North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat)

Purpose Create a continental-wide program to monitor bats at local to range-wide scales Provide data to promote effective conservation decision-making and long-term viability of bat populations across the continent.

Goals Develop and maintain a long-term continental program to monitor bat distributions and indices of abundance at range-wide, regional, and local scales.

Goals Provide regular analyses and reporting on the status and trends of bat populations to inform managers and policy makers so that they can manage bat populations effectively.

Some Important Points Best for larger scale analyses But, can be scaled down Long-term nature – On the order of decades

National State, Federal, Tribal Response Plan Conservation and Recovery Workgroup

The Process Collaborative International Series of 4 workshop

Targeted Species 47 Species – Common to US, Canada, Mexico

Monitoring Methods Acoustic Surveys – Mobile Transects – Stationary Points Colony Counts – Hibernacula – Maternity Colonies

Sampling Design – 10 x 10 km grid

Sampling Design- 10 x 10 km grid

Sampling Design Generalized Randomized Tessellation Stratified (GRTS) Sample Spatially balanced approach Flexible – Grid cells can be dropped for logistical reasons – Grid cells assigned weights or inclusion probabilities – Can include some samples outside design

Sampling Design Any subset of grid cells is also random and balanced Can “over-sample” selected properties – FS – DoD – NPS – Refuge

A Few Examples…

“Over Sampling” a Property

DoD Cells

Colony Surveys Hibernacula surveys – Continue current surveys – 2 Independent surveys – Use NABat protocols Data collection Data submission – No need to follow GRTS draw Searching for new colonies – GRTS order may be useful

Stationary Point Acoustic Sampling 2-4 stationary points 4 nights Preferably 1 point/5 x 5 km quadrant Any type of detector except time- expansion or heterodyne

Selection of Stationary Point Sites

Mobile Transect km (15-30 mi) long Secondary roads Safe to 20 mph Assume 1 pass = 1 bat – No or minimal stops – Don’t want to back track on route Variety of habitats Need to record associated lat/longs

Species Assignments - Acoustics Potentially biggest bottleneck Requires knowledge & expertise Investment of time and personnel

Species Assignments - Acoustics > 2 ID methods – Auto-ID programs BCID DFA model (Britzke et al. 2011) Echoclass Kaleidoscope Sonobat – Filters (e.g., AnalookW) – Qualitative ID

Species Assignments - Acoustics Lowest taxon possible Species groups when necessary Some visual verification needed Frequency (kHz) Time

Data Submission Bat Population Database –

Data Submission Data partnerships – Allow NABat access – Control other access

Data Sheets Ensure all necessary data collected – Acoustic – Colony counts Will develop apps for tablets and smartphones

Acoustic Data Uploaders Will accept spreadsheets generated by – Echoclass – Kaleidoscope – BCID – Sonobat

Caveats/Concerns Acoustic identification – Many models, which is correct? – Metadata – Archive original data – Robustness to false +’s and –’s? Unknown hibernacula – Particularly in western NA Better/alternate analyses?

Analysis & Products General Technical Report – Draft available now – Final on web -- May Analyses – State, regional, and rangewide analysis – Distribution & abundance State of North American Bats Report

Further Info Laura Ellison – Susan Loeb –

Questions?