A NASBR History of Radiotelemetry: How Technology Has Contributed to Advances in Bat Biology

The first radiotelemetry study of bats was published in 1967, nearly coinciding with the first meeting in 1970 of bat biologists that evolved into the North American Society for Bat Research. Thus, NASBR provides a useful lens to assess the maturation of how this technology has been used in bat research. Researchers may view this developmental process as a purely technological one, as transmitters and receivers have improved dramatically over the last 50 years. However, there has also been growth in the scientific use of radiotracking to do bat research. The earliest studies were question driven and made innovative use of radiotelemetry to answer questions of biological theory previously beyond reach. We suggest that through the 1980s and 1990s there was a technology-driven period, with ever-improving transmitters increasing the number of species within the realm of study. However, researchers also continued to find new types of questions that could be addressed with standard equipment. Finally (and coinciding with the previous period), there has been a shift towards using biotelemetry to address completely different types of questions (e.g., physiological and biophysical). Radiotelemetry has clearly been a boon to bat research, which has allowed us to assess aspects of the ecology, physiology, and behavior of bats that would have otherwise been inaccessible. We look forward to the next 50 years of technological improvements and novel research using radiotracking methods.