North American Bat Monitoring
Program (NABat)
Core Team & Supporters
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Susan Loeb, USFS-SRS
Jeremy Coleman, USFWS
Laura Ellison, USGS
Tom Rodhouse, NPS
Tom Ingersoll, DoD
Cori Lausen, WCS Canada
Wayne Thogmartin, USGS
Kathi Irvine, USGS
John Sauer, USGS
Jonathan Reichard, USFWS
The Need to Monitor
1) Bat Banding Program (BBP)
– US Biological Survey/USFWS
The Need to Monitor
1) Bat Banding Program (BBP)
US Biological Survey/USFWS
2) Endangered Species Monitoring
The Need to Monitor
1) Bat Banding Program (BBP)
US Biological Survey/USFWS
2) Endangered Species Monitoring
3) Estes Park
National State, Federal, Tribal
Response Plan
National Plan Working Groups
National Plan Working Groups
National Plan Working Groups
Goal 1: Develop and validate rapid-assessment monitoring plans to
determine differences in susceptibility among species, and identify
which species are most vulnerable to extinction due to WNS.
Indiana Bat Summer Distribution
Little Brown Bat Winter Distribution
Humphries et al. 2002
Loeb & Winters 2013
North American Bat Monitoring
Program -- NABat
Vision:
A coordinated effort that promotes effective
decision-making and long-term viability of
NA bats
Mission:
Provide architecture for coordinated bat
monitoring to support local, regional and
range-wide inferences about trends in bat
populations and abundances
North American Bat Monitoring
Program -- NABat
Vision:
A coordinated effort that promotes effective
decision-making and long-term viability of
NA bats
Mission:
Provide architecture for coordinated bat
monitoring to support local, regional and
range-wide inferences about trends in bat
distributions and abundances
NABat
Fundamental Question:
How do trends in NA bat distributions &
abundances vary over geographic extents
and time periods in relation to WNS, wind
energy, CC & conservation actions?
Application:
Evaluation of extinction risk and
population status at local and regional
scales to support conservation planning
NABat
Fundamental Question:
How do trends in NA bat distributions &
abundances vary over geographic extents
and time periods in relation to WNS, wind
energy, CC & conservation actions?
Application:
Evaluation of extinction risk and
population status at local and regional
scales to support conservation planning
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
• 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” DoD lands
Response Design
Respose Design-Acoustics
--25-48 km transect
-2 nights
--2-4 point surveys
-4 nights
Response Design-Colony Counts
• Short-term approach
– Strengthen current monitoring efforts by states
– Standardized protocols & co-variates
– No attempt to fit into grid
• Long-term approach
– Use grid to search for new colonies
Implementation
Implementation
Grid Assignment Example
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?
Data Management
• Bat Population Data (BPD) Project
– USGS, Fort Collins
– https://my.usgs.gov/bpd/
Data Management
• Data Partnerships
– Allow NABat access
– Restrict other access
Analysis & Products
• Plan General Technical Report
• Analyses
– State, regional, and rangewide
analysis
– Distribution & abundance
• State of North American Bats
Report