Social organization and life history trait variation of a temperate colonial mammal

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Understanding population biology is crucial for understanding how native species will respond to environmental perturbations; a key for managing biodiversity. Despite this, biologists do not have data on key population parameters (e.g., number, productivity, sociality), even for many common species. The objective of my research program is to measure life history traits and population dynamics that are important for understanding and predicting factors that cause them to vary. Ultimately, the goal of my program is to understand the evolutionary causes and consequences of these traits that might also be used to inform management for species and ecosystems. My research program uses bats as model organisms and I've established a long term (multi-generational) study program to maximize rigor of inferences. To date, I have worked primarily on movement dynamics, sociality and resource use of bats in eastern North America. We continue to use field- (e.g., capture, tagging and tracking) and lab- (e.g., population genetics, stable isotopes) based methods to understand species biology and the causes and consequences of traits. Such information permits greater understanding of population dynamics and is crucial for management. Moving forward, I intend to continue my maintain my long-term investigations of the factors that explain variation in life history parameters (e.g., size, reproduction, behavior) of little brown bats, a species that is typical of many temperate zone bats worldwide and so I expect our results will be generalizable to other species in other places. My primary objectives are to understand how species biology changes with age and to understand their social organization. In Newfoundland our program has >2400 bats individually tagged with RFID and are monitoring for these at 16 roosts and have accumulated >1.2 million location records. We are currently establishing a similar program in SW Ontario with the expectation that the comparative study will provide greater insight into factors that explain population dynamics. My research program engages young scientists that range in career progression from undergrads to PhD candidates and each will develop skills that include field biology, statistical analysis, writing and communication. Our work is published in widely read scientific journals and highly cited by peers. From a purely applied perspective, our research is very timely given the impacts of white-nose syndrome on bats. White nose syndrome is a disease caused by a fungus that was introduced to North America and has reduced bat populations by >90%. For example, in Nova Scotia, it is no longer possible to conduct this research at former study sites as numbers have been reduced to near 0. In Canada, three species of bat are now listed as `Endangered' under the Species at Risk Act. The science and management community are currently struggling with how to manage bats and my research program is contributing to recovery efforts.