Wisconsin Bat Conservation & Management Plan
Citizen-based MonitoringCitizen-based Monitoring
David RedellBat Ecologist
Wisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesBureau of Endangered Resources
Ecological Inventory & Monitoring Section
Outline
• Bats Introduction
• UK National Bat Monitoring Program
• Wisconsin Bat Plan
– Incorporating Citizen-based Monitoring
• Ultrasound detection surveys
• Hibernacula monitoring
Introducing - Bats Class-Mammalia. Order-Chiroptera
• ~1000 known bats - about 1/4 of all mammals. • Among mammalian orders, bats are probably
unsurpassed in terms of ecological and morphological diversity.
• Bats are an important natural predator of night-flying insects in WI
• Bats are vulnerable to extinction– slowest reproducing mammals
for their size– most producing only one young
annually.
• More than 50% of American bat species are in decline or already listed as endangered
• Loss of bats• increases demand for chemical pesticides • can jeopardize whole ecosystems of other plant and animal spp• can harm human economies
• The little brown bat– world's longest lived mammal
for its size, – life-spans sometimes
exceeding 32 years. • All mammals can contract
rabies; however– < 0.5% of bats get rabies– normally bite in self-defense– pose little threat to people
• A colony of 150 big brown bats can protect local farmers from up to 33 million or more rootworms each summer.
7, 8, or 9 WI BAT Species7, 8, or 9 WI BAT SpeciesFamily: Vespertilionidae
Myotis lucifugus Little brown bat
Myotis septentrionalis Northern long-eared Pipistrellus subflavus Eastern pipistrelle
Eptesicus fuscus Big brown bat
Lasiurus borealis Red bat
Lasiurus cinereus Hoary bat
Lasionycteris noctivagans Silver-haired bat
??? Myotis sodalis Indiana bat
??? Nycticeius humeralis??? Evening bat
UK
“Despite the best efforts of many committed naturalists and biologists providing data on localised populations of bats, there has been no structured framework for monitoring bat populations at a national level. The National Bat Monitoring Programme was intended to fill this gap and provide the information on population so urgently needed for conservation and management.”
Workshop & VolunteerDistributions
Volunteer Recruitment Methods
• Talks• Workshops• Word of Mouth• Roost owner leaflets• Bat detector leaflets• Internet• Magazine Articles
Volunteer Options
•Transect surveys
•Hibernacula surveys
•Waterway routes
•Summer roost site monitoring
•Etc.
Depending on a volunteer’s location, training, experience and time availability
Transect route example
Bat detector surveys
Roost site surveys
Pipistrelle roosts / occasional records
Serotines present absent
Winter & Summer Roost distribution of the Natterer’s bat
Winter & Summer Roost distribution of the Serotine bat
Winter & Summer Roost distribution of the Pipistrelle bat
Wisconsin Bat Conservation & Management Plan (WBCMP)
WBCMP 2005
• The Goals of the WI Bat Conservation & Management Plan • A functional plan that sets future directions and adapts to new information.• Identify where on the landscape Wisconsin’s eight known species of bats
exist throughout their entire natural history cycle, including habitat relationships.
• Identify the geography, behavior and variability associated with their nightly and seasonal movements.
• Locate areas in Wisconsin having high and low relative abundance of each bat species.
• Monitor and identify statewide population trends.• Outline conservation needs, priority management actions, and ways to
measure plan effectiveness. • Utilize the information gathered in a management of natural resources
context—specifically, having the best available information, collected, analyzed, interpreted and readily accessible to all appropriate decision makers.
WBCMP Phase I• Plan, Infrastructure design, and Methods development• Develop Wisconsin Bat Conservation & Management Plan • Utilize a statewide GIS-based data mapping system.... • Identify issues related to bat impacts...• Develop a P.I.T. tag detection & monitoring system.• Identify & survey known and possible bat hibernacula.
1.1. Develop reference library of bat echolocation calls for Develop reference library of bat echolocation calls for species ID model.species ID model.
2.2. Develop system for monitoring major hibernacula. Develop system for monitoring major hibernacula. 3.3. Develop statewide citizen-based monitoring network Develop statewide citizen-based monitoring network
for monitoring bat activity on the landscape.for monitoring bat activity on the landscape.
Using meaningful classifications for analyses
Western Coulee & Ridges Ecological Landscape
Ownership
Land cover
North Central Forest Ecological Landscape
Land cover
Ownership
Detecting, Recording, and Detecting, Recording, and Analyzing Bat VocalizationsAnalyzing Bat Vocalizations
Capture MethodsCapture Methods
Harp Traps
Reference Call LibraryChemoluminescent tags on released bats
Big brown bat Little brown bat
- Species Reference -- Species Reference -Ultrasound detector Ultrasound detector
recordingsrecordings
Eastern Red bat Hoary bat
- Species Reference -- Species Reference -Ultrasound detector Ultrasound detector
recordingsrecordings
Eastern Pipistrelle Silver-haired bat
ReferenceReferenceUltrasound detector recordingsUltrasound detector recordings
Example of variation in a single Example of variation in a single pass of one speciespass of one species
Long-term monitoring stationbat detector & weather data
Hibernacula Monitoring
Monitor changes in populations
Identify natural population dynamics
Identify significant trends
Outline conservation actions
Infrared beam-break counters
Infrared photo-beam calibration IN counts OUT counts
IN – OUT = Net movement (Census)
Comparing counts for 2 years
-9,712
-19,301
-16,419
-10,182
-25,000
-20,000
-15,000
-10,000
-5,000
0
Adit 1 Adit 3N
et e
stim
ate
of
win
ter
bat
po
pu
lati
on
2001
2002
Thus, an estimate for the over-wintering bat population at the Neda Mine is between
140,223 and 146,083 bats
How many bats at other WI hibernacula ?
Summer roosts ??
AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements
WI DNR Ecological Inventory & Monitoring SectionEcological Inventory & Monitoring Section
UW Madison Dept of Wildlife Ecology, Bat Conservation International, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Milwaukee County Zoological Society
Scott Craven, Stan Gehrt, Gerald Bartelt, Maureen Rowe, Dan Shurilla, Herb Guenther, Matt Conger, Travis Holte
Wisconsin Bat Crew:Wisconsin Bat Crew: Angela ‘by night’ Engelman, Annemarie Kalson, & Michael Watt