Thomas H. Kunz

CURRENT STUDENTS

Graduate Students - Ph. D. Candidates
(Funding sources)

Louise Allen Stress, reproduction and immunity in bridge- and cave-roosting Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis): Implications for conservation (National Science Foundation, American Society of Mammalogists).

Jonathan Reichard Thermal energetics and climate space of Brazilian free-tailed bats, Tadarida brasiliensis (NSF, Research Assistantship).

Mariana Muñoz-Romo The importance of chemical signals in the mating strategies of bats (Fulbright Foundation, BU's CECB Assistantship).

Marianne Moore Interests: Adaptive immune system function and MHC selection in relation to sociality. (NSF).

Elizabeth Braun Interests: Ecology, roosting and foraging behavior, and ecosystem services of North American bats in a pecan agroecosystem. (Dean's Assistantship, BU)

Susan W. Murray Ecology and behavior of cryptic species of Rhinolophidae in Malaysia (BU's CECB and Bat Conservation International, NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant.)

Pablo Jarrin Phylogeography and ecology of neotropical cloud forest bats (Fulbright Foundation, ASM (Latin American Fund and Grant-in-Aid of Research, and BU's CECB).

Current Post Doctoral Scholars

Robert Hodgkison (2003-present). University of Aberdeen (Lubee Bat Conservancy). Currently conducting research on conservation biology of bats in Malaysia.

Nick Hristov (2004-present). Wake Forest University U.S. National Park Service. Currently conducting conservation biology research at Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Daniel Riskin (2006-present). Currently investigating the kinematics of steady flight, the kinetics of landing on a ceiling, and interspecific variation in performance for a few other non-aerial behaviours (BU's CECB).

Jason W. Horn. 2007. Life-history and ecology of the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus (BU's CECB, NSF, Bat Conservation International).

Christopher S. Richardson (2006-present). Currently investigating the energetics of stress and immune function of bats.

Recently graduated

Christopher S. Richardson 2006. Intraspecific variation in metabolism and thermoregulation in Eptesicus fuscus (AMNH--Theodore Roosevelt Fund, American Society of Mammalogists, and Sigma Xi).

Gloriana Chaverri 2006. Ecological correlates of social strategies in the Neotropical tent-making bat Artibeus watsoni. (ASM, The Conservation Food and Health Foundation, and BU's Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology).

John Benjamin Rinehart. 2007. Roosting ecology of Neotropical tent-making bats (BU's CECB).

Jason W. Horn. 2007. Nigtly and seasonal behavior of bats in the aerosphere assessed with thermal imaging and NEXRAD Doppler RADAR.

FORMER STUDENTS (1974 - 2006)
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Former Post-Doctoral Scholars
(Funding sources)

David Byman (1981-1982). Colorado State University (Department of Energy).

Edward S. Stashko (1984-1985). Northwestern University (World Wildlife Fund).

Gary P. Bell (1985-1987). Carleton University (Boston University Graduate School).

Allen Kurta (1986-1988) Boston University (Boston University Graduate School).

Tolibjon Khabilov (1997-1998) University of Moscow (Fulbright Foundation).

Noga Kronfeld-Schor (1998-1999) Leptin during pregnancy and pre-hibernation in litle brown myotis. TelAviv University (Fulbright and Rothchild Foundations).

Christian Voigt (1998-2000). Erlangan University, Germany (DAAD).

DeeAnn Reeder (2001-2004). University of California, Davis (National Institutes of Health).

Former Ph. D. Students. Research Topic
(Funding sources)

Peter V. August 1981. Population and community ecology of small mammals in northern Venezuela (Smithsonian Institution Graduate Fellowship).

Christopher D. Burnett 1981. Ecogeographic variation in the morphology of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus (National Science Foundation--Dissertation Improvement Grant).

Edythe L.P. Anthony 1982. Pituitary cytology of the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus (National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship).

Holly M. Stack. 1985. Energetics of reproduction in the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus (National Science Foundation, Sigma Xi).

Marty S. Fujita. 1986. A latitudinal comparison of growth and development in the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus, with implications for geographic variation in adult morphology (NSF--Dissertation Improvement Grant, ASM, and AMNH).

Allen Kurta 1986. Insulation, thermoregulation, and metabolic rates of the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) under simulated roost conditions (Sigma Xi, Theodore Roosevelt Fund, ASM, NSF).

Armando Rodríguez-Durán 1990. Physiological ecology of three species of neotropical bats living in hot caves (Puerto Rican Minority Scholarship Grant).

April A. Stern 1995. Maternal investment in the greater spear-nosed bat, Phyllostomus hastatus (NSF Graduate Fellowship, Dissertation Improvement Grant, and The Lubee Foundation, Inc.).

Ruth. C.B. Utzurrum 1998. Feeding ecology and energetics of three pteropodid bats in the Philippines. (World-Wildlife Fund--U.S., Chicago Zoological Society, MacArthur Foundation, and The Lubee Foundation, Inc.).

D. Scott Reynolds 1998. Variation in life-history traits in the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) (ASM, Bat Conservation International, and Theodore Roosevelt Fund).

Johanna M. Bloss 2000. Chemical ecology of bats (National Institutes of Health, The Lubee Foundation, Inc., Theodore Roosevelt Fund, and NSF--Dissertation Improvement Grant; AAUW Fellowship).

Tigga Kingston 2000. Community structure of bats in dipterocarp forests of Malaysia (The Lubee Foundation, Inc.).

