Student Scholars

Special Recognition: Conservation Evidence Special Recognition

Agricultural land-use change is a primary driver of biodiversity loss globally, yet its specific impacts on bat communities in Afromontane ecosystems, particularly within community-managed conservation areas, remain poorly understood. This 12-month study in the Guassa Menz Community Conservation Area, Ethiopia, will assess how the conversion of natural habitats to agricultural land affects bat diversity, abundance, and the critical ecosystem services they provide, such as pest control. We will conduct acoustic monitoring across a gradient of land-use types (natural Afroalpine habitat, sustainable grazing land, and small-scale agriculture) to document species richness, composition, and activity patterns. Complementary insect sampling and molecular diet analysis will directly quantify pest consumption. This research directly addresses BCI’s Priority Category 1 (Effects of Human-Caused Environmental Change on Bats) by generating crucial baseline data on Ethiopian bats and evidence-based recommendations for integrating bat conservation into sustainable agricultural practices, thereby benefiting both biodiversity and local livelihoods.

Bat diversity is an essential indicator for biodiversity conservation, particularly in underground ecosystems. In Benin, studies on bats remain rare and date back more than a decade, with very little information on cave-dwelling species and their ectoparasites. However, the center of the country, including the municipalities of Dassa, Savè, Ouèssè, and Glazoué, is home to numerous caves that are regularly used for religious, tourist, or agricultural activities. These anthropogenic pressures, combined with environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and pesticide use, could alter habitat structure and affect the health of bat populations, particularly through an increase in their parasite load. This project aims to assess the effect of anthropogenic disturbances and ectoparasites on cave-dwelling bats in central Benin in order to propose conservation strategies based on purely scientific data. More specifically, it will involve (i) establishing the specific diversity of bats, (ii) assessing the diversity and burden of ectoparasites in relation to human disturbances and environmental conditions, (iii) analyzing the impact of human activities on the quality of underground habitats, and (iv) conducting awareness-raising activities among local communities and authorities. Bats will be captured using Japanese nets and harp traps over four nights per site per season. Climatic parameters will be measured, ectoparasites collected, and local communities educated about the conservation of cave-dwelling bats. The expected results will fill a significant gap in knowledge about cave-dwelling bats in Benin, while contributing to better integration of conservation issues into the sustainable management of caves and local natural resources.

Understanding predator foraging patterns in relation to prey and environmental features is essential for unraveling connections between species and habitats, informing conservation strategies, and identifying feedback loops in population health. These links have been explored through models such as Optimal Foraging and Social Foraging Theories. However, a significant knowledge gap exists in our understanding of the foraging behaviour of cryptic and endangered species, like little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), which were listed as endangered in Ontario in 2014. My key research question explores how bat foraging behaviour varies spatiotemporally in reference to available habitats and prey during the reproductive season. This study is guided by four primary objectives: 1) to evaluate how spatiotemporal variables influence species assemblages and nocturnal insect quality using weekly light bucket trap sampling and nutritional analysis across five habitats; 2) to quantify shifts in little brown bat diet and foraging behaviour over the reproductive season utilizing weekly guano collection for DNA metabarcoding and acoustic monitoring of foraging activity; 3) to measure how intraspecific wing morphology influences dietary breadth, correlating wing morphometrics images with DNA barcoding of fecal samples; and 4) to examine social foraging behaviours in relation to reproductive trade-offs by constructing social networks from co-emergence data of PIT-tagged bats. This research offers a holistic view of how environmental variation, predator-prey dynamics, reproduction, and social factors influence the foraging behaviour of an endangered species. It addresses the urgent need to conserve little brown bats and demonstrates how foundational foraging frameworks can better integrate reproductive trade-offs.

