University of Florida graduate student Kelly Speer talks about her interest in studying mammals and population variations by researching bat ectoparasites—flies and other insects that live on bats — to learn about changes in bats, including their dispersal and movements.
Kelly was originally studying small mammals like voles and shrews, but she adjusted her focus of study to bats and their ectoparasites–the flies that live on their fur. Now she studies parasites to answer questions about the dispersal of bats, and the variations among the species.
Interview and videos produced by Nicolus Hartley for Explore Research at the University of Florida.
Transcript
I study bats and their ectoparasites, the flies that live on their fur. I got into studying bats when I entered into the program at University of Florida, before this I was studying other small mammals like voles and shrews.
I’ve been interested in the diversity of mammals since I was pretty young, but I never thought that I would end up as a researcher. I guess I started realizing that research would be a possibility during my undergraduate career.
I think what really interests me in doing research and studying mammals is that there is such a vast diversity that you can examine, the variation – it’s it’s sort of questions of why is there all of this variation. What are the processes responsible for this variation and how can we use unique tools to answer these questions, which is why I use parasites to answer questions about dispersal of bats.
Learn more about Mammals Collection at the Florida Museum