Turning the spotlight onto the conservation of Australian bats and the extinction of the Christmas Island Pipistrelle

Abstract

The 2007 forum on the biology and conservation of Australasian bats provided a snapshot of the issues and state of knowledge at that time, now recorded for posterity in this book. As we went to press in 2011, the 'International Year of the Bat' provided an opportunity for bat researchers and managers to publicise some of the pressing conservation issues facing bats. No story exemplifies these more than the recent extinction of the Christmas Island Pipistrelle Pipistrellus murrayi. In his reflective book on forest pattern and ecological process, ecologist David Lindenmayer emphasised the complementarity between species-oriented and ecosystemoriented research approaches. This applies to all of Australasia's bat fauna. The conclusion we draw is that basic research on both individual species and the ecosystems in which they dwell is required to underpin management actions, and that this research must be integrated with community education, sound policy and a commitment to act on research and monitoring outcomes.