European Vertebrate Management Conference
Welcome
Dear Friends, dear Colleagues,
the European Vertebrate Pest Management Conference (EVPMC) was first held in 1997 in York, UK. Since then, many successful conferences have taken place in various countries. Following the most recent edition, held in Florence, Italy, in 2023, it was decided that the 14th edition would be organized in Slovenia, in May 2025. This time, however, the acronym omits one letter—P for pest—following a general agreement to avoid potential stigmatization of various vertebrate species and to make the event more inclusive. Consequently, even more than in the past, the conference—now abbreviated as EVMC 2025—serves as a platform for presenting recent findings on vertebrate ecology, the ecological role and value of different species, hunting, behaviour, intra- and interspecific interactions, as well as human–wildlife coexistence, conflict, and population management.
In this context, the number of emerging topics and new scientific insights presented at the conference—and compiled in this Book of Abstracts—continues to grow. More than 200 participants from around the world attend the event in person and have the opportunity to read the abstracts of 167 contributions, which include 7 plenary talks, 88 oral presentations, and 72 posters. These contributions are the outcome of the collaboration of an impressive variety of 806 co-authors from 45 countries, including 28 countries with first authorship. The authors represent a broad geographical range, with contributions from 32 European countries and 13 countries across all other continents.
The contributions focus on the newest and most compelling topics, spanning a wide range of disciplines and taxa, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, small mammals, lagomorphs, ungulates, mesocarnivores, and large predators. Several engaging symposia cover the following topics: Ecology, physiology and behaviour; Crops and urban systems; Human-animal conflicts and social dimension; Population monitoring and management; (Invasive) alien vertebrates; New tools and methods; Taxonomy and genetics; Health, zoonotic pathogens and parasites; and Rodenticide resistance and environmental monitoring.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of various institutions and companies that contributed to organizing the conference: the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of the Republic of Slovenia, the Municipality of Ankaran, the Municipality of Velenje, as well as numerous sponsors and exhibitors: Ecotone GPS Telemetry, Pig Brig Trap Systems, DivjaLabs #BiodiversityInSight, the Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control, International Pest Control, Unichem, MegaTel, Heslinga Traps, and Palma. We also extend our thanks to any new sponsor who may have joined in supporting the event after this Book of Abstracts went to press.
Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all partners and colleagues who have contributed—both visibly and behind the scenes—to the organization of EVMC 2025. Our thanks go to the plenary speakers, symposia chairs, all presenters, and to our colleagues from the Local Organizing Committee, who took responsibility not only for individual parts of the event but also for ensuring its overall success. Thank you for making EVMC 2025 a smooth, coherent, and truly memorable
experience.
Thank you all for coming to Ankaran. We hope this event will be a memorable experience for you!
Boštjan Pokorny and Jens Jacob,
on behalf of the Organizing Committee and the International Steering Committee
COMMITTEES
LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, SLOVENIA
Faculty of Environmental Protection
Boštjan Pokorny – CHAIR
Lea Komerički Kotnik
Milena Ževart
Samar Al Sayegh Petkovšek
Saša Zagode Burič
Zarja Platovšek
University of Primorska, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies
Elena Bužan
Alenka Babič
Lan Zirkelbach
Luka Duniš
University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty
Hubert Potočnik
Ivan Kos
Klemen Jerina
Slovenian Forestry Institute
Katarina Flajšman
The Hunters Association of Slovenia
Alojz Kovšca
Gregor Bolčina
Urša Kmetec
Zavod za gozdove Slovenije
Matija Stergar
Peter Krma
Lovska zveza Koper
Fabio Steffe
Vedran Prodan
INTERNATIONAL STEERING
COMMITTEE
Ann-Charlotte Heiberg, Denmark
Emil Tkadlec, Czech Republic
Emiliano Mori, Italy
Etienne Benoit, France
Giovanna Massei, UK
Goran Jokic, Serbia
Graham Smith, UK
Herwig Leirs, Belgium
Jens Jacob, Germany – CHAIR
Joachim Pelz, Germany
Jordi Figuerola, Spain
Linda Bjedov, Croatia
Marco Zaccaroni, Italy
Otso Huitu, Finland
Philippe Berny, France
Valeria Mazza, Italy
Virginie Lattard, France
Zbigniew Borowski, Poland
SCIENTIFIC INFO
PLENARY SPEAKERS








SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME
The detailed conference programme is available here. Please note that the schedule may be subject to changes due to organizational or unforeseen circumstances. Each presenter is assigned a 20-minute time slot (15 + 5).
