A biologging approach to studying wild animals in the Anthropocene

In a world changing faster than ever, we need to understand the consequences of our actions in the habitats where animals live. However, we still know very little about how wild animals use their habitats, and how their foraging successes and energy budgets are affected by human activities. With this Villum International postdoc, I aim to directly record the impact of human noise and light pollution on wildlife by attaching tiny computers to the back of wild bats. I will use the potential of these animal-borne devices to quantify the energy budgets and foraging behaviour of wild bats in concert with their responses to human activities and habitat changes. It will be of value for future conservation to determine the particular mechanisms behind the observed declines in the bat populations to facilitate sustainable co-existence. With this project, I aim to return to Denmark with knowledge to continue understanding the ecophysiology and behaviour of wild animals to inform pertinent conservation decisions in a changing world.