Thomas H. Kunz (June 11, 1938 – April 13, 2020) was an American biologist specializing in the study of bats. He was credited with coining the study of

aeroecology Aeroecology is the discipline for studying how airborne life forms utilize and interact with other biotic and abiotic components of the atmosphere. The aerosphere is viewed as habitat and the way that organisms respond to and take advantage of th ...

; additionally, he wrote several fundamental textbooks and publications on bat ecology.

Early life

Kunz grew up in Missouri. He credited his interest in biology to his fifth-grade teacher, who was passionate about

silkworm The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...

Education

Kunz received a Bachelor of Arts in biology in 1961 and Master of Arts in education in 1962 from the University of Central Missouri. He went on to receive another Master of Arts from Drake University in biology in 1968, and gained his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Kansas in

systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic tre ...

and ecology in 1971.

Career

Kunz taught high school in Kansas after receiving his MA in education. Kunz states that his first experience working with bats was before he attended Drake University. While caving, he and a friend encountered a banded bat. He called in the number on the band and later would collaborate with the professor who banded the bat. Kunz became a professor at Boston University in 1971. Kunz edited or coedited six books on the biology and ecology of bats. His book ''Ecological and Behavioral Methods for the Study of Bats'' "is widely praised as one of the best resources available for professional bat researchers, educators and conservationists." He also helped establish the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Ecuador in 1995 to promote the study of rainforest ecology. He helped distinguish the new scientific discipline of

, which integrates geography, ecology,

atmospheric science Atmospheric science is the study of the Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere and its various inner-working physical processes. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather forecasting. Climat ...

, and

computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and big data, the field also has fo ...

. A key concept of aeroecology is thinking of the

aerosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. ...

as part of the biosphere, as many organisms depend upon the aerosphere for resources. He conducted research on the ecosystem services of bats in a study published in '' Science'', concluding that their services are worth $3–54 billion per year. He retired in 2011 after being seriously injured in an accident.

Awards and honors

In 1984, he won the Gerritt S. Miller Award from the North American Society for Bat Research. In 2003, the University of Central Missouri presented him with their Distinguished Alumni Award, calling him "one of the world's leading mammalogists." In 2011, Kunz was named a Boston University William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, which is its highest academic award. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was formerly President of the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammals, and professions studying them. There are over 4,500 members of this society, and they are primarily professional scientists ...

. He was also a recipient of the

C. Hart Merriam Clinton Hart Merriam (December 5, 1855 – March 19, 1942) was an American zoologist, mammalogist, ornithologist, entomologist, ecologist, ethnographer, geographer, naturalist and physician. He was commonly known as the 'father of mammalogy', a ...

Award for his contributions to the field of

mammalogy In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part o ...

. In 2015, Boston University began the Thomas H. Kunz Fund in Biology to "train the next generation of ecologists." PhD candidates in the Ecology, Behavior & Evolution program are eligible for the Thomas H. Kunz Award, which is a financial award from the Thomas H. Kunz Fund.

Personal life and death

Kunz was married to Margaret Kunz. He had two children, Pamela and David. He died in April 2020, of complications from COVID-19 in

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...

during the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts.

Selected publications

* Nowak, R. M., Walker, E. P., Kunz, T. H., & Pierson, E. D. (1994). ''Walker's bats of the world''. JHU Press. * Kunz, T. H., & Fenton, M. B. (Eds.). (2005). ''Bat ecology''. University of Chicago Press. * Kunz, T. H., Arnett, E. B., Erickson, W. P., Hoar, A. R., Johnson, G. D., Larkin, R. P., ... & Tuttle, M. D. (2007). . ''Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment'', 5(6), 315–324. * Kunz, T. H., Gauthreaux Jr, S. A., Hristov, N. I., Horn, J. W., Jones, G., Kalko, E. K., ... & Dudley, R. (2008). . ''Integrative and comparative biology'', 48(1), 1-11. * Kunz, T. H., & Parsons, S. (2009). ''Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats''. Johns Hopkins University Press. . * Kunz, T. H., Braun de Torrez, E., Bauer, D., Lobova, T., & Fleming, T. H. (2011). . ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'', 1223(1), 1-38. * Boyles, J. G., Cryan, P. M., McCracken, G. F., & Kunz, T. H. (2011). . ''Science'', 332(6025), 41–42.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kunz, Thomas 1938 births 2020 deaths Boston University faculty Wildlife biologists American ecologists American mammalogists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Scientists from Missouri University of Central Missouri alumni Drake University alumni University of Kansas alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts 20th-century American biologists 21st-century American biologists