Submission Date

7-19-2024

Document Type

Paper- Restricted to Campus Access

Department

Biology

Second Department

Environmental Studies

Faculty Mentor

Matthew Leslie

Comments

Presented during the 26th Annual Summer Fellows Symposium, July 19, 2024 at Ursinus College.

Project Description

With a rapidly advancing urban environment, it is important to minimize human impact on neighboring wild plants and animals. At Ursinus College, we value the preservation of greenspaces on campus and educate our students, staff, and the community about the importance of native flora and fauna that exist in our community. This project quantified the bat diversity on campus to understand which areas are providing bats habitat. We quantified bat biodiversity across the campus habitat mosaic on and near Ursinus. To accomplish this, we have installed 10 autonomous passive acoustic recorders throughout this area to record bat echolocation calls each evening. We then passed the recordings through an automated bat detection algorithm to identify which species were making the recorded calls. To examine why certain areas might harbor more diversity, we gathered environmental data, including light, temperature, amount of tree canopy, and amount of impervious surfaces surrounding the recorders. We then examined the relationship between these environmental variables and the species diversity observed in each location. Although analyses are currently ongoing, our findings suggest that Ursinus campus is providing habitat to at least four bat species. Habitats differ in which species are more active. Based on our findings, we will work with Ursinus College to create a more welcoming campus for bats and all wildlife.

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