Dr. Joy O’Keefe will describe the status of bats and the threats they face, both globally and regionally. Then she’ll use research from her lab and others to show that bats have been undervalued in forests and that, while we may have given bats too much credit for insect suppression in big agriculture, we need more deliberate, localized studies to fully understand their value in the ecosystem.
About our speaker:
Dr. O’Keefe is an associate professor and wildlife extension specialist in natural resources and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has been studying bats for 25 years. Her research program tackles applied questions and yields solutions to conservation challenges facing imperiled bat populations.
