Testing the effectiveness of surveying techniques in determining bat community composition within woodland

Lintott, Paul R.; Fuentes‐Montemayor, Elisa; Goulson, Dave; Park, Kirsty

doi:10.1071/wr13153

Cited by 35 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…low detection error) when sampling many hours over multiple nights, particularly for bats that fly across extensive areas, suggest that occupancy may not be sensitive for detecting declines in abundance, especially as occupancy modelling is greatly influenced by a single presence (Royle 2004).This limitation of occupancy is particularly true for those bat species that are difficult to identify from their echolocation calls and so may be misidentified ('false positives') (Clement et al 2014). There is some, albeit limited, support that activity recorded by ultrasonic detectors is positively related to relative abundance for some bat species (Lintott et al 2014). 8.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To avoid the influence of temporal changes in vegetation density on the air space sampled by acoustic detectors, it is important that localized gaps (as well as tracks, see above) are targeted for sampling (see also Patriquin et al 2003). There is some, albeit limited, support that activity recorded by ultrasonic detectors is positively related to relative abundance for some bat species (Lintott et al 2014). Where the number of passes recorded is very low, for instance for rare species, then occupancy may be a more reliable indicator of change than activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, developments in automated identification of calls make processing of large data collections feasible (Adams et al 2010). It is important to note that activity does not equal abundance, so monitoring such a response needs to acknowledge a change in an index of habitat use rather than abundance.There is some recent support for a positive relationship between activity and relative abundance in bats (Lintott et al 2014), suggesting that declining levels of activity are likely to be a useful warning signal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimizing ultrasonic sampling effort for monitoring forest bats

et al. 2015

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Landscape-scale monitoring is a key approach for assessing changes in indicators. However, great care needs to be taken to collect rigorous data and avoid wasting resources in long-term programmes. Insect-eating bats are diverse, functionally important and are often proposed as indicator species of environmental health. We used acoustic (ultrasonic) data from pilot bat surveys undertaken in forests and woodlands to optimize sampling effort to produce precise estimates of bat activity and occupancy.We also carried out simulations to evaluate the statistical power of different sampling designs to detect changes in activity and occupancy levels of individual bat species. There was little gain in precision for estimates of bat activity by sampling beyond five to six detector nights. To ensure spatial heterogeneity was sampled around a monitoring point, three detectors for two nights or two detectors for three nights would be required. This level of sampling was also sufficient to be 90% certain of recording occupancy for 11 of 12 taxa. Power simulations revealed that a sampling design using two detectors per monitoring point for two nights could detect a 30% decline within 10 years with 90% power for all species, except the white-striped free tail bat (Tadarida australis), using either changes in activity levels or occupancy. However, fewer years were required when using occupancy. Setting detectors either on-flyways or off-flyways contributed only minor differences to the time taken to reach 90% power for both occupancy and activity levels, though sampling both locations has major implications for interpreting trends in bats. We suggest that bat activity levels are more sensitive for detecting change than occupancy because one pass or 1000 passes can be recorded per night by an acoustic detector, and this is not differentiated by occupancy. Bats can be monitored cost-effectively and should be included in monitoring programmes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimizing ultrasonic sampling effort for monitoring forest bats

et al. 2015

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“…Bat populations can be estimated by counting the number of individuals emerging from summer roosts or within hibernacula; however, roosts can be difficult to find and do not give an indication of the importance of an area for foraging bats. Ecological practitioners therefore frequently use acoustic surveys with static bat detectors to determine species' presence (e.g., Roche et al, 2011) and to quantify activity levels which can act a surrogate for relative abundance (e.g., Kalko, Villegas, Schmidt, Wegmann, & Meyer, 2008;Lintott, Fuentes-Montemayor, Goulson, & Park, 2014;and Razgour, Korine, & Saltz, 2011). Acoustic surveys are vital in determining the level of development permitted at a site, or to monitor the effect of a recent development on protected bat species.…”

Section: Interpreting Bat Survey Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecobat: An online resource to facilitate transparent, evidence‐based interpretation of bat activity data

Lintott

Davison

Breda³

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Acoustic surveys of bats are one of the techniques most commonly used by ecological practitioners. The results are used in Ecological Impact Assessments to assess the likely impacts of future developments on species that are widely protected in law, and to monitor developments’ postconstruction. However, there is no standardized methodology for analyzing or interpreting these data, which can make the assessment of the ecological value of a site very subjective. Comparisons of sites and projects are therefore difficult for ecologists and decision‐makers, for example, when trying to identify the best location for a new road based on relative bat activity levels along alternative routes. Here, we present a new web‐based, data‐driven tool, Ecobat, which addresses the need for a more robust way of interpreting ecological data. Ecobat offers users an easy, standardized, and objective method for analyzing bat activity data. It allows ecological practitioners to compare bat activity data at regional and national scales and to generate a numerical indicator of the relative importance of a night's worth of bat activity. The tool is free and open‐source; because the underlying algorithms are already developed, it could easily be expanded to new geographical regions and species. Data donation is required to ensure the robustness of the analyses; we use a positive feedback mechanism to encourage ecological practitioners to share data by providing in return high quality, contextualized data analysis, and graphical visualizations for direct use in ecological reports.

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“…Lumsden et al ; Willis & Brigham ; Goldingay ). The lack of box use by Chalinolobus morio and Vespadelus vulturnus further suggests a limited effectiveness given the high call activity recorded for these species at the box clusters, with call activity being considered an index of species abundance and habitat use (Lintott et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limited use of bat boxes in a rural landscape: implications for offsetting the clearing of hollow‐bearing trees

Rueegger

Goldingay

Law

et al. 2019

Restoration Ecology

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Bat boxes frequently form part of hollow-bearing tree offsets; however, their effectiveness is poorly documented. We investigated the effectiveness of a bat box program designed to partially offset tree hollow loss from clearing for a coal mine. During the first year of monitoring, we detected bats in 5% of 1,308 box checks. Only 3 of 13 local tree cavity-roosting bat species/species groups used boxes and occupancy was not strongly associated with modeled box and site attributes. In the second year, we tested two hypotheses that may explain the relatively low box use: (1) solar exposure of boxes was inadequate for heterothermic bats and (2) available box designs were of low suitability. Relocating boxes to increase solar exposure did not increase use, or enhance the temperature profiles of relocated boxes. Introduction of a new box design led to 11 times higher use compared with existing designs for Nyctophilus spp. (long-eared bat). Overall, our data suggest that the bat box program was ineffective due to few bat species using boxes, infrequent box use by three species, and rarity of maternity roosting. The knowledge gap of species-specific box designs and roosting ecology limits the effectiveness of boxes to offset cleared hollow-bearing trees. Lack of knowledge and the widespread use of bat boxes to offset lost tree hollows highlights the need to (1) rigorously protect hollow-bearing trees and (2) advance our understanding of species-specific roost ecology, box design preferences and mechanical hollow creation into trees, before artificial hollows can be considered a meaningful offset measure.

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Testing the effectiveness of surveying techniques in determining bat community composition within woodland

Cited by 35 publications

References 36 publications

Optimizing ultrasonic sampling effort for monitoring forest bats

Optimizing ultrasonic sampling effort for monitoring forest bats

Ecobat: An online resource to facilitate transparent, evidence‐based interpretation of bat activity data

Limited use of bat boxes in a rural landscape: implications for offsetting the clearing of hollow‐bearing trees

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