Biology of Neotropical Bats provides students with an introduction
to the wide diversity of bats that inhabit the New World tropics.
The use of field stations in tropical moist forest in Costa Rica and
tropical dry forest in Nicaragua permits students to appreciate first-hand
the variety of habitats available in the tropics and the differing life history
strategies that species use to live there. Field techniques are used to census and
monitor populations, determine the diversity and structure of communities, to
study how individual species use resources, and how species respond to variation in
environmental characteristics (including habitat perturbation). This is an upper level
(junior/ senior/ graduate) university course that assumes previous
familiarity with vertebrate biology, but does not require
a specialized knowledge of bats.
Participation of all is expected in field activities, readings, and classroom discussions. Students will maintain a field journal and will prepare several oral reports on data generated from the field work.
Students taking the course for college credit are expected to carry out an individual field study approved by the instructor, that will be the basis of a written, final report.
evaluation and grading Students will be evaluated on a combination of their participation, field journal writings, and oral reports. Tests may be used for evaluation as well. A large part of the grade for students taking the course for college credit will be based on the written report of their research project.
required texts and other readings
Students are required to obtain and bring with them the following publications:
required field equipment
Please note also the list of required equipment and field gear in the information packet. You might check a Campmor catalog (http://www.campmor.com/ or 1-800-226-7667), as they have equipment that is competitively priced.
recommended field equipment
suggested readings
Two books provide valuable information that will make your tropical experience more educational and enjoyable. These are especially recommended for reading before your arrival:
field problems
Field problems may investigate some combination of the following questions:
In addition to field work, the instructor will provide a number of lectures on bats Neotropics and other topics. Lectures may take place during the morning, afternoon, or evening, depending on when field activities take place on a given day.
Emmons, L. H. 1996. Neotropical rainforest mammals. A field guide. Second edition. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 0-226-20721-8. [An excellent field guide, unfortunately, it does not cover dry forest such as is found in our area of Nicaragua.]
Feldhamer, G. A., L. C. Drickamer, S. H. Vessey, and J. F. Merritt. 1999. Mammalogy. Adaptation, diversity, and ecology. WCB, McGraw-Hill, Boston. 563 pp.
Hall, E. R. 1981. The mammals of North America. Second edition. 2 vols. John Wiley & Sons, New York. [Basic taxonomic reference with distributional maps for all North American mammals from Canada through Panama]
Gentry, A. H. 1990. Four Neotropical rainforests. Yale University Press, New Haven. [Comparative study of various aspects of the biology of four rain forests, including La Selva in Costa Rica]
Janzen, D. H. (ed.) 1983. Costa Rican Natural History. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. [Full of information on animals and plants that also occur in Nicaragua.]
McDade, L. A., K. S. Bawa, H. A. Hespenheide, and G. S. Hartshorn (eds.). 1994. La Selva: ecology and natural history of a Neotropical rain forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walkerâ•’s mammals of the world. Sixth edition. 2 vols. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1936 pp. [Excellent reference for information on all genera of mammals]
Timm, R. M., D. E. Wilson, B. L. Clauson, R. K. LaVal, and C. S. Vaughan. 1989. Mammals of the La Selva-Braulio Carrillo Complex, Costa Rica. North American Fauna 75:1-162.
Vaughan, T. A. 1986. Mammalogy. Third edition. Saunders College Publishing, New York. [basic mammalogy textbook] paper that may provide ideas for projects
Choe, J. C., and R. M. Timm. 1985. Roosting site selection by Artibeus watsoni (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) on Anthurium ravenii (Araceae) in Costa Rica. Journal of Tropical Ecology 1:241-247.
Fleming, T.H. 1988. The short-tailed fruitbat. A study in plant-animal interactions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Fleming, T.H., E. T. Hooper, and D. E. Wilson. 1972. Three Central American bat communities: structure, reproductive cycles, and movement patterns. Ecology 53:555-569.
