Monthly Archives: February 2024

From Green Canopies to Golden Fields: Ashraf Presents the Odyssey of Bangladeshi Bats to Texan Audiences

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Ashraf was telling a bat story, keeping the audiences hanging on every word

At the 42nd annual Texas Society of Mammalogists meeting in February 2024, Ashraf presented a poster on how bat assemblages are responding to land-use change in Bangladesh. During his two-year adventure in the world of bats, he documented 16 bat species across 5 families and 4 feeding guilds, employing a combination of mist nets and harp traps. His research illustrates that bat species diversity is greater in forests compared to degraded land-use within the protected areas. In addition, Ashraf demonstrated that bat species composition varies across study sites, emphasizing that forested areas are home to specialist bat species, in contrast to degraded sites. Remarkably, Ashraf’s study pioneered the use of the harp trap as a successful method for capturing forest understory bats in Bangladesh, representing a substantial leap forward in the country’s bat research.

Bat Nerds on the March Again at the Annual Texas Tech Biological Sciences Symposium

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Just like in any other lab, it’s a time-honored tradition for Kingston’s lab members to attend the annual TTABSS. This year, four members showcased parts of their PhD dissertation work. Abby snagged the Best Oral Presentation in Ecology award! Hurray!

Abby in action presenting her award-winning talk!

Isham, Ashraf, and Touseef also did their part in keeping this tradition alive, presenting on community ecology in fragmented habitats, species responses to land-use change, and bat responses to heat stress.

Ashraf explains the his research into the understudied bat species of Bangladesh
Amir standing proudly with his masterpiece!

But let’s not forget our recent undergraduate bat scientists who had their chance to shine at TTABSS! This year, we’ve got Amir Batrice stepping up to present his work on “Measuring Asian Social Media Sentiments Towards Bat Exploitation”.

Isham (and his coffee!) presenting on species assemblages in Malaysia
Touseef (and his professional looking title slide)

We’re aiming to bring home even more awards for the lab in the future. You BAT that’s right! We’re keeping our eyes peeled for more conferences to hit up!