Carlsbad Caverns with the Society of Environmental Journalists

Last Thursday Dr. Kingston, Marina, and Kaitlin attended a field trip to Carlsbad Caverns sponsored by the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ). The society is having their 22nd annual meeting in Lubbock and wanted to learn more about karst ecosystems and the importance of bats (since nearly 1 million Brazilian free-tailed bats call Carlsbad home!). As an invited speaker, Dr. Kingston shared information about her work with bats in Malaysia and more general information about the benefits and threats to bats. Dr. George Veni was also an invited speaker, he represented the National Cave and Karst Research Institute, which is one of the world’s premier cave research institutions. The attendees of the field learned lots of interesting information about the importance of karst research and of course bats! Please enjoy some of our photos from the event.