Dr. Craig Willis
Professor of Biology
University of Winnipeg

Evolutionary Physiology, Behaviour and Conservation

We use methods in ecology, behaviour and physiology to understand what motivates small bodied mammals in their decisions about where to live, when to be active and inactive, and how to maintain a balance between energy intake and expenditure. We mainly use insect-eating bats as model organisms and a range of lab and field techniques including radio-telemetry to track animals and record their body temperatures, and open-flow respirometry to record oxygen consumption under different conditions. There are opportunities in the lab for graduate and undergraduate students to test ideas about factors influencing energy balance during pre-hibernation fattening and hibernation, links between individual behaviour, energetics and infectious disease, and conservation of bats in the face of wildlife disease and habitat loss.

Our work is important for wildlife and ecosystem conservation in general, and we are also working hard on an urgent wildlife conservation issue for North America: white-nose syndrome, a devastating disease of hibernating bats.

Lab News

Shelby, Quinn and the students from the 2014 Eco Energetics Field Course publish new data on personality and parasites in least chipmunks. PDF
Liam's new paper shows that bats with WNS spend more energy, and lose more water, during torpor than healthy bats. PDF
Heather publishes new data showing that little brown bats can be active at extremely low body temperature!
Craig talks to TV Ontario about bats and WNS.
Kaleigh talks to CBC Sudbury about our heated bat box project to test habitat enhancement as a way to help bats recover from WNS.

Bats need your help!

White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) Alert 

WNS has not been found in Manitoba yet but bats with the disease often behave strangely in winter and spring, flying outside of hibernation sites, even when there is still snow on the ground. Reports from the public have been critical for early detection in the Northeastern U.S., Ontario and Quebec. If you observe bats flying or roosting outside anytime during winter (i.e., November to May) please immediately contact the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC) at 1-800-667-1940 and/or Manitoba Conservation (or your provincial equivalent if outside Manitoba). 

Support our Research

Our team at UWinnipeg have found preliminary evidence that artificially heated bat houses could increase survival and reproductive rates for the few bats that survive the winter with WNS. We received partial funding for the project from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Species at Risk Research Fund of Ontario, but more help is needed to support students working on this ambitious project.
 
To help, please visit the crowdfunding page here, where you can also see a short video and description of the project. You can also help by sharing the project on social media through the crowdfunding page. If you have any questions please email batwatch@outlook.com.

Got Bats?

The Neighbourhood Bat Watch is looking for bat colonies in Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. Please click here for more information and to get involved in wildlife conservation research. You can follow the Neighbourhood Bat Watch on Facebook or Twitter.