Luisa Auletta

Role: Senior Research Assistant 

Project: African Bat Conservation

Location: ABC Research Centre in Malawi

Email: luisa@africanbatconservation.org

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Luisa Auletta holds a Master’s degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Naples. While studying she took part to some projects as a volunteer, especially about the ringing of birds for Scientific purposes. In the same period, she also attended to a caving course, becoming a caver and starting to increase her knowledges about biospeleology, that concerns the study of animal species directly related to the caves, including bats. One year later she started to give lectures of Biospeleology during Caving level 1 courses, teaching to new cavers knowledges about subterranean fauna and increasing their awareness and respect for these fragile species.

She carried out her Master’s degree thesis on the in-depth study of the cave-dwelling species of Pertosa-Auletta caves in Southern Italy, spending several months doing field work and collecting samples and data. Part of the study was also carried on the amphipod species Niphargus salernianus (Karaman, 2015), aiming to unveil the existence of circadian rhythms and published on the Acts of the III Regional Meeting of Speleology "Campania Speleologica".

Her unconditional love for nature and wildlife led her to spend about a year and a half in Africa, particularly in South Africa and Botswana. She studied to become a Professional Field Guide and she spent several months in the bush in unfenced tented camps, earning more knowledges about African wildlife and qualifications such as FGASA Field Guide, FGASA Apprentice Trails Guide and Tracker Level 1.

During her time at Kololo Game Reserve in South Africa she conducted guided experiences in both game drives and bush walks in the Big 5 Reserve of Welgevonden in Waterberg area. She also worked on two different projects, studying the impact of the alien species Campuloclinium macrocephalum on indigenous plant species and creating Information panels about surrounding wildlife for Kololo’s hiking routes.