Bats and Biology
Instructor: Dr. Jerry Wilkinson, Department of Biology
Contact: wilkinso@umd.edu
Overview
In this two-day seminar I will introduce the class to the biology of bats in general, and in particular to learn which species of bats occur in the Chesapeake Bay region. With over 1,000 species, bats represent the second most diverse order of mammals on the planet. Perhaps because most of these species fly at night and live in tropical regions, they are less well known than other groups of mammals. This seminar will explore how bats have been used to understand a variety of biological processes with particular relevance to humans, such as aging, echolocation, energetics, epidemiology, evolution, cooperation, and reproduction, and will discuss recent cases where bats have been in the news, such as white-nose syndrome, bats and wind turbines, and bat-transmitted rabies. Some of the seminar time will be spent discussing laboratory-type exercises that could be used in secondary school classrooms. An optional field trip will be taken after the first day to make ultrasonic recordings of bats hunting for insects. Participants will have the opportunity to use specialized, but easily available, software to analyze the bat echolocation vocalizations and learn how they can be used to help identify different species.
Seminar Readings
Tuttle, M.D. 2005 America's Neighborhood Bats: Understanding and Learning to Live in Harmony with Them. Second Edition. University of Texas Press, Austin.
For
April 16
- Blehert et al. 2009 Bat white-nose syndrome: an
emerging fungal pathogen? Science 323:227.
- Cryan, P.M.
2003
Seasonal distribution of migratory tree bats in North
America. Journal of Mammalogy 84:579-593.
- Wilkinson, G.S. and South, J.M. 2002 Life
history, ecology and longevity in bats. Aging Cell 1: 124-131
Presentations
| Topic | Display | |
| Evolution, diversity & distribution of bats | PPT | |
| Energetics, hibernation & migration (white-nose and turbines) | PPT | |
| Public health & conservation (rabies) | PPT | |
| Life history & longevity (aging) | PPT |
For
April 30
- Schnitzler, H.U., Moss C.F., and Denzinger, A.
2003 From
spatial orientation to food acquisition in echolocating
bats. Trends in Ecology and
Evolution 18:386-394.
- Miller LA, Surlykke A 2001 How some insects detect and avoid being eaten by bats: Tactics and countertactics of prey and predator. BIOSCIENCE 51: 570-581
- Li et al. 2007 Accelerated FoxP2 evolution in echolocating bats. PLoS One 9: e900.
- Tutorial for using Raven Software
Presentations
| Topic | Display | |
| Echolocation and hearing | PPT | |
| Coevolution | PPT | |
| Reproduction and mating | PPT |
Useful web sites
Bat Conservation International
North American Symposium on Bat Research (organizes annual meetings on bat research)
Pettersson Electronik (makes best bat detectors)
Sonobat (software for analyzing bat sounds)
Cornell Lab of Ornithology (Raven sound analysis software)
The Lubee Foundation (rear endangered bats, near Gainesville)
Titley Scientific (makers of ANABAT bat detectors)
Sample bat recordings (expanded 10x in time)
Eptesicus fuscus feeding buzz (Bat4, recorded in College Park, MD, April 26, 2009 @ 2030)