of Sciences Krakow and the two academic institutions from Romania
• 11¹⁵ – 11⁴⁵: Coffee break
• 11⁴⁵ – 12³⁰: Keynote lecture 1: Leonardo Latella - Diversity, endemism and biogeographical patterns in subterranean Cholevinae in Italy
• 12³⁰ – 13³⁰: Oral presentations (Convener: Dumitru Murariu):
• 12³⁰ – 12⁴⁵: Victoria Ioana Păun, Gonzalo Icaza, Paris Lavin, Aurel Perşoiu, Lavinia Iancu, Constantin Marin, Carmen Bădăluţă, Antonio Mondini, Alexandra Hillebrand-Voiculescu, Cătălina Haidău, Cristina Dorador, Cristina Purcărea - Bacterial diversity in 13,000 years old ice from Scărişoara Ice Cave
• 12⁴⁵ – 13⁰⁰: Marius-Alexandru Ciocănău, Ionuț-Cornel Mirea, Alexandru Petculescu, Doina Daneş - Microbiology of bite-related injuries associated with predatory attempts on bats
• 13⁰⁰ – 13¹⁵: Traian Brad, Aurel Perșoiu, Marius Kenesz, Artur Ionescu, Carmen Roba, Alexandru Fekete - Pollution natural attenuation in subsurface karst environments
• 13¹⁵ – 13³⁰: Şerban M. Sârbu, Markos Vaxevanopoulos, Ionuț Popa - Melissotrypa Cave, Greece – a hypogenic cave with a rich and diverse biological community
• 13³⁰ – 15³⁰: Lunch break
• 15³⁰ – 17⁰⁰: Oral presentations (Convener: Paolo Forti):
• 15³⁰ – 15⁴⁵: José María Calaforra, Jo De Waele, Paolo Forti, Tommaso Santagata, Marco Vattano - The Guano-holes: a new corrosion form from Natuturingam Cave (Palawan, Philippines)
• 15⁴⁵ – 16⁰⁰: Grzegorz Kłys, Alesandra Ziarkiewicz, Bronisław Wojciech Wołoszyn - The Gates of Hell
• 16⁰⁰ – 16¹⁵: Laura Tîrlă, Gelu Costin, Virgil Drăguşin, Vasile Ersek, Ionuţ-Cornel Mirea, Relu Dumitru Roban, Daniela Dimofte - Carbon and oxygen isotopic composition across marbles in the central Făgăraş Mountains (South Carpathians) and relationships to speleothem calcite
• 16¹⁵ – 16³⁰: Ionuţ-Cornel Mirea, Virgil Drăguşin, Betty Burghele, Laura Tîrlă - Drip water dissolved CO2 and radon measurements in four Romanian caves
• 16³⁰ – 16⁴⁵: Constantin Marin, Horia Mitrofan, Ioan Povară, Daniela Elena Ioniţă - Compelling hydrochemical evidence about limestone being dissolved as a result of the H2S-induced acidity of the thermal brine that supplies Hercules karst spring
• 16⁴⁵ – 17⁰⁰: Constantin Marin, Victoria Ioana Păun, Alin Tudorache, Gonzalo Icaza, Paris Lavin, Aurel Perşoiu, Lavinia Iancu, Cristina Dorador, Cristina Purcărea - Geochemistry of the Scărişoara ice block chronosequence
• 17³⁰ – 19⁰⁰: Poster presentations:
• Cătălina Haidău, Virgil Drăguşin, Ionuţ-Cornel Mirea, Ioana Gomoiu, Alexandra Hillebrand-Voiculescu - Unravelling the microbial community of Ascunsă Cave (Romania)
• Slađana Popović, Nataša Nikolić, Jelena Jovanović, Dragana Predojević, Ivana Trbojević, Ljiljana Manić, Gordana Subakov Simić - Cyanobacterial and algal biomass in cave biofilms and relation to ecological and biofilm parameters
• Nataša Nikolić, Gordana Subakov Simić, Slađana Popović - Effect of hydrogen peroxide solution on green algae culture
• Daniela Borda, Ioan Cociuba, Laura Epure, Ioana Nicoleta Meleg - The quality of drinking water sources in a rural karstic region with implications for public health and rural community sustainability
• Tiziana Di Lorenzo, Leonardo Piccini, Angelo Galante, Davide Di Censo, Diana Maria Paola Galassi, Giuseppe Messana - Metabolic rates, survival and locomotory activities of a groundwater-obligate copepod species under long-term exposures to tetrachloroethylene
• Ionuţ Popa, Andrei Giurginca, Ştefan Baba, Alexandru Petculescu - Collembolan communities (Hexapoda: Collembola) from the Buzău Land Geopark (Buzău Mountains, Romania)
• Augustin Nae - Cave spiders of Romania, research history and the current level of knowledge
• Ioana Nae - Oribatid mites from “Belgica” expedition
• Rodica Plăiașu, Raluca Ioana Băncilă - Influence of photoperiod, food and habitat on growth rate, body condition and fluctuating asymmetry of Salamandra salamandra
• Daniela Borda, Ruxandra Năstase-Bucur - Craniometric and genetic variation in sibling species of Romanian bats
• Raluca Ioana Băncilă, Gábor Csorba, Anca Dragu - Coexistence of three sympatric horseshoe bat species causes ecological sexual dimorphism and character displacement in trophic traits
• Daniela Borda - Bats from “Biospeologica” Collection
• Leonardo Latella, Giorgio Annichini, Roberto Zorzin - The last of the Lessini Mountains glaciers, the Buso del Valon Ice Cave (Veneto, Italy)
• Nicolae Cruceru, Răzvan Popescu, Mirela Vasile, Alfred Vespremeanu-Stroe - The influence of “chimney” and “Balch” effects on ice caves and cold screes
• Ioana Mihaela Iamandei - The touristic potential of calcareous geomorphosites along Bahna - Baia de Arama Mesozoic bar of limestone
• Alex Pologea - A web GIS application for visualization and management of cave topographic and geographic information
• Marius Vlaicu, Cristian-Mihai Munteanu, Constantin Marin, Alin Tudorache - Assessing groundwater vulnerability to anthropogenic impacts in the Motru upper basin using the COPK method, microbiological and hydrochemical data
• Bogdan-Alexandru Torcărescu, Ştefan Vasile, Alexandru Petculescu, Marius Vlaicu, Virgil Drăguşin - Late Pleistocene-Holocene mammal fossil assemblages of Stoieni Cave (Mehedinţi County, southwestern Romania) – Preliminary report
• Daniel Vereș, Marian Cosac, George Murătoreanu, Christoph Schmidt, Ulrich Hambach - New chronological constraints for Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 6/5-3) cave sequences in Eastern Transylvania, Romania
• Aritina Haliuc, Daniel Vereş - The mid-to-late Holocene paleoclimate record of Lake Iezerul Ighiel, Romania