Agricultural intensification is a major driver of global biodiversity loss, often disrupting ecosystem functions and services. In Europe, insectivorous bats play a key role in controlling pest populations, supporting sustainable agriculture. However, the extent to which bats roosting in protected areas exploit surrounding agricultural landscapes remains poorly understood. This project aims to characterize the diet of bat species roosting within the important protected area, Deliblato Sands, located within the agriculturally dominated Vojvodina province of Serbia, and assess their potential contribution to ecosystem services in adjacent agroecosystems. Field surveys will be conducted during the summer of 2026, targeting both known and potential roosting sites. Collected bat fecal samples will be processed using DNA metabarcoding, targeting COI and 16S markers, to identify prey taxa. Bioinformatic analyses will quantify dietary diversity, while landscape analysis in QGIS will relate diet composition to habitat structure around sampling sites. We hypothesize that bats roosting in protected areas consume a diverse diet that includes prey associated with agricultural landscapes, providing important ecosystem services. The analysis will reveal if the bats’ diet consists of insects associated with agricultural crops, providing direct evidence of the ecosystem services these bat species deliver in this part of Europe within such agricultural systems. This represents the applied conservation relevance and goal of the study, while the primary scientific objective is to understand the feeding ecology of the studied bat species. This study will offer novel insights into bat foraging ecology and the spatial extent of their ecological contributions beyond protected area boundaries.

Special Recognition: Equitable Conservation Award

The Kaimosi–Kibiri–Kakamega Forest complex in Western Kenya represents the easternmost remnant of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest and is a globally significant biodiversity hotspot. This ecosystem supports a high diversity of bat species that play vital ecological roles in seed dispersal, pollination, and pest control. Adjacent to this forest are the Tiriki Sacred Groves—small, culturally protected forest patches managed by the Tirikī community for rituals and traditional practices. The project seeks to address critical threats to bat populations and habitats within these sacred groves, which form an integral part of the greater forest ecosystem. Deforestation, agricultural expansion, and charcoal production are fragmenting habitats and displacing bat colonies, forcing them into human settlements and heightening human–bat conflict. The research will pursue two main goals: (1) to assess the ecological value of Tiriki Sacred Groves as habitats for bats while promoting community awareness and reducing conflict, and (2) to integrate ecological research with indigenous conservation practices to strengthen local stewardship. Specific objectives include: documenting traditional management systems, mapping bat habitats and roosting sites, developing bat-friendly mitigation strategies, and conducting outreach programs to improve community perceptions of bats. The study will be conducted in Hamisi Constituency (Vihiga County), home to the Tiriki people, whose Itumi circumcision ritual and ecological taboos illustrate a strong link between culture and conservation. This project aligns with Bat Conservation International’s mission to protect bats and their ecosystems through community-based conservation and education.

Special Recognition: Women in Science Award

Island ecosystems are highly vulnerable to biodiversity loss, making them global conservation priorities. The Caribbean, a hotspot of endemism, faces accelerating environmental pressures that threaten its fauna. The Dominican Republic has the second highest bat diversity in the Caribbean, yet the ecological roles of these species remain virtually unknown. The goal of the project is to describe and compare the structure of bat-plant interaction networks across contrasting ecosystems in the Dominican Republic to inform conservation of Vulnerable Caribbean bats. I hypothesize that while the specific plant species visited (diet composition) will vary across communities and seasons, the overall structure of the bat-plant interaction networks will remain consistent. Additionally, I predict that species will differ in their level of network connectivity, reflecting their ecological roles and contributions to network stability. To address this hypothesis, I will focus on two distinct ecosystems, the dry forests of Pedernales and the humid forests of Los Haitises. This study will provide the first empirical documentation of bat-plant networks in the Dominican Republic and assess how environmental gradients shape network structure and functional specialization in insular ecosystems. Fieldwork will combine mist-netting with non-invasive sampling (feces and eDNA) to document bat-plant interactions. Molecular analyses will identify plant taxa consumed or contacted by bats, enabling the construction of quantitative interaction networks to evaluate connectance, modularity, and nestedness. This project will establish a baseline for conservation planning, identify key floral resources, and strengthen local research capacity by training Dominican students to lead future collaborative studies.

