- NABat Coordination Team
November 2022 Newsletter
Go Vote: NABat Photo Contest Voting Underway
The NABat Photo Contest entries are in, and we need your help choosing the best bat photo!
Due to modest participation, winners from the Acoustic Equipment Setups and Surveys categories have been chosen by default. Winners will be announced in next month's newsletter!
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Notice of Funding, USFWS Grant: Research and Development of Biotechnological Tools for White-nose Syndrome
The USFWS has announced funding for research towards new, enduring solutions targeting WNS. Successful projects should clearly achieve progress toward management tools that are pathogen-specific, effective, scalable, and safe for native biota.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service anticipates up to $1.5 million of available funding under this grant opportunity, augmenting its growing slate of WNS-targeted funding that includes: WNS Grants to States and Tribes; WNS Research for Conservation Grants; and Bats for the Future Fund.
Click here to view the funding opportunity
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Notice of Intent: DOE Funding
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO), a funding opportunity announcement entitled “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law FOA to Address Key Deployment Challenges for Offshore, Land-Based, and Distributed Wind.”
It is anticipated that the upcoming FOA (DE-FOA-0002828) may include the following Topic Areas:
1. High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) for Offshore Wind
2. Advancing Deployment of Distributed Wind (ADD)
3. Wind Energy Social Science Research
4. Bat Deterrent Technology Development
Find the Notice of Intent here
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Qalipu First Nation Celebrates Four Years of NABat Monitoring
The Qalipu First Nation Environment and Natural Resources (QENR) team celebrates four years of using NABat protocols to monitor bat species throughout the Qalipu traditional territory, bolstering their terrestrial species at risk research and monitoring program. Through training and support provided by the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative and NABat's hub network, the QENR began monitoring bat populations in 2019 and now serves as a member on the Newfoundland and Labrador Bat Recovery Team. Qalipu First Nation represents approximately 24,000 registered members in Newfoundland and abroad and is made up of 67 traditional Mi'kmaq communities across Newfoundland.
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Call for Submissions: Siting and Environmental Compliance Conference 2023
American Clean Power is now accepting submissions for panel and poster presentation opportunities at the Siting and Environmental Compliance Conference 2023 through 2 December 2022. The conference will take place in Spring 2023.
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BOEM Designates Two Wind Energy Areas in Gulf of Mexico
As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced it has finalized two Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) in the Gulf of Mexico. The first WEA is located approximately 24 nautical miles (nm) off the coast of Galveston, TX, totals 508,265 acres and has the potential to power 2.1 million homes. The second WEA is located approximately 56 nm off the coast of Lake Charles, LA, totals 174,275 acres and has the potential to power over 740,000 homes. The next steps in BOEM’s renewable energy competitive leasing process include issuing a Proposed Sale Notice with a 60-day public comment period later this year or early next year.
Read the full announcement here.
We took November off for NABat CoP calls, but we're back at it for December!
Join us 7 December, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern to learn about NABat Working Groups. We’ll begin with a brief overview of purpose and operations of our four technical working groups (stationary acoustic, mobile acoustic, winter colony count, summer colony count). Representatives from each group will share information on membership, current goings-on, and upcoming goals and work plans for the next year (or more). Tune in if you want to peer beyond the veil of NABat's many working groups or learn how you can get involved!
Click here for more info and meeting links!
If you want to be added to the distribution list for NABat CoP calls, please reach out to Bethany Straw (bstraw@usgs.gov).
Bats reduce insect density and defoliation in temperate forests: An exclusion experiment
Learning to predict spatiotemporal movement dynamics from weather radar networks
Neural coding of 3D spatial location, orientation, and action selection in echolocating bats
Sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape
How different farming practices influence the activity of insectivorous Neotropical bats
Organic farming sustains bats in Mediterranean farmland
Sustainable pest control inspired by prey–predator ultrasound interactions
Emerging technologies revolutionise insect ecology and monitoring
Toronto Zoo: Acting Supervisor/Native Bat Conservation Program Coordinator
The Toronto Zoo’s bat team is currently seeking a new project lead to join the program. Duties will include coordinating conservation projects, field research, data analysis, and report writing. This position is also responsible for assisting and providing support in implementing the Strategic Plan. This is a 12-month position anticipated to start in mid-January.
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Boise State University: PhD Assistantship
The Barber Sensory Ecology Lab at Boise State University seeks a Ph.D. student to study the sensory ecology of bat-fire interactions. With funding from the USFS, we aim to accomplish a full BACI (before-after-control-impact) design in areas designated for some of the largest controlled burns ever done in the Western US. We will work in the Fishlake and Dixie National Forests in the mountains of central Utah in collaboration with the Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE), a multi-agency, interdisciplinary effort to understand fire and smoke behavior.
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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.
November's Featured Resource: Learn More About NABat's Data Quality and Control
Want more information about the automated warnings that sometimes appear when uploading data? Head on over to the Data QA/QC page on NABat's Resources site for details about interpreting and troubleshooting project data issues.
In Case You Missed It: Wind Energy Monitoring and Mitigation Technologies Tool Now Available
Working Together to Resolve Environmental Effects of Wind Energy (WREN) has launched a free online tool, the Wind Energy Monitoring and Mitigation Technologies Tool, to serve as a catalog of available technologies used to assess and reduce potential wind-wildlife effects, including their state of development and related research on their effectiveness.