Mid-Atlantic Big Brown and Eastern Red Bats: Relationships between Acoustic Activity and Reproductive Phenology
Acoustic data are often used to describe bat activity, including habitat use within the summer reproductive period. These data inform management activities that potentially impact bats, currently a taxa of high conservation concern. To understand the relationship between acoustic and reproductive ti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Diversity |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/5/319 |
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| author | Sabrina Deeley W. Mark Ford Nicholas J. Kalen Samuel R. Freeze Michael St. Germain Michael Muthersbaugh Elaine Barr Andrew Kniowski Alexander Silvis Jesse De La Cruz |
| author_facet | Sabrina Deeley W. Mark Ford Nicholas J. Kalen Samuel R. Freeze Michael St. Germain Michael Muthersbaugh Elaine Barr Andrew Kniowski Alexander Silvis Jesse De La Cruz |
| author_sort | Sabrina Deeley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Acoustic data are often used to describe bat activity, including habitat use within the summer reproductive period. These data inform management activities that potentially impact bats, currently a taxa of high conservation concern. To understand the relationship between acoustic and reproductive timing, we sampled big brown bats (<i>Eptesicus fuscus</i>) and eastern red bats (<i>Lasiurus borealis</i>) on 482 mist-netting and 35,410 passive acoustic sampling nights within the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, 2015–2018. We documented the proportion of female, pregnant, lactating, and juvenile big brown and eastern red bats within each mist-net sampling event and calculated locally estimated non-parametric scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) lines for each reproductive and acoustic dataset. We compared the peak in acoustic activity with the peaks of each reproductive condition. We determined that the highest levels of acoustic activity within the maternity season were most associated with the period wherein we captured the highest proportions of lactating bats, not juvenile bats, as often assumed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:02:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d75ffa83a53d41f0af7635c72cd56b94 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-2818 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:02:20Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Diversity |
| spelling | doaj.art-d75ffa83a53d41f0af7635c72cd56b942023-11-23T10:42:28ZengMDPI AGDiversity1424-28182022-04-0114531910.3390/d14050319Mid-Atlantic Big Brown and Eastern Red Bats: Relationships between Acoustic Activity and Reproductive PhenologySabrina Deeley0W. Mark Ford1Nicholas J. Kalen2Samuel R. Freeze3Michael St. Germain4Michael Muthersbaugh5Elaine Barr6Andrew Kniowski7Alexander Silvis8Jesse De La Cruz9Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC 20460, USAU.S. Geological Survey, Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USAConservation Management Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USADepartment of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USAConservation Management Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USADepartment of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USAU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Williamstown, WV 26187, USADepartment of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USAWest Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Elkins, WV 26241, USAConservation Management Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USAAcoustic data are often used to describe bat activity, including habitat use within the summer reproductive period. These data inform management activities that potentially impact bats, currently a taxa of high conservation concern. To understand the relationship between acoustic and reproductive timing, we sampled big brown bats (<i>Eptesicus fuscus</i>) and eastern red bats (<i>Lasiurus borealis</i>) on 482 mist-netting and 35,410 passive acoustic sampling nights within the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, 2015–2018. We documented the proportion of female, pregnant, lactating, and juvenile big brown and eastern red bats within each mist-net sampling event and calculated locally estimated non-parametric scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) lines for each reproductive and acoustic dataset. We compared the peak in acoustic activity with the peaks of each reproductive condition. We determined that the highest levels of acoustic activity within the maternity season were most associated with the period wherein we captured the highest proportions of lactating bats, not juvenile bats, as often assumed.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/5/319acoustic samplingbatsbig brown batseastern red bats<i>Eptesicus fuscus</i><i>Lasiurus borealis</i> |
| spellingShingle | Sabrina Deeley W. Mark Ford Nicholas J. Kalen Samuel R. Freeze Michael St. Germain Michael Muthersbaugh Elaine Barr Andrew Kniowski Alexander Silvis Jesse De La Cruz Mid-Atlantic Big Brown and Eastern Red Bats: Relationships between Acoustic Activity and Reproductive Phenology Diversity acoustic sampling bats big brown bats eastern red bats <i>Eptesicus fuscus</i> <i>Lasiurus borealis</i> |
| title | Mid-Atlantic Big Brown and Eastern Red Bats: Relationships between Acoustic Activity and Reproductive Phenology |
| title_full | Mid-Atlantic Big Brown and Eastern Red Bats: Relationships between Acoustic Activity and Reproductive Phenology |
| title_fullStr | Mid-Atlantic Big Brown and Eastern Red Bats: Relationships between Acoustic Activity and Reproductive Phenology |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mid-Atlantic Big Brown and Eastern Red Bats: Relationships between Acoustic Activity and Reproductive Phenology |
| title_short | Mid-Atlantic Big Brown and Eastern Red Bats: Relationships between Acoustic Activity and Reproductive Phenology |
| title_sort | mid atlantic big brown and eastern red bats relationships between acoustic activity and reproductive phenology |
| topic | acoustic sampling bats big brown bats eastern red bats <i>Eptesicus fuscus</i> <i>Lasiurus borealis</i> |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/5/319 |
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