Bats that hibernate throughout winter in the eastern united states are suffering from habitat loss and white-nose disease, caused by a fungus that is very good at killing bats

The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $292,721 Project Grant to Purdue University under the Endangered Species Recovery Implementation program (CFDA 15.657) to track the migratory behavior and winter activity of endangered bat species in Mammoth Cave National Park. The research will use the MOTUS wildlife tracking system to monitor the movement of Indiana bats, northern long-eared bats, and tricolored bats as they migrate and congregate at fall swarm sites. The project will also employ acoustic bat detectors to determine if bats are active outside of their hibernacula during the winter months. This data will help inform the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recovery efforts for these endangered bat species throughout the eastern United States. Purdue University has subcontracted a portion of the work to Ball State University to assist with the fieldwork and data collection.

Because of this, three BAT species are listed, or proposed for listing, as endangered on the endangered species act. These include the indiana BAT, the northern long-eared BAT, and the tricolored BAT. A good amount of information is known about how these species behave within the caves and mines that they hibernate in during the winter (hibernacula). However, relatively little is known about bats behavior before and after hibernation, as well as whether bats are active outside of hibernacula during the winter. Specifically, little is known about how bats move between and select fall swarm sites. These are sites where bats congregate in the fall to mate and fatten themselves up in preparation for hibernation. Similarly, little is known about how bats migrate between hibernacula and their summer ranges, where females give birth and raise young. Research into these topics will help inform the U.S. Fish and wildlife service as they attempt to recover the species. However, much of this research has been extremely difficult to conduct, until now. The newly developed motus wildlife tracking system has allowed researchers to easily track animals, primarily birds so far, as they migrate throughout the world. Individual partners throughout the world install motus tracking stations in their regions. These stations are able to detect animals, affixed with transmitters that emit radio signals, moving within 10-15KM of the station. These stations will then send information on where and when they detected animals to an online database that all partners contribute to and are allowed to extract data from. Thus, researchers are able to track their animals as they move large distances without the need to actually follow them. We propose the use of this technology to track the movement of endangered BAT species residing in mammoth cave national park. Specifically, we will track endangered bats during the spring migration period and the fall swarm period. We will use smaller versions of these motus stations (detect animals within 1KM of the station) to track bats as they move between fall swarm sites, potentially showing gene flow between BAT populations. We will also use acoustic BAT detectors to record BAT echolocation calls emitted outside of hibernacula to see if bats in mammoth cave national park are active outside of their hibernacula during the winter. We may also be able to determine if bats move between hibernacula. This research will help provide information on migratory pathways, connections between BAT populations, possible locations of previously unknown summer maternity colonies, genetic connectivity, fall swarm site preference, movement between hibernacula, and locations of previously unknown hibernacula. All of this information will be provided to the U.S. Fish and wildlife service, the kentucky department of national resources, and mammoth cave national park. These agencies will use these data to help recover the endangered species in mammoth cave, kentucky, and throughout the eastern united states, where the species exist.