Tom Kunz, director of the Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology at Boston University, watched hundreds of thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats swirl out of Frio Cave in their nightly search for moths over southwest Texas. “All these bats are beginning to feed, and it’s just a spectacular sight,” Kunz told the San Antonio Express-News...more

Pollinating and seed-dispersing bats get research attention and well-deserved appreciation for their role in maintaining tropical forests. But Margareta Kalka says insect-eating bats of the tropics have long been overlooked and under-appreciated. So she conducted what is apparently the first experimental research to quantify the importance of bats in protecting plants from insects in forests and cacao plantations in Panama...more

Bat Conservation International invites students at universities worldwide to apply for its 2008 Student Research Scholarships. Young scientists around the world are conducting original, conservation-relevant research – and honing skills for the future – with support from BCI’s Student Research Scholarships. Since 1990, this program has invested more than $550,000 to help support research by 237 students in 51 countries. Students, selected on the basis of a review by outside experts, receive scholarships of $2,500 to $5,000 each for research ...more