UAUniversity of Arkansas · Biology
Bat Behavior and Virus Dynamics Lab
Kristian Michael Forbes · Fayetteville, Arkansas
Research Focus
Kristian Michael Forbes' lab focuses on understanding how bats behave and shed viruses, which may impact the risk of these viruses spilling over to humans and domestic animals. By studying bat populations in Kenya and Belize, the lab aims to uncover the interactions between bat behavior, ecology, and viral dynamics to inform public health strategies. Their work is crucial in preventing the emergence of infectious diseases like COVID-19 from bat populations.
batsvirus sheddingspillover riskCOVID-19coronavirusesrabiesEbolazoonotic diseasesecologyepidemiology
Research Aims
5AIM 01Investigate how bat behavior influences virus exposure risk for other species.
AIM 02Assess viral diversity shifts in bat populations following environmental perturbations.
AIM 03Evaluate stress and immune responses in bats to human-induced changes in their environment.
AIM 04Identify high-risk areas for human encounters with bats and potential viral infections.
AIM 05Develop models to predict spillover events based on bat virus dynamics.
Skills the Lab Values
longitudinal monitoringvirus serologybehavioral studiesfield experimentsproteomicsmetagenomicsdata modelingantigen testingwildlife ecologycommunity sampling
Output against the department
Publications97bottom 34% of dept.680th of 1,033
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations1.6kbottom 10% of dept.925th of 1,033
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.