Summer Surveys

Use of federal lands and use of federal funding on projects often requires assessing impact on endangered species. The Indiana bat has become a species that is frequently targeted for extensive presence absence surveys. We sample according to guidelines set up in the draft Indiana bat recovery plan. Working with these guidelines, state agencies, and the local US Fish and Wildlife Service office, we are able to meet survey requirements quickly. We are also able to offer aid in planning projects to aid in recovery of this declining species. Possible recovery/research projects include funding a telemetry, artificial habitat, or Anabat project. In many areas, research on this species outweighs presence-absence surveys as a regional priority.

Mistnetting & Trapping - Presence and Absence Surveys

Mistnetting and harp trapping are the most common form of survey, these methods involve setting up very fine nets (or monofilament traps) along flight paths and over drinking areas. In the event of an Indiana bat capture we can perform radio telemetry to monitor it's roosting patterns. We thoroughly document all captured threatened and endangered bats with photography and/or video.

Anabat Surveys & Call Library Creation - Research and Development

We can do Anabat surveys, but we aren't too excited about them. Most areas have only one call library, (if that) sometimes put together by personel new to bat identification. Until enough call libraries exist for us to be able to send calls to two unrelated sources and get the same results, Anabat is more of a research topic than a management tool. We do not have call libraries for all areas of the US, so local sources may be needed to accomplish analysis. To insure the highest quality, we record calls directly into computers - never using tape.

Building these call libraries for a given region is the first step in developing this tool. We believe that call analysis will become a very important survey tool, when, how, and with what hardware is the question. If more research was channeled into ecolocation call analysis, we might be on our way to a solid noninvasive bat survey technique. It may be that Anabat will not be able to discriminate some of the myotis species in field conditions. Ecolocation calls do include species and sex of caller, bats can hear it, it is only a matter of refining the detectors and post recording analysis to the point where we can derive this data. (Anabat uses a square wave rather than a true sine wave for recording calls, this detector may not be capable of recording all the harmonics needed to determine species and sex.)

Radio Telemetry - Range and Roost location

If a target species is caught on a survey, or if you have a known roost in your project area, roost use, and home range can be important data to use to lessen the impact that your project has on sensitive species. The impact of the additional transmitter weight makes tracking of pregnant or lactating females a difficult call, however without knowing very basic life cycle needs, management plans often boil down to guesswork. These surveys are best planned in conjunction with advisement from the regional US Fish and Wildlife Service office. Transmitters of the size that will best suit the bat you are planning on tracking can take significant time to receive after placing a order, so plan ahead. Telemetry work is VERY labor intensive, and are the most expensive type of survey we offer.