Special Recognition: Conservation Evidence Special Recognition
The straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) is a keystone species in African ecosystems, yet faces increasing threats from habitat loss, hunting, and urban expansion. Understanding its ecological patterns, genetic diversity, and dietary composition is essential for effective conservation. This study aims to assess the population abundance, genetic variation, and diet of E. helvum in three locations across southwestern Nigeria. Monthly field monitoring will record population counts and roost characteristics, while dietary analysis will employ Illumina Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to identify plant species in bat droppings. Genetic diversity will be examined using mitochondrial DNA markers from skin biopsy samples collected under humane protocols. By integrating molecular, ecological, and spatial data, the study will provide insights into how environmental changes influence bat populations and foraging behavior. Findings will contribute to the global understanding of fruit bat ecology, provide baseline data for conservation planning, and promote coexistence strategies in regions where human activity increasingly affects bat habitats. The results will also inform community education programs aimed at reducing persecution and enhancing appreciation for the ecological roles of bats in pollination and seed dispersal.

Special Recognition: Conservation Evidence Special Recognition

Light pollution is significant and fast-growing, little studied threat to biodiversity, especially affecting nocturnal and crepuscular species such as bats. In Europe, 99% of the human population lives under artificial illumination, with Spain being the fifth most light-polluted country on the continent by area and the sixth worldwide, both by area and population. Although artificial light at night (ALAN) is widely recognized as a serious ecological disturbance, most research has been conducted in a few northern European countries. This geographic bias creates major challenges when applying mitigation measures in Mediterranean regions, as the ecological, climatic, and community composition differences between areas mean that bat species respond differently to light. Therefore, a “one-size-fits-all” approach has proven ineffective for ALAN mitigation and bat conservation. To address this gap, this project will experimentally compare different illumination configurations, specifically varying color temperature, intensity, and timing. Using the bioacoustics monitoring from the Bat Monitoring Programme (www.batmonitoring.org), study sites will be selected among the more than 80 acoustic stations where monitoring has been carried out annually for the last 10 years. The effects will be evaluated using infrared recording cameras to quantify invertebrate biomass and passive acoustic monitoring to assess bat activity. This pioneering project seeks to find the most balanced mitigation measure between the conservation of bats and the growth and expansion of the human population by understanding the impact of ALAN in Mediterranean bat communities, thus contributing to the conservation of threatened species and the formulation of sustainable urban lighting management policies.

This project will be conducted in two districts of southeastern Benin (Sakété and Adja-Ouèrè) to assess banana growers’ perceptions of bats (objective 1), identify frugivorous bat species involved in banana damage (objective 2), and evaluate the level of damage caused by their attacks (objective 3). A preliminary visit of banana farms of these districts will be carried out to establish a typology of the farms and select 16 fields, representing the different plantation types, each located at least 10 km apart. For the first objective, around 80 banana growers will be randomly selected and interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. Sociodemographic information and farmers’ knowledge, perceptions, attitudes toward bats, and the methods used to mitigate bat attacks will be collected. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests will be used to analyze the data. Concerning the second objective, frugivorous bats will be captured with 5 mist nets twice at each site during the main fruiting season (September–December 2026). Captured bats will be identified and marked to avoid recounts. Camera traps targeting banana fruit bunches will also be used to confirm attacking species. Data will be analyzed using ANOVA and t-tests. Finally, for the third objective, three 9 × 9 m plots will be monitored every 10 days to record the number of banana fruits and bunches damaged by bats. Attack intensity will be calculated, and economic losses caused to farmers will be evaluated by multiplying the number of fruits destroyed by the average selling price of a banana in the study districts.

Special Recognition: Conservation Evidence Special Recognition

Bats play essential ecological roles as pollinators, seed dispersers, and insect controllers, while also acting as potential reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens. The state of Mato Grosso, encompassing three major biomes (Pantanal, Cerrado, and Amazonia) hosts a remarkable diversity of caves that remain poorly explored from a biological perspective. However, increasing pressures from deforestation, mining, and other human activities pose significant threats to these subterranean ecosystems and the bat communities that depend on them. In this context, the project aims to investigate the relationships among cave biodiversity, landscape features, and potential health risks associated with cave-dwelling bats in Mato Grosso. Field expeditions will be conducted in ten representative caves across different environmental settings, involving the capture and identification of bats and their ectoparasites. Analyses will assess taxonomic and functional diversity, as well as the molecular characterization of potential pathogens, such as Rickettsia and Borrelia, found in collected ectoparasites. The project seeks to identify environmental factors influencing community diversity and composition, evaluating how land use and land cover around caves shape ecological interactions and sanitary risks. Expected outcomes include the development of strategies for cave conservation and management, and the generation of data to support epidemiological surveillance. By integrating ecological, taxonomic, and health dimensions under the One Health framework, this study aims to strengthen scientific knowledge and inform public policies for biodiversity conservation and zoonotic disease prevention in Mato Grosso.

Special Recognitions: Verne & Marion Read Bat Conservation Honor,Conservation Evidence Special Recognition

Fire is a fundamental ecological process in the Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse savanna. However, human-altered fire regimes make prescribed burning a critical yet under-evaluated conservation tool. This project addresses a key gap by being the first in South America to investigate prescribed fire effects on bats, and the first globally to quantify its impact on bat-mediated ecosystem services. We aim to address this through a state-of-the-art multi-network approach, moving beyond single-system interactions to effectively quantify bat ecological functions. Partnered with Brazil’s conservation agency (ICMBio), we will evaluate their Fire Management Plan (FMP) in a benchmark conservation unit. Our overarching goal is to generate scalable, evidence-based guidelines for FMPs by assessing how fire regimes affect bat communities and the ecological services they underpin. We will: 1) Quantify how fire alters mutualistic (pollination/seed dispersal) and antagonistic (host-parasite) network structure, to determine if parasitic interactions may increase disturbance propagation in early post-fire scenarios; 2) Identify keystone bat species for prioritized conservation across fire gradients; and 3) Determine optimal fire frequencies that maximize network stability and ecosystem service provision. Together, these objectives will deliver the first rigorous evidence of FMP effectiveness for bat species, justifying or not its expansion and evaluating its role as a key national conservation policy. The resulting evidence will be a set of network-based guidelines, telling managers exactly how to use fire to protect bats and their associated biota, from which these essential ecosystem services originate.

Special Recognition: Thomas H. Kunz Innovation in Bat Research Honor

Phenological shifts in response to climate change are increasingly recognized across migratory species, yet remain poorly understood in bats due to the challenges of studying small, nocturnal mammals. Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) migrate up to 1,800 km from Mexico to the southwestern United States each year to form maternity colonies where millions of females give birth and raise young. These bats provide major ecological and economic benefits by consuming crop pests and supporting ecotourism, yet recent cold-weather mortality events and earlier migration timing suggest that changing climate conditions may be altering migration behavior. Understanding these changes is critical for predicting how climate affects migration and population resilience. I aim to investigate how climate influences the timing, routes, and destinations of Mexican free-tailed bat migration. Specifically, I will address: (1) how temperature, precipitation, and wind influence migration timing; (2) whether migration timing has shifted under a warming and increasingly variable climate; and (3) which factors best explain migratory routes and destinations based on climate and habitat suitability. I hypothesize that migration timing aligns with favorable climatic conditions, with warmer temperatures, higher precipitation, and supportive winds promoting earlier departures, and that climate and habitat suitability best explain migratory routes and destinations. My project integrates radar, PIT detections, and Motus tracking data with long-term climate datasets to identify environmental drivers of migration and key regions for migratory connectivity. The results will reveal environmental factors shaping bat migration and guide conservation planning for one of North America’s most charismatic bat species.

