The Newsmagazine of Long Beach Island and Southern Ocean County

By Juliet Kaszas-Hoch | on August 10, 2022

An adult female Northern long-eared bat caught and radio-tracked in Ocean County, summer 2016. (Photo by NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife)

While biologists from Conserve Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s New Jersey field office were able to capture a few northern long-eared bats during 2021’s surveys in the Pine Barrens, this year the team came up short-handed. Northern long-eared bats – which are tiny creatures with brown fur and large ears – are federally threatened due to susceptibility to White Nose Syndrome, and its population has seen a steep decline, said CWF’s Meaghan Lyon.

As Lyon explained, “WNS is a fungal disease that has heavily impacted bats of the Myotis family. White nose fungus grows in cold, moist environments like caves and mines – perfect habitat for many bats. This devastating disease has killed more than six million bats nationwide since it was first discovered in 2006.

“Other threats that have been observed to northern long-eared bats include wind energy-related mortality, summer habitat loss, winter habitat loss or disturbance and climate change.” The state, she added, has proposed uplisting this species to endangered.

Lyon pointed out, “Due to the spread of white nose syndrome and vast declines in most bat species in the Northeast, other bats in the same genus, like the little brown bat, are also of interest during mist netting surveys.”

Mist nets are comprised of inconspicuous fine threads such as nylon or polyester mesh. “Mist netting surveys for bats starts at sundown and continues for five hours through to the early morning,” Lyon explained. “The nets are set up across travel corridors through the woods with canopy cover and wetland foraging grounds nearby.

“As the bats head to and from their roosts and foraging grounds, they funnel through the corridors and into our nets. The bats are quickly and carefully extracted from the nets and then walked a short distance to our ‘camp,’ where they are processed.”

Last year, the team captured two northern long-eared bats and two little brown bats. “Two of the four bats were able to be tagged and tracked to their roost location,” Lyon noted. “These surveys help state and federal agencies protect summer bat habitat where bats year after year raise their young and forage among the forest and wetland.

“Unfortunately, biologists were not as lucky this year, and did not capture any of the target species. Many of the same travel corridors, among several new habitats, were surveyed. While many of these bat species show instances of site fidelity, there is no guarantee that our target species population will persist in the area.”

While the survey target species weren’t found this year, the mist netting results do reveal how other bats – such as the big brown bat and the eastern red bat – utilize the Pine Barrens habitat. For more information on recent bat captures, visit conservewildlifenj.com.  —J.K.-H.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

The SandPaper 1816 Long Beach Boulevard, Surf City, NJ 08008-5461 Phone Number: (609) 494-5900 • Fax Number: (609) 494-1437

Our Hometown DMCA Notices Newspaper web site content management software and services