BATS IN INTERNATIONAL
FORESTRY SCHOLARS
2008~09
Winners of BCI/U.S. Forest Service scholarships
for the 2008–09 academic year include:
Essential Allies
Bats play essential but mostly unappreciated roles in maintaining healthy ecosystems and human economies throughout
the world. They are primary predators of
night-flying insects, including agricultural
pests that cost farmers and foresters billions of dollars a year. Other bats are critical pollinators of countless wild plants,
including those that produce such important products as bananas, mangoes, peaches and dates. Fruit bats disperse seeds that
are vital in rejuvenating cleared rainforests.
Yet bat populations are declining around
the world, largely because they are so
often misunderstood and so rarely studied.
Knowledge is the key to conservation.
Eric Moise Bakwo Fils: Cameroon
Seed dispersal and forest conservation by fruit bats
Cesar Bracamonte: Argentina
Bat community organization in mountain forests
Michael Buchalski: Costa Rica
Impacts of habitat degradation on Neotropical bats
Natalia Carrillo: Mexico
Pollination ecology in a tropical dry forest
Kevin Fraser: Nicaragua
Altitudinal migration among Neotropical bats
Radek Lucan: Czech Republic
Habitat and roosting ecology of Nymph’s bats
Nicole Michel: Costa Rica and Nicaragua
Insect control in fragmented and intact rainforest
Carrie Seltzer: Tanzania
Effects of forest fragmentation on seed dispersal
Amanda Wendt: Costa Rica
Tent-making bats and seeds in wet tropical forests
BATS IN INTERNATIONAL
FORESTRY SCHOLARSHIPS
A partnership of
the U.S. Forest Service
International Programs &
Bat Conservation International
Supporting original research that
documents the ecological and economic
value and conservation needs of bats
in developing
countries.
www.fs.fed.us/global/
The Bats in
International Forestry
Scholarship Fund
The Bats in International Forestry
Scholarships support student research in
developing countries. These awards are
funded by U.S. Forest Service International Programs as part of Bat
Conservation International’s Student
Research Scholarship program.
Projects should be focused on the
roles bats play in maintaining healthy
ecosystems and/or on habitat requirements that are critical to conservation.
Most awards will be for $2,500, but some
may be as high as $5,000.
Since 2006, the program has provided
30 scholarships for research in 18 counBCI Scholar Cesar Bracamonte of the Universidad Nacional de Salta records information
tries, from Argentina and Brazil to
about a captured bat during his research in the Yungas Forest of Argentina.
Thailand and Tanzania.
Amyot Kofoky, a graduate student at the University of
Mahajanga, radiotracks bats at night during his study
of the diet and habitat requirements of a bat community in Madagascar. His research was supported by a
BCI/U.S. Forest Service Bats in International Forestry
Scholarship.
A sampling of previous BCI
Student Research Scholarships:
• Marco Mello, Universidade Estadual de Campinas
(Brazil): Patterns of seed dispersal by little yellowshouldered bats.
• Miguel Munguia-Rosas, Instituto de Ecología
(Mexico): Effects of bat pollinato r s’ availability on the
reproductive success, pro geny performance and genetic
va riability of a Mesoamerican columnar cactus.
• Tony Wood, University of Bristol (Malaysia): Effect
of human land-use on bat diversity and activity in
peninsular Malaysia.
Apply for a Scholarship
For information about a Bats in International Forestry
Scholarship or any other BCI Student Research
Scholarship, visit www.batcon.org or contact
grants@batcon.org. The application deadline is
December 15.
Bat Conservation
International
Student Research
Scholarships
Bat Conservation International’s
Student Research Scholarships have been
supporting young scientists around the
world since 1990. BCI has awarded a
total of more than $608,350 to 256 students for research in 54 countries. Many
BCI Scholars have become international
leaders in bat research and conservation.
Scholarships of up to $5,000 each per
academic year are available for research
that is re l evant to bat conservation in any
country. These awards typically provide
opportunities for matching grants from
other conservation organizations, government agencies and pri vate foundations.
Students enrolled in any college or
university worldwide are eligible to apply. Applications
for all Bat Conserva t i o n I n te rnational Scholarships are
competitive. Proposals are reviewed by an international
panel of leading bat biologists.
A Pallas’ long-tongued bat drinks nectar from a test
tube as BCI Scholar Tania Gonzalez studies the efficiency of bat pollinators at banana plantations in Mexico.
She is a graduate student at the Universidad Nacional
Autonoma de Mexico.