(1) Background: Show caves are unique natural attractions and touristic traffic can trigger their degradation within a short time. There are no universal solutions to counter the effects of the touristic impact upon the cave environment and both protection protocols and management plans have to be established on a case-by-case basis. (2) Methods: The study includes four show caves from the Romanian Carpathians, where monitoring of the number of visitors, paralleled by the monitoring of the main physicochemical parameters of the air and water (CO₂, temperature, humidity, drip rate, conductivity, and pH) was implemented. (3) Results and Conclusions: The results of the study have: established a set of basic principles to be enforced by the management of show caves and issued a set of preventive measures and instructions to be followed by the personnel and stakeholders of the caves.

Babesia spp. are hemoparasites which infect the red blood cells of a large variety of mammals. In bats, the only known species of the genus is Babesia vesperuginis. However, except a few old reports, the host range and geographical distribution of this bat parasite have been poorly studied. This study aimed to investigate the presence of piroplasms in tissues of bats collected in four different countries from eastern and central Europe: Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. A total of 461 bat carcasses (24 species) were collected between 2001 and 2016 from caves, mines and buildings. PCR was performed using specific primers targeting a portion of the 18S rDNA nuclear gene and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 mitochondrial gene, followed by sequencing. The results of this study show for the first time the presence of B. vesperuginis in bats in central and eastern Europe. The phylogenetic analysis of the 18S rDNA nuclear gene revealed no variability between the sequences and the phylogenetic analysis of the cox1 mitochondrial gene proved that B. vesperuginis could be divided into two subclades. Our study showed a broad geographical distribution of B. vesperuginis in European bats, reporting its presence in five new host species (M. cf. alcathoe, M. bechsteinii, M. myotis, Pi. nathusii and V. murinus) and three new countries.

Given the rapid spread of invasive alien plant species in Europe and limited information regarding their distribution and dispersion patterns, we analyzed the invasive risk of Humulus scandens, a species with an increased invasive potential. We collected occurrence records from Romania within an EU funded project and literature data, in order to perform an ensemble distribution model. Environmental variables varied from downscaled topoclimatic continuous entries to categorical ones, such as soil class, texture, or land use. Results showed potential core areas of the species within the study region. By inverting the probability output of the models, we have created a resistance surface which helped us model its dispersion patterns. Further, we assessed the probability of invasion for each resulted corridor using the species dispersion ecology and created an invasion risk map. H. scandens is highly influenced by milder climates and areas with constant flooding events, thus we found that the Tisa basin and its tributaries can be under a high invasion risk, spreading through the entire catchment, in Central, Western, and Northern Romania, towards the Eastern Carpathians. The Danube acted as a dispersion corridor for major river systems in southern Romania, but the dispersion capability of the species dropped in steppe areas with higher aridity and limited water course network. This approach is useful for creating adequate action plans in relation to invasive alien plant species, and should urgently be regarded, as results show a potentially large distribution of H. scandens across entire water catchment areas, with devastating effects on natural ecosystems.

Bat species inhabit subterranean environments (e.g., caves and mines) in small areas with specific microclimatic conditions, during various periods of their life cycle. Bats can be negatively influenced by microclimatic changes within their roosts if optimal habitat patches become unavailable. Therefore, proper management solutions must be applied for the conservation of vulnerable bat populations, especially in show caves. We have pursued an ensemble species distribution modelling approach in subterranean environments to identify sensible patches for bats. Using multi-annual temperature monitoring and bat distribution surveys performed within ten caves and mines, including show caves, we modelled relevant habitat patches for five bat species. The temperature-based variables generated from this approach proved to be effective when processed via species distribution models, which generated optimal validation results, even for bats that were heavily clustered in colonies. Management measures are proposed for each show cave to help in long-time conservation of hibernation and maternity colonies. These measures include creating suitable microclimatic patches within the caves by ecological reconstruction measures, tourist management practices in relation to bats, and show cave fitting recommendations. This approach has never been performed at this scale due to the complex geostatistical challenges involving subterranean environment mapping and can be further used as best practice guidelines for future conservation projects.