Dr. Susan Loeb, a Research Ecologist with the US Forest Service (USFS)-Southern Research Station (SRS), was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th Southeastern Bat Diversity Network meeting. Since the early 2000s, Dr. Loeb has been an important contributor to SBDN as a Board member, committee chair, and host of an annual meeting and a bat blitz.
In 1999, responding to a directive from the USFS SRS, Dr. Loeb began developing a research program on bats. Having found some significant gaps in our knowledge, she then devoted the her research studies towards answering basic questions about bat ecology and conservation, as well as identifying best practices for the study of bats.
Dr. Loeb has been a co-PI on several Indiana bat studies, ranging from understanding the species’ roost ecology to assessing the effects of climate change on the future distribution of the species. She has also led several studies on Rafinesque’s big-eared bats, including a statewide survey in South Carolina. Dr. Loeb co-organized a symposium on the ecology and conservation of big-eared bats, and then served as an editor for the symposium proceedings. Dr. Loeb has made techniques a central focus of her research. This has included studying best practices for detecting Rafinesque’s big-eared bats over large areas and for weatherproofing acoustic detectors, as well as using stable isotopes to understand bat movements. Dr. Loeb has co-authored many refereed publications on bats, including two influential book chapters that synthesize our knowledge about the effects of forest management on bats. More recently, Dr. Loeb has been instrumental in launching the North American Bat Monitoring Program.
Dr. Loeb continues to direct research projects on bats in the Southeastern United States and has a productive research lab at Clemson University, where she is stationed.