​​​​Kristen Lear, PhD

Bats are my passion, both professionally and personally. Broadly speaking, my research and professional interests lie in bat conservation.

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In 2011, I received a B.A. in Zoology from Ohio Wesleyan University. While at Ohio Wesleyan, I worked for two summers as a field research assistant studying the pest control services of bats in central Texas pecan orchards (under Tom Kunz's PhD student Elizabeth Braun de Torrez). I also completed my Senior Honors thesis work there, which focused on the effect of bat houses on bat activity in pecan orchards, and species preferences for bat house design.

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After graduation, I received a U.S. Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship to study the critically endangered Southern bent-wing bat (Miniopterus schreibersii bassanii) in the Naracoorte Caves National Park, South Australia. I used thermal imaging cameras to conduct nightly emergence counts from the main maternity cave of the species, and spearheaded a survey of 37 over-wintering caves in 2012. This information was incorporated into the 2015 draft National Recovery Plan for the species.

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In 2020, I completed a PhD in Integrative Conservation at University of Georgia's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. My research was on the conservation of the endangered Mexican long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris nivalis) in northeast Mexico. This species feeds on agave plants, which rural communities in the region harvest and use for many important cultural products. "Bat-friendly" agave management practices could potentially be encouraged in these communities to help conserve Mexican long-nosed bats. My research sought to understand where (i.e. which communities and where in those communities) "bat-friendly" management campaigns could be targeted, as well as how best to encourage "bat-friendly" management practices given the unique social, political, and economic contexts of each community. As part of the Integrative Conservation (ICON) PhD program, my research took an integrative, interdisciplinary approach to bat conservation by joining the natural and social sciences into a holistic whole. I strongly believe that this type of holistic approach to conservation more closely resembles the "real-world" context of many conservation challenges, and better enables conservation efforts to be effectively developed and sustained.

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I now work as Bat Conservation International's Agave Restoration Program Director leading the organization's Agave Restoration Initiative to restore critical foraging habitat for endangered pollinating bats and support community livelihoods in the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico.

 

​​​I am also passionate about public outreach to raise awareness and appreciation of bats and their conservation. Engaging with the public (including local community groups, social media communities, policy makers, etc.) is a vital part of conservation and is an aspect of my own work that I strive to continually build upon and develop (including through some creative avenues!). I've also helped lead several bat house projects to provide important roosting sites for bats and encourage public participation in bat conservation efforts. Finally, through my mentoring and youth activities, I hope to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM/STEAM, increase science literacy among the public, and support the next generation of scientists.