|
|
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Summary Report |
Alaska Bat Monitoring Project
Thank you for participating in the Alaska Bat Monitoring Program from 2002-2008! Your efforts are making a difference! Until now, we have had very little information on the distribution of the little brown bat in Alaska, or the habitats they use. But the information that you and other Citizen Science volunteers contributed last year has added considerably to our understanding of how bats are distributed across the state, and which types of habitats they are most closely associated with. Your data provides the first real baseline we have had for this species, against which we can measure future changes in occupancy. This baseline is also the invaluable starting point for directed research efforts on topics such as: Where do our bats spend the winter? Do our bats migrate, and if so, where do they go? Do individuals return to the same locations year after year? Have bats followed human development into interior Alaska, or have they been here all along?
SURVEY RESULTS 2002 – 2008:
One of the most exciting results to date is that volunteers have documented the first two large maternity colonies discovered in interior Alaska! They have also documented twelve other likely maternity colonies in Southcentral Alaska. We are following these locations to determine if the bats overwinter at their summer roosting sites, or leave for unknown locations over the winter. We are also interested in documenting their arrival and departure dates.
Over 100 bat reports have been submitted! Since the start of the Alaska Bat Monitoring Program, Citizen Scientist observations have led to the expansion of the little brown bat’s documented range. Until now, their range was estimated from only a few dozen museum specimens. The over 100 new bat locations have expanded their known range to include St. Michael, White Mountain, and the Semidi Islands. We have also been able to identify the first observations of apparent migratory flocks of bats.
| WHERE YOU HAVE REPORTED BATS: | WHEN YOU HAVE REPORTED BATS: |
Locations: • Furthest Location North: North Pole • Furthest Location South: Semidi Islands • Furthest Location East: Douglas • Furthest Location West: White Mountain Elevation: |
You have reported seeing bats during six months of the year: • May- 9 observations reported • June - 10 observations • July- 17 observations • August- 27 observations • September- 17 observations • November- 1 observation • 22- observations were recorded as Spring, Summer, and/or Fall • 9-observations had no month or day recorded |
With each successive year we hope to expand our data to include additional areas where bats have been sighted. Eventually, with the help of volunteers such as yourselves, we may be able to observe trends in Alaska’s bat populations from year to year, and begin unraveling some of the mysteries about these most northern of bats.
PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR 2009:
We have already received over 30 bat reports from 2009, and they are still coming in! One observation was from Bulchitna Lake (a new bat location), two locations may be new maternity roosts, and there was a second observation of a bat in a folded umbrella! When the bats are gone for the season the reports from 2009 will be entered into our statewide data base.
Marian Snively – Project Coordinator |
OR |
David Tessler |
Thank you for your participation in our project!!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |