Wow, I’ve been a bit remiss in keeping up with my blog! Well, it’s a new year and time for an update on my progress with my PhD program. This past semester has definitely been a busy one, and time to put all my research ideas into action (or not, depending on feasibility and funding…). This semester has also been an extremely important one in terms of professional development activities. Here are a few of the highlights:
First off, my research project is developing, although it’s
still contingent upon funding from grants I’ve applied for. I have encountered
feasibility issues with studying Mexican long-nosed bats (for example, they are
just under the weight limit to attach
GPS units for tracking to foraging areas; they can fly long distances from the
roosting cave (up to 20-30 miles) to forage every night, making radio tracking
them difficult; and the large entrances of their roosting caves in my study
area make mist-netting them difficult) so have had to adjust my plans a bit. The
ultimate goal of my work is still to identify areas of agaves where the bats
forage so we can work with communities and agave farmers in those areas to
develop bat-friendly agave management programs. However, now instead of
directly tracking the bats to see where they are foraging, I plan to use
infrared cameras set up in agave fields near communities to determine if the
bats are using those agaves and how much they are visiting them. I also plan to
conduct agave pollination studies to determine how much pollination services
the bats are providing to the communities. Finally, I will be conducting
interviews and focus groups with the communities and farmers to determine their
willingness to adopt “bat-friendly” agave management practices and how to
implement these practices. At least that’s the plan for now!
One of the best and most exciting things this semester was
attending the North American Society for Bat Research Symposium in Monterey,
CA. I hadn’t been to a NASBR meeting since the Costa Rica International Bat Research
Conference/NASBR in 2013, and man was it good to attend again! I presented my
proposed PhD research and got a lot of good feedback and ideas to pursue. Perhaps
the most exciting activity was being part of the first meeting of a new working
group for the Mexican long-nosed bat. The group is comprised of researchers
(including myself), Bat Conservation International staff, and government
department staff. As part of the group I will be helping to revise the Recovery
Plan for the species and identify conservation priorities. We are planning to
meet again to really get things going this April in Austin, TX.
Finally, I am working on several publications, a few as
collaborations that grew out of attending the International Association of
Landscape Ecology meeting and the Ecological Society of America meeting, and
one that stems from a paper I wrote for a class last year. I’m really excited
to be working on these, and hopefully they’ll be accepted!
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