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A Natural History of Bat Foraging: Evolution, Physiology, Ecology, Behavior, and Conservation offers an all-inclusive resource on all aspects encompassing the vital process of foraging for bats. The book explores knowledge in the field, including sensory ecology, the development of cognitive maps, bat microbiomes, and molecular approaches to studying a bat's diet. It covers the importance of foraging in biology, from evolution and natural selection, to physiology, behaviour, ecology, and natural history. In addition, it provides a unique focus on the implications of bat foraging for conservation purposes, including the role that molecular biology can play in preventing species depletion or extinction.
With over 1,400 species, bats are among the most diverse vertebrate groups, having evolved an astonishingly broad range of foraging strategies to adapt to nearly all global regions and environments. The book assesses manmade and environmental issues that bats must overcome to ensure survival and prevent extinction. Written by international leaders in bat research, this is the ideal resource for bat specialists and conservationists, as well as zoologists, animal behaviourists, and academics associated with such disciplines.
1. Introduction
2. Origin and evolution of foraging strategies in bats
3. Evolutionary arms races
4. Sensory systems used by echolocating bats to forage in natural settings
5. Cognitive maps
6. Foraging strategies of echolocating bats
7. Foraging, movements and diet habits of desert-dwelling bats
8. Social foraging and information transfer
9. Dynamics of bats and their prey
10. Bats as prey
11. Energetics of bats
12. Bat migration and foraging: Energy-demanding journeys on tight budgets
13. Microbiomes of bats
14. Diets of bats
15. Bioaccumulation and foraging behavior
16. Foraging dependent ecosystem services
17. Bat foraging and conservation
18. Conclusion
Prof. Danilo Russo is a full professor of Ecology at Naples University Federico II and an honorary professor at the University of Bristol, UK. He obtained his PhD in Zoology from the University of Bristol in 2002. Currently, he serves as the head of the Animal Ecology and Evolution Laboratory in the Department of Agriculture at his university. His research interests encompass a wide range of subjects, including habitat selection, resource partitioning, sensory ecology, social behaviour, evolutionary biology, biogeography, and invasion ecology. While much of his research focuses on bats, he also investigates various other model organisms to address specific questions of interest. From 2019 to 2023, Prof. Russo chaired the Scientific Committee of the UNEP/EUROBATS Agreement, which is responsible for the conservation of European bat populations. Additionally, he takes great pride in his role as the editor-in-chief of the highly esteemed zoological journal, Mammal Review. Furthermore, he is the main proposer and chair of the Management Committee for the EU COST Action "CLIMBATS" (CA18107), a significant initiative exploring climate change's effects on bat populations. Prof. Russo's contributions to the scientific community are exemplified by his publication record, which includes approximately 170 scientific articles in internationally respected journals such as Nature Communications, Current Biology, Ecology Letters, and Biological Reviews. Having conducted fieldwork in diverse regions and environments across the globe, ranging from African rainforests to the Israeli desert and European beech woodlands, Prof. Russo possesses invaluable firsthand experience in various ecosystems.
M.B. (Brock) Fenton received his PhD in 1969 for work in the ecology and behaviour of bats. Since then he has held academic positions at Carleton University, York University and the University of Western Ontario. He has published over 250 papers in refereed journals (most about bats), as well as numerous nontechnical contributions. He has written four books about bats intended for a general audience. He continues his research on the ecology and behaviour of bats, with special emphasis on echolocation and evolution. He was inducted as a Fellow of the Royals Society of Canada (FRSC) in November 2014. In November 2018 he began a three-year term as Deputy Executive Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Science Publishing. In February 2020 he began a three-year term as a member of the Board of Directors of Bat Conservation International. He currently serves as an academic editor for PLoS ONE Biology, and Nature Scientific Reports.
