Initiated by CBC Post-doctoral Fellow Dr. Chanda Bennett, the CBC’s “Bats of the New York Metropolitan Area” project examines the impact of urbanization on bat communities by cataloging the diversity, relative abundance, habitat preference patterns, and activity of insect-eating bats in and around New York City.
Thanks to support from the Black Rock Forest Consortium and from our trained volunteers, we are undertaking an acoustic survey during the spring and summer months through October 2008. We anticipate the survey to lead to a long-term monitoring effort of bats in this area. Over the six-month period, we will survey four urban public parks managed by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (Central, Prospect, Forest, and Pelham Bay Parks) and one nearby forest preserve outside of New York City (Black Rock Forest in Cornwall, NY) that differ in their level of habitat degradation. Bat detectors will be used to capture and record echolocation calls from free-flying bats along an actively driven transect route at each site. We will also use GPS palm devices with each detector unit so we can obtain georeferencing points for both transects and the recorded calls. We will broadly disseminate results to educators, park managers, and city and state officials as well as to traditional scientific venues.
In coming years, we expect to supplement the currently proposed study sites with more urban, suburban, and rural habitats, and through outreach efforts such as guided bat walks and conversations with park patrons while in the field.
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