Pinzari, C.A., Peck, R., Zinn, T., Gross, D., Montoya-Aiona, K., Brinck, K., Gorresen, M., and Bonaccorso, F., 2019, Waihou Mitigation Area, Maui Island, bat acoustic activity, diet and prey availability, 2015 to 2018: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9U0KRMY.
Summary
Habitat use, diet, prey availability and foraging ecology of the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus, Vespertilionidae), was examined in the east Maui region inclusive of the Waihou Mitigation Area, Pu‘u Makua Restoration Area. Research funding was provided by Auwahi Wind Energy, LLC, in order to fulfill its requirements for mitigating bat fatalities under its approved incidental take permit. Acoustic monitoring over the three-year period demonstrated that bats are present and actively feed year-round at the Waihou Mitigation Area. A comparison of simultaneous recordings between SM2 acoustic detectors equipped with SMX-US and newer SMX-U1 ultrasonic microphones was performed to assess whether the detection data [...]
Summary
Habitat use, diet, prey availability and foraging ecology of the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus, Vespertilionidae), was examined in the east Maui region inclusive of the Waihou Mitigation Area, Pu‘u Makua Restoration Area. Research funding was provided by Auwahi Wind Energy, LLC, in order to fulfill its requirements for mitigating bat fatalities under its approved incidental take permit. Acoustic monitoring over the three-year period demonstrated that bats are present and actively feed year-round at the Waihou Mitigation Area. A comparison of simultaneous recordings between SM2 acoustic detectors equipped with SMX-US and newer SMX-U1 ultrasonic microphones was performed to assess whether the detection data from the older SMX-US could be corrected and made comparable to that obtained from SMX-U1. The test was conducted at two stations (AUW4 and AUW5) between October 14th and November 27th, 2016. The SM2 detectors at each of the two stations were equipped with an SMX-US and an SMX-U1 positioned at the same height above ground and aimed into the same airspace.
Microphone sensitivity was suggested to be very different between microphone models. The original microphone model SMX-US was used from March 2015 through October 2016; however the model was discontinued in 2016, and a new microphone model SMX-U1 was installed in October 2016. SMX-U1microphones were used from October 2016 through the end of the study period in March 2018. We tested the two microphone models side by side on two different bat monitoring sites (AUW4, AUW5), and made simultaneous recordings for about 6 weeks, in order to document how many more files, pulses, feeding buzzes, and multiple bat encounters the newer SMX-U1 microphones would detect compared to the older SMX-US models.
