A new program is being launched by 31 states and 10 Canadian provinces in the hopes of understanding bats better, especially now that they are threatened by a lot of problems such as climate change, wind energy development, destruction of their natural habitat, and diseases like white-nose syndrome (WNS).
Despite the importance of bats in the environment and ecology, there are no government programs present in the country that could help in the monitoring and tracking of bat populations. However, a new program called the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), aims to provide bat population monitoring and provide knowledge to policy makers on bat population to effectively track trends in their population.
This method could reduce the risk of population extinction and it could help monitor if there are population declines. Its program involves using acoustic surveys to detect high-pitched frequencies produced by flying bats as they navigate in the dark.
The development of this program was impelled by the death of nearly six million bats since 2007 in North America. The culprit was determined and a disease called white-nose syndrome caused by the fungi Pseudogymnoascus destructans was blamed. It is a new disease affecting bats and no treatment has been determined yet.
The pathogen infects the bat's wings, making it unable to fly to hunt for food. It could also cause too much discomfort during hibernation that they wake up to go out during winter. These events could potentially kill the bats.
Researchers led by Susan Loeb from the Southern Research Sation and research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service based in Clemson, South Carolina, aim to design a 'statistically robust and logistically feasible' way conduct bat population monitoring and upgrade their existing Bat Population Data (BDP).
However, their plan is dependent on acoustic monitoring through mobile monitoring sites and stationary sites that detect bats even at night.
"Most of our bats are very small, they fly at night, and they're very difficult to study. In the last 10, 20 years, we're getting better and better technology that allows us to learn about bats," said Susan Loeb.
In the past, they tried using monitors in moving vehicles just to catch acoustic sounds from bats. Now, they already have devices hooked in their smartphones and scientists are planning to develop a software that can detect the specific species of bats by just hearing the sound they make.
Bats are important in the environment because they eat thousands of insects in the night like mosquitoes that carry diseases and those who destroy crops. They also help pollinate plants, trees and spread seeds throughout the forest.
