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Photography as a low-impact method to survey bats

Rydell, Jens LU and Russo, Danilo (2015) In Mammalian Biology 80(3). p.182-184
Abstract
Bats are mammals of chief conservation concern and also represent potentially powerful bio-indicators. Surveying bats is thus an important task but the approaches adopted may either be too invasive (capture) or prone to identification errors (acoustic methods). We here report on the use of a photographic trap to survey bat species richness we tested at two drinking sites in central Italy. The species richness we estimated was similar to that obtained by a previous mist-netting effort at the same sites. We also photographed species often overlooked in acoustic surveys due to their faint echolocation calls. From the photographs we could frequently identify sex, reproductive status, age class and individual marks. Given the relative... (More)
Bats are mammals of chief conservation concern and also represent potentially powerful bio-indicators. Surveying bats is thus an important task but the approaches adopted may either be too invasive (capture) or prone to identification errors (acoustic methods). We here report on the use of a photographic trap to survey bat species richness we tested at two drinking sites in central Italy. The species richness we estimated was similar to that obtained by a previous mist-netting effort at the same sites. We also photographed species often overlooked in acoustic surveys due to their faint echolocation calls. From the photographs we could frequently identify sex, reproductive status, age class and individual marks. Given the relative non-invasiveness of this approach, we strongly recommend it in lieu of capture at sensitive sites or to complement acoustic surveys in order to improve identification rates. (C) 2014 Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Saugetierkunde. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Bio-indicator, Camera trap, Diversity, Mist netting, Monitoring
in
Mammalian Biology
volume
80
issue
3
pages
182 - 184
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000356738900005
  • scopus:84930470799
ISSN
1616-5047
DOI
10.1016/j.mambio.2014.11.003
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2f141660-74ab-47df-9c1d-8e836930f832 (old id 7601823)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:37:41
date last changed
2022-04-27 23:48:49
@article{2f141660-74ab-47df-9c1d-8e836930f832,
  abstract     = {{Bats are mammals of chief conservation concern and also represent potentially powerful bio-indicators. Surveying bats is thus an important task but the approaches adopted may either be too invasive (capture) or prone to identification errors (acoustic methods). We here report on the use of a photographic trap to survey bat species richness we tested at two drinking sites in central Italy. The species richness we estimated was similar to that obtained by a previous mist-netting effort at the same sites. We also photographed species often overlooked in acoustic surveys due to their faint echolocation calls. From the photographs we could frequently identify sex, reproductive status, age class and individual marks. Given the relative non-invasiveness of this approach, we strongly recommend it in lieu of capture at sensitive sites or to complement acoustic surveys in order to improve identification rates. (C) 2014 Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Saugetierkunde. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Rydell, Jens and Russo, Danilo}},
  issn         = {{1616-5047}},
  keywords     = {{Bio-indicator; Camera trap; Diversity; Mist netting; Monitoring}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{182--184}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Mammalian Biology}},
  title        = {{Photography as a low-impact method to survey bats}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2014.11.003}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.mambio.2014.11.003}},
  volume       = {{80}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}