BAT RESEARCH NEWS Volume 45: Numbers 1–4 2004 Original Issues Compiled by the Publishers and Managing Editors of Bat Research News: Dr. G. Roy Horst, Spring 2004, and Dr. Margaret A. Griffiths, Summer– Winter 2004. Copyright 2004 Bat Research News. All rights reserved. This material is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced, transmitted, posted on a Web site or a listserve, or disseminated in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the Publisher, Dr. Margaret A. Griffiths. The material is for individual use only. Bat Research News is ISSN # 0005-6227. BAT RESEARCH NEWS Table of Contents for Volume 45, 2004 Volume 45: Number 1, Spring 2004 i Volume 45: Number 2, Summer 2004 ii Volume 45: Number 3, Fall 2004 iii Volume 45: Number 4, Winter 2004 iv BAT RESEARCH NEWS VOLUME 45: No. 1 SPRING 2004 Table of Contents Table of Contents . 1 Farewell from the Editor G. Roy Horst . 2 The Automated Ultrasound Recorder: A Broadband System for Remotely Recording Bat Activity in the Field Patrick J. R. Fitzsimons, David A. Hill, and Frank Greenaway . 3 Predation on a Rafinesque’s Big-eared Bat in South Carolina Frances M. Bennett, Amy S. Roe, Anna H. Birrenkott, Adam C. Ryan, and William W. Bowerman . 6 New Record of Two Species of Myotis from Distrito Federal, Mexico Francisco Navarro-Frias, Noe González-Ruiz, and Sergio Ticul Alvarez-Casteñada . 7 A Novel Maternity Roost of Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus) Erin Winterhalter . 9 Body Piercing as a Method of Marking Captive Bats Susan M. Barnard and Daniel Abram . 11 Automated Log-ratio Analysis of Compositional Data: Software Suited to Analysis of Habitat Preferences from Radiotracking Data Peter G. Smith .. 16 Recent Literature Compiled by Margaret A. Griffiths . 17 A Memorial to Donald Griffin James A. Simmons . 28 Future Meetings Compiled by G. Roy Horst . 31 Front Cover Illustration Dick Wilkins of Bat Rescue, Poway, CA provided this wonderful photo of a Nyctinomops femorosaccus. This female bat was recovered from a local lake clinging to the side of a aluminum rental boat. After several weeks of rest and recovery it was flown on a zipline, echolocation sounds were recorded and the bat was released back at the lake. 1 2 Bat Research News Volume 45 : No. 1 Farewell from the Editor Dear Subscribers to Bat Research News, In the last issue of Bat Research News I announced that this issue would be my last as Editor and Publisher. What began as a temporary commitment in 1977 grew into a five year assignment, followed by several more “five year commitments” and now 27 years later it is time to retire, (it may even be past time). During all those years I have had the able assistance of many dedicated individuals. Dr. Brock Fenton, then of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada was my Associate Editor from 1977 to 1982. He was succeeded by Dr. Kunwar Bhatnagar of The University Louisville, in Louisville, Kentucky who served as Associate Editor until 1987. Dr. Thomas Griffiths at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois then became my able associate and assumed the role of Editor for Recent Literature until he was succeeded in 2003 by Dr. Margaret Griffiths, also of Illinois Wesleyan University, as Editor for Recent Literature. Margaret will become Editor and Publisher of Bat Research News on June 1, 2004 in time for the publication of Volume 45: No. 2 (Summer 2004). Dr. Allen Kurta of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan will continue in his role as Editor for Feature Articles and Patricia Morton of Texas Parks and Wildlife in Austin, Texas will continue as Editor for Education and Conservation. Dr. Margaret Griffiths is also the Director of the Annual North American Symposium on Bat Research and as director of the symposium and editor of the journal she will most assuredly play a major role in chiropteran affairs in the future. You will undoubtedly see a marked improvement in the quality of the journal as she assumes responsibility for all aspects of its production. I owe a special debt of gratitude to all of the individuals mentioned above. They have served with enthusiasm, good grace and great patience as they assisted in getting Bat Research News to you. I also wish to thank Robert Stebbings and his staff at Stebbings Consultancy in Peterborough, England, Peter Lina in Leiden, Holland, Uwe Schmidt in Bonn, Germany and Michael Augee in Kingsford, NSW, Australia for their invaluable assistance in distributing Bat Research News to our foreign subscribers. During these years, 27 volumes have appeared, totaling just over 80 separate issues with 2,500 printed pages. This amounted to approximately 35,000 copies to the U.S.A. and 40 foreign countries. The entire opus weighed over six tons. I certainly could not have done this without the eager