Overview of bat species reported in Albania with the first country records for eight species

The bat fauna of Albania, a country located in a Balkan glacial refugium and a Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot, has remained poorly studied although as many as 21 species and representatives of three species complexes had been reported before 2003. It was expected that several new species would be added to the country’s list of fauna, not only due to their occurrence in adjacent regions but to the splitting of already known taxa into sibling species and the discovery of new, cryptic species. Altogether, we recorded 32 bat species in Albania, including all of those previously reported (21) and 11 new species for the country, as a result of field work conducted in 2003–2012. Here, we report on eight bat species including Rhinolophus mehelyi, Nyctalus lasiopterus, Plecotus kolombatovici, Barbastella barbastellus, Myotis brandtii that had not been reported previously in Albania while three species (Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Plecotus austriacus, Myotis mystacinus) had been reported before changes to their taxonomy and so could be treated only as representatives of a particular species complex (i.e. sensu lato). We greatly extended the known geographic ranges of five species in the south of Europe.     

Idealisation,genetic explanations and political behaviours: Notes on the anti-reductionist critique of genopolitics

The rapid development of genetic research, determined, among others, by the requirements of The Human Genome Project, and a gradual reorientation in the perception of the role of nature and culture in the process of shaping complex networks of human relations by some political scientists, result in the increasing application of genetic data and methods in research regarding political behaviours. One of the key philosophical objections against the studies of the genetic foundations of political behaviours is that of excessive reductionism. This is supposed to manifest itself in the inadequate selection of the level of analysis for the explained phenomenon, the incompleteness of explanations and their low utility. My findings show that this objection is not sufficiently supported by contemporary science. Both studies using classical behavioural genetic methodologies and studies using DNA-based methods show that genes most likely play a role in political behaviours. Emphasising the significance of genetic influences in the midst of multiple extra-genetic interactions generates highly idealised explanations. Using the conceptual apparatus of the deformational concept of culture, I have demonstrated that the omission of a number of important extra-genetic influences by researchers is a consequence of focusing on specific causal patterns. This omission, however, does not entail negating the influence of non-genetic factors and, importantly, it may not have to be permanent. Following this approach, if correct, the reductionism of research into the genetic foundations of political behaviours is a standard cognitive procedure applied in science.