Comparing the efficiency of monofilament and regular nets for capturing bats
Regular nylon or polyester mist nets used for capturing bats have several drawbacks, particularly that they are inefficient at sampling insectivorous species. One possible alternative is to use monofilament nets, whose netting is made of single strands of yarn instead of several as regular nets, mak...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
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| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211404 |
| _version_ | 1818435315195445248 |
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| author | Silvia Chaves-Ramírez Christian Castillo-Salazar Mariela Sánchez-Chavarría Hellen Solís-Hernández Gloriana Chaverri |
| author_facet | Silvia Chaves-Ramírez Christian Castillo-Salazar Mariela Sánchez-Chavarría Hellen Solís-Hernández Gloriana Chaverri |
| author_sort | Silvia Chaves-Ramírez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Regular nylon or polyester mist nets used for capturing bats have several drawbacks, particularly that they are inefficient at sampling insectivorous species. One possible alternative is to use monofilament nets, whose netting is made of single strands of yarn instead of several as regular nets, making them less detectable. To date, only one study has quantified the differences in capture rates between monofilament and regular mist nets for the study of bats, yet surprisingly, its findings suggest that the latter are more efficient than the former. Here, we provide further evidence of the differences in sampling efficiency between these two nets. We captured 90 individuals and 14 species in regular nets and 125 individuals and 20 species in monofilament nets. The use of monofilament nets increased overall capture rates, particularly for insectivorous species. Species accumulation curves indicate that samples based on regular nets are significantly underestimating species diversity, most notably as these nets fail at sampling rare species. We show that incorporating monofilament nets into bat studies offers an opportunity to expand records of different guilds and rare bat species and to improve our understanding of poorly known bat assemblages while using a popular, relatively cheap and portable sampling method. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T16:50:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f29b74df72e1484b88906bf341955689 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T16:50:56Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-f29b74df72e1484b88906bf3419556892022-12-21T22:54:03ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032021-12-0181210.1098/rsos.211404Comparing the efficiency of monofilament and regular nets for capturing batsSilvia Chaves-Ramírez0Christian Castillo-Salazar1Mariela Sánchez-Chavarría2Hellen Solís-Hernández3Gloriana Chaverri4Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, Costa RicaEscuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, Costa RicaSede del Sur, Universidad de Costa Rica, Golfito, Costa RicaSede del Sur, Universidad de Costa Rica, Golfito, Costa RicaSede del Sur, Universidad de Costa Rica, Golfito, Costa RicaRegular nylon or polyester mist nets used for capturing bats have several drawbacks, particularly that they are inefficient at sampling insectivorous species. One possible alternative is to use monofilament nets, whose netting is made of single strands of yarn instead of several as regular nets, making them less detectable. To date, only one study has quantified the differences in capture rates between monofilament and regular mist nets for the study of bats, yet surprisingly, its findings suggest that the latter are more efficient than the former. Here, we provide further evidence of the differences in sampling efficiency between these two nets. We captured 90 individuals and 14 species in regular nets and 125 individuals and 20 species in monofilament nets. The use of monofilament nets increased overall capture rates, particularly for insectivorous species. Species accumulation curves indicate that samples based on regular nets are significantly underestimating species diversity, most notably as these nets fail at sampling rare species. We show that incorporating monofilament nets into bat studies offers an opportunity to expand records of different guilds and rare bat species and to improve our understanding of poorly known bat assemblages while using a popular, relatively cheap and portable sampling method.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211404batsChiropteraCosta Ricamist nets |
| spellingShingle | Silvia Chaves-Ramírez Christian Castillo-Salazar Mariela Sánchez-Chavarría Hellen Solís-Hernández Gloriana Chaverri Comparing the efficiency of monofilament and regular nets for capturing bats Royal Society Open Science bats Chiroptera Costa Rica mist nets |
| title | Comparing the efficiency of monofilament and regular nets for capturing bats |
| title_full | Comparing the efficiency of monofilament and regular nets for capturing bats |
| title_fullStr | Comparing the efficiency of monofilament and regular nets for capturing bats |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparing the efficiency of monofilament and regular nets for capturing bats |
| title_short | Comparing the efficiency of monofilament and regular nets for capturing bats |
| title_sort | comparing the efficiency of monofilament and regular nets for capturing bats |
| topic | bats Chiroptera Costa Rica mist nets |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211404 |
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