Foster, M. S., and R. M. Timm. 1976. Tent-making by Artibeus jamaicensis (Chiroptera: Phyllostomatidae), with comments on plants used by bats for tents. Biotropica 8:265-269.
Kunz, T. H. 1973. Resource utilization: temporal and spatial components of bat activity in central Iowa. Journal of Mammalogy 54:14-32.
LaVal, R. K. 1970. Banding returns and activity periods of some Costa Rican bats. Southwestern Naturalist 15:1-10.
LaVal, R. K., and H. S. Fitch. 1977. Structure, movements and reproduction in three Costa Rican bat communities. Occasional Papers of The University of Kansas Museum of Natural History 69:1-28.
LaVal, R. K., and M. L. LaVal. 1980. Prey selection by a Neotropical foliage-gleaning bat, Micronycteris megalotis. Journal of Mammalogy 61:327-330.
Palmeirim, J., and K. Etheridge. 1985. The influence of man-made trails on foraging by tropical frugivorous bats. Biotropica 17:82-83.
Palmeirim, J., D. L. Gorchov, and S. Stoleson. 1989. Trophic structure of a Neotropical frugivore community: is there competition between birds and bats? Oecologia 79:403-411.
Timm, R. M., and J. Mortimer. 1976. Selection of roost sites by Honduran white bats, Ectophylla alba (Chiroptera: Phyllostomatidae). Ecology 57:385-389.
Turner, D. C. 1975. The vampire bat. A field study in behavior and ecology. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
websites of interest
http://www.studyabroad.com/lasuerte [webpage for La Suerte & Ometepe field stations]
http://www.maya-travel.com/nicarag/nctips.htm [travel tips]
http://www.weatherpost.com/wp-srv/weather/longterm/historical/data/managua_nicaragua.htm [weather]
http://www.intergo.com/library/ref/atlas/camerica/nu.htm [map]
http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/la/ca/nicaragua/ [general information, much of it in Spanish]
Woodman, N., E. Schneider, P. Grant, D. Same, K. E. Schmall, and J. T. Curtis. in review. A new, insular distributional limit for Peromyscus stirtoni (Mammalia: Insectivora: Soricidae). Southwestern Naturalist. [Note that the coauthors are all former students on the 1998 Neotropical Mammalogy course taught at Ometepe Biological Station.]
Woodman, N., and T. M. Timm. 1999. Geographic variation and evolutionary relationships among broad-clawed shrews of the Cryptotis goldmani-group (Mammalia: Insectivora: Soricidae). Fieldiana: Zoology (new series) 91:1-35.
Woodman, N. 1996. Taxonomic status of the enigmatic Cryptotis avia (Mammalia: Insectivora: Soricidae), with comments on the distribution of the Colombian small-eared shrew, Cryptotis colombiana.. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 109:409-418.
Woodman, N., R. M. Timm, N. A. Slade, and T. J. Doonan. 1996. Comparison of traps and baits for censusing small mammals in Neotropical lowlands. Journal of Mammalogy 77:274-281.
Woodman, N., N. A. Slade, R. M. Timm, and C. A. Schmidt. 1995. Mammalian community structure in lowland, tropical Peru, as determined by removal trapping. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 113:1-20.
Woodman, N., and T. M. Timm. 1993. Intraspecific and interspecific variation in the Cryptotis nigrescens species complex of small-eared shrews (Insectivora: Soricidae), with the description of a new species from Colombia. Fieldiana: Zoology (new series) 74:1-30.
Woodman, N., and T. M. Timm. 1992. A new species of small-eared shrew, genus Cryptotis (Insectivora: Soricidae), from Honduras. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 105:1-12.
Woodman, N., R. M. Timm, R. Arana C., V. Pacheco, C. A. Schmidt, E. D. Hooper, and C. Pacheco. 1991. Annotated checklist of the mammals of Cuzco Amazonico, Peru. Occasional Papers of the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History 145:1-12.