(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom platform technology, due to social-distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.)
At 7:00 pm, President Ken Chaya called the meeting of the Society to order. He introduced himself and thanked the attendees for joining the meeting, noting that tonight marks our tenth online meeting.
Commencing with the business portion of the meeting, President Chaya thanked the members of the LSNY Council for their help and announced the result of a vote to approve the minutes of the May members’ meeting: it passed with 140 votes of approval, none of disapproval, and no abstentions.
Next, he announced the result of a vote on the approval of new members. It passed with 140 votes of approval and none of disapproval. President Chaya welcomed the following fifty individuals as new members:
- Ronnie Almonte, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
- Paul Andersen, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
- Mary Belmont, sponsored by Barrie Raik
- Nancy Benedict, sponsored by Kate McMullan
- Daniel Bernstein, sponsored by Ken Chaya
- Rory Bernstein, sponsored by Tom Stephenson
- Margaret (Marge) Burman, sponsored by Will Papp, Gil Shrank
- David “Nick” Butterini, sponsored by Debbie Mullins
- Paul Citrin, sponsored by Will Papp
- Myron Cohen, sponsored by Paul Sweet
- Russell Comeau, sponsored by Debbie Mullins
- Dorothy Davison, sponsored by Karen Asakawa
- Louise Diedrich, sponsored by Ruth Hart
- Edward Evanisko, sponsored by Linda LaBella
- Sandy Fiebelkorn, sponsored by Alice McInerney
- Benita Fishbein, sponsored by Rick Wright
- Deborah Goldberg, sponsored by Ellen Rockmuller
- Scott Grodnick, sponsored by Will Papp
- Emma Guest-Consales, Ph.D., sponsored by Gabriel Willow
- Alexis Hill, sponsored by Miriam Rakowski
- David Hill, sponsored by Miriam Rakowski
- Susan Joseph, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
- Laura H Kahn, M.D., sponsored by Ken Chaya
- Mary Kinney, sponsored by Ken Chaya
- Terry Klee, sponsored by Ken Chaya
- Nancy Kricorian, sponsored by Gabriel Willow
- Tobias Lederberg, sponsored by Roy Tsao
- Ching Man Lee, sponsored by Ursula Mitra
- Amy Ludwig, sponsored by Ken Chaya
- Alexander F.M. More, sponsored by Elise Boeger
- Carrie Parkey, sponsored by Kristin Ellington, Anne Lazarus
- Thomas Perlman, sponsored by Ken Chaya
- Greg Plowman, sponsored by Linda LaBella
- Tracy Plowman, sponsored by Linda LaBella
- Linda Rabino, sponsored by Anne Lazarus
- Shannon Randall, sponsored by Debbie Mullins
- Noah Ratzan, sponsored by Anne Lazarus
- Christina Reik, sponsored by Karl Holtzschue
- Dominic Ricci, sponsored by Gabriel Willow
- Martin Sattell, sponsored by Kathleen Matthews
- Joseph Schiavone, sponsored by Patricia Klein
- David Schmittou, sponsored by Emelia Oleson, Laura Jacobs
- Alison Shields, sponsored by Anne Lazarus
- Aaron Stern, sponsored by Ruth Hart
- Paul Tannuzzo, sponsored by Miriam Rakowski
- Cheryl Tucker, sponsored by Miriam Rakowski
- Cheryl Wischhover, sponsored by Janet Wooten
- Joyce A. Wright, sponsored by Nancy Shamban
- James Zarroli, sponsored by Carine Mitchell
- Dawn Zeman, sponsored by Ken Chaya
President Chaya invited non-members in attendance to join the Society, explaining that they could learn how to do so by visiting the LSNY website, www.linnaeannewyork.org. He also pointed out that he or any of the other LSNY officers listed on the website would be willing to sponsor anyone who would like to join, emphasizing that an organization is only as healthy as its growing and diverse membership. He declared that the LSNY welcomes all to become members regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, background, or geographic location.
