RUMFORD — Bats, a species vital to life on Earth, will be the topic of a free lecture at 7 p.m. Friday, March 18, in the public room at Rumford Falls Library.

The Mahoosuc Land Trust Local Knowledge series presentation speaker is David Yates of the Biodiversity Research Institute in Gorham.

Yates will discuss the roles that bats play as an indicator species to determine levels of mercury in the environment, Jolan Ippolito of the trust stated Thursday in a report.

His presentation on bat hibernation follows Yates’s annual count of the bat population.

There are three bat caves in Maine, two of which are in Rumford. Ippolito said both are on or near Mahoosuc Land Trust conservation sites: Rumford Whitecap and the Concord River preserve.

“Yates’s talk should dispel the myths about bats,” Ippolito said. “For example, bats are not blind, and they won’t get into your hair or suck your blood.”

Yates will also discuss basic bat biology and conservation issues the species faces, as well as characteristics and habitats of the bats of the Northeast.

“The audience will learn what humans can do to help preserve a species vital to life on Earth,” Ippolito said.

A BRI research biologist, Yates is the director of the Mammal Program and is actively involved with various field studies focusing on wildlife conservation and management, and the health assessment of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems through contaminant screening.

Ippolito said Yates is currently conducting live-capture, tracking and sampling studies on mink, otter, beaver and muskrat. Additionally, he is also researching bats as an indicator species for mercury exposure.

Ippolito said this project is across the eastern U.S. at both point-source and non-point-source sites.

Yates also conducts inventories for small and large mammals for various state agencies and the federal government.

For more information, call the trust at 824-3806.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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