WILDLIFE LABLARGE BROWN

BATS STOCKTON
UNIVERSITY
Alex Epifano, Aysia Gandy

Environmental Issues Fall 2015

WILD LIFE LAB- LARGE BROWN BATS

I. Introduction
Large brown bats were
studied on Stockton University
campus in the Pine Barrens. A man
made habitat for bats to hibernate in
the winter and live in for the
summer was built in order to restore
the dwindling bat population. The
bats need habitat Bat boxes are
constructed because in suburban
areas bats are living in the attics of
peoples homes and trees are
getting cut down where some of the
bats are living. The majority of
ecological and behavioral research

on

temperate insectivorous bats is from

species roosting in human
structures, because it is easier to
find and success bats roosting man
structure than in a natural site such

as

a tree cavity (Brigham R, Mark, Kalcounis C, Matina, 1998). So if made right, a bat box is easier for a
bat to access than a tree cavity that is hard to find. The bats are also declining in population because of
disease.
II. Methods
Scientific research was a big part of this experiment. Using the video camera looking in the old
bat box on campus right next to Lake Pam, there were no large brown bats in the bat habitat that the class
made from the year previous. It was a perfect time to check the box because bats sleep during the day and
come out at night. It looked like there was no damage like chips in the wood or fallen off pieces. Also,
there was no guano (bat droppings) so that seems that there was not even bats previous to our arrival.
Deciding the layout of the bat box, try to make the bat box a little bigger that the class before because

WILD LIFE LAB- LARGE BROWN BATS

maybe the colony of bats around campus is big and do not fit into the box on campus. Getting exterior
plywood, screws, and staples we put together the bat box. Painted the box black two coats and painted
one clear coat so it last longer in the elements.
III. Discussion/Results
Bat populations are declining world-wide as a result of a growing number of factors, including
habitat loss and fragmentation, disturbances to roosts, exposure to toxins, human hunting pressures and
introduced predators (Agosta, 2002). Eptesicus fuscus also known as big brown bats are usually found in
the United States, Canada, South America, Central America, as well as some islands living in a range of
different habitats from deserts, meadows, to forests, mountains, cities, and chaparral. Humans around the
world and are constantly tearing down or
changing land structure to build houses, roads,
and farms creating a different construction of
land that the bats are not used to. When bats
roost they usually pick a location that is manmade and are high up such as ceilings of
buildings or caves not typically depending on
any species in order to live or create a habitat
for them. When buildings are torn down
because of abandonment or to be reconstructed
it usually leads to loss of their habitat. Roads are placed all over the world in order to make traveling
easier but it hasnt made life easier on species especially bats. It has been discovered that road ecology
has quantified impacts such as direct mortality due to vehicle collisions, the prevention of physical
movement and gene flow across landscapes, and decreases in the use of otherwise suitable habitat
(Kitzes & Merendlender, 2014) . Also as a result of farming and the distribution of pesticide on the land,
bats will have to relocate because the bugs that they eat are dying in those locations.
Big brown bats are insectivorous meaning they like to eat bugs, especially beetles. Bugs are so
abundant all over the world making it easy for them to find food in any of the wide variety of habitat they
are found. In New Jersey there are colonies of up to 200 individuals that return each spring to thousands
of homes and other buildings. They are also not endangered or threatened but there are some concerns for
their health when it comes to White Nose Syndrome. They are protected under the NJ Endangered and
Nongame Species Conservation Act as special concern. This disease is transmitted either directly

WILD LIFE LAB- LARGE BROWN BATS

through bat-to-bat contact or indirectly through
contact with pathogen propagules in the environment
(Zukal et al., 2014). The hibernation patterns of bats
seem to play the largest role when it comes to the bats
getting infected. This disease attacks the bats when
their immune systems are at
their lowest causing the
disease to get into their
systems easily. The location
of where the bats hibernate
has been linked to the disease
as well, most of the
mortality has been
documented in species that
use underground hibernation
sites (i.e., caves and mines)
(Fenton, 2012). When the
bats skin is damaged by the
disease it results in
disruption of torpor pattern,
premature depletion of fat
reserves and mortality in
affected bats in North
America (Warnecke L,
Turner JM, Bollinger TK,
Lorch JM, Misra V, et al.,
2012).
A bat box on campus
should be on a pole that is at
least 10ft high, close to water,
and that is facing southwest
(Coll, Mike., March 2014).

WILD LIFE LAB- LARGE BROWN BATS

Also, the box should have

at least 6-10 hours of sun
exposure because in July in
Galloway the average
temperature is 85 degrees
(Bat Conservancy
International). Where we
picked the bat box gets at
least 6 hours of sun
exposure. Putting the new
bat box close to the old bat
box is a good idea because
recent evidence suggests
that bat colonies using tree
cavities are not restricted to
individual trees. Instead,
colonies may be spread
among multiple trees on a
given night, forming
fissionfusion societies
(Brigham R, Mark, Willis,
Craig. September 2004).
This means the closer the better with bat boxes because the bats are not territorial. So this bat box will be
close to the old bat box but will be facing more south than previous bat box.

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Appendix

WILD LIFE LAB- LARGE BROWN BATS

Bibliography
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