Presenters/Co-Authors:

Brian Reichert, Ecologist, NABat Coordinator, U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center: breichert@usgs.gov

Abstract:

The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) is a multi-national, multi-agency coordinated bat monitoring program across North America. NABat seeks to address the historic lack of information on status and trends of North American Bats through coordinated, standardized, long-term data collection and integrated data analysis. Bat monitoring data contributed to the NABat database contribute to estimates of bat distributions and abundance and how these metrics are changing over time. This information fills critical knowledge gaps that support the management of bat populations in the face of multiple threats. Implementing NABat involves collecting, processing, transferring, preserving, sharing, and analyzing bat monitoring data. We will present the practical steps in the first five phases of this information pipeline with a focus on the tasks and activities a biologist may perform or coordinate when conducting bat monitoring at U.S. military installations. Specifically, we will highlight the tools, resources, and common infrastructure available to those participating in NABat, and how to access and use these assets to meet individual and shared objectives.