B08_Solicitation_Attach_1_SOW.pdf

North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) Acoustic Bat Call Analysis and Data Management for Ozark National Scenic Riverways

Scope of Work

The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) is a multi-national, multiagency coordinated monitoring program designed to assess the status and trends of North American bats at different scales: local, state, and range-wide. The goal of the NABat program is to inform land management and conservation decisions for the 47 bat species shared by Canada, Mexico, and the United States (Reichert et al 2018).

OZAR staff will conduct acoustic surveys at stationary points in 3 - 10 by 10-kilometer NABat-established generalized random-tessellation stratified (GRTS) grid cells. The following GRTS cells will be monitored: GRTS grid cells 5999 and 10095 using stationary and mobile transects, and GRTS grid cell 1775 using mobile transects only (Figure 1). All raw data (SD cards), site pictures, and data forms will be sent to contractor for the following services:

(1) Identification, data storage and upload to NABat of all acoustic files to species or species group according to the guidelines outlined in the 2015 Plan for NABat Program 2015 Plan for North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) referred to as NABat Plan further below.

(2) Return all raw data SD cards and all organized data on an external hard-drive to

OZAR NRPM.

(3) Provide Species Occurrence Summary and Final Accomplishment Report.

Figure 1. Topographic map of surveyed GRTS grid cells including stationary points and mobile transects.

CONTRACTOR RESPONSBILITY:

Species Identification of Acoustic Recordings Contractor will be responsible for identifying acoustic recordings to species or species group for identification to species or species group using at least two methods (see NABat Plan ch. 6).

Response variables will be detection/ nondetection of each species for both mobile transect and stationary point surveys and the number of bat passes per species along a given transect for mobile transects. In addition, indices of activity can be calculated for stationary point surveys that may be valuable indicators in future analyses.

Process of Species Identification The goal of the acoustic analysis is to identify as many files as possible to the species level.

When identification is possible, files should be classified as narrowly as possible; for example, files may be classified to one of two species [e.g., big brown (Eptesicus fuscus) or silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans) to EPFU/LANO], or broader categories when necessary [e.g., Low frequency bat (LowF)].

It is recommended that at least two methods be used to identify files to species. Analysis of acoustic recordings can be done in several ways, combining automatic species-identification (auto-ID) software and manual identification as appropriate. The advantage of using an auto-ID software package is that the data are analyzed objectively. Four auto-ID programs are currently available for North American bats within the scope of NABat and include: Sonobat™ (www.sonobat.com), Bat Call Identification (BCID) (http://www.batcallid.com/Software.html), Kaleidoscope® Pro (http://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/products/kaleidoscope-software), and Echoclass (http://www.

fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/mammals/inba/surveys/inbaAcousticSoftware.html). Currently, all four programs can be used to identify species found in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States.

Manual Verification and Experience Requirements Files that are identified to species from auto-ID programs should be visually reviewed and verified by experienced personnel whenever possible. If a bat that is not known to reside in the recording area and is identified through an auto-ID program, files of this unexpected species need to be manually verified. Data and information are managed so that they can be easily found and compiled, are subjected to full quality control before release, and are accompanied by complete metadata. The general procedure used in analysis of recordings should accompany the data when submitted to the BPD. See the NABat Plan for more specific information and protocols.

Species identification of all acoustic files is conducted according to the guidelines outlined in the NABat Plan. The level of expertise of the person(s) conducting the identification must be documented at the time of submission of data into the Bat Population Database (BPD). Files that are identified to species from auto-ID programs should be visually reviewed and verified by experienced personnel whenever possible, as this has been shown to successfully remove false positive identifications and allow the addition of species missed by the auto-ID program.

Because of variation in quality of recordings, the influence of clutter, and the changing performances of software packages over time, manual verification is currently recommended for, at minimum, unexpected classifications.

