Collaborative: AccelNet: Global Union of Bat Diversity Networks (GBatNet): Bats as a model for understanding global vertebrate diversification and sustainability

Bats play critical roles in ecosystems globally. However, key aspects of bat biology, from the causes and consequences of population declines to their ability to transmit viruses to people, remain poorly understood. This AccelNet project establishes the Global Union of Bat Diversity Networks (GBatNet) to fill key knowledge gaps and create an international structure to accelerate discoveries across disciplines and borders.

The network of networks fosters new avenues for global research exchange through coordination of joint research, education, and outreach. GBatNet links 14 regional and global networks with a shared vision to address pressing questions in bat biology of direct relevance to ecosystem and human health.

GBatNet will advance understanding of mechanisms that govern the ecology and evolution of bats, and address NSF’s Big Idea Understanding the Rules of Life. The network of network forges novel connections among experts in paleontology, evolution, morphology, ecology, virology, genomics, and conservation. GBatNet will address 3 broad questions : (1) eco-evolutionary dynamics – what are the feedbacks between ecological function, evolutionary adaptation, and rapidly changing environments?, (2) metabolic homeostasis – how do individuals maintain metabolic homeostasis, and what are the evolutionary contributions and ecological consequences for populations and species?, and (3) tree of sex – what are the evolutionary and ecological consequences of genomic rearrangement, especially in sex chromosomes?

Annual meetings, interdisciplinary synthesis sessions, international engagement in bat diversity hotspots will foster coordination and preparation of the next generation of professionals. In addition to producing research syntheses and developing public outreach materials, the project will synthesize existing datasets to create interdisciplinary tools and protocols to gain insights to complex systems.

GBatNet will build and test predictive models of species vulnerability to ongoing habitat change, emerging infectious diseases, and climate change. GBatNet will provide unparalleled collaborative opportunities for bat research and conservation worldwide, and the U.S. scientific community will gain expanded research opportunities in global bat diversity hotspots and with networks across diverse disciplines.

The Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) program is designed to accelerate the process of scientific discovery and prepare the next generation of U.S. researchers for multiteam international collaborations. The AccelNet program supports strategic linkages among U.S. research networks and complementary networks abroad that will leverage research and educational resources to tackle grand scientific challenges that require significant coordinated international efforts.

Co-funding for this award is being provided by the Directorates for Biological Sciences from the Population and Community Ecology Program (BIO/DEB) and the Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics Program (BIO/IOS).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.