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Student: Matthew Ruiter
Advisor: Scott Shall
Content Experts: Masataka Yoshikawa, Kurt Neiswender
As cities grow in footprint and population, rural habitat is destroyed, and wildlife species are forced to find a new home: the urban environment. This increased proximity between humans and wildlife leads to an increased potential for conflicts, though the perceived risks from wildlife are often greater than the actual threats (Hadidian 2015; Soulsbury & White, 2015).
Bats are one group of mammal that have found habitat within the built environment, as the use of human-made structures and maternity roosts and hibernacula is well-known (Johnson et al. 2019; House 2023). Despite the misconceptions surrounding them, bats are vital to ecosystems (Gannon & Bovard 2016) and provide more direct benefits to human populations, including the reduction of crop pests (Boyles et al. 2011) and biting insects including disease vectors (Wray 2018). However, this close proximity also results in risks to bats and humans alike.
Examining the role of bats in the built environment provides an excellent case study on how architecture can positively impact urban wildlife. The role of architecture and infrastructure as bat habitat can be seen in past works such as Joyce Hwang’s Bat Tower (2010) or the local popularity of the bat colony at the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas (Image 1). These and similar case studies of urban and suburban bat populations can reveal how architecture can house not only house bats, but provide for their conservation in the face of population declines and eliminate risks to humans and bats alike.
Use Your Cell Phone as a Document Camera in Zoom
From Computer
Log in and start your Zoom session with participants
From Phone
To use your cell phone as a makeshift document camera
