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The DSU Bat Laboratory |
Kevina Vulinec, Ph.D. |
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Principle Investigator: Dr. Kevina Vulinec
**If you have any questions or inquiries please send them HERE
Overview
Our research focuses on biodiversity, conservation, and ecosystem function, especially as will be impacted by anthropogenic change. Our lab, while currently concentrating on bats, has worked on the conservation and ecosystem roles of numerous fauna in the US and Neotropics, including primates, dung beetles, butterflies, songbirds, feral horses, and horseshoe crabs. My interests encompass seed-dispersal communities in the tropics, the role of predators, the value of secondary forests, and reforestation using natural dispersal agents. We are currently working on projects ranging from seed dispersal by wildlife, habitat use by bats, and the effect of fragmentation and sea-level rise, predation on insects, biodiversity studies in Honduras, and the mitigation of bat mortality by wind turbines.
Some specific current projects include:
- Habitat change and fragmentation effects on bat activity in Neotropical rainforests
- Bat conservation and biodiversity in tropical landscapes
- Mitigation of bat mortality from wind turbines
- Sea-level rise in coastal habitats and the effect on wildlife
- Golf courses as conservation foci for bats
- The impact of bats on insect populations
Lab Members
Graduate Students:
Kimmi Swift
Megan Wallrichs
Undergraduate Students:
Katie Bielicki
Chelsea Morton
Egon Vilela*
Diogo Coimbra*
* Denotes interns from the Institute of International Educational Brazil Scientific Mobility Program Academic Training
Publications (Newest – Oldest)
* Denote student author
Swartz, M. T., B. Ferster, K. Vulinec, and G. Paulson. 2015. Measuring regal fritillary butterfly (Speyeria idalia) habitat requirements in south-central Pennsylvania: implications for the conservation of an imperiled butterfly. Northeastern Naturalist 22: 812-829.
*López-Baucells, A., *R. Rocha, *I. Mayés, K. Vulinec, P. E. Bobrowiec, and C. F. J. Meyer. 2013. First record of Micronycteris sanborni (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from Central Amazonia, Brazil: range expansion and description of echolocation. Mammalia: DOI 10.1515/mammalia-2013-0006.
Nichols, E., M. Uriarte, D. E. Bunker, J. N. C. Louzada, T. Larsen. F. Vaz de Mello, K. Vulinec, M. Favila, E. Slade, S. H. Spector. 2013. Trait-dependent response of dung beetle populations to tropical forest conversion at local and regional scales. Ecology 94: 180-189.
*Wolcott, K. A. and K. Vulinec. 2012. Bat activity at woodland/farmland interfaces in central Delaware. Northeastern Naturalist 19: 87-98.
*Massé, R. J. and K. Vulinec. 2010. Possible impact of multiflora rose on breeding bird diversity in riparian forest fragments of central Delaware. Northeastern Naturalist 17: 647-658.
Ferster, B. and K. Vulinec. 2010. Population size and conservation of the last remnants of the Eastern Regal Fritillary, Speyeria idalia idalia (Drury) [Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae]: implications for temperate grassland restoration. Journal of Insect Conservation 14: 31-42.
CIBER-affiliated Publications:
Vulinec, K., *K. Swift, V. Balke, *L. Sweitzer, B. Sturgis, D. Powell. In press. Buckyballs and bats: Trace evidence points to trophic interactions. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
Dr. Kevina Vulinec
Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Delaware State University, Dover, DE 19901
Phone: 302-857-6457
Email: kvulinec@desu.edu
College of Agriculture, Science, and Technology
