Sybill K. Amelon, PhD

Cooperative Associate Professor

Emphasis Wildlife

Contact Information

Email amelons@missouri.edu
Phone 573-875-5341 x 231
Address 202 Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building
Website https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/people/Amelon
Contact

Education

  • Ph.D. 2007, University of Missouri

Research

  • Forest bats, landscape and population ecology.
  • Hibernation energetics, thermoregulation and overwintering strategies, winter/summer movements.
  • White-nose Syndrome (WNS).
  • Conservation physiology and wildlife nutritional ecology.

Research Summary

  • Amelon’s research involves evaluating multidimensional and complex relationships between an organism’s foraging behavior, nutritional requirements, and utilization of ingested nutrients and how these are linked to the environment.
  • Amelon’s studies focus on ecology of bat species related to population demography, behavioral ecology, resource selection, habitat use, diet/nutritional analysis and energy dynamics. A range of techniques are used including temperature sensitive radio-telemetry to monitoring of bats outfitted with passive transponders (PIT tags) and population genetics to help understand social behavior, winter / summer movements, roosting habitat selection and different overwintering strategies.
  • Her disease research focuses on understanding and mitigating physiological impacts caused by WNS in bats. Mortality rates in affected hibernacula generally exceed 75% and have been documented as high as 99-100%. Focus is on mitigation tools to increase bat survival and conserve bat populations and is facilitated by integrating field ecology with conservation physiology and nutritional ecology from an “Integrated Disease Management” perspective.

Teaching

  • V_PBIO 5995: Foundations in Veterinary Research and Discovery
  • Professional Workshops on Ecology and Conservation of Bats (North America, Costa Rica, Colombia, Nicaragua, Peru)

Selected Publications

  • Pikula J, Amelon SK, Bandouchova H, Bartonicka T, Berkova H, Brichta J, Hooper S, […], Martartínková N. 2017.
    White-nose syndrome pathology grading in Nearctic and Palearctic bats. PLoS One, 12(8), e0180435. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180435
  • Amelon, S., S. Hooper and K. Womack. 2017.
    Bat wing biometrics: using collagen–elastin bundles in bat wings as a unique individual identifier. Journal of Mammalogy 98:744-751. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyx018.
  • Hooper SE, Backus RB, Amelon SK. 2017.
    Effects of dietary selenium and moisture on the physical activity and thyroid axis of cats. Journal of Animal Physiology and Nutrition (accepted June 2017, in press)
  • Ingersoll, T.E., Sewall, B.J. and Amelon, S.K., 2016.
    Effects of white‐nose syndrome on regional population patterns of three hibernating bat species. Conservation Biology 30: 1048–1059.
  • Vonhof, M., S. K. Amelon, and G. McCracken. 2016.
    Genetic structure of winter populations of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) prior to the white nose syndrome epidemic: implications for the risk of disease spread. Conservation Genetics, 1-16.
  • Starbuck, C. A., S. K. Amelon, and F. R. Thompson. 2015.
    Relationships between bat occupancy and habitat and landscape structure along a savanna, woodland, forest gradient in the Missouri Ozarks. Wildlife Society Bulletin 39:20-30.
  • Amelon, S. K., F. R. Thompson and J. J. Millspaugh. 2014.
    Resource utilization by foraging eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis) in the Ozark Region of Missouri. The Journal of wildlife management 78:483-493.
  • Hooper S. E. and S. K. Amelon. 2014.
    Handling and blood collection in the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus). Lab Animal 43(6).
  • Womack, K. M.,S. K. Amelon and F. R. Thompson. 2013.
    Summer home range size of female Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) in Missouri, USA. Acta Chiropterologica 15:423-429. Ingersoll, T., B. Sewall and S. Amelon. 2013. Improved analysis of long-term monitoring data demonstrates marked regional declines of bat populations in the eastern United States. Plos One 8(6):e65907.
  • Knudsen, G. R. ,R. D. Dixon and S. K. Amelon. 2013.
    Potential Spread of White-Nose Syndrome of Bats to the Northwest: Epidemiological Considerations. Northwest Science 87:292-306.
  • Womack, K. M.,S. K. Amelon and F. R. Thompson. 2013.
    Resource selection by Indiana bats during the maternity season. The Journal of wildlife management 77:707-715.
  • Trujillo, R. G., and S. K. Amelon. 2009.
    Development of microsatellite markers in Myotis sodalis and cross-species amplification in M. gricescens, M. leibii, M. lucifugus, and M. septentrionalis. Conservation Genetics 10:1965-1968.
  • Amelon, S., D. C. Dalton, J. J. Millspaugh, and S. A. Wolf. 2009.
    • Radiotelemetry; techniques and analysis. Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats. Thomas H. Kunz and Stuart Parsons, editors. John Hopkins University Press.
  • Lacki, M. J., S. K. Amelon, and M. D. Baker. 2007.
    Foraging ecology of forest bats and the implications for conservation and management.in M. J. Lacki, J. M. Hayes, and A. Kurta, editors. John Hopkins University Press.
  • Amelon, S. K. 2006.
    Status and Conservation of Five Forest Bat Species in the Eastern United States: Issues and Concerns. Pages 3-9 in F. R. Thompson, editor. Conservation assessments for five forest bat species in the Eastern United States.