Ph.D. Cornell University/Ithaca
Associate Professor of Evolution, Ecology, & Organismal Biology

I am an associate professor and have been at Ohio State since 1985.  I have studied sounds produced for defense by insects and the effect of these sounds on predators, and I have investigated the transmission of vibration in spider webs.  My primary interest for the last 20 years has been echolocation by bats (biosonar), especially target identification, scene "visualization," and prey interception.  We use behavioral methods to study bats' perceptual abilities and their neural strategies for processing echo information.  I am also interested in bat acoustic communication, and in animal communication and sensory ecology generally.  Training opportunities in my lab include research on sonar in big brown bats, in signal processing, and in modeling echolocation using neural networks.

Key Citation:

Masters, W.M. Raver K.A.S. Kornacker K. and Burnett S.C.  1997.  Detection of jitter in intertarget spacing by the big brown bat Eptesicus fuscus, J. Comparative Physiology A, 181:279-290.

Dr. Master's CV

Batlab Personnel

(Lab Tech's and Researchers)

Sayre Flannagan
Brian Folian
Amy Petz
Miles Spathelf

Former Batlab Personnel

 

Stephen Burnett, Ph.D. Program EEOB B.A. Biology, Carleton College M.S. Zoology, The Ohio State University My main area of interest is animal behavior, focusing on vocal communication.  When I was at Carleton, I took several courses in these areas, and I also worked on a research project studying singing behavior in male northern Cardinals.  While working on my senior thesis, I developed an interest in individual differences in communication sounds and how those differences might affect social interactions. I came to OSU in 1994, and started studying bat echolocation using training procedures to see how well the bats were able to use echolocation to discriminate distance to computer-generated targets.  This study expanded to detecting how small the motions of a vibrating target could be before the bat could no longer detect them.  This research has led to a general interest in the field of psychoacoustics, and I have been working to broaden my knowledge is this area. Because of our interest in individual recognition, Karry and I studied the variation present in the echolocation calls of individual bats and how that changed with different recording situations.  We found that individual bats could be discriminated by a computer using calls from either hand-held or flying bats, which has implications for bats and humans.  The bats may be able to use these calls to identify conspecifics, and humans may be able to use recorded calls to census bats in the field.  My current research focuses on the potential to use artificial neural networks to count bats that we have recorded in the field.  As part of this research, I have assembled a system that is capable of recording and analyzing echolocation calls that we record outside the laboratory. After I earn my PhD from Ohio State, I will be moving to Morrow, Georgia to take a faculty position at Clayton College and State University.

Thesis:

Burnett, S.C. 1992.  A comparison of the relative importance of genetics vs. learning in vocal communication.

Publications:

Masters, W.M. Raver K.A.S. Kornacker K. and Burnett S.C.  1997.  Detection of jitter in intertarget spacing by the big brown bat Eptesicus fuscus, J. Comparative Physiology A, 181:279-290.

Burnett, S.C., Kazial, K.A., and Masters, W.M.  2001.  Discriminating individual big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) sonar vocalizations in different recording situations.  Bioacoustics, 11: 189-210.

Burnett, S.C. and Masters, W.M.  In press.  A laptop computer system for recording and analyzing bat echolocation calls.   Bat Res. News.

Karry Kazial, Ph.D. Program EEOB B.A. Biology, Canisius College M.S. Zoology, The Ohio State University Ph.D. EEOB, The Ohio State University Co-Advisor: Dr. Jerry F. Downhower My main interests include animal communication and social behavior.  I became interested in animal behavior in particular when I was at Canisius and took several courses: comparative animal behavior; sex, evolution and behavior and social organization of mammals.  I did my junior and senior seminars on 'the robotic bee', and prairie dog vocalizations, and found animal communication to be intriguing.   When I came to OSU, in 1993, I became involved in the end of a project examining echolocation call variation in big brown bats due to individual, age and family affiliation.  This led me to develop my thesis projects dealing with the use of the echolocation call for communication in bats.  I have recorded the calls of bats born in the lab over a long period of time in order to examine the changes in variability due to sex and individual as the bats age. As an extension of the investigation into echolocation call variability, Steve and I have used discriminant function analysis to classify calls to group (ie. age, sex, and individual).  We found age, sex and individual differences in the echolocation calls of big brown bats.  In addition, the age of the bat has an effect on the degree of sex and individual variation in calls.  I conducted playbacks examining the response of bats to echolocation calls from different groups.  It seems that bats do pay attention to group membership variation in echolocation calls. While working as a research associate, I have been training bats in a ranging task using delayed echoes.  We will then use a computer generated echo, modeled after the bats' own call, and one that is modified, to see if  the bats learn to use both echoes for the task at the same rate.  We expect the bats to do better with the echo based on their own calls since this may more accurately represent their internal template. After working as a Post Doctoral Researcher in the Batlab for one year I will be moving to Holland, Michigan for a faculty position at Hope College.

Publications:

Masters, W.M., K.A.S. Raver, and K.A. Kazial.  1995.  Sonar signals of big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, contain information about individual identity, age, and family affiliation.  Anim. Behav. 50: 1243-1260.

Kazial, K.A., S.C. Burnett, and W.M. Masters.  2001.  Individual and group variation in echolocation calls of big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae).  J. Mamm.  82: 339-351.

 

Donna Griffin B.S., Natural Resources, The Ohio State University Donna has been responsible for caring for a number of bats in the lab.  She recently earned her bachelor's from OSU and she is planning on applying to vet school next year.

 

Heather Handley B.S., Biology, The Ohio State University Heather has decided to pursue a career in Veterinary Medicine.  Her experience at the bat lab facilitated her acceptance as an intern at the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center and the Lubee Foundation Inc.

Holly Gibbs B.S., Natural Resources, environmental science specialization, honors program, The Ohio State University M.S., Natural Resources, The Ohio State University Holly investigated the feasibility of re-releasing hand-raised bats and aspects of the mother-young relationship.  She went on to earn a Master's Degree is Natural Resources here at OSU.

Sue Kaiser