title: Weather stations and the data reports from Romania as part of the East-BTNet project.
abstract: The authors present data collected by six weather stations placed in Romania, as part of the East-BTNet regional project. The weather stations were equipped with smart sensors to collect information on air and soil temperature, atmospheric relative humidity, soil moisture and wind speed, factors that may influence the development and activity of Culicoides insects, vectors of bluetongue virus. Concomitantly with the monitoring of the environmental parameters, insects were captured, examined and identified according to the standard methods. The six weather stations were placed in locations with different geo-climatic conditions (seaside, mountains, plateaux and plains) to establish whether there is a correlation between environmental parameters and insect populations, especially for the Pulicaris, Obsoletus and Nubeculosus Complexes. A correlation between environmental conditions and the activity of vector populations was observed. The characteristics of the climate influenced the size of vector populations (sub-Mediterranean climate in the south-west and temperate continental climate in the centre of the country).
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diagnosis and Animal Health, Dr Staicovici, 63 Street, Sector 5, 050557 Bucharest, Romania. dascalu.lenuta@idah.ro
authors.forename: Lenuta
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dascălu
authors.forename: Aurelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ionescu
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rizac