Research group Bats and Landscape Ecology

We want to know how bats respond to landscape changes, for example increasing forest cover and decreasing wetlands, during the last century as well as increasing temperatures. We use a wide range of techniques to monitor impacts to bats including acoustic surveysacross different landscapes in Sweden, genetic techniques to assess bat diet and museum collections to assess changes in body size. We use historical maps and modelling and modern remote sensing techniques to investigate landscape change and habitat quality. In a Citizen Science project, BatMapper, people reported bat sightings and helped us to collect data on bat colonies throughout Sweden.

 

Current Masters Projects

Turning Night into day – the effect of skyglow on bat behaviour.
Student: Torge Gerwin. Supervisors: Heather Wood, Sara Cousins.

The autumn activity of the Parti-coloured bat in relation to weather and habitat composition at multiple scales
Student: Maryam Bessouda. Supervisors: Heather Wood, Sara Cousins. External supervisor: Johnny de Jong (SLU).

Investigation of colony-site selection of Myotis brandtii using PREBAT.
Student: Ellen Linder. Supervisors: Heather Wood, Sara Cousins. External co-supervisor: Oskar Kindvall (Calluna)