GENERAL INFO
ABOUT SLOVENIA
Norway ‒ land of fjords, Finland ‒ land of lakes, Slovenia ‒ ?
‒ land of diversity in a small area (20.000 square km ‒ 20 x Paris)
diversity in nature: transitional area between the Alps, Dinaric mountains, Pannonic region and Mediterranean Sea
diversity in culture: situated along the ancient Amber way, historical overlapping of Roman, German and Slavic culture
diversity in climate: from Mediterranean to continental and Alpine climate patterns across less than 300 km of air distance
diversity in cuisine: 3 different wine regions with high quality small wine producers, local food (Slovenian cuisine with influences of Italian, German, Balkan and Hungarian flavours)
– land of forests: almost 60% of the country is covered by forests, mostly traditionally sustainably managed, selective cutting prevails, while clear-cutting is forbidden, forest ecosystems are of high biodiversity value;
– land of large carnivores: brown bear and wolf are historicaly present in Slovenia, lynx was extinct but it has been successfuly reintroduced, as habitat remains suitable. Populations are shared by neighbouring countries, and efforts to reach a common understanding on population level management are in place. Due to Slovenian geographical position, the connection of Alpine and Dinaric populations is a big challenge, mostly because of acceptance of local communities.
– land of origin of fresh water: most Slovenian rivers have their spring in Slovenia (Sava, Soča, Krka, Savinja …), about 80% of waters flow to the Balck Sea and the rest to the Adriatic Sea;
– land of diverse landscapes: astonishing changing of landscape patterns when travelling in Slovenia, responding to climate, geological and relief characteristics. Special landscape elements are hay-racks for drying hay in the Alpine part of Slovenia and a lot of small churches situated in villages and small hills.
– land of karst: About 44% of Slovenia are carbonatic rocks, mostly limestone, where karst phaenomena are well developed. The area between Trieste and Vipava Valley is called Kras and is used international kast terminology together with some expresions for particular karst feature: ponor, dolina, polje. In Slovenia, over 15,000 caves are registered, the deepest being Čehi 2 (1505 m or height of 5 Eiffel towers), 22 are adjusted for tourist visits (Postonjska jama, Škocjanske jame (UNESCO World Heritage);
– subterranean fauna: whereas flora and fauna in Slovenia is rich and diverse due to its basic landscape diversity, the level of endemism is average. But this is not true for karstic subterranean world. Here the number of species living in a world without light is the highest known in the world. These species are highly specialised and living isolated in small, in many cases endemic, populations. The best known is the biggest cave vertebrate Proteus anguinus that was described from Slovenia and is still puzzling scientists. The other one is the cave beetle Leptodirus hohenwartii found in Postonjska jama in 1831. That was the first subterranean animal described and triggered a new brach of biology ‒ spelobiology.
– high level of nature protected areas: protected areas (about 13% of national territory: 1 National Park (Triglav National Park), 4 Regional Parks, 47 Landscape Parks, 1,097 Natural Monuments, 62 Nature Reserves), Natura 2000 covers almost 38% of national territory.
Now you can try to make an image of Slovenia and try to characterise it with one word. I didn’t succeed!
But it’s better to experience Slovenia yourself!
Dr. Peter Skoberne
ABOUT ANKARAN
The small seaside town of Ankaran, with around 3,200 inhabitants, is situated on the Adriatic coast, in the immediate vicinity of the Debeli Rtič Nature Park, famous for its exceptional landscape and natural diversity. The Ankaran peninsula, where the town is located, is characterised by an unspoilt flysch coastline with bays, cliffs, seashell dunes, wetlands and grasslands, among which the Mediterranean salt meadow stands out, the only one of its kind in Slovenia and one of the few on the eastern Adriatic coast.
The 11th-century Benedictine monastery of St Nicholas is located on the conference site, while the preserved villa of the noble Galli family and numerous World War II monuments (bunkers, firing ranges, observation tower) can be admired on the hillside above the town.
The mild Mediterranean climate, the high biodiversity on land and sea, the rich cultural heritage, the proximity to the Slovenian capital (Ljubljana is only an hour’s drive away) and the good cuisine make Ankaran an ideal location for the EVMC 2025.
We look forward to welcoming you to this picturesque place!
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
English will be the official language of the Conference.
IMPORTANT DATES
Registration: from 11 Sep 2024 onward |
Early-bird end: 28 Feb 2025 |
Deadline for payment of fee enabling inclusion of abstracts in the programme: 20 Mar 2025 |
Start of the conference: 12 May 2025 |
REGISTRATION FEE
(without excursion and gala dinner)
Participants (early-bird) | . . . . . . . | 300 EUR |
Participants (regular) | . . . . . . . | 400 EUR |
Students, also PhD (early-bird) | . . . . . . . | 200 EUR |
Students, also PhD (regular) | . . . . . . . | 250 EUR |
One-day (all participants) | . . . . . . . | 100 EUR |
REGISTRATION
Payments
Registration/reservation payments can be provided by:
– Bank Transfer
Addressed to: Faculty of Environmental Protection
Bank: OTP bank d.d.
