Publications by authors named "Luke Hamel"
Article Synopsis
- - The Western Asia Bat Research Network (WAB-Net) aims to enhance research on bat diversity and distribution in Western Asia, an area that has had limited prior studies and occurrence data on bat species.
- - Over four years (2018-2022), WAB-Net documented 4,278 records of 41 bat species across 50 sites in seven countries, collecting demographic and morphological data.
- - The project also focused on evaluating environmental conditions and human-bat interactions at these sites, contributing valuable information to the understanding of bats and their role in potential virus transmission.
Bat research networks and viral surveillance are assumed to be at odds due to seemingly conflicting research priorities. Yet human threats that contribute to declines in bat populations globally also lead to increased transmission and spread of bat-associated viruses, which may pose a threat to global health and food security. In this review, we discuss the importance of and opportunities for multidisciplinary collaborations between bat research networks and infectious disease experts to tackle shared threats that jeopardize bat conservation as well as human and animal health.
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