Data Management The National Park Service defines “data management” as encompassing the full process from data collection to long-term maintenance, that is, from the beginning when the bat acoustic data and associated metadata are collected in the field to how the acoustic data are processed, analyzed and archived in the office. Whereas, “metadata” is the general field data that is collected with any survey, which can include date, who conducted the survey, latitude and longitude, detector serial numbers, and habitat descriptions.

Contracted acoustic surveyor qualification requirements:

(1) Identifying bat calls recorded in numerous habitat types;

(3) Familiarity with the species likely to be encountered within the project area which include the following: EPFU: big brown bat, LANO: silver-haired bat, LABO: eastern red bat, LACI: hoary bat, MYGR: gray bat, MYLE: eastern small-footed bat, MYLU: little brown bat, MYSE: northern long-eared bat, MYSO: Indiana bat, NYHU: evening bat, and PESU: tricolored bat.

(4) Individuals must have multiple years (at least 5 years) of experience and must have stayed current with qualitative ID skills. A resume (or similar documentation) must be submitted along with final acoustic survey reports for anyone making final qualitative identifications.

(5) Have approved data partner status by NABat in order to upload data successfully.

NABat Data Transfer Protocol: Data Storage - File Structure Proper file structure is important to the long-term storage and organization of files for analysis.

NABat files should reflect the GRTS grid cell ID, type of survey (mobile transect or Stationary Sites), GRTS grid quadrant or type of survey, and date (e.g. 5999/5999_Mobile Transects/5999_DT/2020-07-17). Figure 9 shows an example of the file structure required by the NABat guidance. In this example, DT stands for “driving transect” and indicates the type of survey.

If the files were recorded at a stationary acoustic site, this folder would be named for the GRTS grid cell quadrant (i.e. 5999_NE, NW, SE, SW).

FIGURE 9. EXAMPLE OF THE NABAT FILE STRUCTURE.

NABat File Naming Convention Files uploaded from the bat detector will need their names changed to the NABat naming convention. The NABat naming convention is GRTS grid cell ID, grid cell quadrant or survey type, and timestamp (e.g. 5999_NW_20200717_210003). To rename thousands of files, use two different programs. The programs are “NABatFileRenamer”, available for download from the NABat website, and “File Renamer” from the Microsoft Store. The naming output of the individual bat detector will determine utilization methods for both programs to achieve the correct final naming convention. The File Renamer program was used to edit the files and the NABatFileRenamer was to check and edit any mistakes. Data should be renamed by the person or firm providing the visual analysis.

1. The North American Bat Monitoring Program (nabatmonitoring.org) and its Partner

Portal (https://sciencebase.usgs.gov/nabat/#/home) will be the primary repository of data. Contractor will uploaded data to the Ozark National Scenic Riverways NABat Project. The OZAR NABat Project will be set up by the NRPM in order to allow access of data by the contractor and determine when all data has been successfully uploaded.

2. Species Occurrence Summary: Develop a list of the species documented at each detector location and along mobile route based on the final analyzed data.

3. Develop Final Accomplishment Report. The accomplishment report is a short abstract (no more than 300 words) of work completed during the entire project to include total number of records analyzed.

Deliverables and other Reporting Requirements

1. By or before September 15, 2022 - OZAR provides all raw acoustic data (SD cards) along with associated detector locations, photos and accompanying datasheets to contractor.

2. By or before December 30, 2022 – All NABat data is successfully uploaded through the NABat Partner Portal (https://sciencebase.usgs.gov/nabat/#/home) to the Ozark National Scenic Riverways NABat Project.

3. By or before December 15, 2022 – Species Occurrence Summary and Final Accomplishment Report is due to OZAR NRPM. The accomplishment report is a short abstract (no more than 300 words) of work completed during the entire project.

4. Submission for payment will be made in 1 installment upon completion of contract.

https://sciencebase.usgs.gov/nabat/#/home https://sciencebase.usgs.gov/nabat/#/home