OutdoorNebraska

hirteen bat species can be found in Nebraska and are a huge benefit to our agricultural community. Bats eat well over their body weight in insects each night and save farmers and meat producers millions of dollars for agricultural pest control. Even deep in the Sandhills of Nebraska, bats can be found flying over the landscape and eating insects. Many of the bat species of North America have seen dramatic declines in recent years because of human activities and diseases caused by invasive fungi. There are two main threats facing bats today, wind turbines and white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans which was transmitted from Europe to the U.S. and first appeared in New York state in 2006. While wind turbines are a valuable renewable energy source, they kill an estimated 1 million bats each year, and WNS has killed approximately 6 million bats since it first started spreading across the country. WNS is a serious threat to cave dwelling bat species and has caused mortality rates of 90 to 100 percent in colonies that contract the disease. WNS was first discovered in Nebraska in the winter of 2015 and has been a large concern for the state since. In an effort to protect and conserve these fascinating mammals, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has teamed up with the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, School of Natural Resources to research the habitat usage and population of bats throughout the state. With the help of the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), a continental research effort to understand bat ecology, Nebraska was able to develop a framework for assessing bat populations while also contributing to a national database. Using this framework, graduate student Baxter Seguin has laid the foundation for long-term monitoring of bats throughout Nebraska. With the generosity and incredible support of private landowners, NE NABat has successfully completed two field seasons of data collection. In order to increase awareness, support, and involvement from the public, Nebraska Game and Parks and Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit acquired help from the Nebraska Master Naturalist Program. Through in-depth training and comprehensive lecture circuits, we were able to complete almost half of the sampling with the help of volunteers from the Master Naturalist Program. Utilizing the hard work from 14 volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, the Master Naturalist Program has been an essential component of unveiling NE NABat. Volunteers were able to gain hands on knowledge and experience about bat research and collect vital information and data about the habitat use and abundance of bats throughout Nebraska. With the continued support of Nebraska's landowners and the hard work and diligence of the Master Naturalist volunteers, we are very optimistic about the success of the project and the continued monitoring of bats across the state. The data collected throughout the course of this project will help the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission make educated decisions about bat conservation throughout the state and help protect these species for decades to come. ✔ Volunteer-driven Bat Research 4 Baxter H. Seguin, Graduate Student with the Nebraska Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit hirt Neb agricultur T Master Naturalists learning how to implement the North American Bat Monitoring Protocol. The aptly named Northern Long-eared Bat. PHOTO BY BAXTER SEQUIN PHOTO BY BAXTER SEQUIN

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