hen bat scientists want to find the best ways to save bats, looking at previous research is a great way to start. Seeking out what is referred to as “Conservation Evidence” is how researchers can see what we already know, how effective interventions are, and what research gaps are left to fill.

A perusal of the University of Cambridge’s Conservation Evidence website database shows 200 potential actions related to bat conservation. For each of these actions, the Conservation Evidence database compiles and summarizes published scientific studies that measure the effectiveness of each action. The consistency of results and number of studies on an action are then used to rank each action by the evidence. For example, increasing the wind speed at which wind turbine blades begin to spin has a dozen studies with consistent results showing this works to reduce bat fatalities, so it is ranked as “beneficial.” In contrast, using ultrasound to deter bats from wind turbines has only four studies with mixed results, resulting in a rank of “unknown effectiveness.” Other actions, such as installing bat gantries or bat bridges to help bats cross roads and railways, were found unlikely to be beneficial, with three studies providing information. When no studies have been published on a particular action, the database marks these as “no evidence found.“

When discussing Conservation Evidence, Sutherland often turns to an evidence-based medicine analogy, noting doctors don’t trust their intuition to find a treatment for a disease or illness. They use evidence-based treatments and share these approaches. The same learning and sharing research approach is the hallmark of Conservation Evidence.

Teague O’Mara, Ph.D., is BCI’s Director of Conservation Evidence, a position created in 2022. “The idea that you need evidence-based conservation is not new,” says O’Mara. People have been thinking about this for a very long time: How do you show the things you’re doing work?”

O’Mara’s position utilizes his expertise in quantitative analysis and study design to expand and enhance BCI’s work, including sharing project results that contribute to the global evidence base to improve conservation efforts.

“We’re trying to make sure that the conservation work we do is as impactful as possible,” O’Mara says. “What we’re trying to do with the Conservation Evidence program is to make sure that we are building conservation projects, whether research or application, that can measure their outcomes and show their impact.”

BCI was founded more than 40 years ago, and the organization’s long institutional memory also aids its conservation work. BCI has always emphasized solid science and research methods, and this focus is being recognized. BCI was designated by the University of Cambridge’s Conservation Evidence website as an Evidence Champion for using this in BCI’s work. BCI’s commitment to use evidence is present throughout the organization’s work, including when developing conservation plans. Additionally, BCI’s efforts to test how effective actions are and to share the knowledge gained with the broader scientific community contribute to the collective body of evidence.

BCI has collaborated with Conservation Evidence on half a dozen articles and the open-access book, Transforming Conservation: A Practical Guide to Evidence and Decision Making, published in 2022. It is available to read online, as a PDF, or as a printed version. BCI is collaborating with researchers worldwide to promote Conservation Evidence in practice, and these articles and the book are part of those efforts. BCI also allows graduate students participating in the Student Scholar program to earn Conservation Evidence badges for using Conservation Evidence in their study plans and research projects.

The Conservation Evidence program is a hub for collaboration within BCI. For example, it works with the Bats and Wind program to find carbon-friendly wind energy solutions while minimizing the number of bats killed by wind turbines. The program works with the White-Nose Syndrome Research team to show how habitat restoration and supplementation strategies protect bats from white-nose syndrome, and with Endangered Species Intervention to evaluate changes in population size of the Critically Endangered Livingstone’s fruit bat (Pteropus livingstonii).

“Wind turbines kill hundreds of thousands to millions of bats around the world, and we are building the evidence for how to develop and test different strategies to minimize bat mortality,” O’Mara says. He notes that BCI’s wind team is working to generate more evidence about how bats respond to wind turbines and environmental conditions for use in large-scale projects. He says this can help with efforts to broaden the research on a global scale.

“We have little glimpses of how bats interact with wind turbines coming from North America and Europe, but there’s a really big push to install wind turbines across the world,” O’Mara says, noting the lack of evidence about wind turbines and bats in places like Africa and Asia. Still, they plan to target existing research to learn more.

“The Conservation Evidence community is trying to make sure when people are working on projects that they take the time to be able to collect data and structure the program so they can see what the outcomes are, if it has the effect they want, and if it makes the impact they’re hoping it will make,” O’Mara says.