Bat diversity: adaptations to northern environments and response to disturbance

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The research my students and I do aims to increase our understanding of basic biology, as well as to apply that knowledge to current conservation issues. Most of our work focuses on bat ecology, behaviour and conservation. Bats are the second most diverse group of mammals, with over 1200 species worldwide. They provide key ecosystem services such as preying on agricultural and forest pest insects, pollinating tropical plants, and dispersing seeds of fruit-producing plants.   Our research will focus on understanding how bats are adapted to harsh conditions, such as in northern or mountainous environments, and how natural and human-caused environmental disturbances affect bat populations and communities. We will study the basic ecology, behaviour and physiology of bats at various field sites using radio-transmitters that allow us to follow bats and find their feeding and roosting sites. We will measure bat activity patterns and use of different habitats by recording their echolocation calls. Some of the questions we will address include: How do northern and mountain populations of bats differ from populations in less challenging environments? How do bats in northern Canada obtain enough energy and nutrients to reproduce despite the short, cool summers, and short nights? We previously found that one species thrives in the North by using buildings as roosts, but another species roosts in hollow trees. How is it behaviourally or physiologically adapted to the North, and as climate changes, will either species be able to expand even further north? Both species expand their diets by eating non-flying prey such as spiders. How do they find and catch spiders? I hypothesize that the bright nights in the North allow bats to use vision in addition to echolocation.   Forest fire and hurricane intensity is predicted to increase due to climate change. We have unique opportunities to study how these natural environmental disturbances affect bat communities. We will compare the abundance, diversity and reproduction of bats before and after a recent forest fire in Waterton National Park, Alberta, and before and after a recent hurricane in Dominica (Caribbean).   Human activities change natural environments and pose risks to bat populations. We will test the hypothesis that populations of migratory bats have declined due to fatalities at wind turbines, by comparing abundance of these species to our previous surveys at sites in Alberta.   By studying the ecology and behaviour of locally-adapted populations of bats in challenging environments, we will increase our understanding of how populations of these wide-ranging species have evolved and differ from other populations, despite the ability to move over large areas. This is of interest to those studying evolutionary processes. Information from our work in the North and on bat communities affected by fire, hurricanes, and wind turbines will also inform wildlife management policies and actions in Canada and abroad.