Abstract
Coastal uplands are home to a variety of flora and fauna, including bats. Bats play a crucial role within ecosystems, but global declines in some bat populations have reduced many of the ecological and economic services bats provide. The greatest threats bats face within the United States are habitat loss, disturbances causing loss of cave hibernacula and maternity roosts, decline of food resources, white nose syndrome, and wind farm turbines. Many forested areas are managed in efforts to improve overall forest habitat quality and increase biodiversity. Understanding how bats respond to land management induced changes within forest habitat is necessary for the conservation of these species. Recently, there have been several large-scale land management projects associated with oil spill funds, including the study site for this project – The Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (GNDNERR), in Jackson County, Mississippi. This project will determine if the activity and diversity of bats and their insect prey is affected by different coastal upland land habitat management techniques, such as prescribed fire and mechanical clearing, within the GNDNERR. Analysis of bat diversity and activity will be assessed using acoustic surveys using bat call recorders placed within recently burned, mechanically cleared, and unmanaged areas. Black light traps will be used to trap night flying insects and malaise traps will be used to trap day flying insects for analysis of abundance and diversity relationships among potential bat prey between the land management techniques. Findings from this study could be used to inform land managers of the potential benefits and impacts of land management practices on forest bats and their insect prey.
