
Laura Kloepper
Current projects in the Ecological Acoustics and Behavior Lab include:
-Investigating how bats modify echolocation and flight behavior when in dense groups and under high-speed flight
-Understanding rules that govern the interactions of bats flying in groups
-Using passive acoustics to census populations of animals in dense groups including bats, frogs, and seabirds
Techniques in our lab can be used to investigate animal acoustic behavior across taxa. Past projects with students include work with dolphins, whales, shrews, owls, and giraffes.
Courses Taught
- BIOL 412/412H: Intro Biol: Evol Biodiv & Ecol
- BIOL 827: Animal Communication
- BIOL/NSB 827/727: Animal Communication
- BIOL/ZOOL 840/740: Acoustic Ecology
- NSB 727: Animal Communication
Education
- Ph.D., Zoology/Animal Biology, University of Hawaii Manoa
Research Interests
- Acoustics
- Animal behavior
- Animal Communication
- Ecology and Population
- Mammalogy
- Unmanned Aircraft/Drones
- Wildlife & Habitat Management/Conservation
- Zoology
Selected Publications
Brighton, C. H., Zusi, L., McGowan, K. A., Kinniry, M., Kloepper, L. N., & Taylor, G. K. (2021). Aerial attack strategies of hawks hunting bats, and the adaptive benefits of swarming. Behavioral Ecology, 32(3), 464-476. doi:10.1093/beheco/araa145
McGowan, K. A., & Kloepper, L. N. (2020). Different as night and day: wild bats modify echolocation in complex environments when visual cues are present. Animal Behaviour, 168, 1-6. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.07.025
Fu, Y., Kinniry, M., & Kloepper, L. N. (2018). The Chirocopter: A UAV for recording sound and video of bats at altitude. METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 9(6), 1531-1535. doi:10.1111/2041-210X.12992
Kloepper, L. N., & Kinniry, M. (2018). Recording animal vocalizations from a UAV: bat echolocation during roost re-entry. Scientific Reports, 8(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26122-z
Kloepper, L. N., & Bentley, I. (2017). Stereotypy of group flight in Brazilian free-tailed bats. Animal Behaviour, 131, 123-130. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.07.019
Kloepper, L. N., Linnenschmidt, M., Blowers, Z., Branstetter, B., Ralston, J., & Simmons, J. A. (2016). Estimating colony sizes of emerging bats using acoustic recordings. Royal Society Open Science, 3(3), 160022. doi:10.1098/rsos.160022
Kloepper, L. N., Nachtigall, P. E., Donahue, M. J., & Breese, M. (2012). Active echolocation beam focusing in the false killer whale, Pseudorca crassidens. Journal of Experimental Biology, 215(8), 1306-1312. doi:10.1242/jeb.066605
Kloepper, L. N., Nachtigall, P. E., Gisiner, R., & Breese, M. (2010). Decreased echolocation performance following high-frequency hearing loss in the false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens). Journal of Experimental Biology, 213(21), 3717-3722. doi:10.1242/jeb.042788