The Training Course ‘Impact of invasive alien species on biodiversity and ecosystem services in extreme environments’ was organised within the ESENIAS-TOOLS project and held on 03-04 April 2017, in Sofia, Bulgaria. The training course was organised by the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, BAS (IBER-BAS), Bulgaria, Reykjavik University, Iceland, ESENIAS, and the Danube Region Invasive Alien Species Network (DIAS). It was funded by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2009-2014, Programme BG03 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, under the ESENIAS-TOOLS project, D-33-51/30.06.2015.

The training course aimed at:

• Capacity building and increasing awareness on IAS impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services in extreme environments among young scientists and PhD students from Bulgaria and the ESENIAS countries;
• Imparting basic skills and competencies on IAS, its related terminology, the relevant international regulatory framework, networks, projects and information systems;
• Networking and cooperation among scientists in the ESENIAS region.

The training course was attended by 60 participants,including the lecturers and the organisers. Eleven lecturers from seven countries (Bulgaria, Iceland, France, United Kingdom, R. Macedonia, Poland, and Turkey) were involved in the course. The learners included experts from universities and research institutes, governmental institutions, and students (PhD and MSc), from five countries (Bulgaria, Italy, Serbia, R. Macedonia and Turkey).

The delivered lectures at the training course can be downloaded here:

Lecture 1. Invasive Alien Species (IAS); Environmental, economic and social impact.Introduction to Risk analysis (Rumen Tomov)

Lecture 1. Part 1 >>>

Lecture 1. Part 2 >>>

Lecture 2. Pathways of biological invasions, Human factor. Climate change as a driver of biological invasions (Rumen Tomov) >>>

Lecture 3. Ecosystem services assessment and mapping – development and application of Bulgarian methodology, relation to IAS (Svetla Bratanova) >>>

Lecture 4. IAS management (prevention, early detection and control). International regulatory framework related to IAS. IAS related networks, projects and information (Ahmet Uludag) >>>

Lecture 5. Invasive species in high latitude freshwater ecosystems as climate is warming (Jón S. Ólafsson) >>>

Lecture 6. What are alien diatom species and how do we recognise them? (David Williams) >>>

Lecture 7. How human activities and climate change interact to trigger arthropod invasions and their further spread after establishment (Alain Roques) >>>

Lecture 8. Environmental modelling, a powerful tool to preserve pristine freshwaters (David C. Finger) >>>

Lecture 9. Biodiversity in high-mountain lakes and other habitats in Poland and Bulgaria: state of knowledge, environmental and taxonomical changes of diatoms (Agata Wojtal) >>>

Lecture 10. Benthic diatom monitoring and assessment of high-mountain lakes, Rila National Park, Bulgaria - standard methods (Nadja Ognjanova-Rumenova) >>>

Lecture 11. Diversity, origin and speciation of diatoms of Lake Ohrid (Zlatko Levkov) >>>

Lecture 12. The possible effects of invasive freshwater species on fish and fisheries in Iceland (Ingi R. Jónsson) >>>

Training Course Report >>>

Training Course List of Participants >>>

Picture Gallery >>>