He researches into plants and into bats perhaps (8)
I believe the answer is:
botanist
'he researches into plants' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'into bats perhaps' is the wordplay.
'perhaps' indicates anagramming the letters.
'into'+'bats'='intobats'
'intobats' anagrammed gives 'BOTANIST'.
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for botanist that I've seen before include "Expert in the scientific study of plants" , "Someone studying plants" , "Student of plants" , "Expert on plant life" , "investigating bloomers, for example?" .)