Conclusion:
Now I'm into ultrasound recording. This is my associate Elisabeth Kalko of the University of Tuebingen in Germany. We find that bats have distinctive ultrasound signatures. We can identify species by their ultrasounds. We think that the wave of the future will be bat listening. People will listen for bats as they now bird watch, once we identify the signatures and publish a Guide to Bat Sounds. It's really fascinating, exciting, to be out at night in the total black of a tropical forest and with an ultrasound receiver identify up to 15 or 20 species of bats that are flying around up there, unseen and unheard except with the aid of the receiver.
This obviously has conservation consequences because we can identify the aerial insectivores. When we know all the species and their sounds and where they live, then we can estimate ecosystem quality by just listening to the bats for a few nights.
Thank you very much. Actually I'll talk about biosystematics and modern systematics in the panel discussion.
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