Bat Ecology

Bat Ecology
Author: Thomas H. Kunz
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 799
Release: 2005
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0226462072

In recent years researchers have discovered that bats play key roles in many ecosystems as insect predators, seed dispersers, and pollinators. Bats also display astonishing ecological and evolutionary diversity and serve as important models for studies of a wide variety of topics, including food webs, biogeography, and emerging diseases. In Bat Ecology, world-renowned bat scholars present an up-to-date, comprehensive, and authoritative review of this ongoing research. The first part of the book covers the life history and behavioral ecology of bats, from migration to sperm competition and natural selection. The next section focuses on functional ecology, including ecomorphology, feeding, and physiology. In the third section, contributors explore macroecological issues such as the evolution of ecological diversity, range size, and infectious diseases (including rabies) in bats. A final chapter discusses conservation challenges facing these fascinating flying mammals. Bat Ecology is the most comprehensive state-of-the-field collection for scientists and researchers. Contributors: John D. Altringham, Robert M. R. Barclay, Tenley M. Conway, Elizabeth R. Dumont, Peggy Eby, Abigail C. Entwistle, Theodore H. Fleming, Patricia W. Freeman, Lawrence D. Harder, Gareth Jones, Linda F. Lumsden, Gary F. McCracken, Sharon L. Messenger, Bruce D. Patterson, Paul A. Racey, Jens Rydell, Charles E. Rupprecht, Nancy B. Simmons, Jean S. Smith, John R. Speakman, Richard D. Stevens, Elizabeth F. Stockwell, Sharon M. Swartz, Donald W. Thomas, Otto von Helversen, Gerald S. Wilkinson, Michael R. Willig, York Winter

Ontogeny, Functional Ecology, and Evolution of Bats

Ontogeny, Functional Ecology, and Evolution of Bats
Author: Rick A. Adams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2000-06-15
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780521626323

This book explores the importance of understanding developmental processes in analyses of bat ecology and evolution.

Bats

Bats
Author: M. Brock Fenton
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2015-01-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 022606526X

There are more than 1,300 species of bats—or almost a quarter of the world’s mammal species. But before you shrink in fear from these furry “creatures of the night,” consider the bat’s fundamental role in our ecosystem. A single brown bat can eat several thousand insects in a night. Bats also pollinate and disperse the seeds for many of the plants we love, from bananas to mangoes and figs. Bats: A World of Science and Mystery presents these fascinating nocturnal creatures in a new light. Lush, full-color photographs portray bats in flight, feeding, and mating in views that show them in exceptional detail. The photos also take the reader into the roosts of bats, from caves and mines to the tents some bats build out of leaves. A comprehensive guide to what scientists know about the world of bats, the book begins with a look at bats’ origins and evolution. The book goes on to address a host of questions related to flight, diet, habitat, reproduction, and social structure: Why do some bats live alone and others in large colonies? When do bats reproduce and care for their young? How has the ability to fly—unique among mammals—influenced bats’ mating behavior? A chapter on biosonar, or echolocation, takes readers through the system of high-pitched calls bats emit to navigate and catch prey. More than half of the world’s bat species are either in decline or already considered endangered, and the book concludes with suggestions for what we can do to protect these species for future generations to benefit from and enjoy. From the tiny “bumblebee bat”—the world’s smallest mammal—to the Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox, whose wingspan exceeds five feet, A Battery of Bats presents a panoramic view of one of the world’s most fascinating yet least-understood species.

Bat Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation

Bat Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation
Author: Rick A. Adams
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 549
Release: 2013-09-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1461473977

Recent advances in the study of bats have changed the way we understand this illusive group of mammals. This volume consist of 25 chapters and 57 authors from around the globe all writing on the most recent finding on the evolution, ecology and conservation of bats. The chapters in this book are not intended to be exhaustive literature reviews, but instead extended manuscripts that bring new and fresh perspectives. Many chapters consist of previously unpublished data and are repetitive of new insights and understanding in bat evolution, ecology and conservation. All chapters were peer-reviewed and revised by the authors. Many of the chapters are multi-authored to provide comprehensive and authoritative coverage of the topics.

Phyllostomid Bats

Phyllostomid Bats
Author: Theodore H. Fleming
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 489
Release: 2020-10-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 022669612X

With more than two hundred species distributed from California through Texas and across most of mainland Mexico, Central and South America, and islands in the Caribbean Sea, the Phyllostomidae bat family (American leaf-nosed bats) is one of the world’s most diverse mammalian families. From an insectivorous ancestor, species living today, over about 30 million years, have evolved a hyper-diverse range of diets, from blood or small vertebrates, to consuming nectar, pollen, and fruit. Phyllostomid plant-visiting species are responsible for pollinating more than five hundred species of neotropical shrubs, trees, vines, and epiphytes—many of which are economically and ecologically important—and they also disperse the seeds of at least another five hundred plant species. Fruit-eating and seed-dispersing members of this family thus play a crucial role in the regeneration of neotropical forests, and the fruit eaters are among the most abundant mammals in these habitats. Coauthored by leading experts in the field and synthesizing the latest advances in molecular biology and ecological methods, Phyllostomid Bats is the first overview in more than forty years of the evolution of the many morphological, behavioral, physiological, and ecological adaptations in this family. Featuring abundant illustrations as well as details on the current conservation status of phyllostomid species, it is both a comprehensive reference for these ecologically vital creatures and a fascinating exploration of the evolutionary process of adaptive radiation.

