Thomas Kunz

Key takeaways

Thomas Kunz belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
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Reproduce the core statement of Thomas Kunz from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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; 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 silkworms.

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 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 aeroecology, which integrates geography, ecology, atmospheric science, and computational biology. A key concept of aeroecology is thinking of the aerosphere 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. He was also a recipient of the C. Hart Merriam Award for his contributions to the field of mammalogy. 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 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. ISBN 0801849861 Kunz, T. H., & Fenton, M. B. (Eds.). (2005). Bat ecology. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226462072 Kunz, Thomas H.; Arnett, Edward B.; Erickson, Wallace P.; Hoar, Alexander R.; Johnson, Gregory D.; Larkin, Ronald P.; Strickland, M Dale; Thresher, Robert W.; Tuttle, Merlin D. (2007). "Ecological impacts of wind energy development on bats: Questions, research needs, and hypotheses". Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 5 (6): 315. doi:10.1890/1540-9295(2007)5[315:EIOWED]2.0.CO;2. Kunz, T. H.; Gauthreaux, S. A.; Hristov, N. I.; Horn, J. W.; Jones, G.; Kalko, E. K. V.; Larkin, R. P.; McCracken, G. F.; Swartz, S. M.; Srygley, R. B.; Dudley, R.; Westbrook, J. K.; Wikelski, M. (2007). "Aeroecology: Probing and modeling the aerosphere". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 48 (1): 1–11. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.514.7177. doi:10.1093/icb/icn037. PMID 21669768. {{cite journal}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |citeseerx= (help) Kunz, T. H., & Parsons, S. (2009). Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801891477. Kunz, Thomas H.; Braun De Torrez, Elizabeth; Bauer, Dana; Lobova, Tatyana; Fleming, Theodore H. (2011). "Ecosystem services provided by bats". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1223 (1): 1–38. Bibcode:2011NYASA1223....1K. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06004.x. PMID 21449963. Boyles, Justin G.; Cryan, Paul M.; McCracken, Gary F.; Kunz, Thomas H. (2011). "Economic Importance of Bats in Agriculture". Science. 332 (6025): 41–42. Bibcode:2011Sci...332...41B. doi:10.1126/science.1201366. PMID 21454775.

See also Sturnira perla – a species of bat described by Kunz

References

External links Data related to Thomas Kunz at Wikispecies

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thomas Kunz

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thomas Kunz claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Thomas Kunz before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Thomas Kunz ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Thomas Kunz

In research: Thomas Kunz appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Thomas Kunz in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Thomas Kunz is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1938 births, 2020 deaths, 20th-century American biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thomas Kunz outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Thomas Kunz in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Thomas Kunz in simple terms?

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

Why does Thomas Kunz matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Thomas Kunz?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Thomas Kunz.