SLIDE 1
Bats in a fire-prone landscape: Acoustic monitoring in the Power - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Bats in a fire-prone landscape: Acoustic monitoring in the Power - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Bats in a fire-prone landscape: Acoustic monitoring in the Power Fire 2014-2016 Zack Steel March 15th, 2017 Power Fire Pallid bat Townsends big-eared bat Photo - Bat Conservation Photo - USGS International Fringed myotis Photo -
SLIDE 2
SLIDE 3
Pallid bat Photo - Bat Conservation International Townsend’s big-eared bat Photo - USGS Western red bat Photo - USGS Long-eared Myotis Photo - USGS Fringed myotis Photo - USGS California myotis Photo – Zack Steel Small-footed myotis Photo - USGS Mexican free-tailed bat Photo – Ron Groves Silver-haired bat Photo – Explore Missouri
SLIDE 4
Bat survey methods
Batmanagement.com Batmanagement.com
Yuma myotis Photo - USGS
SLIDE 5
Acoustic surveys & echolocation
askabiologist.asu.edu
SLIDE 6
SLIDE 7
Pass Classification
Spotted bat Photo – factzoo.com
SLIDE 8
Pass Classification
Long-legged myotis Photo – Wikipedia
SLIDE 9
Improved Acoustic Technology
SLIDE 10
Broad monitoring goals
- Understand patterns of bat use in
Sierra Nevada forests
- Understand how the bat community
uses post-fire landscapes
- Inform forest and wildlife management
in Eldorado NF and the Sierra Nevada
Big brown bat Photo - USGS
SLIDE 11
Specific Questions / Monitoring Goals
Burned vs. Unburned
SLIDE 12
Specific Questions / Monitoring Goals
Burned vs. Unburned Burn Severity
SLIDE 13
Specific Questions / Monitoring Goals
Unburned vs. burned Burn Severity Unmanaged vs. managed
- Species Richness
- Species activity levels
(passes/night)
SLIDE 14
Survey Locations
Sampling Category Locations Survey Nights Reference 10 128 Low Severity 8 95 Moderate Severity 12 115 High Severity – No management 9 97 High Severity – Reforestation 8 91 Total 47 526
- May – Sept 2014-16
- ~2 week deployments
- Surveys on alternating nights
SLIDE 15
Seasonality
- Spring – arrive at summer habitats; establish maternal
colonies.
- June/July - Females
give birth to 1 or 2 young, which become volant (can fly) ~ 1 month later.
- Fall - Hibernate
and/or migrate to winter habitats.
SLIDE 16
(Un)Burned forests - Richness
SLIDE 17
(Un)Burned forests – Activity Level
Significant Difference
SLIDE 18
(Un)Burned forests – Activity Level
Significant Difference
SLIDE 19
Effect of Burn Severity
SLIDE 20
Burn Severity - Richness
SLIDE 21
Burn Severity – Activity Level
SLIDE 22
Salvage Effects - Richness
SLIDE 23
Salvage Effects – Common Species
SLIDE 24
Salvage Effects – Rare Species
Significant Difference
SLIDE 25
Take-home points
- Having fire on the landscape is important to
the full bat community
- The variation of burn effects is also important
with most species appearing to prefer areas of moderate effects (common historically)
- ~10 yrs after salvage logging in Power there
are few obvious effects
Hoary bat Photo - USGS
SLIDE 26
Future Directions
- 2017 monitoring - focus on planned
reforestation projects and habitat structure.
- Complementary studies – Rim, Storrie,
& Chips. Improved understanding of rare species habitat needs.
- More sophisticated analyses: occupancy,
seasonality, important covariates (e.g. distance to water)
Pallid bat Photo - Bat Conservation International Townsend’s big-eared bat Photo - USGS
SLIDE 27
Acknowledgements
- El Dorado National Forest & University
- f California, Davis
- Alissa Fogg, Josh Stagner, Jade Ajani, Tim
Forrester, Hugh Safford
SLIDE 28