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Allen Kurta
Professor
B.S. Michigan State University
M.S. Michigan State University
Ph.D. Boston University
324 Mark Jefferson
(734) 487-1174
akurta@emich.edu
Biography:
Recipient of the 2004 Ron Collins Distinguished Faculty Award for Scholarly/Creative Activity

Research Interests - Ecology, behavior, and natural history of mammals, with an emphasis on bats. Recent work involved radiotracking and monitoring bats that live in trees, especially the evening bat and the endangered Indiana bat. This species is one of the most endangered mammals in North America, yet we still know little of its roosting and foraging habits. Our studies examined diet, distribution, nocturnal behavior, echolocation, roost selection, and daily and seasonal movements. In addition, we have participated in projects concerning the diet and parasites of bats on Puerto Rico. The data that we are accumulating will aid in the conservation and management of these intriguing mammals.
Courses:
BIOL 120 - Introductory Biology II
ZOOL 310 - Vertebrate Natural History
ZOOL 431 - Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy
ZOOL 439 - Physiological Ecology
ZOOL 485 - Mammalogy
 
Recent Publications:
Kurta, A. 2008. Bats of Michigan. Indiana State University Press, Terre Haute, Indiana, 72 pp.

M. Lacki, J. Hayes, and A. Kurta, eds. 2007. Bats in forests: conservation and management. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 368 pp.

Kurta, A., L. Winhold, J. O. Whitaker, Jr., and R. Foster. 2007. Range expansion and changing abundance of the eastern pipistrelle (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in the central Great Lakes region. American Midland Naturalist, 157(2):404–411.

Kurta, A., J. O. Whitaker, Jr., W. Wrenn, and A. Soto-Centeno. 2007. Ectoparasitic assemblages on mormoopid bats from Puerto Rico. Journal of Medical Entomology, 44(6):953–958.

Kurta, A., M. Schwartz, and C. Anderson. 2007. Does a population of cougars exist in Michigan? American Midland Naturalist, 158:467-471.

Soto-Centeno, J. A., and A. Kurta. 2006. Diet of the brown flower bat (Erophylla sezekorni) and the Greater Antillean long-tongued bat (Monophyllus redmani) on Puerto Rico. Journal of Mammalogy, 87(1):19–26.

M. R. Gannon, A. Kurta, A. Rodriguez-Duran, and M. R. Willig. 2005. The bats of Puerto Rico: an island focus and a Caribbean perspective. Texas Tech Press, Lubbock, Texas, 239 pp.

Kurta, A. 2005. Roosting ecology and behavior of Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis,) in summer. Pages 29-42 in The Indiana bat and coal mining. (K. C. Vories and A. Harrington, eds.). Office of Surface Mining, U. S. Department of the Interior, Alton, Illinois.

Kurta, A., E. Hough, L. Winhold, and R. Foster. 2005. The evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis) on the northern edge of its range—a maternity colony in Michigan. American Midland Naturalist, 154:264-267.

Murray, S. W., and A. Kurta. 2004. Nocturnal activity of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis). Journal of Zoology (London), 262:197-206.

Tibbels, A., and A. Kurta. 2003. Bat activity is low in thinned and unthinned stands of red pine. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 33:2436-2442.

Soto-Centeno, J. A., and A. Kurta. 2003. Description of fetal and newborn brown flower bats, Erophylla sezekorni, (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). Caribbean Journal of Science, 39:233-234.

Kurta, A. and J. Kennedy, eds. 2002. The Indiana bat: biology and management of an endangered species. Bat Conservation International, Austin, Texas, 253 pp.

Kurta, A., S. W. Murray, and D. H. Miller. 2002. Roost selection and movements across the summer landscape. Pages 118-129 in The Indiana bat: biology and management of an endangered species (A. Kurta and J. Kennedy, eds.). Bat Conservation International, Austin, Texas.

Kurta, A., and H. Rice. 2002. Ecology and management of the Indiana bat in Michigan. Michigan Academician (Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters), 33(3):361-376.

Kurta, A. and S. W. Murray. 2002. Philopatry and migration of banded Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) and effects of radio transmitters. Journal of Mammalogy 83(2):585-589.