Leonie Baier

I'm a behavioural biologist fascinated by how animals perceive and interact with their world through sound. My research focuses on the sensory and cognitive ecology of bats: how they use echolocation to hunt, navigate, and make decisions in complex natural environments. I earned my PhD in Biology from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, where I studied sensory neurobiology and the limits of biosonar perception. Since then, I have combined fieldwork with state-of-the-art biologging and acoustic analysis to uncover how these nocturnal predators process information and adapt their behaviour under natural and experimental conditions.

I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, where I develop machine learning tools to detect and classify bat vocalisations for large-scale biodiversity monitoring. My scientific path has taken me from studying biosonar in the lab to exploring predator–prey interactions and hunting efficiency in the wild, supported by fellowships from the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Ultimately, I aim to bridge sensory biology, technology, and conservation, using sound to better understand and protect life’s hidden diversity.