Shining new light on elusive flying bats
Novel sampling method for bats

Date:
December 2, 2021
Source:
University of Go"ttingen
Summary:
How can we understand the activity of wild bats? Mostly soundless,
flying in the dark, bats feed at night and evade our senses. Now,
an international research team has developed a new non-invasive
method 'bat point counts' by combining modern sensing technologies
-- thermal, ultrasonic and near-infrared -- to detect, identify
and count all bats flying around in a certain range.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
How can we understand the activity of wild bats? Mostly soundless,
flying in the dark, bats feed at night and evade our senses. Many bats
can use echolocation to hunt and can avoid the traditional nets used
to capture them; those that do not "echolocate" cannot be detected by ultrasound bat detectors.

Now, an international research team led by the University of Go"ttingen
has developed a new method "bat point counts" by combining modern sensing technologies -- thermal, ultrasonic and near-infrared -- to detect,
identify and count all bats flying around in a certain range. This new non-invasive method allows scientists to better understand bat behaviour
and populations, which should lead to better informed conservation
science. The results were published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.


========================================================================== Traditional methods to sample bats include catching them in nets or
recording their ultrasound calls. However, bats that use echolocation can detect and avoid nets even in the dark and some bats do not emit sounds, meaning these methods are prone to errors. Alternatively, non-invasive
modern sensing technologies can be used. By combining data from thermal, ultrasonic and near- infrared sensors, researchers created and tested
a new method: "bat point counts." To compare it against the traditional methods, researchers used netting to capture and measure 83 bats, they
used sound recorders to analyse dozens of hours of recordings, and they dissected hundreds of near-infrared pictures paired with hours of sound recordings, obtained from bat point counts.

Even though "bat point counts" were only conducted for a third of
the sampling time of the other methods, the new technique succeeded
in finding similar species numbers. However, only one species could
be detected by all three methods -- the two traditional methods and
the bat point counts -- with certainty. First author Dr Kevin Darras, University of Go"ttingen and Westlake University explains: "This showed
that none of the techniques was comprehensive on its own. We needed
to combine three modern sensing technologies to get a fuller picture
of the flying bat communities around us." The researchers found that fruit-eating bats are rare in oil palm plantations (just 7% of bat
point count detections). This finding was in stark contrast to previous studies, which used nets and had led researchers to conclude that these
bats dominated oil palm plantations. Darras says: "This suggests that fruit-eating bats have a short 'commute' through plantations and are
easily caught with nets. However, insect-eating bats can easily fly around
nets in these open plantations. Our new technique shows that insect-eating
bats are actually much more common than previously thought in oil
palm and might play a significant role in suppressing insect pests."
This technique has given researchers new insights into the relative
activity and prevalence of different bat species. Darras goes on to say:
"We envisage this new method will lead to better conservation measures
to protect species as well as new data to understand bat behaviour." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Go"ttingen. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kevin Felix Arno Darras, Ellena Yusti, Joe Chun‐Chia Huang,
Delphine‐Clara Zemp, Agus Priyono Kartono, Thomas Cherico
Wanger.

Bat point counts: A novel sampling method shines light on flying
bat communities. Ecology and Evolution, 2021; DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8356 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211202141604.htm

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