Why are there so many bat species,
and how do they coexist in a
changing world?
Iroro Tanshi, PhD
Filling Gaps in Occurrence
I target hyperdiverse
understudied,
undisturbed sites in the
tropics to fill knowledge
gaps in bat species
occurrence and
distribution.
Drivers of Diversity Patterns
I work to establish what
factors drive species
diversity patterns across
scales from site to
biomes, under natural and
anthropogenic conditions.
Community Assembly
I use functional traits to
understand the
mechanistic processes that
drive assembly structure of
local communities.
Research
My research addresses two main questions
- What processes drive bat assembly structure along natural and anthropogenic gradients?
- What mechanisms drive dietary resource partitioning in Paleotropical insectivorous bat assemblages?
Peer reviewed Publications
Plowright R. et al… I. Tanshi… (2024). Ecological Countermeasures to Prevent Pathogen Spillover and subsequent
pandemics. Nature Communications 15, 2577 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46151-9
Clements et al., … I. Tanshi… (2024). The bii4africa dataset of faunal and floral population intactness
estimates across Africa’s major land uses. Scientific Data, 11:191 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02832-6.
Hurme, E., Fahr, J., Eidolon Monitoring Network, Eric, B. F., Hash, C. T., O’Mara, M. T., Tanshi, I., ... & Dechmann, D. K.
(2022). Fruit bat migration matches green wave in seasonal landscapes. Functional Ecology.
Tanshi, I., Obitte, B. C., Monadjem, A., & Kingston, T. (2021). Hidden Afrotropical bat diversity in Nigeria: ten new country
records from a biodiversity hotspot. Acta Chiropterologica, 23(2), 313-343.
Tanshi, I., A. E. Ogbeibu, and P. J. J. Bates. (2019). Complementary bat (Mammalia: Chiroptera) survey techniques uncover
two new country records for Nigeria. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 11: 14788–14801.
Book Chapters
Frick, W., ..., I. Tanshi, ... (2023). Creating a culture of evidence use, pp 333-363, in Transforming Conservation. A Practical
Guide to Evidence and Decision Making. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0321.11
Tanshi, I., and T. Kingston. (2021). Introduction and implementation of harp traps signal a new era in bat research. Pp.
255–270, in 50 Years of Bat Research, Foundations and New Frontiers (B. K. Lim, M. B. Fenton, R. M. Brigham, et. al., eds.).
Springer, Cham, xiii + 374 pp.
Mildenstein, T., Tanshi, I. and Racey, P. (2016). Direct Exploitation of bats for Bushmeat and Medicine. In Kingston, T and
Voigt, M. (eds), Bats in the Anthropocene. Springer.
Functional traits
Diet and new species
Collections and curation
Natural History Collections
My research contributes to, mobilizes, and relies on natural history collections
(NHCs) archived at institutions around the world.
I use 3D imaging
techniques such as
microCT scanning to
study bat diet,
functional traits, and
ecomorphology.
I combine molecular
techniques and
cranio-dental traits to
study diet and
describe species
new to science.
Over the last decade,
I have contributed to,
curated, and
managed museum
specimens in Nigeria,
Europe, and the USA.
Global South NHCs
I’m leading a special
issue in the
Biological Journal of
the Linnean Society,
to mobilize NHCs in
the Global South.
Science Infrastructure & Networks
I collaborate across multiple global and regional networks to strengthen research infrastructure globally,
with a special focus on understudied areas such as West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea Forests.
Engaged Scholarship
I founded a nonprofit, SMACON, through which I partner with local people to protect the Endangered Short-tailed
Roundleaf bat in Nigeria, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. I work with the SMACON team to coordinate projects that
have received prestigious international recognition, notably Pritzker, Whitley, and Future for Nature awards
Wildfire prevention
Conservation Education
Cave Bat Protection
Conservation Policy
Social
itanshi(at)uw(dot)edu
Get in touch
(123) 456-7890
Phone
The majestic Pico Basille (3,000 m above sea level). Photo taken from a boat off Moraka bay, Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea.