Date of Award
12-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Forestry and Environmental Conservation
Committee Member
David S. Jachowski, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Catherine M. Bodinof Jachowski
Committee Member
Yoichiro Kanno
Committee Member
Susan C. Loeb
Abstract
Bats are under threat from habitat loss, energy development, and the disease white-nose syndrome. The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) suggests standardized, large scale monitoring to benefit ecologists and managers. Our first objective was to determine the efficacy of NABat in South Carolina. Detection probabilities differ within and among species and among survey conditions. Thus, our second objective was to determine factors affecting detection probabilities. Finally, effective management strategies addressing large scale threats require landscape scale analyses. Thus, our third objective was to conduct state-wide assessments of environmental factors influencing landscape occupancy and generate predicted distributions. We conducted NABat acoustic surveys across South Carolina from mid-May through July 2015 and 2016. To determine the efficacy of NABat, we compared species detections to known distributions based on historical records, and to predicted distributions based on environmental occupancy models. We detected some species throughout their ranges and others in ≤ 50% of cells within their ranges, and detected some species outside their ranges. Thus, NABat monitoring may be suitable for many species but may not be suitable for species with echolocation calls that are difficult to detect or identify, and may also reveal new information about species distributions. To determine factors that affected detection, we evaluated support for detection models. We found that detection covariates greatly varied among species, but most species had higher detection probabilities at stationary points than mobile transects. Our results suggested that effects of factors on detection probabilities were based on biological and behavioral characteristics of species, which indicated the importance of monitoring survey variables and accounting for them in analyses. To assess effects of environmental factors on occupancy, we evaluated temporally dynamic occupancy models. Occupancy probability differed among ecoregions for northern yellow bats (Dasypterus intermedius) and Myotis species. Hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) were negatively associated with forest edge density. We found no significant effects of habitat conditions for five species. Thus, for some species, site-use analyses of NABat data may be more appropriate than grid-based occupancy analyses. However, predicted distributions closely matched species habitat associations. Our findings can improve future monitoring efforts and inform conservation priorities.
Recommended Citation
Neece, Benjamin D., "North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) in South Carolina: Acoustic Detection and Landscape Occupancy of Bats" (2017). All Theses. 2780.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/2780