Rafinesque’s big-eared bat
Dr. Joseph Johnson, a new faculty member in Biological Sciences, is seeking undergraduate students from the College of Arts & Sciences to work in his lab.
“I’m an ecologist specializing in the study of bats,” he says. “Two of my current projects include a study of the ecology of bats in southern Chile, which begins this November, and a study of bat populations in Yellowstone National Park, but I hope to be starting some projects focused on Ohio’s bats next summer.”
“There are many opportunities for undergraduate students to be involved the bat lab. This fall and spring we will be building and testing new technologies for tracking animals in the field, as well as analyzing existing datasets for publication. Students with strong interests in our research program also have the opportunity to be part of the most important aspect of the lab’s work—summer field studies,” Johnson adds.
“We examine many aspects of bat ecology in the field, including hibernation, habitat use, physiology, and migration. In doing so, we use a suite a techniques, including mist-netting, pit-tagging, and blood sampling, to name a few. The questions asked in the bat lab are rather diverse, so students interested in ecology can really get exposed to a lot of different methods and skills.”
Hoary bat
Johnson earned a Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky in 2012. After that he served as both research post-doc and teaching faculty and Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.
“Here at OHIO, I will be teaching Mammalogy as well human anatomy. It’s something of a perfect combination for me, because it combines my obvious experience with mammals with other aspects of my life, such as my experience as a yoga instructor. I’m a pretty avid traveler, and I try to combine my love for adventure with my passion for bat conservation by working on projects around the world.”
Read more about his research on his profile page.
Indiana bat
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