NABat Stationary Records Now Surpass 100 Million!
NABat has just surpassed over 100,000,000 stationary acoustic records in the database! These data help inform integrated analyses and status and trend metrics like summer occupancy - where bats occur across the summer landscape and how this metric changes over time. Thank you to all that have contributed your stationary acoustic data through the years.
U.S. and Canada Meet for the Conservation of Protected Areas of Mexico
The state of Oaxaca recently hosted the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for Cooperation for the Conservation of Protected Areas of North America (NAPA), an organization that coordinates efforts on priority conservation issues. The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), through the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), which holds the presidency of the Committee, coordinated this meeting where leaders of the largest land and resource management agencies in North America, as well as specialists from different areas, exchanged experiences in order to promote the care of ecosystems.
White-nose Syndrome Research for Conservation Grants
The US Fish and Wildlife Service White-nose Syndrome Program is now accepting applications for White-nose Syndrome Research for Conservation Grants. The funding opportunity announcement is available here: www.Grants.gov, #F24AS00367
There are three main funding opportunity priorities:
Priority 1: Understand Pd invasion, WNS progression, and WNS impacts in western and southern regions of North America, with particular focus on Myotis spp., Perimyotis subflavus, Parastrellus hesperus.
WNS management decisions depend on a clear understanding of the distribution and abundance of Pd, interactions between Pd and susceptible species, severity of disease impacts to those species, and variation in susceptibility among individuals of a species. The USFWS seeks proposals in this category that substantially add to knowledge that can inform decisions about WNS management and treatment actions.
Priority 2: Characterize critical features of winter or summer roosts and habitat associated with important persisting, recovering, or at-risk populations of WNS-susceptible species in order to conserve, preserve, or enhance resources for these populations.
WNS-impacted species continue to be present across their ranges, although with notable differences associated with habitat types, locations, behavior, and other factors. The USFWS seeks proposals in this category that lead to information specifically needed to support bat conservation and management decisions.
Priority 3: Develop novel, biotechnological tools that remove or suppress Pdspathogenic properties, making it unable to cause severe disease. Of particular interest are projects that use a Pd-specific mycovirus, or other tools, to effect changes in genes or gene expression in Pd.
There are several tools available intended to reduce the abundance of Pd in hibernacula or the severity of WNS in bats. These involve repeated application or long-term commitments that may limit the scalability and long-term viability of such management actions. The USFWS seeks proposals in this category to produce original tools (i.e., novel mechanisms) or innovative applications for transformative management of Pd and WNS.
Important clarification on the application deadline:
Projects received by the initial deadline may be awarded, declined, or held to be evaluated again after the final deadline. Projects that are not awarded may be resubmitted while this funding opportunity remains open. No more than 75% of total available funds for this opportunity will be awarded prior to evaluation of all proposals received by the final deadline.
Initial deadline: 07/31/2024
Notification of decisions for proposals received by the initial deadline: 09/16/2024
Final deadline: 12/15/2024
Notification of decisions for proposals received by the final deadline: 02/15/2024
BOEM Finalizes Environmental Review of Potential Offshore Wind Lease Activities
The BOEM recently announced the availability of its final Environmental Assessment (EA), which considers possible impacts from issuing leases for potential offshore wind development off the Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia coasts, including site assessment and site characterization activities such as geophysical, geological, and archaeological surveys. The EA concluded that there would be no significant impacts from lease issuance. BOEM plans to hold a sale in the Central Atlantic later this year. A final sale notice (FSN) will be published at least 30 days prior to the sale, detailing the time and date of the lease sale and qualified participants.
Call for Abstracts: Wind Wildlife Research Meeting 2024
The Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute has extended the Call for Abstracts deadline for 15th Wind Wildlife Research Meeting (WWRM 2024) through 10 June 2024. WWRM will take place on 12-15 November 2024 in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA.
Community of Practice Calls
NABat Community of Practice Calls are on our annual summer hiatus. We will reconvene in September 2024.
If you want to be added to the distribution list for NABat CoP calls, you can sign up here.