Saturday, Sep 29^th

• 10⁰⁰ – 10⁴⁵: Keynote lecture 2: Paolo Forti - The Stone Book
• 10⁴⁵ – 11⁰⁰: Coffee break
• 11⁰⁰ – 11⁴⁵: Oral presentations (Convener: Alexandru Petculescu):
• 11⁰⁰ – 11¹⁵: Ştefan Vasile, Alexandru Petculescu, Valentin Dumitraşcu, Marian Cosac, George Murătoreanu, Daniel Vereş, Loredana Niţă, Christoph Schmidt, Ulrich Hambach, Alexandru Radu - The small vertebrates from Abri 122 Middle Palaeolithic site (Vârghiş Gorges, Romania) – biochronological and palaeoenvironmental importance
• 11¹⁵ – 11³⁰: Ioana Nicoleta Meleg, Michael V. Westbury, Federica Alberti, Javier Gonzalez, Johanna L.A. Paijmans, Marius Robu, Marius Vlaicu, Hervé Bocherens, Michael Hofreiter, Axel Barlow - Population dynamics of Late Pleistocene cave bears in the Romanian Carpathians
• 11³⁰ – 11⁴⁵: Virgil Drăguşin, Luchiana Faur, Daniela Dimofte, Ferenc Lázár Forray, Réka-Hajnalka Fülöp, Lăcrămioara-Mihaela Maghiar, Ionuț-Cornel Mirea, Cristian Panaiotu, Livia Răducan, Janet Rethemeyer, Relu Dumitru Roban, Barbara Soare - Paleoenvironmetal proxies in a soil-stalagmite couple from SW Romania
• 11⁴⁵ – 14³⁰: Lunch break
• 14³⁰ – 15¹⁵: Oral presentations (Convener: Leonardo Latella):
• 14³⁰ – 14⁴⁵: Eugen Nitzu, Ionuţ Popa, Ştefan Baba, Rodica Plăiaşu - First faunal study of the Coleoptera from the ecosystems developed on sandstones in the Buzau Mountains (Southern Carpathians, Romania)
• 14⁴⁵ – 15⁰⁰: Ştefan Baba, Andrei Giurginca, Dumitru Murariu - Updated distribution mapping of Romanian cavernicolous Chilopoda
• 15⁰⁰ – 15¹⁵: Dumitru Murariu, Victor Gheorghiu - Case of lek demes in some troglophilic bats and interspecific relations in bat colonies from some Romanian caves
• 15¹⁵ – 16⁰⁰: Closing remarks
• 18⁰⁰ – 00⁰⁰: Gala Dinner

Sunday, Sep 30^th

• 09³⁰ – 17⁰⁰ Field trip: Danube Gorges

SESSIONS

Special sessions are scheduled on the following topics:

• Biospeleology, Soil Biology and Ecology of Karst;
• Geomorphology, Geology and Hydrogeochemistry;
• Paleontology and Paleoclimatology.