Additional Funding Sources
The project described was supported by a student grant from the University of Idaho Office of Undergraduate Research, the Adele Berklund Undergraduate Research Scholar Award, and the Kenneth Hungerford Wildlife Scholarship and Research Award.
Abstract
There are fourteen species of bats in Idaho, all of which play an important part in the functioning of ecosystems across the state. These insectivorous species prey on pests that would otherwise invade agricultural crops and spread disease. Despite their vital role and impending threats to their survival, such as white nosed syndrome and climate change, these bats have received little attention in northern Idaho. This data deficiency impedes conservation decision-making that would protect these bats. My research seeks to address this deficiency using a non-invasive technique with acoustic monitors which capture the echolocation calls of foraging bats. I have set up sixteen monitors in the four main units of the University of Idaho Experimental Forest near Princeton, Idaho which will collect data from late May to early August in 2022. The monitors were strategically placed across the three bat habitat classifications of open, edge, and narrow to maximize the detectability of multiple species. The main objective of this study is to create a species inventory for the Experimental Forest, as well as conduct seasonal and temporal analyses of foraging activity. The recordings collected by the AudioMoth monitors are processed by the software Kaleidoscope Pro for an automatic species identification, which will be manually verified after all data collection is complete. As of June 17th, eleven species have been detected from over five hundred recordings collected. The monitors will be removed in early August and then data will be analyzed in more detail.
Using Acoustic Monitoring to Detect Bat Species in the University of Idaho Experimental Forest
There are fourteen species of bats in Idaho, all of which play an important part in the functioning of ecosystems across the state. These insectivorous species prey on pests that would otherwise invade agricultural crops and spread disease. Despite their vital role and impending threats to their survival, such as white nosed syndrome and climate change, these bats have received little attention in northern Idaho. This data deficiency impedes conservation decision-making that would protect these bats. My research seeks to address this deficiency using a non-invasive technique with acoustic monitors which capture the echolocation calls of foraging bats. I have set up sixteen monitors in the four main units of the University of Idaho Experimental Forest near Princeton, Idaho which will collect data from late May to early August in 2022. The monitors were strategically placed across the three bat habitat classifications of open, edge, and narrow to maximize the detectability of multiple species. The main objective of this study is to create a species inventory for the Experimental Forest, as well as conduct seasonal and temporal analyses of foraging activity. The recordings collected by the AudioMoth monitors are processed by the software Kaleidoscope Pro for an automatic species identification, which will be manually verified after all data collection is complete. As of June 17th, eleven species have been detected from over five hundred recordings collected. The monitors will be removed in early August and then data will be analyzed in more detail.