Bat Biology and Ecology Studies

Bats make up roughly a fifth of all mammal species and occupy ecological roles ranging from insect suppression and seed dispersal to pollination, yet the biology underlying their remarkable diversity remains incompletely understood. Researchers study how bats navigate through echolocation, regulate metabolism during hibernation, and coordinate foraging behavior across habitats, while molecular phylogenetics continues to revise our understanding of how the roughly 1,400 known species are related to one another. White-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has killed millions of hibernating bats across North America, has made conservation an urgent priority and exposed how vulnerable bat populations are to novel pathogens — a concern that overlaps with growing interest in bats as reservoirs for zoonotic viruses. Open questions include how shifting climate patterns will alter hibernation timing and geographic ranges, and what traits allow some bat lineages to tolerate pathogens that devastate others.

Works

186,949

Total citations

880,535

Keywords

BatsHibernationEcholocationWhite-Nose SyndromeMetabolic RateMolecular Phylogeny