An acoustic-based method for locating maternity colonies of rare woodland bats
Locating colonies of rare bats can be a time consuming process, as it is often difficult to know where to focus survey effort. However, identifying peaks of bat activity via acoustic monitoring may provide insights into whether a colony is locally present, and help screen out sites with low potentia...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:99b97d652a9046e8b8b4888dc7744f7c 2024-01-07T09:42:23+01:00 An acoustic-based method for locating maternity colonies of rare woodland bats Kieran D. O’Malley Henry Schofield Patrick G.R. Wright Daniel Hargreaves Tom Kitching Marina Bollo Palacios Fiona Mathews 2023-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15951 https://doaj.org/article/99b97d652a9046e8b8b4888dc7744f7c EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/15951.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/15951/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.15951 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/99b97d652a9046e8b8b4888dc7744f7c PeerJ, Vol 11, p e15951 (2023) Barbastella barbastellus Bats Citizen science Passive acoustic monitoring Woodland Radio-tracking Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15951 2023-12-10T01:50:26Z Locating colonies of rare bats can be a time consuming process, as it is often difficult to know where to focus survey effort. However, identifying peaks of bat activity via acoustic monitoring may provide insights into whether a colony is locally present, and help screen out sites with low potential. Using a triage approach, we developed a survey methodology for locating colonies of the woodland-specialist barbastelle bat (Barbastella barbastellus). We investigated whether woodland occupancy by a colony could be predicted by acoustic data, and assessed the influence of survey effort (number of acoustic detectors deployed) on detectability. The methodology was then trialled in citizen science surveys of 77 woodlands, with follow-up radio-tracking surveys by specialists being used to confirm presence or absence. Using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, we found that a threshold of four barbastelle passes recorded by at least one detector within one hour of sunset optimised the balance between the true- and false-positive rates. Subsequently, we found that a minimum survey effort of one detector per 6.25 hectares of woodland was needed to ensure a colony would be detected using this threshold, based on a survey sensitivity of 90%. Radio-tracking surveys in a subset of the woodlands, identified as having a high probability of being occupied by a colony based on acoustic monitoring, confirmed the presence of five previously unknown barbastelle maternity colonies. These results demonstrate that a triage system, in which high probability woodland sites are identified based on acoustic survey data, can be used to prioritise sites for future specialist surveys and conservation action. Article in Journal/Newspaper Barbastella barbastellus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PeerJ 11 e15951 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Barbastella barbastellus Bats Citizen science Passive acoustic monitoring Woodland Radio-tracking Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Barbastella barbastellus Bats Citizen science Passive acoustic monitoring Woodland Radio-tracking Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Kieran D. O’Malley Henry Schofield Patrick G.R. Wright Daniel Hargreaves Tom Kitching Marina Bollo Palacios Fiona Mathews An acoustic-based method for locating maternity colonies of rare woodland bats |
topic_facet |
Barbastella barbastellus Bats Citizen science Passive acoustic monitoring Woodland Radio-tracking Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
Locating colonies of rare bats can be a time consuming process, as it is often difficult to know where to focus survey effort. However, identifying peaks of bat activity via acoustic monitoring may provide insights into whether a colony is locally present, and help screen out sites with low potential. Using a triage approach, we developed a survey methodology for locating colonies of the woodland-specialist barbastelle bat (Barbastella barbastellus). We investigated whether woodland occupancy by a colony could be predicted by acoustic data, and assessed the influence of survey effort (number of acoustic detectors deployed) on detectability. The methodology was then trialled in citizen science surveys of 77 woodlands, with follow-up radio-tracking surveys by specialists being used to confirm presence or absence. Using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, we found that a threshold of four barbastelle passes recorded by at least one detector within one hour of sunset optimised the balance between the true- and false-positive rates. Subsequently, we found that a minimum survey effort of one detector per 6.25 hectares of woodland was needed to ensure a colony would be detected using this threshold, based on a survey sensitivity of 90%. Radio-tracking surveys in a subset of the woodlands, identified as having a high probability of being occupied by a colony based on acoustic monitoring, confirmed the presence of five previously unknown barbastelle maternity colonies. These results demonstrate that a triage system, in which high probability woodland sites are identified based on acoustic survey data, can be used to prioritise sites for future specialist surveys and conservation action. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kieran D. O’Malley Henry Schofield Patrick G.R. Wright Daniel Hargreaves Tom Kitching Marina Bollo Palacios Fiona Mathews |
author_facet |
Kieran D. O’Malley Henry Schofield Patrick G.R. Wright Daniel Hargreaves Tom Kitching Marina Bollo Palacios Fiona Mathews |
author_sort |
Kieran D. O’Malley |
title |
An acoustic-based method for locating maternity colonies of rare woodland bats |
title_short |
An acoustic-based method for locating maternity colonies of rare woodland bats |
title_full |
An acoustic-based method for locating maternity colonies of rare woodland bats |
title_fullStr |
An acoustic-based method for locating maternity colonies of rare woodland bats |
title_full_unstemmed |
An acoustic-based method for locating maternity colonies of rare woodland bats |
title_sort |
acoustic-based method for locating maternity colonies of rare woodland bats |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15951 https://doaj.org/article/99b97d652a9046e8b8b4888dc7744f7c |
genre |
Barbastella barbastellus |
genre_facet |
Barbastella barbastellus |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 11, p e15951 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/15951.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/15951/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.15951 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/99b97d652a9046e8b8b4888dc7744f7c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15951 |
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PeerJ |
container_volume |
11 |
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e15951 |
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