Navigating the Night: Contemporary Insights into Bat Behavioral and Physiological Ecology

Bats exhibit an astonishing range of behaviors shaped by unique sensory adaptations like echolocation and complex social structures. Occupying critical ecological niches globally, from pollination to insect control, their behavioral strategies underpin vital ecosystem services. Despite extensive research, the intricate behavioral and physiological mechanisms enabling their survival, particularly in a rapidly changing world, remain a dynamic and essential area of study, continually revealing new facets of animal cognition, physiological resilience, and ecological adaptability.

Goal: This Research Topic compiles cutting-edge research to advance understanding of bat neural, physiological, and behavioral ecology, focusing on adaptation, interaction, and responses to anthropogenic pressures. This knowledge is crucial for conservation and safeguarding bat populations and their ecosystem services.

Scope and Information for Authors: We invite contributions exploring all facets of bat behavior, physiology, and behavioral ecology, emphasizing studies in natural or semi-natural settings. Suitable themes include, but are not limited to: foraging strategies, sensory ecology, social dynamics, communication, reproductive behaviors, migratory patterns, learning, cognitive abilities, physiological adaptations to environmental challenges, human-bat interactions, and the application of ethological and physiological principles to bat conservation. We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Methods articles, Perspectives, and Mini Reviews that offer novel insights, utilize advanced analytical techniques, or present compelling data syntheses.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Bats, Behavioral Ecology, Bat Adaptation, Bat Conservation, Bat Sensory Ecology, Bat Social Behavior, Ecosystem Services, Echolocation, Anthropogenic Pressures, Social Communication

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.