Final Ruling on Endangered Classification of the Northern Long-eared Bat Announced
On November 29, 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the publication of a final rule to reclassify the northern long-eared bat as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Based on a thorough review of the species’ status, they found the species, currently listed as threatened, now meets the definition of endangered under the act due to the range-wide impacts of white-nose syndrome. Their assessment found that white-nose syndrome has spread to nearly 80% of the species’ range and almost all of the U.S. range since the bat was listed as threatened in 2015. The rule becomes effective on January 30, 2023. The change in the status of the northern long-eared bat comes after an in-depth review of the species found that the bat continues to decline and now meets the definition of endangered under the ESA. The ESA defines endangered species as those that are currently in danger of extinction, while threatened species are defined as likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. See the full announcement here.
Public Input Sought: USFWS Proposal on Florida Bonneted Bat Critical Habitat
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is proposing to designate approximately 1.2 million acres of critical habitat for the Florida bonneted bat across 13 central and south Florida counties. The species was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2013 and following substantial public comment on the initial critical habitat proposal, USFWS decided to repropose critical habitat rather than finalize the proposal in 2020. The revised proposal reduces critical habitat by 21 percent from the 2020 proposal while still addressing the Florida bonneted bat’s conservation needs. Florida bonneted bats are large, non-migratory, tropical bats, endemic to central and south Florida. The proposed designation overlaps 89% of existing conservation lands. Designating critical habitat under the ESA does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve or other conservation area, nor does it allow the government or public to access private lands. Additionally, it would not affect private landowners unless they implement an action involving federal funds, permits, or activities. The public may comment on the proposal until Jan. 23, 2023, by going to www.regulations.gov and searching under docket number FWS-R4-ES-2019-0106. The proposal was published to the Federal Register Nov. 22, 2022. View the news release and Frequently Asked Questions.
NABat Photo Contest 2022 Winners
The votes are in! We had 136 users cast their ballot for a favorite bat photo. Winners for each category are as follows:
Surveys: Ivan Yates Acoustic Equipment Showcase: Melissa McGaw Bats: Hayden Hutcherson
Call for Abstracts: Central Mountains and Plains Section of The Wildlife Society
The Central Mountains and Plains Section (CMPS) of The Wildlife Society will have its joint annual meeting Wednesday March 8th - Friday March 10th in Grand Junction, Colorado along with the Colorado and Utah chapters of TWS. The theme is "Tails and Trails." Abstract submissions are due February 1, 2023. See the call for abstracts here and more information about the meeting here.
Call for Submissions: International Association for Society and Natural Resources 2023 Conference
The International Association for Society and Natural Resources (IASNR) 2023 conference will be June 11-15th in Portland, Maine. This year's theme is “Bridging the Gap between Research & Practice – Communicating & Collaborating with Practitioners” and the organizers are striving to emphasize applied research and the perspectives of “real world” resource managers and NGO representatives in their conference. Abstract submissions are due February 1, 2023. Read about the conference and submit your abstract here.
Public Input Sought: BOEM Clarifying Wind Lessee Requirements
BOEM is seeking public comments at the following three sites: 1. on two proposed guidelines that clarify the requirements that offshore wind lessees must include in Construction and Operation Plans (due 12 December 2022), 2. on proposed Wind Energy Areas in the Central Atlantic (due 16 December 2022), and 3. on the draft environmental analysis for the Empire Wind Project off New York (due 17 January 2023).
Funding Opportunity: WETO Release $28 Million to Address Wind Energy Deployment Challenges
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) today released a $28 million funding opportunity to lower costs and address barriers to deployment of wind energy in all its applications—offshore, land-based, and distributed. Funding includes $8 million for applications to improve technologies that help bats avoid wind turbines as the industry works to minimize impacts to local wildlife and ecosystems. Funding in this topic area will support bat behavioral research, technology development, and field testing to advance bat deterrent technologies. Learn more about the opportunity here. Applicants must submit a concept paper by 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 20, 2023, to be eligible to submit a full application.
January CoP Call
Stay tuned for information about CoP calls in the new year.
If you want to be added to the distribution list for NABat CoP calls, please reach out to Bethany Straw.
Gaussian process forecasts Pseudogymnoascus destructans will cover coterminous United States by 2030 Development of a multi-year white-nose syndrome mitigation strategy using antifungal volatile organic compounds Modeling the power of acoustic monitoring to predict bat fatalities at wind turbines Case study: upland ponds provide on-site mitigation for bat habitat along American electric power's 765-kV powerline ROW in the Appalachian Mountains, USA Drone-mounted audio-visual deterrence of bats: implications for reducing aerial wildlife mortality by wind turbines The presence of wind turbines repels bats in boreal forests Effect of artificial light on activity in frugivorous bats (Pteropodidae) Influence of underground mining with explosives on a hibernating bat population Signal useful information recovery by overlapping supports of time-frequency representations A new method employing species-specific thresholding identifies acoustically overlapping bats NEAL: an open-source tool for audio annotation An artificial neural network explains how bats might use vision for navigation Machine learning methods for reconstructing the acoustic fields of bat biosonar Why use the finite difference time domain method for studying echolocation bats? Foliage-roosting eastern red bats select for features associated with management in a central hardwood forest Maternity colony social structure of Myotis in British Columbia, Canada Tricolored bats at a southern range edge exhibit partial migration northward in autumn Drone exploration of bat echolocation: a UAV-borne multimicrophone array to study bat echolocation The soundscape of swarming: proof of concept for a noninvasive acoustic species identification of swarming Myotis bats Bats in the city: exploring practices of citizen bat conservation through the lens of becoming-with animal Single night surveys of moth communities can serve as ultra-rapid biodiversity assessments Inter-individual communication in bats via echolocation Mutual mother-pup acoustic identification in Asian particolored bats Oscillatory discharges in the auditory midbrain of the big brown bat contribute to coding of echo delay
Tarleton State University: Associate Professor/Professor & Associate Dean and Director
The College of Science and Mathematics at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, invites qualified applicants to apply for a full-time (10.5-month), tenure-track position at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor to serve as the Associate Dean and Director of the Timberlake Biological Field Station.
EnviroScience, Inc.: Bat Ecologist
EnviroScience is looking to hire a full time, bat ecologist to support their growing natural resources division. The position is to be based out of the EnviroScience offices; however, there is a possibility for this to be a remote position based on location.
Merjent, Inc.: Bat Biologist
Bat Biologist/Project Manager will work independently and/or as part of a team conducting and overseeing ecological surveys and reporting in support of utility, transportation, and development projects primarily throughout the United States.
Copperhead Environmental Consulting: Biologist (x2)
Copperhead Environmental Consulting seeks to hire full-time biologists at its Nashville, TN and Paint Lick, KY locations. The consultant will survey a wide range of taxa, including bats.
December's Featured Resource: Species' Range Maps are Now Available as a Spatial Filter in the Partner Portal
We've beefed up the Partner Portal's spatial filter! All species now have multiple range maps, from sources including the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the National Atlas of the U.S., Fish and Wildlife Service, and NatureServe. Try out these new filters and compare range maps from multiple sources; honing your project's species lists is just one way to take advantage of these new tools.
Use the species' scientific name or 4-letter codes to call in the range maps, and don't forget to hit 'Apply'!