Jay F. Storz 2000. Genetic structure and social evolution in an Old-World tent-making bat, Cynopterus sphinx (AMNH, Theodore Roosevelt Fund, The Lubee Foundation, ASM, and National Geographic Society, and NSF).

Wendy R. Hood 2000. Maternal investment in the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus (Lubee Foundation, Inc., ASM, Smithsonian Institution, Sigma Xi, and AMNH--Theodore Roosevelt Fund). www.wendyhood.com

Robert Hodgkison 2001 (University of Aberdeen, Scotland). Roosting and feeding ecology of an Old-World plant-visiting bat, Balionycteris maculata (Lubee Foundation, Inc. and Bat Conservation International).

Susan L. Nelson 2002 (University of Florida). Nutritional ecology of Old-World fruit bats: A test of the calcium-constraint hypothesis (Luis F. Bacardi Graduate Fellowship, The Lubee Foundation, Inc., and the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund).

Lizabeth Southworth 2004. Calcium metabolism and vitamin-D in cave-dwelling bats (Sigma Xi; BU's CECB, Boston).

Polly Campbell 2005. Evolution and Ecology of Southeast Asian fruit bats in the genus, Cynopterus (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) (The Lubee Bat Conservancy, Inc, and the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, National Geographic Society).

M. A. Students (Research)

Ralph Hamill. 1974. Uptake of radionuclides by a population of woodchucks in the vicinity of a nuclear reactor.

Jamed G. Hallett. 1976. Space utilization in two sympatric murid rodents, Peromyscus leucopus and Clethrionomys gapperi.

Edythe L.P. Anthony. 1976. Feeding strategies of the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus in New Hampshire.

Elizabeth M. Howell. 1977. Potential biases in small mammal density estimates caused by differential trappability and chemical signals.

William T. Rumage, III. 1978. Food consumption and nightly dispersal of little brown bats, Myotis lucifugus.

Marylou A. Tracy. 1978. Ecology and life history of the bat flea Mysodopsylla insignis.

Robin F. Bernath. 1978. Structure and dynamics of arthropod communities of bat guano deposits in buildings.

Karen M. Hoying. 1983. Growth and development of the eastern pipistrelle bat, Pipistrellus subflavus.

Carlos Díaz. 1986. Folivory in the Jamaican fruit bat, Artibeus jamaicensis.

Anne P. Brooke. 1988. Natural history of the Honduran white bat, Ectophylla alba, in Costa Rica.

Janey Winchell. 1990. Roosting ecology and time-budgets of the eastern pipistrelle, Pipistrellus subflavus.

Helen M. Papadimitrou. 1994. Ontogenetic changes in mineralization of the wing skeleton in the Mexican free-tailed bat, Tadarida brasiliensis.

Jennifer Newmark. 1998. Isolation calls of young Pteropus vampyrus facilitate mother-infant reunions (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae).

Jason W. Horn. 1998. Individual variation in nightly time budgets of the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus.

Jamie Bender. 2000. Effects of ectoparasite loads on metabolic rates in Phyllostomus elongatus.

Pablo Jarrín. 2004. Geographical and interespecific variation of highland and lowland species of the Genus Sturnira (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in Ecuador: A morphometric approach.

Pablo Jarrin

I am establishing a phylogeographic model for the species of bats in the genus Sturnira occurring in Ecuador, through the use of morphological and molecular data. The morphological change of taxa and populations, in relation with the geographic characteristics of the Andes, is being assessed through a series of morphometric approaches. The morphological identity of highly similar and sympatric species, in closely related taxa, such as the sister pairs Sturnira ludovici-S. oporaphilum, and S. erythromos-S. bogotensis is being assessed, and contrasted with molecular information.

Susan Murray

My main research interests lie at the intersection of ecology, behavior and evolution. I am particularly interested in how social and ecological selection can differentially affect the evolution of animal groups. My dissertation research examines how different species must be able to coexist and what this can tell us about assemblage structuring. I am studying two genetically distinct groups of bats within Hipposideros bicolor in peninsular Malaysia. These morphologically cryptic species echolocate at different frequencies, and are found roosting together and foraging in the same areas. Thus, the question arises as to how such phylogenetically and morphologically similar species can coexist. To address this, I am studying niche partitioning between these groups, by examining diet, foraging behavior, and roosting ecology. I am also interested in questions of what selective pressures, if any, were important in the evolution of this complex. It has been suggested that social selection has played an important role in the evolution of the difference in echolocation call frequency between the two groups. I hope to eventually test this hypothesis.
I also have worked in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil, looking at diet and assemblage structure of insectivorous bats. In addition, I have a Masters degree from Eastern Michigan University, where I investigated the diet and nocturnal activity patterns of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis).

John Benjamin Rinehart

My overall research interests are ecology, social organization and evolution of mating systems, with particular emphasis on bats of the new world tropics. In comparison to other taxa, the behavior of bats is poorly known due to their secretive, nocturnal life history. This is especially true in the tropics where bat research has lagged behind more intensively studied temperate species.
My dissertation research, conducted at Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Amazonian eastern Ecuador, focuses on the ecology and social organization of the tent-making "dwarf little fruit bat", Rhinophylla pumilio (Phyllostomidae). Specific aspects I am assessing include: 1) spatial distribution of adult males and their roost territories, 2) demographic composition of roosting groups, 3) annual reproductive patterns, 4) juvenile dispersal bias and philopatry, 5) variability of roost tent architecture within and between species. Fieldwork is largely completed for this project and I am currently analyzing and writing the results.