Tag: Bats

E-Noses Detect Disease in Plants, Animals & Humans

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
The fragrance of a rose comes from volatile organic compounds. Living plants, animals, humans, and even inanimate objects emit complex mixtures of VOCs. VOC mixtures are so distinctive that new words are used to describe them: volatilome, breathprint, and smellprint. “There are over 2,000 VOCs in a person’s breath,” says USDA Forest Service scientist Dan…  More 

Hoary Bats Hibernate

by Paul Meznarich, Pacific Southwest Research Station, public affairs  • 
Hoary bats are wanderers – they sometimes migrate hundreds of miles and can be found in almost every state in the U.S. Researchers with the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station documented hoary bats going into a state of torpor, or hibernation. While it’s not unusual for some species of bat to migrate or…  More 

Home is a Pine Tree

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Every summer, female Indiana bats fly through southern Appalachian forests looking for a place to rear their pups. A new study, coauthored by U.S. Forest Service research ecologist, Susan Loeb, suggests that the bats are looking for yellow pine snags. Although Indiana bats sometimes roosted in other trees, they strongly preferred yellow pine snags, especially…  More 

Women in Science: Meet Susan Loeb

by Stephanie Worley Firley  • 
The new Women in Science series features women scientists from across the Southern Research Station (SRS)–their education, career paths, challenges, achievements, and inspirations. Meet SRS scientist Susan Loeb, a research ecologist with the Upland Hardwood Ecology and Management Research Unit in Clemson, South Carolina. Loeb earned her Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis and has studied…  More 

Winter Prescribed Fire and Litter-Roosting Bats

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Rather than hibernating in caves, some bat species in the southeastern U.S. get through the coldest parts of winter by roosting under fallen leaves, twigs, and other dead plant material on the forest floor. Although this leaf litter protects bats from the cold, it could also put them at risk of being injured or killed…  More 

Managing Forests to Conserve Bat Populations Affected by White-Nose Syndrome

by Anna Walker, SRS Science Communications Intern  • 
In March 2016, scientists found bats infected with white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that’s killed millions of North American bats across the eastern United States, in Washington state, over 1,000 miles from the nearest confirmed infection site in eastern Oklahoma. Because most bat species in the U.S. eat phenomenal numbers of insects, bats are important to agriculture and to forests and…  More 

Expanding the Reach of Forest Data and Research with Story Maps

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
The USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) unit is increasing the interactivity and reach of forest science by using FIA and other data to create storymaps on topics that range from southern forest products to white-nose syndrome. Developed on Esri’s ArcGIS Online platform, storymaps are stand-alone web-based resources that…  More 

In Arkansas, Fall Tree Roosts Help Male Indiana Bats Survive Hibernation

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
“Two resources are most important to bats in the eastern U.S.,” says U.S. Forest Service biologist Roger Perry. “Roosts – places they can safely spend daylight hours – and insects for food.” Because roosts also allow bats to sink into torpor, a state of lowered metabolism and energy usage, roosts may be as important for…  More 

Life in a Treehouse: How Rafinesque’s Big-Eared Bats Choose their Roosts

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Delivery  • 
In the Coastal Plain of South Carolina, Rafinesque’s big-eared bats often roost in tree hollows throughout the year. “Bats spend a good portion of their lives in roosts,” says U.S. Forest Service scientist Susan Loeb. “Roosts protect bats from predators, and are where bats interact socially, mate, and raise young.” Rafinesque’s big-eared bats are declining…  More 

An Early Warning System for Bats in North America

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery  • 
This week the U.S. Forest Service is participating in the celebration of Bat Week, an international effort to bring attention to the role of bats in nature and the threats they face across the world. Bats play essential roles in the health of both the environment and the economy, pollinating plants, dispersing seeds – and…  More