| ||||||||||
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... |
Public invited to help scientists study bat behavior From Western Kentucky University BOWLING GREEN, KY - (Wed 19 Oct 2016) - Bats play an important role in the ecosystem. Yet, scientists know relatively little about their behaviors in the wild. Arizona BatWatch is a new, National Science Foundation-funded, citizen science project designed to help scientists study bat behaviors around a roost. Arizona BatWatch launched this morning (Oct. 19), just in time for National Bat Week on October 24-31, 2016. "It is hard to study bat behaviors in the wild because bats are small, nocturnal, and easily disturbed," said Shannon Trimboli, the creator of Arizona BatWatch and Education Coordinator of the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning, a partnership between Western Kentucky University and Mammoth Cave National Park. "Recent advances in technology have made it easier to study bats in the wild through the use of near-infrared video cameras that can record bat behaviors without a person being present. However, a single study can create many thousands of hours of video which someone has to watch and classify." "Traditionally a single scientist and his or her team of one or two assistants would watch and classify all of the videos," said Trimboli. "With so few people working on the videos, it would take a very long time to go through all the videos. Later, if another scientist wanted to use the same videos to study a different set of behaviors, the new scientist would have to repeat the process to identify the new set of behaviors." According to Trimboli, Arizona BatWatch uses citizen science to solve this problem. Participants in Arizona BatWatch watch archived videos of endangered, lesser long-nosed bats flying around a roost in Arizona. As they watch the videos, they identify the behaviors they see. With so many people watching the videos, the behaviors on the videos will be identified much faster than a single scientist and his or her team could do by themselves. Also, once the videos are classified anyone can use them without having to re-watch and re-classify the entire set of videos. "Citizen science creates partnerships between the public and researchers working on large, scientific studies. These partnerships can lead to valuable scientific contributions," said Dr. Cathleen Webb, Associate Dean for Research in Western Kentucky University's Ogden College of Science and Engineering. "Citizen science can also profoundly influence the communication of science at the most fundamental levels by igniting a passion for discovery through hands-on, active, participation as a research partner," Dr. Webb said. "At WKU, we value these accomplishments and strive to actively engage people in research and educational opportunities." In addition to the opportunity to participate in the research, the Arizona BatWatch website also includes educational opportunities. The website contains detailed information about the project, lesser long-nosed bats, bats in general, and the data being collected. It also includes discussion boards where participants can ask questions and share their findings. "Everyone is invited to participate in Arizona BatWatch," Trimboli said. "It is a great way to celebrate National Bat Week and to help scientists learn more about bats." The bats in the videos on the Arizona BatWatch website are lesser long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris curasoae). Lesser long-nosed bats are an endangered species of bat that lives in Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico. It is a pollinator and feeds on the nectar and pollen of agave and columnar cacti. Lesser long-nosed bats are endangered primarily due to habitat destruction and human disturbances at roost sites. Arizona BatWatch was funded through a National Science Foundation grant (1223908). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning is a partnership between WKU and Mammoth Cave National Park. At WKU, it is housed within the Dean's Office of Ogden College of Science and Engineering. For information about the project, contact Shannon Trimboli, Education Coordinator of the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning, (270) 758-2422 or shannon.trimboli@wku.edu This story was posted on 2016-10-19 18:33:23
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.
More articles from topic News:
Supporting Ronald McDonald House with thoughts of Evan Columbia City Police give $100 to Ronald McDonald Charities Revival at Charity Thu-Fri-Sat-Sun 20-21-22-23 Oct 2016 Ellen Zornes: Monetary Donations to RMH coming in Ray & Betty Hawthorne Golden Anniversary 29 Oct 2016 LWC women's soccer hosts Georgetown Wed 19 Oct 2016 Ronald McDonald House drive joint Adair/Russell effort this year Meggitt Aircraft expands in Danville, KY Columbia Baptist Church Trunk or Treat 31 Oct 2016 Ottis Skaggs, Russell Springs, KY JTR speaker 21 Oct 2016 View even more articles in topic News |
|
||||||||
| ||||||||||
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
|