Laura Torrent
I have just finished my PhD with the Biodiversity and Bioindicators Research Group (BiBio) at Natural Sciences Museum of Granollers, the Doñana Biological Station and the CIBIO-InBio at the University of Porto. I am studying the bat fauna from the unexplored Equatorial Guinea, in Central Africa, to set the baseline knowledge for future bat conservation.
Research
My main research interests include ecology, taxonomy, science communication and capacity building, all with the aim to be applied on conservation.
«No one will protect what they do not care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced»
Sir David Attenborough
I started working with bats in 2013 with the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) and the BiBio Research Group. My BSc dissertation (2015) dealt with the tourism impacts on hibernating bats from Poland. I spent a whole winter season surveying bats in Nietoperek, a complex of tunnels from the Second World War. Since then, I have collaborated on several national and international projects. While doing my MSc, I spent 2-month surveying bats and training international students in Mexico, and right afterwards I jumped to Madagascar to understand human-bat interactions. In 2017 I finished my MSc thesis studying the importance of Amazon lakes for bat conservation with bioacoustics. I could combine my international collaborations with projects in Catalonia. I monitored endangered cave-dwelling species with CTFC and participated in European LIFE projects using bioacoustics to assess bat activity and diversity in riverine forests. From 2017 to 2020 I also worked for Natura Montfred leading bat related projects and carrying out environmental activities. And more recently, I led a project on forest-dwelling species in mature forests with the BiBio Research Group.
Since my first visit to Equatorial Guinea in 2018 I have been exploring remote regions of the country searching for bats and training local technicians, forest wards and students. I try to combine my research with society awareness on the importance of bats and their conservation. More recently, I also joined an expedition to Guinea Bissau to assess bats ecosystem services in cashew orchards.
I am an associate Editor at the Journal of Bat Research and Conservation.