The Selva Zoque is the second largest rainforest in northern Mesoamerica. Located in southeastern Mexico, it encompasses the Uxpanapa area in Veracruz, the Chimalapas region in Oaxaca, and the Selva El Ocote Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas. Notably, it hosts the highest mammal diversity in Mexico, with around 160 species, including more than 90 species of bats. Uxpanapa area contains the largest remnants of rainforest in Veracruz, represents the northern distribution limit for many Neotropical bat species, and is a critical area for bat species listed in IUCN risk categories, such as Balantiopteryx io (Vulnerable), and Leptonycteris yerbabuenae, Vampyrum spectrum, and Bauerus dubiaquercus (Near Threatened). Unfortunately, this region has experienced significant alteration of its original vegetation (80%), affecting biodiversity primarily by deforestation, land-use changes, and forest fragmentation. While some conservation initiatives have been implemented, greater collaborative efforts are essential to assess the current state of the region’s ecosystems and their relationship with the local human population. Therefore, the objectives of this project are to i) estimate the richness, distribution, and population size of bat species of the Uxpanapa region, ii) determine their taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity in the non-transformed and transformed landscapes, and iii) analyze their parasitic load and enteropathogenic potential to assess their role in the public health of local people. This project aims to enhance understanding of the effects of anthropogenic environmental changes on bat assemblages in a diverse region, to provide essential information for building efficient bat conservation strategies.

Special Recognitions: Conservation Evidence Special Recognition

Cave ecosystems play a critical role in sustaining diverse bat populations and the ecological services they provide. However, many caves in the Philippines face increasing pressures from human disturbance, hunting, and land-use changes, making effective conservation prioritization urgent. This study aims to assess cave habitat vulnerability and threats using bat species as ecological indicators, while also integrating community perspectives to inform conservation actions in Northern Mindanao, Philippines. Field assessments will be conducted in selected caves to document bat species composition, abundance, and roosting patterns. These ecological data will be evaluated alongside observed and recorded threats and disturbances, using the Bat Cave Vulnerability Index 3.0 (BCVI-S) to generate vulnerability scores. Bat assemblages will serve as indicators of habitat condition, providing a biological basis for identifying priority sites for protection. Complementing the ecological assessment, community interviews and engagement activities will be conducted to understand local knowledge, perceptions, and interactions with cave-roosting bats. This integration of biological and social data aims to identify conservation priorities that are both ecologically significant and socially grounded. The results of this research will contribute to evidence-based cave conservation planning, inform policy recommendations for local government and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and support ongoing efforts to protect cave-roosting bat populations. Ultimately, this project seeks to bridge ecological science and community engagement to promote sustainable conservation of vulnerable cave habitats.

Agriculture, identified by Bat Conservation International as one of the top three major threats to bats, has expanded 7.6% in the last 60 years covering 32% of land on Earth. While bats provide natural pest suppression services to agriculture, stressors like pesticide exposure and habitat loss can reduce fitness of resident bats, and exclude some species entirely. Year-round guano metabarcoding can reveal seasonal dynamics of bat-mediated pest suppression and bat diet. This study characterizes the annual diet of bats, key natural predators, within the Santa Clara River Valley, among the last large free-flowing rivers in California, flowing through 98,000 acres of agricultural land with a gross agricultural value of over $2 billion a year. We collected guano each month for a year from bat species of four different foraging guilds at four bridge roosts. We will use DNA metabocoding to identify insect taxa within their diets, with a focus on agricultural pests, specific to the region. Our aims are to (1) compare temporal partitioning of pests vs non-pests in the diet of various bat foraging guilds, and (2) compare resource partitioning of different pests among various bat foraging guilds. We hypothesize that bats of different foraging guilds will provide complementary pest control services: extending for a longer period and covering a wider range of pests than any single bat species. We are collaborating with about a dozen local growers in Southern California who are open to adjusting practices, according to our findings, to reduce chemical reliance while conserving bats.

Cave ecosystems in Samegrelo–Zemo Svaneti region provide vital habitats for Georgia’s diverse bat fauna, yet their ecology and human disturbance remain poorly understood. This project aims to establish the first regional ecological baseline for cave-dwelling bats and assess the magnitude, timing, and sources of disturbance affecting them. Seasonal field surveys will document species composition, population size, and cave-zone use in relation to temperature, humidity, and water presence. Camera traps and community interviews will reveal visitation patterns and visitor provenance. By linking ecological and disturbance data, the project will identify high-priority caves and generate management recommendations to mitigate human impacts. The findings will directly inform conservation actions for vulnerable and near-threatened species, including Rhinolophus mehelyi, R. euryale, and Miniopterus schreibersii, contributing to the long-term protection of Georgia’s unique subterranean biodiversity.