FWD: Introducing insect bats

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This article is from The Star Online

URL:

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/6/8/features/8136143 & sec=fe\

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Tuesday June 8, 2004

Introducing insect bats

 

 

THE dozens of bats in Krau Wildlife Reserve co-exist because they adapt to

different habitats and utilise various forest layers. Insect bats separate into

three distinct types – open-space, gap and edge, and forest interior. Each type

has its own advantages for survival and disadvantages for research. Two

characteristics define the flying behaviour of bats and explain variations in

their wing design: manoeuvrability and agility.

 

Open-space bats are efficient flyers with long, narrow wings attached to big

bodies. They excel as fast, agile gliders that forage in crop fields, clearings

and areas high above the forest canopy. They do not navigate well enough to hunt

in dense habitats. To detect prey, these bats emit highly intense and

long-lasting sound waves that echo back to signal certain items.

 

Open-space bats are hard to catch in nets, so sound is used instead. An

acoustic catalogue of bat calls allows researchers to identify individual

species in a similar way that birdwatchers capture birdsongs. Tony Wood, a PhD

candidate from Bristol University, England, uses two types of bat detection

machines to repeatedly record these elusive bats in Krau. “There is no baseline

data for these bats,” says Wood. “So we need a good selection of calls from each

species encountered to build up our call library.”

 

Gap and edge bats seek out perimeters, openings and water avenues that dissect

forests. They stay away from the wall of tree trunks inside the forest because

of their limited flight manoeuvrability. However, they sometimes roost in the

jungle. Researchers assemble fine-meshed mist nets and vertically strung harp

traps across rivers and streams and near roosting sites to collect these bats.

 

Forest interior bats are the most acrobatic of the lot. With broad wings and

light bodies, they have the exceptional ability to weave their way through the

thick matting of vines, tree stems and broad leaves found in the forest. They

send out short-range echo signals that enable them to distinguish between

insects and plants. Most forest bats are caught using harp traps. – By Rick

Gregory

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