assistance of literally dozens of my students who have helped with typing, sorting pages, stuffing envelopes, licking labels, sending out invoices, and helping to lug cartons of copies to the post office every couple of months for nearly three decades. And thank you, Ruth, for your patience and support. I could not have, nor would have, done it without you, and now you will have all my attention, full time! Thank you all for allowing me this opportunity to be involved with you and your interesting and fascinating work with bats and their biology. Good luck to all of you, and especially to you Marge! All the best, G. Roy Horst, Managing Editor and Publisher , retired. Spring 2004 Bat Research News 3 The Automated Ultrasound Recorder: A Broadband System for Remotely Recording Bat Activity in the Field Patrick J. R. Fitzsimons1, David A. Hill1, and Frank Greenaway2 1School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, United Kingdom and 2Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom Patterns of habitat-use by microchiropteran bats can be difficult to monitor. Visual observation is of little use with animals that are small-bodied, fast-moving, and active largely at night. Bats can be caught in mist nets or harp traps to confirm which species are present at a site, but some species are caught more easily than others. Capture is also disruptive and, therefore, likely to influence the patterns of habitat-use being studied. An alternative method is to record ultrasonic vocalizations and use them as a measure of activity. This method has become widely adopted in bat surveys. Using Hand-held Detectors One method of estimating bat activity in relation to habitat type is for fieldworkers with hand- held detectors to travel along transects. While this approach has been successful (e.g., Vaughan et al., 1997a; Glendell and Vaughan, 2002; Russo and Jones, 2003), it is labor intensive, because each fieldworker can record data at only one location at any one time. There is also a tendency for data collection to focus on particular times of year and times of day, when activity levels are likely to be high. It is common practice, for example, to sample only during the first few hours after dusk (e.g. Vaughan et al., 1996; Warren et al., 2000; Glendell and Vaughan, 2002; Russo and Jones, 2003). Results may be misleading if patterns of habitat-use vary through the night. Surveys also tend to use accessible routes, such as rides or pathways, which may result in an underestimate of bat activity in less accessible areas. Another potential problem with surveys using hand-held detectors is that workers may unintentionally create disturbance that influences the bats' behavior. Walking transects often results in noise and may necessitate use of lights, and both of these actions could reduce bat activity. For example, Swift (2000) found that captive Myotis nattereri reacted to lights by retreating immediately to their roost box and staying there until the light was switched off. Similarly, Shirley et al. (2001) found that local disturbance caused M. daubentonii to emerge from their roost up to 47 min later than usual. Furthermore, effects of disturbance may not be equal in all habitats, because movement through more cluttered habitats, such as woodlands, likely creates more noise than movement across a glade. Remote-detection Devices An alternative to hand-held detector surveys is to use devices that remotely record ultrasound. This allows all-night recording, is less labor intensive, and can be used to monitor activity in habitats that would be difficult or dangerous to move through at night. Very simple and effective automated devices can be built around heterodyne bat detectors (O’Donnell and Sedgeley, 1994). These are suitable when an overall measure of bat activity is all that is required (e.g., Park et al., 1999; Zbinden, 1995) or in habitats where the few species present can be readily distinguished with a heterodyne detector (O’Donnell and Sedgeley, 1994). Such systems are of limited value, however, with more complex communities, especially if there is a need to separate species or species groups. One alternative is a system based on a frequency-division detector, such as the Anabat (Titley Electronics, PO Box 19, Ballina, NSW 2478, Australia). The Anabat uses associated zero- crossing software to extract frequency-versus-time data and can be automated to operate remotely. It has been widely used in studies of bats in Australia and the Americas (e.g., Hayes, 1997; Humes et al., 1999; Ochoa et al., 2000; O’Farrell et al., 2000). Frequency division retains some characteristics of the call but loses others. It is most suitable for studying communities of bats in which calls of each species are well known and readily distinguishable from those of other 4 Bat Research News Volume 45: No.