Guano Traps as a Means of Assessing Habitat Use by Foraging Bats

Guano traps have been used to assess nightly and seasonal variation in the use of sites where insectivorous bats aggregate to roost and, for frugivorous pteropodids, to assess habitat use and seed dispersal. However, the utility of this technique to assess activity by insectivorous bats and potentia...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Northwestern naturalist (Olympia, Wash.) Wash.), 2002-04, Vol.83 (1), p.15-18
Main Authors: Brigham, R. Mark, Robert M. R. Barclay, Psyllakis, Jennifer M., Darren J. H. Sleep, Lowrey, K. Terry
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal traps
Bats
Conservation biology
Foraging
Forest ecosystems
Forest habitats
Storm damage
Ultrasonics
Utilitarianism
Wildlife habitats
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Summary:Guano traps have been used to assess nightly and seasonal variation in the use of sites where insectivorous bats aggregate to roost and, for frugivorous pteropodids, to assess habitat use and seed dispersal. However, the utility of this technique to assess activity by insectivorous bats and potentially to determine habitat use and ultimately the role of bats in nutrient transfer in forest ecosystems has not been tested. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of this technique, with a focus on study areas with moderate to low densities of insectivorous bats, typical of most temperate forest systems. Over the course of 4352 guano trap-nights at 3 different study sites, we collected a total of only 5 fecal pellets. In the systems we studied, the guano-trap method we used does not capture enough pellets to enable an assessment of habitat use or nutrient movement by bats. Only by using larger traps, many more traps, and/or working in areas with much higher bat densities might this technique be useful.
ISSN:1051-1733
1938-5315
DOI:10.2307/3536509