{"id":111668,"date":"2026-10-26T14:55:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T14:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=111668"},"modified":"2026-10-26T14:55:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T14:55:33","slug":"uri-zoologists-study-of-wild-panamanian-bats-highlights-use-of-metrics-to-inform-bat-conservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/10\/uri-zoologists-study-of-wild-panamanian-bats-highlights-use-of-metrics-to-inform-bat-conservation\/","title":{"rendered":"URI zoologist\u2019s study of wild Panamanian bats highlights use of metrics to inform bat conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Oct. 26, 2026 \u2013 Bats are not only a marvel of myth and imagination but also energy use, working at the height of their energetic ceiling to fly the night skies the world over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ve captured the attention of University of Rhode Island Ph.D. student Travis Bayer<\/a>, who seems to have an affinity for elusive and mysterious animals<\/a>. In fact, Bayer\u2019s master\u2019s thesis centered on tracking very large neotropical bats (Phyllostomus hastatus<\/em>) in Panam\u00e1. With a wingspan exceeding two feet, they\u2019re the second largest species of bat in the Americas, and possess an exceptionally powerful bite. They also have fascinating foraging strategies and behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"greater
Bats make up more than 20% of all recognized mammal species and are found on every continent except Antarctica; they\u2019re well represented in tropical regions like Central and South America, where the greater spear-nosed bat is found. (Photos \/ Teague O’Mara)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The greater spear-nosed bat combines an incredibly flexible diet with a surprisingly complex social life. Found as far north as Belize all the way down to southern Brazil, the bats\u2019 strong bite affords them the ability to feed on a wide diversity of food items. This flexibility sets them apart from many bats people are familiar with in the U.S., where many common species are primarily insectivorous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI sometimes think of them as the garbage disposals of the bat world because they\u2019re such generalists!\u201d Bayer said. \u201cThey eat an incredible variety of foods, including insects, fruit, nectar, small vertebrates, and even other bats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayer says that the greater spear-nosed bat also has its own group culture and unique social behavior, exhibiting cooperation traits beyond foraging. The females form long-lasting social groups, with one dominant male, each group occupying its own little pocket in a cave ceiling.  These groups can maintain their social bonds for over 16 years, Bayer says, even though they\u2019re not related; even when the dominant male changes, the female group can persist.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Travis
URI Ph.D. student Travis Bayer is a member of URI\u2019s Comparative Ecophysiology of Animals Lab and has a focus in his work on animal movement and integrating emerging technologies into wildlife conservation efforts. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Bayer, whose research focuses on animal movement, studied the greater spear-nosed bat in Panam\u00e1 with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in his new paper in the The Journal of Experimental Biology<\/em><\/a>, Bayer is describing the results of that research, describing how measurements of body acceleration from animal-borne accelerometers could provide a reliable, non-invasive way to estimate energy expenditure in wild bats. By comparing acceleration measurements with the bats\u2019 heart rates, he found that acceleration could reliably predict energy expenditure throughout a foraging night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach has enormous potential for conservation work, he said, because it gives researchers a way to understand how environmental changes are affecting animals physiologically, not just where they occur or whether their populations are declining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy validating accelerometry as a reliable proxy for energy expenditure, we now have a new tool that we can use to explore how environmental change affects bats\u2019 energy budgets, how those physiological costs might influence their performance and long-term survival, and how we can use that information to guide more effective conservation efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayer has a strong tech focus in his work, bringing emerging technologies into his conservation work at URI and Pathos Wildlife, the conservation nonprofit he founded in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Monitors\nmeasuring
Measuring heart rate and acceleration simultaneously in a flying animal had rarely been done before; this was the first time researchers had combined the two measurements in bats. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI believe these technologies have the potential to fundamentally change how we investigate conservation problems, how quickly we can understand what’s happening to threatened species, and how successfully we can turn that knowledge into solutions,\u201d he said. \u201cThe goal is to move beyond documenting that wildlife is being affected and toward developing more effective ways to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the wing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a flying animal, getting from one place to another is more than a matter of distance. Every flight comes at an energetic cost, and the amount of energy an animal spends can depend on how it moves, where it travels, and the challenges it encounters along the way. Measuring those costs in free-ranging wildlife, however, has long been difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methods for estimating energy expenditure often require studying animals in captivity, using invasive procedures, or investing substantial time and resources. However, previous research has shown that measurements of body acceleration can be used to estimate energy expenditure for some animals. Accelerometers record the animal\u2019s movements in three dimensions, capturing changes in acceleration up and down, side to side, and forward and backward. These measurements provide an indirect way to estimate how much energy the animal uses as it moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it was unclear whether this approach would work for bats, whose unique flight mechanics differ from those of most other animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To investigate this in bats, Bayer and his team equipped 12 greater spear-nosed bats on Isla Col\u00f3n, Panam\u00e1, with animal-borne sensors, called bio-loggers, that recorded heart rate, body acceleration, and GPS locations.  The GPS units recorded locations every minute between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m., capturing the bats’ nightly journeys as they left their cave roosts to forage and returned before dawn. Each bat was tracked for approximately five nights, generating thousands of location records alongside more than 1,500 hours of acceleration and heart-rate measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key was bringing these measurements together. Acceleration sensors record changes in an animal’s movement in three dimensions, providing a way to estimate the physical effort an animal expends. By comparing those measurements with heart rate, Bayer could test whether changes in body acceleration reliably reflected changes in energetic demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results support using acceleration as a predictor of energy expenditure in bats, opening the door to studying their energetic costs without having to measure energy use directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As environmental pressures intensify and habitats become increasingly fragmented, Bayer says understanding how animals navigate energetic trade-offs in movement decisions is critical for predicting species\u2019 resilience and informing conservation strategies. He said this reliable, less-invasive method to assess energy expenditure in free-living bats will help researchers better understand how the animals respond to real environmental challenges, opening up new possibilities to understand bat ecology and how bats are adjusting to shifting resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While greater spear-nosed bat populations are currently considered stable, many bat populations worldwide are facing challenges. Deforestation, habitat destruction, changes in land use, and climate change can all alter the availability of food and the conditions animals need to survive. There are currently more than 1,500 known species of bats in the world, with new species being described every year, said Bayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany species face growing pressures from habitat loss, disease, deforestation, climate change, and human disturbance, and many species remain poorly understood,\u201d Bayer said. \u201cThese gaps in our knowledge make it difficult to identify declines early and determine where conservation efforts are most urgently needed; hopefully, animal-borne technology such as this can play a role in helping fill some of those gaps.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This study was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See more of Bayer\u2019s work <\/em>via videos at his YouTube channel<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Oct. 26, 2026 \u2013 Bats are not only a marvel of myth and imagination but also energy use, working at the height of their energetic ceiling to fly the night skies the world over. They\u2019ve captured the attention of University of Rhode Island Ph.D. student Travis Bayer, who seems to have an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":111669,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5,1914,1909,1905],"class_list":["post-111668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences","tag-graduate","tag-international","tag-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111668"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111676,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111668\/revisions\/111676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}