Data deliverables from bat inventories of eight National Park Service units in the Northeast Region of the United States

Gates, J.; Johnson, Joshua

Includes final versions of acoustic files, photographs, GIS data, scanned field forms, and the project database. Bats were inventoried bats within eight National Park Service (NPS) units in the northeastern United States from 2009–2011, using mist nets, acoustic monitoring equipment, and visual observations. Among the eight NPS units, we conducted mist netting at 37 sites for 49 nights, actively monitored with Anabat II bat detectors at 130 sites, and used autonomous bat monitoring stations at three sites. We captured 259 bats representing five species, including 207 big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), 26 eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis), 18 northern myotis (Myotis septentrionalis), 7 little brown myotis (M. lucifugus), and 1 hoary bat (L. cinereus). Of the 1,576 echolocation passes that we collected using active monitoring with Anabat II bat detectors, we were able to identify 1,425 to species, including all captured bat species and tri-colored bats (Perimyotis subflavus), which were not captured in mist nets. Typically, use of acoustic monitoring resulted in the documentation of most species captured in mist nets and species that were not captured; therefore, acoustic monitoring provided a more complete documentation of bat communities during this study. Moreover, year-round acoustic monitoring at Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, the only NPS unit where this was conducted, documented the presence of silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans) in April and August, and indicated that bat migration occurred through Boston Harbor, though activity levels were low. Year-round acoustic monitoring at Lovells and Thompson Island recorded a combined 4,320 echolocation passes, of which 67.9% were identifiable to species, including big brown bats, eastern red bats, silver-haired bats, hoary bats, little brown myotis, and northern myotis. Bats were inventoried at the following eight National Park Service (NPS) units: Boston Harbor National Recreation Area (BOHA), Morristown National Historical Park (MORR), Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites (ROVA, which includes Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site [ELRO], Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site [HOFR], and Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site [VAMA]), Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site (SAGA), Saratoga National Historical Park (SARA), and Weir Farm National Historic Site (WEFA). Neither eastern small-footed myotis (Myotis leibii), which is a species of special concern, or the federally endangered Indiana myotis (M. sodalis) were detected. No signs of white-nose syndrome (WNS) were detected on any captured bat.

Data deliverables from bat inventories of eight National Park Service units in the Northeast Region of the United States

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