As the final item of business, President Chaya updated members on the Society’s effort to incorporate. He announced the results of a recent vote on the subject by members: there were 179 votes in favor of incorporating and accepting the new by-laws, and two opposed. He thanked the membership for its support and noted that today we received paperwork from New York State documenting that the society is now legally incorporated and is officially “The Linnaean Society of New York, Ltd.”
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At 7:13 pm, President Chaya introduced the evening’s speaker, Angelica Menchaca, a bat conservationist and director of Global South Bats. She earned her Ph.D. at Bristol University in the UK, studying Tequila Bats (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae). Her career has been dedicated to the conservation of animals and the use of genetic tools to answer ecological questions. Her fascination with bats and the need to promote their conservation in the most threatened places on Earth led her to join forces with other young scientists to develop self-sustaining initiatives to ensure the survival of bats across the global south.
Her talk was titled, “How Bats Are Uniting Conservationists in the Global South.” Have you ever wondered how bats fly? Or what they do at night? Or why they get such bad press? Bats are vital elements of our ecosystems and deserve our appreciation, but they face many threats worldwide. Dr. Menchaca covered some of the most remarkable aspects of bat diversity, as well as the bat’s role in ecosystems and in our daily lives. She also explained how their link with disease transmission inflicts damage on their reputation. A new initiative led by young scientists in the Global South organization (www.globalsouthbats.org and www.tequilabat.com) is helping protect bats in the most vulnerable places on earth. Bats deserve our appreciation as vital elements of our ecosystems, but they face many threats worldwide.
Dr. Menchaca opened her talk by saying she hoped that by the time she finished, her audience would have a greater appreciation of bats and think of them each time we drank tequila or ate a mango or fig. She also hoped that viewers would become more involved or at least interested in bat conservation.
She asked, “What makes them so interesting?” and remarked on how they come out at night, can fly as high as 10,000 feet, and are “somewhat of a mystery.” While there are some who still think of bats as “mice with wings,” bats and mice are not even closely related. While both of these small species are mammals, only bats are able to fly. Flight adaptation has enabled them to reach every part of world with the exception of Antarctica.
Before continuing, she shared a few “fun facts” about bats:
- The only flying mammal
- The second largest mammal group
- Spread all over world
- Have diverse feeding adaptations
- Are ecosystem service providers (pollination, insect control)
- Echolocate, using ultrasonic frequency
- Incredible longevity (40+ years)
- Unique immune system (DNA repair mechanisms)
- Utilize a navigation system (including stars, magnetic field, olfactory cues)
- Roost in large groups (can be as large as in the millions)
- Large lung capacity
- Big hearted
Bats are important pollinators, and they eat moths and insects that kill crops we need. Fruit bats help disperse seeds. There are over 1,400 species of bats in the world, but only three of them actually feed on blood, and two of them are quite rare. These vampire bats feed mostly on cattle and poultry. Bats are highly diverse and have many adaptations that can open doors to our understanding of evolution.
Looked at monetarily, bats deliver about one billion dollars to the global corn industry; in Texas alone, cotton farmers save about $1 million in pest control annually, thanks to bats.
Bats evolved about 52 million years ago. Dr. Menchaca showed a fossil of Icaronycteris index, one of the oldest bats, stating that bats evolved very early in the age of mammals. Icaronycteris index had a fairly long tail, a carry-over from a nocturnal arboreal mammal ancestor that likely used ultrasonic communication.
Speaking of the diversity of bats, she showed photos of 12 African bats to demonstrate their extensive physical variation.
When considering animal longevity, often smaller animals (e.g., hamsters) tend to live for very short periods of time (two-four years). As demonstrated by dogs, horses, and whales, longevity tends to increase with size. Bats are an exception; they are a very small mammal, but can live for decades. One of the oldest bats recorded was at least 41 years old.
