After 19 wonderful years in the Department of Biological Sciences at Texas Tech University, I have moved to the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as the inaugural Shelford-Pitelka-Batzli Professor in Mammalian Ecology.
Leaving behind great friends and colleagues, and the sunsets and Red Raider spirit of West Texas has been hard, but I am comforted by the warm welcome I’ve received at the University of Illinois, and excited by this new chapter and possibilities.
Want to learn about bat conservation research in Bangladesh? Dr. Ashraf’s got you covered! Watch his GBatNet “My Field for Dummies” webinar, available now on YouTube (science made simple)
The Kingston Lab is happy to share a new publication from Ashraf and Tigga, just out in Biodiversity and Conservation. This work examines how small-scale habitat modification within protected forests can affect bat communities and activity, even before extensive forest loss occurs.
One of the key questions of the Anthropocene is how habitat fragmentation affects biodiversity. While fragmentation has been widely studied, much less attention has been given to its earliest stage, known as habitat perforation. Habitat perforation occurs when small clearings appear within otherwise unmodified forests, creating edges and gaps that alter the natural forest structure. Although recognized for more than three decades, its effects on biodiversity inside protected areas remain poorly understood.
Protected areas in northeastern Bangladesh have already been perforated by human activities. Depending on the protected area, agroforest perforations cover about 15–32% of its total area. These perforations result from commercial and small-scale agriculture, selective and illegal logging, land clearing, and human settlements.
We examined how habitat perforation within protected areas and tea plantations outside them influences bat communities in three protected areas of Bangladesh. We found that bat diversity was highest in unmodified forests. Although perforation had not yet fully altered the overall bat community, perforated habitats created opportunities for bats that forage along forest edges, in gaps, and in open spaces, while gradually filtering out bats that depend on undisturbed forest interiors. We also found that bat acoustic activity was highest in tea plantations, largely because these habitats were dominated by edge- and open-space foraging species.
The rarefaction and extrapolation curves compare estimated bat diversity between unmodified forest (green) and agroforest perforations (orange), based on captures from three protected areas in Bangladesh. Harp trap results are shown in the top row, and mist net results in the bottom row. The x-axis shows the number of bats captured, and the y-axis shows estimated bat diversity. Harp traps detected greater bat diversity in forest sites across all three measures: species richness (Hill number 0), Shannon diversity (Hill number 1), and inverse Simpson diversity (Hill number 2). Mist nets captured greater species richness (Hill number 0) in agroforest perforations, but forest sites showed higher Shannon and inverse Simpson diversity (Hill numbers 1 and 2) when species abundances were considered. This suggests that mist net captures in agroforest perforations included more species but were dominated by a few abundant species. Although the differences were not conclusive, the two complementary trapping methods together suggest that even small, human-modified agroforest clearings within protected forests may be associated with early changes in bat diversity.
Our findings highlight the importance of identifying and preventing new perforations within protected areas before fragmentation becomes more severe. Protecting structurally complex forest interiors and maintaining connectivity across the landscape are essential for conserving forest-dependent bats and preventing the gradual loss of biodiversity within protected areas.
Another year has passed, and once again the Kingston Lab has reason to celebrate. Meet our newest 2026 graduate, Dr. Hasan!
Dr. Hasan dressed for the occasion and ready for the finish line.
After a successful dissertation defense, he left the room genuinely impressed, revealing the remarkable hidden diversity of bats in Bangladesh. In fact, he may very well be the first to investigate bat communities at this scale in the country. This is a milestone worth tipping your hat to. And tip we do!
The slide that started it all.
So here’s a big round of applause for all the hard work, late nights, and dedication that got him here. And don’t go too far just yet! Y’all need to keep an eye out for his upcoming publications. Word on the street is they’re still “baking in the oven”, and something tells us they’re going to come out well done.
The Kingston Lab is happy to share a new publication from Ben and Tigga, just out in Animal Conservation. This one comes from years of hard fieldwork in the caves of Cross River State, Nigeria, and the findings are striking.
We set out to understand what influences Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) to use some caves and not others. Cave area, cave complexity, cave temperature and humidity, dominant tree height etc…. all the factors known to influence roost selection in bats were accounted for. Our findings showed that hunting pressure from humans was the most important driver of roost use. Caves showing the highest levels of hunting pressure, measured using counts of abandoned hunting sticks, held the fewest bats and in many cases none at all. We also identified a clear threshold: beyond six hunting sticks, bat abundance drops sharply, suggesting that’s the point at which bats start abandoning roosts or are hunted to local extinction. Meanwhile, the two caves holding the biggest colonies in the landscape? Completely inaccessible to hunters. The bats, it seems, know what’s good for them.
Hunting pressure was the strongest predictor of the Egyptian fruit bat abundance across 27 caves. Abundance declined sharply beyond a threshold of six hunting sticks, after which bats start to abandon cave roosts. Intense hunting (for consumption) pressure redistributes bats across the landscape, with serious conservation and One Health implications as this species is a natural reservoir of Marburg virus.
The conservation implications are significant on their own – R. aegyptiacus has slow reproductive rates, and offtake of up to 4000 bats per cave visit (as we observed in this study) makes recovery extremely difficult. But the One Health angle makes this even more urgent. This species is a known reservoir of Marburg virus, and intense hunting is redistributing bats across the landscape, and also concentrating large aggregations near human settlements, potentially increasing spillover risk.
