Bats are widely distributed and vary enormously in their ecology, sociality, and behavior. They offer diverse cultural and economic contributions to human populations, such as ecotourism, guano, medicinal products, religious significance, and vector control, to name a few. Insectivorous bats consume massive quantities of insects and other arthropods, controlling important agricultural pests and potential disease vectors. Bats feeding on nectar help to maintain diversity in forests through the dispersal of seeds and pollen, essential to many plant species with high economic, biological, and cultural value. At the same time, bats are often associated with zoonotic disease risks, a trend that has been magnified by the global COVID-19 pandemic, although no direct infection from bat to human has been demonstrated. Rapid deforestation is also a major contributing factor to new viral emergences. This book suggests that education is a suitable tool to minimize prejudice against bats and a key step to creating a harmonious coexistence between humans and bats. Chapters address such topics as bats in folklore and culture, bat dispersal patterns, bats in ecosystem management, pesticide exposure risks, roost-tier preference, diversity and conservation, and ecology of white-nose syndrome.

An important resource that reviews the various infectious diseases that affect bats and bat populations Bats and Human Health: Ebola, SARS, Rabies and Beyond covers existing literature on viral, bacterial, protozoan, and fungal infections of bats and how these infections affect bat populations. The book also offers an overview of the potential for zoonotic transmission of infectious diseases from bats to humans or domestic animals. While most prior publications on the subject have dealt only with bat viral infections, this text closely covers a wide range of bat infections, from viral and bacterial infections to protist and fungal infections. Chapters on viral infections cover rabies, filoviruses, henipaviruses, and other RNA viruses, as well as information on bat virome studies. The book then provides information on bacterial infections–including arthropod-borne and other bacteria that affect bats–before moving on to protist infections, including apicomplexans and kinetoplastids, and fungal infections, including white-nose syndrome, histoplasma capsulatum, and other fungi. Comprehensive in scope, yet another key feature of this book is a searchable database that includes bat species, bat family, bat diet, bat location, type and classification of infecting microbes, and categories of microbes. This vital resource also: Provides a history and comprehensive overview of bat-borne diseases Incorporates information from the World Health Organization, as well as historical data from the National Libraries of Health and infectious disease journals Covers a variety of diseases including viral infections, bacterial infections, protist infections, and fungal infections Written for microbiologist, bat researchers, and conservationists, Bats and Human Health provides a comprehensive exploration of the various types of microbes that affect bats and their potential to affect human populations.

This book focuses on central themes related to the conservation of bats. It details their response to land-use change and management practices, intensified urbanization and roost disturbance and loss. Increasing interactions between humans and bats as a result of hunting, disease relationships, occupation of human dwellings, and conflict over fruit crops are explored in depth. Finally, contributors highlight the roles that taxonomy, conservation networks and conservation psychology have to play in conserving this imperilled but vital taxon. With over 1300 species, bats are the second largest order of mammals, yet as the Anthropocene dawns, bat populations around the world are in decline. Greater understanding of the anthropogenic drivers of this decline and exploration of possible mitigation measures are urgently needed if we are to retain global bat diversity in the coming decades. This book brings together teams of international experts to provide a global review of current understanding and recommend directions for future research and mitigation.

This book discusses oxidative stress and hormesis from the perspective of an evolutionary ecologist or physiologist. In the first of ten chapters, general historical information, definitions, and background of research on oxidative stress physiology, hormesis, and life history are provided. Chapters 2-10 highlight the different solutions that organisms have evolved to cope with the oxidative threats posed by their environments and lifestyles. The author illustrates how oxidative stress and hormesis have shaped diversity in organism life-histories, behavioral profiles, morphological phenotypes, and aging mechanisms. The book offers fascinating insights into how organisms work and how they evolve to sustain their physiological functions under a vast array of environmental conditions.

With more than two hundred species distributed from California through Texas and across most of mainland Mexico, Central and South America, and islands in the Caribbean Sea, the Phyllostomidae bat family (American leaf-nosed bats) is one of the world’s most diverse mammalian families. From an insectivorous ancestor, species living today, over about 30 million years, have evolved a hyper-diverse range of diets, from blood or small vertebrates, to consuming nectar, pollen, and fruit. Phyllostomid plant-visiting species are responsible for pollinating more than five hundred species of neotropical shrubs, trees, vines, and epiphytes—many of which are economically and ecologically important—and they also disperse the seeds of at least another five hundred plant species. Fruit-eating and seed-dispersing members of this family thus play a crucial role in the regeneration of neotropical forests, and the fruit eaters are among the most abundant mammals in these habitats. Coauthored by leading experts in the field and synthesizing the latest advances in molecular biology and ecological methods, Phyllostomid Bats is the first overview in more than forty years of the evolution of the many morphological, behavioral, physiological, and ecological adaptations in this family. Featuring abundant illustrations as well as details on the current conservation status of phyllostomid species, it is both a comprehensive reference for these ecologically vital creatures and a fascinating exploration of the evolutionary process of adaptive radiation.

Functional Metabolism of Cells is the first comprehensive survey of metabolism, offering an in-depth examination of metabolism and regulation of carbohydrates, lipids, and amino acids. It provides a basic background on metabolic regulation and adaptation as well as the chemical logic of metabolism, and covers the interrelationship of metabolism to life processes of the whole organism. The book lays out a structured approach to the metabolic basis of disease, including discussion of the normal pathways of metabolism, altered pathways leading to disease, and use of molecular genetics in diagnosis and treatment of disease. It also takes a unique comparative approach in which human metabolism is a reference for metabolism in microorganisms and plant design, and presents novel coverage of development and aging, and human health and animal adaptation. The final chapter reviews the past and future promise of new genetic approaches to treatment and bioinformatics. This, the most exhaustive treatment of metabolism currently available, is a useful text for advanced undergraduates and graduates in biochemistry, cell/molecular biology, and biomedicine, as well as biochemistry instructors and investigators in related fields.

Introduces readers to key case studies that illustrate how theory and data can be integrated to understand wildlife disease ecology.