Are you curious about life in the night sky? Me too! You’ve come to the right place to find out more about the new science of aeroecology.
One of the most exciting things about studying nocturnal aeroecology is that it is still so mysterious. Back when I worked in the software world, we called this a green fields opportunity. But this also means there is little information available about the things that we DO know. For example, common moths like fall armyworms migrate hundreds of feet high at night and are both widespread agricultural pests and food for bats. And both the bats and the insects are visible using weather radar.
I put together this new expanded version of my web site with information on the current state of aeroecology science for those who are interested in learning more. I’m not selling anything, and I’m not claiming to be an expert — I am just one of many scientists trying to understand what is going on up there. And this is not by any means comprehensive. For example, I haven’t tried to include information about nocturnal bird migration since there are excellent resources available already. But if you want to know more about bat or insect migration, tools to study nocturnal aeroecology, conservation issues, or just wonder why it matters, I hope you will find this information useful.
You’ll also find information on this site about other aspects of ecology. The photo above is from Kelso Dunes (the singing dunes) which I visited on a plant taxonomy field trip during my master’s program at San Francisco State University. And if you are looking for bat pictures, I also have many more photos like this bat from Belize (Platyrhinus helleri) on my flickr site.
So, welcome! I plan to add new content here as regularly as possible. For more frequent updates, Follow @batgrrl me on Twitter, where I encourage you to give me feedback and suggestions for future posts.
Free-tailed bats coming your way?