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