Cumberland Piedmont Network Cave Bats Monitoring

Thomas S. Cumberland Piedmont Network Cave Bats Monitoring. 2010. National Park Service

Four parks in the Cumberland Piedmont Network (CUPN) have selected cave-roosting bats as a high priority vital sign for long-term monitoring. These parks include Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Russell Cave National Monument and Mammoth Cave National Park. Cave bats were selected for several reasons, including their important ecological role in supporting cave ecosystems, their crucial role in controlling certain nocturnal insect populations and reducing agricultural and forestry pests, and their status under the Endangered Species Act (several bat species are listed as “endangered”, “threatened”, or a “species of concern”). All species of CUPN cave dwelling bats are under threat from the novel fungal disease of bats called white-nose syndrome which has been confirmed in caves at these four network parks. Additional threats to the network’s cave-roosting bats center around habitat loss or impact—which may be caused by human disturbance, in-cave modifications, land use changes above cave roosts, an increase in feral predators (e.g., cats), and food source impacts from acid deposition, heavy metals, or pesticides. Given the importance of bats to both surface and subsurface ecosystems, and because many bat species rely on cave habitat for their survival, monitoring of bats and their cave roosts is of great importance for managing and protecting bat populations and critical bat (cave) habitat. Monitoring information from these parks will contribute meaningfully to the broader regional assessment of the status and trend of bat species across eastern North America. Monitoring objectives addressed by this protocol include: 1. Estimate status and trend of summer cave-roosting bat abundance within selected caves in four parks in the CUPN during annual and rotating surveys; 2. Determine status and trends of hibernating bat abundance and spatial distribution within selected hibernacula caves in four parks in the CUPN during biennial surveys; 3. Determine the status and trends of key habitat parameters (cave air temperature and relative humidity) within selected caves used by bats in four parks in the CUPN.

Type
Project
Authors
Thomas, Steve
Publisher
National Park Service
Units
CHCH , CUGA , CUPN , MACA , RUCA
Keywords
Bat Protocol, bats, cave, census, colony, count, data logger, emergence, hibernaculum, monitor, night vision, photography, relative humidity, temperature, thermal infrared, videography
Subjects
Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Cave Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | At-risk Biota | T&E Species and Communities

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