NULL 204 4611.5 Habitat 2 912.56 202 3699.00 0 Call type 2 470.53 200 3228.50 0 Date 1 146.84 199 3081.60 0 Habitat:Call type 4 203.7 195 2877.90 0 Call type:Date 2 157.05 193 2720.90 0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Pre di ct ed N umbe r of C al ls
Figure 2.6. A matrix of graphs displaying how the log-transformed number of calls changes over time for each call type in each
habitat. Gray shaded areas represent 95% confidence intervals. Edge
Interior Riparian
Discussion
All habitats were significantly different from each other in call types present, lending support to my hypothesis that different social calls are correlated with different habitats. Furthermore, call numbers and call type distributions changed with season.
As the season progressed, the number of echolocation calls decreased. In contrast, cheep and QCF calls increased with time. This increase in cheep calls, used in mother-infant
interactions, is to be expected because as more offspring are born, the number of calls between female and offspring increase. Cheep calls increased in edge and interior habitats. This is consistent with Indiana bat ecology; Indiana bats use two types of roost sites, primary and alternate roosts (Callahan et al., 1997). Primary roosts are used more commonly and are located in standing dead trees exposed to direct sunlight like those in edge habitats (Callahan et al., 1997). Alternate roosts, used less frequently, include both living and dead trees that typically were located within the shaded forest interior (Callahan et al., 1997). My results indicate that Indiana bats are utilizing primary roost sites in the edge habitats of the WSU woods. Alternate roost sites in the interior are also be present, but in fewer numbers, denoted by the smaller number of isolation calls.
The increase in QCF calls throughout the season could be due to several different factors. The most likely explanation is maternal aggression; females become more aggressive when they have offspring and are nursing. Maternal aggression has been well documented in many mammal
QCF calls were most common when bats were leaving the roost, which would suggest that with an increased number of bats at the roosting site, QCF calls increase.
The decrease in echolocation calls throughout the season was an unusual result. Typically, the number of echolocation calls increases throughout the season, as more bats are foraging. However, as juvenile bats mature and begin to forage, female bats will leave the roost for longer periods of time and forage farther away (Humphrey et al., 1977). The decrease in echolocation calls could be explained by this; female Indiana bats are foraging outside of the WSU woods later in the season.
I was unable to test the hypothesis that distress calls were more frequent in edge habitats because no classifiable distress calls were recorded.
To increase the efficacy of social acoustic analysis, future studies need to identify vocal repertoires for more bat species, as well as record more calls of species with known repertoires to create more accurate ranges of calls. I suggest sampling established bat populations to maximize call recordings.
The presence of cheep calls indicates maternal roost sites in the WSU woods. Future research should focus on locating roost sites by conducting nightly emergence surveys. As of December 2016, WSU has a 15-acre easement on old growth forest in the woods (Hannah, 2017). Development of areas of the woods to create student housing is included in the WSU Strategic Plan. Roost site location along with the results presented here will aide in obtaining an extended conservation easement to prevent such development of the WSU woods.
My aim for this study was to create an acoustical approach to analyze habitat use through bat social calls. With continuing decline in bat populations due to numerous threats, it is critical
data. I wanted to minimize harmful effects of invasive sampling methods while maximizing the amount of ecologically valuable information obtained from acoustics. This study provides the first acoustic social analysis of Indiana bats, and also corroborates habitat use results from previous studies. The results presented here confirm that social calls are a useful tool to analyze habitat usage, not only of Indiana bats, but also of other bat species for which social and social repertoires are available. This knowledge can be used to implement better management practices for conservation of bats.
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