Bats

Bats
Author: John D. Altringham
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2011-08-25
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0199207119

Bats are highly charismatic and popular animals that are not only fascinating in their own right, but illustrate most of the topical and important concepts and issues in mammalian biology. This book covers the key aspects of bat biology, including evolution, flight, echolocation, hibernation, reproduction, feeding and roosting ecology, social behaviour, migration, population and community ecology, biogeography, and conservation. This new edition is fully updated and greatly expanded throughout, maintaining the depth and scientific rigour of the first edition. It is written with infectious enthusiasm, and beautifully illustrated with drawings and colour photographs.

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World
Author: Christian C. Voigt
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 601
Release: 2015-12-07
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 3319252208

This book focuses on central themes related to the conservation of bats. It details their response to land-use change and management practices, intensified urbanization and roost disturbance and loss. Increasing interactions between humans and bats as a result of hunting, disease relationships, occupation of human dwellings, and conflict over fruit crops are explored in depth. Finally, contributors highlight the roles that taxonomy, conservation networks and conservation psychology have to play in conserving this imperilled but vital taxon. With over 1300 species, bats are the second largest order of mammals, yet as the Anthropocene dawns, bat populations around the world are in decline. Greater understanding of the anthropogenic drivers of this decline and exploration of possible mitigation measures are urgently needed if we are to retain global bat diversity in the coming decades. This book brings together teams of international experts to provide a global review of current understanding and recommend directions for future research and mitigation.

The Biology of Bats

The Biology of Bats
Author: Gerhard Neuweiler
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2000
Genre: Bats
ISBN: 0195099508

Well adapted to numerous habitats, bats comprise almost one quarter of all species of mammals. This book is a comprehensive introduction to their biology. Suitable as a textbook for undergraduates and written by one of the world's leading researchers, the book offers an accessible summary of the extensive body of research on bats. The book takes a broad physiological perspective and devotes separate chapters to specific physiological systems as well as to bat ecology and phylogeny. It features a thorough discussion of echolocation, which continues to be the subject of intense research, and describes many European and neotropical bats, as well as North American species. "Biology of Bats" is an important resource both for students and researchers.

Functional and Evolutionary Ecology of Bats

Functional and Evolutionary Ecology of Bats
Author: Akbar Zubaid
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2006-01-05
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 019515472X

Every three years a major international conference on bats draws the leading workers in the field to a carefully orchestrated presentation of the research and advances and current state of understanding of bat biology. Bats are the second most populous group of mammalia species, after rodents, and they are probably the most intensively studied group of mammals. Virtually all mammologists and a large proportion of organismic biologists are interested in bats. The earlier two edited books deriving from previous bat research conferences, as well as this one, have been rigorously edited by Tom Kunz and others, with all chapters subjected to peer review. The resulting volumes, published first by Academic Press and most recently by Smithsonian, have sold widely as the definitive synthetic treatments of current scientific understanding of bats.

Mammals: A Very Short Introduction

Mammals: A Very Short Introduction
Author: T. S. Kemp
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2017-09-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0191079588

From a modest beginning in the form of a little shrew-like, nocturnal, insect eating ancestor that lived 200 million years ago, mammals evolved into the huge variety of different kinds of animals we see today. Many species are still small, and follow the lifestyle of the ancestor, but others have adapted to become large grazers and browsers, like the antelopes, cattle, rhinos, and elephants, or the lions, hyaenas, and wolves that prey upon them. Yet others evolved to be specialist termite eaters able to dig into the hardest mounds, or tunnel creating burrowers, and a few took to the skies as gliders and the bats. Many live partly in the water, such as otters, beavers, and hippos, while whales and dugongs remain permanently in the seas, incapable of ever emerging onto land. In this Very Short Introduction T. S. Kemp explains how it is a tenfold increase in metabolic rate - endothermy or "warm-bloodedness" - that lies behind the high levels of activity, and the relatively huge brain associated with complex, adaptable behaviour that epitomizes mammals. He describes the remarkable fossil record, revealing how and when the mammals gained their characteristics, and the tortuous course of their subsequent evolution, during which many bizarre forms such as sabre-toothed cats, and 30-tonne, 6-m high browsers arose and disappeared. Describing the wonderful adaptations that mammals evolved to suit their varied modes of life, he also looks at those of the mainly arboreal primates that culminated ultimately in Homo sapiens. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.