Footage from: Humboldt State's Biodiversity Conference 2013
- - - humboldt.edu/biodiversity - - -
Sponsored by: HSU Society for Conservation Biology
- - - conbio.org ........................................ more info below :)
Dr. Joe Szewczak's research has investigated the physiological capabilities of bats and other small mammals from cold torpor in hibernation to the intense demands of flight and high altitude, and the physiological ecology of bats. His teaching includes "The Biology of the Chiroptera" at Humboldt State University, "The Ecology and Conservation of CA Bats" through San Francisco State Univ., and he has also taught bay acoustic monitoring workshops for the Univ. of CA, Bat Conservation International, and for other groups throughout the US and abroad. He began collecting recordings of bats 20 years ago with the notion that they may someday prove useful for identifying bats, and dissatisfied with available acoustic software, he developed SonoBat to facilitate the specialized tasks of viewing, analyzing, and comparing bat echolocation calls and sequences for non-invasive species recognition. He is also developing and testing methods to deter bats from approaching wind turbines with the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative, Bat Conservation International, and the Electric Power Research Institute.
~ ~ Unique among mammals for their ability to fly, bats account for nearly one out of every four mammals on our planet. These eco-essential animals support vital ecosystems but because they operate mostly unheard and unseen remain under-appreciated for the vital and economically valuable eco-services they provide. However, more than half the extant bat species face serious threats. This talk explains some of their peculiar natural history and how these and other matters lead to the conservation issues that threaten bats throughout the world, and here in our own North Coast, and how we can address them.
