Megan Moran

IGC FELLOW    |   Global Change Center

Ph.D. Student  •  Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Advisor : Dr. W. Mark Ford

Research Interests: Wildlife conservation and management, spatial ecology, population genetics

mlmoran@vt.edu 

Megan is a Ph.D. student in Dr. Mark Ford’s lab in the Department of Fish and Wildlife conservation. Her broad research interests include wildlife conservation with a focus on spatial ecology and population genetics. She hopes to use these tools to help inform species management of threatened and endangered species.  

Megan’s passion for bat ecology began in 2014 as a field technician working on bat projects related to movement ecology, habitat conservation, and behavior. She completed her Master’s of Environmental Science in 2020 at Christopher Newport University. Therein, her thesis focused on population genetics and roosting associations of Townsend’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii) in Nevada. Her current research at Virginia Tech focuses on little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) populations throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic United States. She hopes to help inform management of this species by addressing potential changes in genetics, occupancy, and abundance following disease induced population declines and potential rebounds. In addition to this work, she has been monitoring these populations for pathogens, including rabies and SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, which are of concern as infections and/or co-infections could cause greater declines and increase risk of spillover.