Bat Research
Research on bats at Point Reyes has centered around two main projects. One has been an ecological study of Townsend's big-eared bat, and another is an inventory of bats that occur at Point Reyes.
Townsend's big-eared bat is a rare bat that has become much less common in the last 25 years. In 1987, a small maternity colony was found in an abandoned building at Point Reyes. Subsequently, Point Reyes National Seashore protected this colony from disturbance, and the population of rare bats increased from about 75 to 200. USGS has monitored the bat colony since its discovery, and has conducted additional research on the foraging habits of these bats.
As shown by the discovery of Townsend's big-eared bat, there can be rare and endangered species living within a protected area without the knowledge of the land managers. Hence, an inventory of bats is underway to determine what species occur within Point Reyes NS and to evaluate seasonal activity and habitat preference. This work has been accomplished with a combination of capturing bats at night (using harp traps and mist nets), and acoustic monitoring of bat vocalizations at a series of monitoring stations. Acoustic monitoring uses sophisticated electronic equipment that records ultrasonic vocalizations, and stores them in a format that can be transferred to a computer. Software is being developed that will allow a computer program to scan through the thousands of files and provide summaries of the species of bats that were in the area. This pioneering technique is also being deployed at other National Park areas in the region
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