Jonathan Huether
Jonathan Huether |
| Jonathan Huether
Department of Biology Funded by: US Fish and Wildlife Service Guidelines are established annually by the USFWS for survey methods of endangered species of bats. The guidelines stipulate ambient conditions that are suitable for conducting summer mist net surveys, including temperature, wind speed, sky cover, and precipitation. Several studies have documented significant effects of lunar cycles on the activity of bat species; however, impacts of moonlight have not been formally investigated in relation to summer bat survey data. We investigated relationships between bat captures per survey night, ambient conditions (temperature, sky cover, wind speed), and lunar phase and illumination. We tested the null hypothesis that bat activity is not affected by moonlight. We calculated nightly capture rate of five bat species utilizing KY summer survey data for 2005-2012, from the USFWS. Regression analysis showed ambient temperature was positively associated with the capture rate of each species. Hours of moonlight or lunar illumination were only a significant variable for capture rate of a single species. When the number of bats captured was analyzed in relation to moon phase, a significant lunar effect was associated with each species except Myotis lucifugus. Eptesicus fuscus, M. septentrionalis, and Lasiurus borealis exhibited “lunar phobia”, with significantly fewer captures during a full moon than expected. Our results indicated that moon phase, but not illumination, may significantly impact survey results for a number of KY bat species. Date Modified August 21, 2014 |