U of R researchers seek help finding little brown bats in eastern Saskatchewan
Little brown bats play a crucial role in controlling pests that threaten crops and irritate humans and livestock. They can devour thousands of bugs in a night, helping to keep insect populations in check. However, these night-time insect controllers are endangered. Understanding more about them is essential to aid in their conservation.
Researchers currently know very little about the long-distance movements of the little brown bats in the Prairie provinces. To address this, teams from the University of Regina and University of Winnipeg are collaborating to uncover the movement patterns of these bats throughout the year. This research will assist in monitoring bat populations, their habitat use, and support little brown bat conservation.
"We know little brown bats live in Saskatchewan in the summer, but we don't know of any hibernacula (caves) in the province where they overwinter," says Alicia Korpach, a postdoctoral fellow in biology at the U of R. "However, there are lots of caves in the Manitoba Interlake region that little brown bats use."
Korpach says the first step in her team's research project is to find out if Saskatchewan bats are using Manitoba caves to overwinter.
"To find this out, we need people in eastern Saskatchewan to help us," says Korpach. "We are looking for potential study sites where we can capture bats and tag them with microchips and radio-tags. We will then monitor the caves in Manitoba to see if the tagged bats show up in the fall. Our best leads have come from home or cottage owners who have bat boxes installed on their property, but attics and outbuildings with bats can be good study sites too."
The researcher says if you live in the area between Highway 35 and the Manitoba border, and between Hudson Bay and Carlyle (see map), and have occupied bat boxes, or have seen bats on your property, to contact them.
You can help the researchers, and little brown bats, by reporting bat sightings to: batwatch@outlook.com.
NOTE: Higher resolution images are available online.
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