Tracking Townsend’s Big-Eared Bats at Great Basin: 204 Captures and a New Cave Roost

The Townsend’s big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii) roosts in caves and mines in and around Great Basin National Park in Nevada. In summer 2018, the park’s bat crew teamed up with researchers from Christopher Newport University and the Nevada Department of Wildlife to learn more about them.

Studying a Townsend’s big-eared bat; more than 200 were captured in the 2018 season. Image from NPS’s page.

Where they trapped

Most trapping took place at known big-eared bat roosts in and around the park, with some at other spots such as foraging areas. Earlier that summer, the university’s radio-telemetry project — following bats fitted with transmitters — had led to a new cave and roost in Spring Valley, which the crew added to its trapping sites.

The season’s numbers

The passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags let researchers follow the bats’ movements in and around the park, using tag readers placed at several caves and mines. The university team collected the wing and hair samples for master’s and PhD research. Every bat was released after it was studied.

A Townsend’s big-eared bat just before its release. Image from NPS’s page.

Why it matters

Together, the data will help build a picture of bat ecology at several scales and support management plans against threats to bats such as white-nose syndrome.

Sources

Based on "Townsend’s Big-Eared Bat Research," by Kelsey Eckholm, biological science technician, Great Basin National Park, first published in The Midden (Vol. 18, No. 2, Winter 2018), National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.