SM4BAT在溫帶沿海環境中蝙蝠活動模式與時間及天氣效應的關系中的應用

Abstract

The northeastern and mid-Atlantic coasts of the United States are important summer maternity habitat and seasonal migratory corridors for many species of bats. Additionally, the effects of weather on bat activity are relatively unknown beyond coarse nightly scales. Using acoustic detectors, we assessed nightly and hourly activity patterns for eight species of bats over 21 consecutive months at Fire Island National Seashore, New York. The site is an important bat conservation area because it hosts one of the few confirmed northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) maternity colonies in the region despite their widespread extirpation due to white- nose syndrome (WNS). There have been no reported captures of little brown bats (M. lucifugus), Indiana bats (M. sodalis), or tri-colored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) at the site post-WNS. Overall, we found mean hourly temperature, time since sunset, day of year, and year to be the most important predictors of bat activity levels for all examined species. Most non-hibernating, migratory species in our study demonstrated a positive relationship to mean temperature at the hourly timescale, whereas cave-hibernating bats tended to show a negative relationship to mean temperature during the time of year when they are expected to be active. Although most bat activity occurred in the late spring through early autumn, peaking in summer, some activity occurred periodically in the winter months, mostly attributable to the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) and silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivigans) phonic group. Unexpectedly, relationships of bat activity to wind and precipitation were largely equivocal. Initial presence (as early as March 30) and departure (between November 1–4) for northern long-eared bats at our study area occurred earlier in the spring and later in the fall than occurs for inland populations, suggesting that the species overwinters on Long Island rather than at inland karst caves or mines. A peak in spring activity characteristic of migratory behavior in the central Appalachians and Atlantic Coast was not observed at Fire Island, although Eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis) and hoary bats (L.cinereus) – both migratory species – did show a notable rise in activity in the late summer and early fall, suggesting these populations may migrate to and from Fire Island. Understanding the temporal and weather relationships to bat activity in this coastal environment may have important implications for tailoring more effective conservation and management strategies by identifying optimal timing for surveys, tracking bats during peak migratory windows, and providing insights that minimizes impacts to extant bats from activities such as wind-energy development or land management, i.e., forestry.

摘要：

美國東北部和大西洋中部海岸是許多蝙蝠的重要夏季棲息地和季節性遷徙走廊。此外，除了粗略的夜間尺度外，天氣對蝙蝠活動的影響相對未知。我們使用聲學探測器，連續21個月評估了紐約火島國家海岸8種蝙蝠的夜間和每小時活動模式。該地點是一個重要的蝙蝠保護區，因為它是該地區為數不多的已確認的北方長耳蝙蝠（Myotis septentrionalis）母性棲息地之一，盡管它們因白鼻綜合征（WNS）而廣泛滅絕。WNS后，該地點沒有捕獲棕色小蝙蝠（M.lucifugus）、印第安納蝙蝠（M.sodalis）或三色蝙蝠（Perimyotis subflavus）的報告。總體而言，我們發現平均小時溫度、日落后的時間、一年中的哪一天和一年是所有受檢物種蝙蝠活動水平的最重要預測因素。在我們的研究中，大多數非冬眠的遷徙物種在每小時的時間尺度上與平均溫度呈正相關，而洞穴冬眠蝙蝠在一年中預計活動的時間段內往往與平均溫度呈負相關。雖然大多數蝙蝠活動發生在春末至初秋，在夏季達到頂峰，但有些活動會定期發生在冬季，主要歸因于大棕色蝙蝠（Eptesicus fuscus）和銀發蝙蝠（Lasionycteris noctivigans）的發音群。出乎意料的是，蝙蝠活動與風和降水的關系在很大程度上是模棱兩可的。北部長耳蝙蝠在我們研究區域的最初出現（早在3月30日）和離開（在11月1日至4日之間）發生在春季的早些時候和秋季的晚些時候，而不是內陸種群，這表明該物種在長島越冬，而不是在內陸巖溶洞穴或礦井越冬。這種沿海環境中蝙蝠活動的時間和天氣關系可能對制定更有效的保護和管理策略具有重要意義，通過確定調查的最佳時機，在遷徙高峰期跟蹤蝙蝠，并提供見解，最大限度地減少風能開發或土地管理（即林業）等活動對現存蝙蝠的影響。

關鍵詞：SM4BAT蝙蝠聲記錄器，Wildlife Acoustics，野生動物聲學監測，聲學記錄器，被動式聲學記錄器