Acoustics

Bats Through Passive Monitoring

Bat diversity and abundance is likely to be sensitive to habitat alterations at large, regional scales (i.e., hundreds of hectares), as even the smallest species are capable of moving hundreds of kilometers in the course of their seasonal movements (Norquay et al 2013). However, little is known about habitat use and disturbance tolerance for most bat species. Overall a total of at least 16 bat species are known to occur throughout the study region Some bat species (e.g., Antrozous pallidus, Myotis thysanodes) may benefit from removal of PJ woodlands as cleared areas may improve foraging success, while other bat species (e.g, Corynorhinus townsendii, Myotis evotis, Lasiurus cinereus) may be negatively impacted by tree removal via loss of summer or winter roosting sites. In addition to performing critical ecological functions, bats save the agriculture industry billions annually by consuming substantial insect biomass each night. Bats can serve as sensitive ecological indicators, in part because the loss of any one of their diverse resource requirements, which may include distinct roosting sites, water sources, and foraging areas, may result in rapid population decline. During the first year of this study we only used passive bat detectors to identify what species are active in different regions and habitats, but we hope to be able to track exact usage with vegetation features through telemetry in the future.

Bats Through GPS Tracking

This project - using Lotek GPS tracking to identify summer day time roosts and conduct roost counts - was recently funded through a partnership between the Surprise Valley Bureau of Land Management and Winnemucca Nevada Department of Wildlife offices. More information will be coming soon as mistnetting for this research starts spring 2020!

Passive Acoustics - Song birds

To measure song bird and possibly night predator presence, we will deploy passive acoustic recording units at each station across a gradient from sagebrush to more complete PJ cover (3 monitoring sites per fixed transect). Seven bird species are of specific interest with their known reliance on strict sagebrush or PJ habitat - the Gray Flycatcher, Sage Thrasher, Sagebrush Sparrow, Brewer’s Sparrow, Loggerhead Shrike, Pinyon Jay, and Green-tailed Towhee. As different bird species range in their use of sagebrush habitats, their likely varying responses to PJ clearing remains a mystery to solve.