A number of studies have looked at the longevity of bats. Some have shown that as bats age, they turn up the volume of their metabolism repair mechanisms. One study focused on the protective structure on bat chromosomes (i.e., telomeres, which shrink as we age). Bats can repair their telomeres and other damaged cells—examples of adaptations that we can study to learn about aging.
Addressing the concern that bats are disease vectors, Dr. Menchaca referenced the current pandemic and questions around the role of bats in spreading COVID. She acknowledged that bats can carry more diseases than other animals, the reason being that their repair mechanisms make them excellent survivors. As a result, they are able to host viruses without getting sick. Over two hundred viruses have been detected or isolated from bats. Bats and viruses have been co-evolving for a very long time. Coronavirus is a very large family of viruses, with only a few causing serious illness. Many animals are associated with coronaviruses, and there is no direct evidence of COVID-19 coming from bats. Dr. Menchaca added that we have an excellent opportunity to learn about antibodies from bats.
The evolution of flight may have affected bats’ immune system. Rapid metabolism causes oxidative stress that can damage DNA. Genetic changes during the evolution of flight likely included adaptations to limit collateral damage. It is likely that flight adaptations impacted immunity, which impacted lifespan.
Dr. Menchaca then discussed her own work, the study of one particular bat species: the Tequila Bat. She showed a photo of a cave in the Sonoran Desert of the American Southwest, where she goes twice a year to study these bats, pointing out that many of the bats in the photo that seemed “fat” were actually pregnant females arriving at the roost to give birth.
Only female Tequila Bats do a long-range migration from central Mexico to New Mexico and Arizona. They are trying to follow the blooming of certain plants and arrive at the right time for the birth of their pups. They spend the summer in the Sonoran Desert and return to Mexico in the fall.
However, there is a second population of Tequila Bats in Southeast Mexico that does not migrate. The females of both populations breed with non-migrating males. The goal of Dr. Menchaca’s research is to explore the differences between the migrating and non-migrating females.
She captured bats of both populations, took many measurements, and studied the morphology of their wings, finding that females that do not migrate are better adapted for flight at slower speeds and with higher maneuverability. Migratory females have pointier wings that may be better adapted for long-distance flight. Males had wings more similar to non-migrating females. Also, there was only a tiny bit of sexual dimorphism.
Dr. Menchaca then discussed her work with Global South Bats (GSB), which was formed as a network of bat researchers where members could share knowledge and work together to find solutions to common bat conservation challenges.
The term “Global South” refers to developing countries, which are located primarily (but not exclusively) in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a term coined by economists that GSB adopted because it represents the places where biodiversity is the highest, but where economic and social challenges are also huge.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Global South Bats was able to hold its first field course in Kenya, uniting students from 12 South American countries and 12 African countries. The goal was not just to train these students, but to teach them how to become a community. The idea was to do conservation for bats while also bringing people together. “Without a collective dream, we won’t achieve conservation as researchers would want it.” She added that as a bat biologist, research is one of her greatest passions, but working with students and teaching them to achieve their own goals is what really keeps her going.
One of the main things GSB is trying to achieve is to bring together people from different parts of the world to focus research in the Global South, not just the elite, but also on-the-ground conservationists who have an interest in bats and are living in the community. The goal is to empower and connect these communities, as well as to centralize their conservation efforts. GSB’s new website is still a work-in-progress, but will ultimately have a members-only area where members can communicate with one another, access resources (e.g., a tutorial on how to build nets), and learn from researchers across the globe (how to use a piece of equipment, analyze data, or design one’s own experiments and research). GSB hopes to make a real difference in the bat world.
The talk concluded with an invitation to attendees to visit GSB’s website to learn more about their work: globalsouthbats.org.
At 7:59 pm, Vice President Gabriel Willow thanked Dr. Menchaca for her talk and facilitated the Q&A portion of the program.
At 8:29 pm, Vice President Willow passed the floor back to President Chaya, who also thanked the speaker as well as the audience.
8:31 pm—The meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by Amy Simmons, Recording Secretary