The Kingston lab is excited to share a new publication from Moe Moe! Her research highlights the ecological importance of limestone karst caves in Southern Shan State, Myanmar, as key habitats for diverse and understudied bat species. These bats play crucial roles in maintaining ecosystem balance through insect control, pollination, and nutrient cycling.
The study found that cave characteristics such as size and temperature strongly influence bat populations, while human disturbances—such as guano harvesting, hunting, and cave development—negatively impact their abundance.
Fig. 2. Distribution of Bat Cave Vulnerability (BV) classes across 38 surveyed caves. BV classes were derived following the Bat Cave Vulnerability Index (BCVI) framework and categorized as A – High vulnerability, B – Moderate vulnerability, and C – Low vulnerability. Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of caves assigned to each class.
With many caves identified as vulnerable, this research emphasizes the urgent need for conservation efforts to protect biodiversity and reduce potential public health risks associated with human–bat interactions. Find the full paper is here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2026.e04071
The Kingston Lab is excited to share a new publication from Tigga and colleagues and published in Conservation Biology. This work took considerable time and careful thought to bring together. We’re very pleased to see it published and available to the wider bat research community, with important implications for wildlife research, field safety, and One Health.
The study analyzed responses from approximately 1,000 bat researchers and examined the factors influencing their intention to follow field hygiene practices, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Overall, the researchers found that bat researchers had a high intention to adopt field hygiene practices.
Mentors were the most influential source of encouragement, followed by regulatory bodies, fellow researchers, and mentees. The study also found that perceptions that hygiene practices were impractical or uncomfortable were important barriers to their adoption.
A structural equation model of drivers of the intent to adopt field hygiene (FH) behaviors by nondisease bat researchers. The model is built around the Theory of Planned Behavior, and as can be seen here, intent to adopt field hygiene is strongly influenced by the subjective norm and perceived behavioral control.
We found that bat researchers recognize and accept the importance of protecting both bats and people and of preventing cross-contamination of samples. The findings highlight the significant role of senior researchers in modeling good field hygiene practices and encouraging students and early-career researchers to follow them. This study also emphasizes the need for education, practical solutions, and supportive policies in wildlife research.
Although the study focuses on bat researchers, its findings have broader implications for wildlife research and One Health, as fieldwork involving wild animals can create opportunities for pathogen transmission. Therefore, promoting strong field hygiene practices across the wildlife research community can help protect researchers, wildlife, and public health.
Tigga recently presented at the weekly PEEC seminar, where she gave a deep dive into the Global Union of Bat Diversity Networks (GBatNet). Her talk, “Working Together for Sustainable Bat Diversity in a Changing World,” explored how the network got started, what it’s working toward, and how it continues to grow.
She walked through the development of GBatNet’s working groups and highlighted its focus on supporting the next generation of interdisciplinary researchers. More broadly, her talk emphasized why strong, collaborative research networks are so important for conserving bat diversity in the face of global change!
From left to right: Heather as Marcille, Avalon as Falin, Phil as Senshi, Avi as Chilchuck, and Ilana as Izutsumi!
Heather brought science to UI-Con 2026 as part of UIUC’s Cosplay for Science outreach group. Alongside other SIB panelists, she cosplayed as an adventurer to explore the science behind dungeon ecosystems. Within the Delicious in Dungeon universe, Heather connected anime-inspired storytelling to real concepts like One Health and the ecosystem services provided by bats. The panel was a fun and creative way to engage new audiences in STEM, while also talking about how great bats are!
The Kingston lab is excited to share a new publication from Isham. This one took a fair bit of time, patience, and careful thinking to pull together. So we’re glad it’s finally out where it can be shared more widely.
In this study, we take a closer look at what happens to insectivorous bat communities when tropical forests are broken into smaller fragments. What we found is that species aren’t lost at random. Instead, fragmentation tends to filter out certain bats first, and as that happens, the functional trait space starts to shrink. This contraction happens rapidly up to a threshold, after which it levels off at a reduced level. We also found that the pattern of disassembly reflects a combination of deterministic and stochastic processes.
Figure 1. Non-random species loss driven by fragmentation leads to a contraction in functional trait space as species richness drops from 11 to 8, then levels off beyond this threshold.
One of the bigger takeaways is that conserving fragmented landscapes isn’t as straightforward as focusing on the biggest or most species-rich patches of forest. Smaller fragments matter too, and together they help maintain diversity across the broader landscape. This work also shows why it’s useful to look beyond species count alone. By incorporating functional diversity, we can better understand the impacts of fragmentation and make better-informed conservation decisions.
Figure 2. Landscape surrounding the Tengku Hasanal Wildlife Reserve in Krau, Malaysia. The area is a patchwork of land uses, including oil palm, rubber, and durian plantations, as well as urban development.
If you’re interested in learning more, check out the full paper here!
Y’all heard that right! We’ve got two brand new doctors coming out of the Kingston Lab this Fall! Big congratulations to Dr. Ahmed and Dr. Rutrough! 🥳
Both have done a fantastic job defending their dissertations, and we couldn’t be prouder! It’s been a joy watching their hard work pay off, and we can’t wait to see what kind of wild and wonderful science they’ll cook up next.
So go on and give them a holler in the comments. They’ve earned every bit of it!
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