Eavesdropping on bats in Peninsular Thailand: a trial application of automated recorders to monitor habitat changes
Journal
Therya
Journal Volume
16
Journal Issue
1
Start Page
175
End Page
183
ISSN
2007-3364
Date Issued
2025-01-31
Author(s)
Yu, Grace Rui-Tong
Dejtaradol, Ariya
Karapan, Sunate
Soisook, Pipat
Lee, Chia-Yun
Tuanmu, Mao-Ning
Abstract
We deployed automated bat recorders for one week in the southern part of Peninsular Thailand in an attempt to monitor bat species diversity and activities. Two sites were chosen: one on a forested slope adjacent to urban development, the campus of Prince of Songkla University (PSU), and the other in a natural tropical rainforest, the Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary (Bala). From PSU, we analyzed 9,744 5s time windows of recordings that were obtained from the dry season (June 2023) and the wet season (October 2023); from Bala, we analyzed 4,692 5s time windows in the wet season (October 2023). Among a total of 14,436 time windows, we detected bat acoustic signals in 1986 (13.8 %) representing 10 species of bat: eight species at PSU and six species at Bala. The recordings permitted analyses of diel activity patterns for the four species with the most acoustic records, as well as estimates of relative species abundance in accordance with forest type and season. Our results demonstrate that using automated bat recorders can help unravel bat diversity, activity patterns, and the potential for interspecific interactions. Nonetheless, independent efforts to collect and verify acoustic signals by catching and observing live bats are needed to ensure accurate species identification.
Subjects
Acoustic signals
automated recorder
bat
diel activity pattern
habitat monitor
peninsular Thailand
SDGs
Publisher
Asociacion Mexicana de Mastozoologia
Type
journal article