Conferences
July 16-19, 2024: State of the Science on Offshore Wind Energy, Wildlife, and Fisheries, Long Island, New York, USA
September 8-11, 2024: Northeastern Transportation & Wildlife Conference, Mystic, Connecticut, USA
September 22-25, 2024: Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies Annual Meeting, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
October 23-26, 2024: Annual North American Symposium for Bat Research, Guadalajara, Jalisco, MX
Check out the NABat Events page for a complete list of training webinars, meeting links, and all other upcoming events!
Long-term exposure to an invasive fungal pathogen decreases Eptesicus fuscus body mass with increasing latitude
Wyoming Bat Hub Coordinator
The University of Wyoming is seeking a Wyoming Bat Hub Coordinator. The Wyoming Bat Hub Coordinator will be responsible for facilitating the transfer of an existing statewide NABat stationary acoustics project from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to coordination of NABat acoustics projects based in the Bernard Research Lab at the University of Wyoming. While working with existing collaborators, the Coordinator will maintain the current level of stationary acoustic monitoring, while working to develop monitoring in underrepresented areas as well asbuild efficiencies into the program. Partners in the project include state, regional, and federal biologists, university researchers, among others. The Coordinator will also work closely with undergraduate and graduate researchers within the Bernard Research Lab to develop analyses based on acoustic data, as well as based on information needs from various partners. This is a highly collaborative position, serving as the point of connection between multiple partners.
To learn more about this position, click here.
Associate, Environmental Compliance and Strategy (Bat Focus)
Invenergy is seeking an Associate, Environmental Compliance and Strategy (ECS). Your role will involve supporting the responsible development, construction, and operation of utility-scale wind, solar, and transmission projects across the United States. To fulfill these duties, you will collaborate with internal project teams such as development, engineering, operations, and asset management as well as external stakeholders like environmental consultants, legal counsel, state/federal resource agencies, researchers, and conservation organizations. The ideal candidate will be an organized and collaborative self-starter with a keen attention to detail, with the ability to handle multiple projects at various stages. Your role will be essential in supporting environmentally responsible practices within Invenergy.
To learn more about this position, click here.
Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Technician
Bat Conservation International is seeking an abandoned mine lands technician. This position requires an experienced, highly motivated individual willing and able to conduct field work safely, efficiently, and professionally in a variety of environments on lands managed by the Gunnison Field Office, Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The successful candidate will perform important field survey work that benefits bats and other wildlife dependent on subterranean habitat, by conducting surface inventory of abandoned mine lands (AML) and monitoring of abandoned mine closures (i.e., bat-compatible gates). AML inventory and monitoring will occur in partnership with BLM land managers and will inform AML database development used to plan future wildlife surveys and habitat protection efforts. Additionally, this position may assist with project management duties including report writing, data and photo management, and other pre- and post-fieldwork tasks. On-the-job training will occur.
To learn more about this position, click here.
Research Scientist
The Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) is seeking candidates for a Research Scientist position for a project focused on improving automated software for bat echolocation call classification using the latest advances in machine learning. The project is a collaboration between ERDC-CERL, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Department of Defense partners.
To learn more about this position, click here.
Featured Resource: North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) Predicted Northern Long-eared Bat Occupancy Probabilities
U.S. Geological Survey staff with the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) completed a data release containing the results from the North American Bat Monitoring Program's (NABat) species distribution model (SDM) for the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis).
Predictions of northern long-eared bat occupancy probabilities from the species distribution model are available on Sciencebase. Associated data can be found here.
Featured Resource: Summer Roost Site Suitability Analyses of Four North American Bat Species in the Eastern United States
U.S. Geological Survey staff completed a data release containing the spatial raster outputs from analyses of summer roost site habitat for Myotis lucifugus, Myotis septentrionalis, Myotis sodalis, and Perimyotis subflavus.
Spatial raster outputs from summer roost site habitat analyses for Myotis lucifugus, Myotis septentrionalis, Myotis sodalis, and Perimyotis subflavus are available on Sciencebase. Associated data can be found here.
Still have questions? Users who need project guidance or assistance are encouraged to book an appointment or reach out to our Technical Monitoring team for consultation.
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