WCS 3-Sentence Science

Bats, Bark Beetles, British Columbia

April 8, 2019

Photo credit: Cori Lausen/WCS Canada

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present Cori Lausen’s recent work on bats and bark beetles:

1. Wildlife species exhibit changes in behavior, population dynamics, and abundance after disturbances to forests.
2. In western North America, large swathes of dead trees have resulted from unusually large outbreaks of bark beetles (Dendroctonus spp.) over recent decades.
3. 3. Researchers looking at beetle killed forests in British Columbia looked at bat-species richness and found that beetle-killed forests is not adversely affecting bat presence or activity, nor enabling increased use by bats of affected forest stands in comparison to activity levels found in other high elevation forests.

Study and Journal: “Bat activity and richness in beetle-killed forests in southern British Columbia” from Journal of Mammalogy
WCS Co-Author(s): Cori Lausen (Lead) , Associate Conservation Scientists, WCS Canada

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.