[ad_1]
Six years of recording and analyzing the sounds made by bats in PEI National Park revealed more biodiversity in the park than previously suspected.
The park first installed acoustic detectors, which record the echolocation calls that bats use to hunt for food, in 2015 and has continued every year since. This year, officials spotted eastern red bats on recordings.
“Finding a new species is exciting, and just knowing that there is another bat species on Prince Edward Island really increases our knowledge of biodiversity,” said Kim Gamble, a resource management officer at Parks Canada. Island morning guest Mitch Cormier.
Parks Canada is analyzing the calls with help from the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, and their detection capabilities have improved since they started in 2015. Having spotted the red bat this year, they went back and listened to tapes from previous years and they listened to the red bat there as well, confirming that this year’s seasonal visitors weren’t a unique presence.
Gamble said it’s possible they may be listening to other species on the tapes they haven’t yet identified.
“There are also a couple of other species where their calls overlap a bit more and there’s less certainty about what those species are,” he said.
“But with the eastern red bat it is quite distinct from other species that we can tell, through acoustic detection, that it is actually the eastern red bat.”
No sightings of the red bat have been confirmed yet, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been seen. With bats flying at night it is nearly impossible to tell them apart unless they are caught.
Bats that kill the disease
The population of small brown bats on the island has been decimated by white nose syndrome.
Red bats can carry the fungus that causes the disease, Gamble said, but there is no evidence that the population is affected. Because red bats perch alone on trees, the fungus has less chance of spreading than small brown bats, which can perch together in colonies of thousands.
Spotting any bats is important on the island right now, Gamble said. People who see the bats should let the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative know, he said.
More from CBC PEI
Source link
