Migratory Tree Bat Roost-Site Use and Movements
Nathan Schwab
Tetra Tech, Inc
Mr. Schwab is a wildlife biologist with over 14 years of experience researching bats, including 10 years conducting studies in the renewable energy sector (wind, solar, hydro). He is currently the Program Lead for Tetra Tech’s Bat Program. Mr. Schwab specializes in bat-related issues and has worked on more than 50 acoustic monitoring and 7 telemetry studies in 15 states. He is an expert in the design and implementation of bat field studies and acoustic data analysis. Mr. Schwab has held scientific collecting permits related to bat research in Montana and Alaska and has helped design, coordinate, and implement several large-scale bat monitoring projects. He is currently working to assess the potential susceptibility of western bat species to White-nose syndrome, as well as attempting to identify migration patterns of migratory bats. He has experience consulting with the USFWS on northern long-eared bat issues and is currently investigating occupancy of this species at Air Force installations across the Midwest. He also serves on the Board of the Western Bat Working Group and on a Technical Advisory Committee for a wind energy project in Montana.
Abstract
Silver-haired (Lasionycteris noctivagans) and hoary (Lasiurus cinereus) bats are migratory, tree-roosting bats frequently encountered during post-construction fatality searches at wind energy facilities. Basic biological... [ view full abstract ]
Silver-haired (Lasionycteris noctivagans) and hoary (Lasiurus cinereus) bats are migratory, tree-roosting bats frequently encountered during post-construction fatality searches at wind energy facilities. Basic biological information such as tree characteristics associated with their roost sites, and local and migratory movements are poorly understood. Understanding the tree and landscape characteristics associated with migratory tree bat roosts and movements during the summer season could help inform the siting of wind energy development. Furthermore, access to migratory bat species during the summer residency period and recent advances in GPS tag technology provides an opportunity to examine migratory movements of these species. We captured and placed VHF transmitters on migratory tree bats in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana during the summer to identify day roosts, characterize the vegetation associated with these roosts, and assess daily fidelity to day roost locations. We also marked individual bats with PIT tags to provide the foundation for understanding inter-annual fidelity to summer habitats, and possibly migration pathways through studies in subsequent years. This project provided the first documented roost locations and descriptions for this species in Montana and one of the first known efforts to quantify roost-site fidelity within the summer season. The preliminary results presented here represent the first year of a three-year study. The second year of this study will include attaching GPS transmitters onto bats to determine migratory movements between summer residency periods. Subsequent recoveries of individually marked individuals in mist nets or at wind energy facilities, may also help to piece together movements of these species.
Authors
-
Nathan Schwab
(Tetra Tech, Inc)
-
Susan Hurley
(Tetra Tech, Inc)
Topic Areas
Bats , U.S. - No Specific Region , Methodology , Technology - other , Land-based , Offshore , Other
Session
00 » Posters (12:30 - Friday, 2nd December, Centennial Ballroom)