Address: Trg mladosti 7, 3320 Velenje, Slovenia
IBAN: SI56 0400 1004 8714 262
BIC-SWIFT: KBMASI2X
PLEASE Write: 317-2025 + Participant Name and Surname
Please, consider that receiving a payment from a non-registered participant doesn’t allow us to issue the regular invoice and consequently isn’t valid until the due registration on our online platform. Therefore, please, to register for the Conference you must make sure to have completed the registration form before making the payment.
If you have any issues or questions regarding the registration, please contact us at evmc@fvo.si
Invoice
Your registration will be effective only after we have received the total amount due by bank transfer, then we will provide the invoice/s.
Cancellation Policy
Returned payments:
- Full refund for cancellations received before April 14th 2025;
- 50% refund for cancellations received between April 15th and April 30th 2025;
- No refunds will be granted after May 1st 2025.
All refunds will be processed starting one month after the Conference.
If you have any issues or questions regarding the payment, please contact us at financevmc@fvo.si
Excursion options:
Option 1:
THE ŠKOCJAN CAVES
Discover the only monument in Slovenia and the Classical Karst region on UNESCO’s list of natural and cultural world heritage sites and the beautiful nature of Škocjan Caves Regional Park.
Option 2:
MAŠUN
In the heart of the vast Snežnik forests, experience Slovenia as a land of forests and a home to large carnivores.
Option 3:
BLED AND TRIGLAV NATIONAL PARK
Bled is Slovenia’s most iconic alpine destination, renowned for its glacial lake with a picturesque island church, a medieval clifftop castle, and the traditional blejska kremšnita dessert. Situated at the gateway to Triglav National Park, it offers easy access to one of Europe’s oldest national parks, home to exceptional biodiversity and the majestic Julian Alps.
Option 4:
THE SLOVENIAN COAST
You will see that the short Slovenian coast has a rich natural and cultural heritage. The view from the boat over the picturesque town of Piran will amaze you.
FILM SCREENING
Film screening – Documentary Wild Slovenia
Monday, 12 May 2025, at 21.00, Congress Centre Hall
In the hopes of getting you to learn more about Slovenia’s nature, we invite you to a screening of the documentary film Wild Slovenia. The screening is in English. Come see it!
Wild Slovenia is a Slovenian natural history documentary film about the diversity of Slovenian flora and fauna and the different types of Slovenian landscapes. It is a wonderful documentary journey through the richness of Slovenia’s natural environment, with rarely seen scenes in nature giving the film a special touch. It presents us with five ecosystems: the Alpine world, the Karst underworld, the Adriatic Sea, the forests of the Dinarides and the Pannonian plains, which are home to a great variety of life forms.The documentary features over 50 animal species.
Many biologists, hunters and other conservationists participated in the making of this film.
Matej Vranič is a Slovenian professional photographer and filmmaker. He won the Best Photography of Slovenia competition and was awarded the Slovenian Nature Photographer of the Year in 2017. His photographs have been exhibited in numerous galleries. He has produced a series of wildlife stories for the National Geographic Slovenia magazine. Today, his focus is mainly on wildlife documentaries.
NEWS
Thank you for joining the 14th European Vertebrate Management Conference
Dear colleagues, the 14th European Vertebrate Management Conference has successfully[...]
Documentary Wild Slovenia – Monday, 12 May 2025, at 21.00
Film screening - Documentary Wild Slovenia Monday, 12 May 2025,[...]
Conference Mobile App available
We are pleased to inform you that the mobile app[...]
CONTACT AND REQUEST
MOBILE APP
https://conference4me.psnc.pl/get/?config=evmc2025
or scan the QR code or type ‘evmc2025’ in Google Play or Apple App Store.
SOCIAL EVENTS
Mid-Conference Excursions
We are delighted to offer you four exclusive mid-conference excursions on May 14th 2025; designed to complete your EVMC 2025 experiences by combining exploration of Slovenia, a land of diversity in a small area, including forests, mountains, large carnivores, origins of fresh water, diverse landscapes, karst, subterranean fauna, sea and a large amount of protected areas. We are pleased to announce that together with our partners have managed to organise excursions free of charge, the only cost for the participant will be lunch and drinks, payable on site.
Important notes: