Bat Occurrence and Habitat Selection on the Delmarva Peninsula Andrew McGowan Importance of Regional Bats Regulate Insect Populations Forested ecosystems (Kalka et al. 2008) Agricultural (Whitaker 1995; Boyes et al. 2011) Emerging Threats White Nose Syndrome Wind Turbines White-Nose Syndrome (Pseudogymnoascus destructans)-isnt-as-scary-as-white-nose-syndrome/ https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/sites/default/files/wns_map_ jpg A Cure? Rhodococcus rhodochrous (common in almost all soils) 75 cured bats re-released into wild Wind Turbines Grodsky et al By 2020 estimated 76,000 deaths per year in Mid Atlantic Highlands for just 3 species (Kunz et al. 2007) Horn et al. (2008) Journal of Wildlife Management 72:123132 Proposed Wind Turbine Sites On/Near Delmarva Limited Knowledge of Delmarvas Bats Handful of studies on Peninsula Narrow in geographic or ecological scope Goals of Study 1)Assess what species are present across the Peninsula o Full range of habitats o Between 38 th and 39 th parallel 2)Assess habitat preferences of these species Driving Transects Passive Monitoring Sites Field Equipment Human hearing: Sound frequencies 20 Hz 20 kHz Bat echolocation: > 20 kHz (Ultrasonic) Basics of Bat Echolocation Spectrogram of Bat Call Sequence Spectrogram of Different Species Species Known to Occur on Delmarva Red BatBig Brown BatSilver-haired BatHoary BatTri-colored BatMyotis spp. cdn-3.itsnature.org Paradiso 1969; Fox 2007; Limpert et al. 2007; Johnson and Gates 2008; Wolcott and Vulinec 2012 Evening Batg Observed Species Red Bat 815Big Brown Bat 879Silver-haired Bat 542Hoary Bat 75Tri-colored Bat 31Myotis spp. 16 cdn-3.itsnature.org Evening Bat 586g Observed Species Red Bat 815Big Brown Bat 879Silver-haired Bat 542Hoary Bat 75Tri-colored Bat 31Myotis spp. 16 cdn-3.itsnature.org Evening Bat 586g Coastal Bays Red Bat Big Brown Bat Silver-haired Bat Tri-colored Bat Evening Bat 1.08 calls per minute in Salisbury Area 1.09 calls per minute in Coastal Bays Watershed 1.84 calls per minute in Pocomoke Forest Area 1.91 calls per minute in Blackwater NWR Predicted Habitat Associations closed open edge Closed Foragers Myotis spp. Edge Foragers Red Bat Silver-haired Bat Big Brown Bat Evening Bat Tri-colored Bat Open Foragers Hoary Bat Farney and Fleharty 1969; Norberg and Rayner 1987 Closed Foragers Myotis spp. Edge Foragers Red Bat Silver-haired Bat Big Brown Bat Evening Bat Tri-colored Bat Open Foragers Hoary Bat Farney and Fleharty 1969; Norberg and Rayner 1987 ComparisonnEastern Red BatBig Brown BatEvening BatSilver-haired BatHoary Bat Forest edge (12.73)***3.14 (6.87)***2.62 (4.94)***1.87 (4.06)0.14 (0.72) Open (4.11)1.54 (5.33)0.86 (3.29)1.90 (3.64)0.39 (1.28)* Forest only a (18.93)* b 3.28 (6.58)* b 3.90 (6.30)* b 1.50 (3.94)0.25 (1.02) Forest-open a (2.52)3.03 (7.11)* c 1.65 (3.28)* c 2.15 (4.15)0.07 (0.30) Open only a (4.11)1.54 (5.33)0.86 (3.29)1.90 (3.64)0.39 (1.28) Mixed only (22.63)3.70 (7.79)4.62 (6.91)*1.32 (2.77)*0.40 (1.27) Pine only (10.89)2.89 (4.21)2.31 (4.71)0.94 (2.99)0.00 (0.00) Forest edge (61.53)*35.75 (36.38)**11.25 (12.44)**1.50 (1.29)*0.25 (0.50) Forest interior90.22 (0.66) 0.00 (0.00) Comparison of mean (SD) number of call sequences recorded for each species at sites with the indicated habitat variable on the local level. Asterisks represent a significant difference in median values (* = P < 0.05,** = P < 0.01, *** = P < 0.001), as assessed by either a Kruskal Wallis and one-tailed Mann-Whitney U test ( = 0.05) or Multiple Comparison Kruskal Wallis test with a Bonferroni correction. Edge Open ComparisonnEastern Red BatBig Brown BatEvening BatSilver-haired BatHoary Bat Forest edge (12.73)***3.14 (6.87)***2.62 (4.94)***1.87 (4.06)0.14 (0.72) Open (4.11)1.54 (5.33)0.86 (3.29)1.90 (3.64)0.39 (1.28)* Forest only a (18.93)* b 3.28 (6.58)* b 3.90 (6.30)* b 1.50 (3.94)0.25 (1.02) Forest-open a (2.52)3.03 (7.11)* c 1.65 (3.28)* c 2.15 (4.15)0.07 (0.30) Open only a (4.11)1.54 (5.33)0.86 (3.29)1.90 (3.64)0.39 (1.28) Mixed only (22.63)3.70 (7.79)4.62 (6.91)*1.32 (2.77)*0.40 (1.27) Pine only (10.89)2.89 (4.21)2.31 (4.71)0.94 (2.99)0.00 (0.00) Forest edge (61.53)*35.75 (36.38)**11.25 (12.44)**1.50 (1.29)*0.25 (0.50) Forest interior90.22 (0.66) 0.00 (0.00) Comparison of mean (SD) number of call sequences recorded for each species at sites with the indicated habitat variable on the local level. Asterisks represent a significant difference in median values (* = P < 0.05,** = P < 0.01, *** = P < 0.001), as assessed by either a Kruskal Wallis and one-tailed Mann-Whitney U test ( = 0.05) or Multiple Comparison Kruskal Wallis test with a Bonferroni correction. Edge Open ComparisonnEastern Red BatBig Brown BatEvening BatSilver-haired BatHoary Bat Forest edge (12.73)***3.14 (6.87)***2.62 (4.94)***1.87 (4.06)0.14 (0.72) Open (4.11)1.54 (5.33)0.86 (3.29)1.90 (3.64)0.39 (1.28)* Forest only a (18.93)* b 3.28 (6.58)* b 3.90 (6.30)* b 1.50 (3.94)0.25 (1.02) Forest-open a (2.52)3.03 (7.11)* c 1.65 (3.28)* c 2.15 (4.15)0.07 (0.30) Open only a (4.11)1.54 (5.33)0.86 (3.29)1.90 (3.64)0.39 (1.28) Mixed only (22.63)3.70 (7.79)4.62 (6.91)*1.32 (2.77)*0.40 (1.27) Pine only (10.89)2.89 (4.21)2.31 (4.71)0.94 (2.99)0.00 (0.00) Forest edge (61.53)*35.75 (36.38)**11.25 (12.44)**1.50 (1.29)*0.25 (0.50) Forest interior90.22 (0.66) 0.00 (0.00) Comparison of mean (SD) number of call sequences recorded for each species at sites with the indicated habitat variable on the local level. Asterisks represent a significant difference in median values (* = P < 0.05,** = P < 0.01, *** = P < 0.001), as assessed by either a Kruskal Wallis and one-tailed Mann-Whitney U test ( = 0.05) or Multiple Comparison Kruskal Wallis test with a Bonferroni correction. Edge Open Variable Eastern Red Bat Big Brown Bat Evening Bat Silver-haired Bat Hoary Bat Distance to tree edge-0.186***-0.192***-0.235*** Distance to forest-0.169***-0.206***-0.199*** Distance to mixed forest-0.147**-0.178***-0.159*** Distance to pine forest Distance to natural water bodies Distance to water Percent forest cover *-0.096* Total forest edge Percent agricultural land Kendalls Tau correlations between number of call sequences at each site for each species and distance to indicated habitat variable at the landscape level or amount of habitat variable within a 1 km radius. Asterisks represent significance (* = P < 0.05, ** = P < 0.01 *** = P < 0.001). Variable Eastern Red Bat Big Brown Bat Evening Bat Silver-haired Bat Hoary Bat Distance to tree edge-0.186***-0.192***-0.235*** Distance to forest-0.169***-0.206***-0.199*** Distance to mixed forest-0.147**-0.178***-0.159*** Distance to pine forest Distance to natural water bodies Distance to water Percent forest cover *-0.096* Total forest edge Percent agricultural land Kendalls Tau correlations between number of call sequences at each site for each species and distance to indicated habitat variable at the landscape level or amount of habitat variable within a 1 km radius. Asterisks represent significance (* = P < 0.05, ** = P < 0.01 *** = P < 0.001). Variable Eastern Red Bat Big Brown Bat Evening Bat Silver-haired Bat Hoary Bat Distance to tree edge-0.186***-0.192***-0.235*** Distance to forest-0.169***-0.206***-0.199*** Distance to mixed forest-0.147**-0.178***-0.159*** Distance to pine forest Distance to natural water bodies Distance to water Percent forest cover *-0.096* Total forest edge Percent agricultural land Kendalls Tau correlations between number of call sequences at each site for each species and distance to indicated habitat variable at the landscape level or amount of habitat variable within a 1 km radius. Asterisks represent significance (* = P < 0.05, ** = P < 0.01 *** = P < 0.001). 1)All species except for Myotis spp. and Tri-colored bats seem to be doing well on the peninsula 2)Red bat, Big Brown bat, and Evening bats followed predicted habitat associations based upon wing morphology 3)Silver-haired bats appear less specialized for edge habitat than expected 4)Hoary bats exhibited preference for open habitats as predicted 5)Forest interior habitat very unproductive for regional foraging bats Conclusions o Radio tracking studies of Silver-haired bats o More fine scale analyses of edge and forest interior habitats (roosting requirements) o Continued efforts to sample Myotis and Tri-colored bats Future Directions Acknowledgements Thanks to: Dr. Aaron Hogue Dr. Phillip Anderson Dr. Kevina Vulinec Undergraduates: E. Fare, A. Hollins, A. Davis, and C. Chikwere. Grant Funding: American Society of Mammalogists, Salisbury University Graduate Research and Presentation Grant Salisbury University Biological Sciences Department Land Organizations: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Maryland DNR, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, Lower Shore Land Trust Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative Questions? msucares.com