Bat selfies: photographic surveys of flying bats

Rydell, Jens; Russo, Danilo; Sewell, Price; Seamark, Ernest C.J.; Francis, Charles M.; Fenton, Sherri L; Fenton, M. Brock

doi:10.1007/s42991-022-00233-7

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Most recently, Brock has converted his love of photography into a new way to document bat diversity and behaviour, particularly in roosts (Rydell et al 2022). In his co-authored publication "Bat selfies: photographic surveys of flying bats" (Rydell et outlined the use of photography with high-speed flash and automated trip beams to take pictures of bats in flight.…”

Section: Documenting Species Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Natalus mexicanus Miller, 1902 was found through cave photography at Lamanai in Belize long before we actually caught one with a hand net (and have still never caught one in a mist net). These photographs are also cataloguing a diversity of behaviours that could not otherwise be possible to document, including unusual postures during flight, such as heel clicking in Phyllonycteris aphylla (Miller, 1898) (Rydell et al 2022) and species interactions during foraging (Fig. 5).…”

Section: Documenting Species Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interpretation and application of bat diversity and phylogeny

Clare

Lim

2023

Can. J. Zool.

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Brock Fenton has devoted his career to the study of the ecological adaptations of bat diversity. In this paper we describe his interest and research on the subject of bat evolution and how he has used phylogenetic hypotheses to revise our understanding of divergences and convergences of specific traits within this mammalian order. While he has always been fascinated by the evolution of echolocation, he has also written about the evolution of reproductive, morphological and behavioural traits. Recent methods of documenting diversity incorporate his lifelong love of photography. We describe taxonomic attempts to honour his contributions to bat species diversity. Brock has inspired hundreds of students and colleagues with his endless enthusiasm and generosity and inspired them with ongoing evolutionary research on bats.

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Section: Documenting Species Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Documenting Species Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpretation and application of bat diversity and phylogeny

Clare

Lim

2023

Can. J. Zool.

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“…For example, standard camera traps for other mammals do not work for fast-moving species such as bats. Instead, specialized systems using infrared trip beams and high speed flashes are required, which can only partially be automated and may still disrupt bat behavior ( Rydell et al, 2022 ). Similarly, acoustic monitoring cannot be used on inactive hibernating bats and is challenging in neotropical areas where calls are not species specific.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Out of thin air: surveying tropical bat roosts through air sampling of eDNA

Garrett

Watkins

Francis

et al. 2023

PeerJ

Self Cite

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Understanding roosting behaviour is essential to bat conservation and biomonitoring, often providing the most accurate methods of assessing bat population size and health. However, roosts can be challenging to survey, e.g., physically impossible to access or presenting risks for researchers. Disturbance during monitoring can also disrupt natural bat behaviour and present material risks to the population such as disrupting hibernation cycles. One solution to this is the use of non-invasive monitoring approaches. Environmental (e)DNA has proven especially effective at detecting rare and elusive species particularly in hard-to-reach locations. It has recently been demonstrated that eDNA from vertebrates is carried in air. When collected in semi-confined spaces, this airborne eDNA can provide remarkably accurate profiles of biodiversity, even in complex tropical communities. In this study, we deploy novel airborne eDNA collection for the first time in a natural setting and use this approach to survey difficult to access potential roosts in the neotropics. Using airborne eDNA, we confirmed the presence of bats in nine out of 12 roosts. The identified species matched previous records of roost use obtained from photographic and live capture methods, thus demonstrating the utility of this approach. We also detected the presence of the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi) which had never been confirmed in the area but was long suspected based on range maps. In addition to the bats, we detected several non-bat vertebrates, including the big-eared climbing rat (Ototylomys phyllotis), which has previously been observed in and around bat roosts in our study area. We also detected eDNA from other local species known to be in the vicinity. Using airborne eDNA to detect new roosts and monitor known populations, particularly when species turnover is rapid, could maximize efficiency for surveyors while minimizing disturbance to the animals. This study presents the first applied use of airborne eDNA collection for ecological analysis moving beyond proof of concept to demonstrate a clear utility for this technology in the wild.

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“…Neotropical bat roosting behaviour is complex and understudied (Fenton et al, 2001; Villalobos-Chaves et al, 2016), and monitoring using airborne eDNA could be a game-changing approach to this field. The bat fauna in our study site has been well documented for over a decade using live capture methods (i.e., mist nets, hand nets, and harp traps; Fenton et al, 2001; Herrera et al, 2018)) and camera traps (Rydell et al, 2022) giving us a priori knowledge of the local bat fauna as well as roosting ecology of many species. This creates an ideal study system in which to test the application of airborne eDNA during roost surveys and directly compare to the known species inventories.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Out of thin air: surveying tropical bat roosts through air sampling of eDNA

Garrett

Watkins

Francis

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Understanding roosting behaviour is essential to bat conservation and biomonitoring, often providing the most accurate methods of assessing population size and health. However, roosts can be challenging to survey. Roosts can be physically impossible to access or present risks for researchers and disturbance during monitoring can disrupt natural bat behaviour and present material risks to the population e.g. disrupting hibernation cycles. One solution to this is the use of non-invasive monitoring approaches. Environmental (e)DNA has proven especially effective at detecting rare and elusive species particularly in hard-to-reach locations. It has recently been demonstrated that eDNA is carried in air and, when collected in semi-confined spaces can provide remarkably accurate profiles of biodiversity, even in complex tropical communities. In this study we deploy novel airborne eDNA collection for air for the first time in a natural setting and use this approach to survey difficult to access potential roosts in the neotropics. Using airborne eDNA we confirmed the presence of bats in 9 out of 12 roosts. The identified species matched previous historical records of roost use obtained from photographic and live capture methods demonstrating the utility of this approach. We also detected the presence of the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi) which had never been confirmed in the area but was long suspected. In addition to the bats, we also detected several non-bat vertebrates, including the big-eared climbing rat (Ototylomys phyllotis), which has previously been observed in and around bat roosts. We also detected eDNA from other local species known to be in the vicinity. Using airborne eDNA to detect new roosts and monitor known populations, particularly when species turnover is rapid, could maximize efficiency for surveyors while minimizing disturbance to the animals. This study presents the first applied use of airborne eDNA collection for ecological analysis and demonstrates a clear utility for this technology in the wild.

show abstract

Bat selfies: photographic surveys of flying bats

Cited by 5 publications

References 31 publications

Interpretation and application of bat diversity and phylogeny

Interpretation and application of bat diversity and phylogeny

Out of thin air: surveying tropical bat roosts through air sampling of eDNA

Out of thin air: surveying tropical bat roosts through air sampling of eDNA

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