USGS FORT - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge - Bats - 2010

Lance (Anthony) Everett1, Annie Simpson2

1 US Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Ave Bldg C, 80527, Fort Collins, United States; 2 Core Science Systems, 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr, 20192, Reston, United States

Corresponding author(s): Lance (Anthony) Everett (everettel@usgs.gov)Annie Simpson (asimpson@usgs.gov)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Ellison, L.E., 2011, Bats of Ouray National Wildlife Refuge: U.S. Geological Survey
Open-File Report 2011–1032, 51 p. http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1032/pdf/OFR2011-1032.pdf

Abstract

Nine species of bats were captured using mist nets during the summer of 2010. These findings document the occurrence at Ouray National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) of 13 of the 18 species of bats known to occur from Utah. The other 5 of the 18 species of Utah bats not documented during this study are the silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), the Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis), the western red bat (Lasiurus blossevilii), the spotted bat (Euderma maculatum), and Allen's big-eared bat (Idionycteris phyllotis). Three of the species documented as occurring at Ouray NWR are identified by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources as Utah Species of Concern in the Utah Sensitive Species List: the fringed myotis, the Townsend's big-eared bat, and the big free-tailed bat. USGS Fort Collins Science Center (FORT).

Keywords: Metadata, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, bats, foraging habitat, Green River, inventory, roosting sites, Utah, Colorado Plateau, Ouray National Wildlife Refuge, Observation

General description

Purpose: The overall goal for this project was to conduct a baseline inventory of bat species occurring at Ouray National Wildlife Refuge using established monitoring methodology for vesper bat species.
Additional information: altitude of the collection site ranged from 1,421-1,437 meters.

Project details

Project title: Bats of Ouray National Wildlife Refuge, Utah
Personnel: Laura E. Ellison
Funding: US Fish and Wildlife Service
Study area descriptions/descriptor: Ouray National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is located in the northeastern corner of Utah along the
Green River and is part of the Upper Colorado River System and the Colorado Plateau. Ouray NWR is
in central Uintah County, 2 miles northeast of Ouray, and 10 miles southeast of Randlett. The Refuge
covers 11,987 acres, includes 12 miles of the Green River, and was originally established in 1960 to
serve as a refuge for breeding and migrating waterfowl. Management strategies today (2011) focus on
managing water to mimic the natural flood plains that existed before dams were erected along the river.
Portions of protective levees throughout the Refuge were removed to allow more frequent flooding.
There are five bottom lands within the river floodplain: Johnson Bottom, Leota Bottom, Wyasket Lake,
Sheppard Bottom, and Wood’s Bottom. These bottom lands are all fed by the river as it winds through
an otherwise desert-like landscape. With more than 4,000 acres of wetland and riparian habitat, the
Refuge is home to a diverse group of birds, mammals, fish, plants, and amphibians and reptiles. Prior to
this study, the assumption was that Ouray NWR would provide excellent habitat for bats, but no
previous bat studies had been conducted, and it was unknown what species of bats occurred on the
Refuge.
Design description: The investigator chose 3 10-day field trips in June, July, and August 2010 based on lunar phase; the middle of each trip coincided with the new moon because it is suspected that bat capture rates are higher during darker phases of the moon. The investigator used 2 different methods to inventory the bat species at Ouray NWR. The first method was to survey the bat fauna by capturing, identifying, and noting the reproductive condition of individuals, and then releasing them. The second method used to supplement mist netting surveys was acoustic monitoring with ultrasonic bat detectors (Anabat II; Titley Electronics, NSW, Australia).

Data published through GBIF: https://bison.usgs.gov/ipt/resource?r=usgs-fort-ouray-bats-2010

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: <taxonrn>Kingdom</taxonrn><taxonrv>Animalia</taxonrv><taxoncl><taxonrn>Phylum</taxonrn><taxonrv>Chordata</taxonrv><taxoncl><taxonrn>Class</taxonrn><taxonrv>Mammalia</taxonrv><taxoncl><taxonrn>Order</taxonrn><taxonrv>Chiroptera</taxonrv><taxoncl><taxonrn>Family</taxonrn><taxonrv>Vespertilionidae</taxonrv>
Taxonomic ranks
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia, Chiroptera
Family: Vespertilionidae
Species: Myotis evotis, Antrozous pallidus, Eptesicus fuscus, Myotis volans, Myotis californicus, Myotis yumanensis, Parastrellus hesperus, Corynorhinus townsendii, Myotis lucifugus
Common names: animals, chordates, mammals, bats, vesper bats

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: -109.67102050751 to -109.627075195 longitude; 40.136556199088 to 40.086142549522 latitude
Coordinates: 40°5'9.6''N and 40°8'13.2''N Latitude; 109°40'15.6''W and 109°37'37.2''W Longitude 

Temporal coverage: 2010

Methods

Method step description: For additional data, acoustic analysis techniques were employed in June - August. The general locations were chosen nonrandomly to maximize the area sampled at the refuge and specific locations were chosen based on proximity to
water, habitat edges, and potential flyways. We recorded acoustic activity of bats from sunset to sunrise on six nights at each station in June (Stations 1-4), July (Stations 1-6), and August 2010 (Stations 1-6).
We used the Anabat II bat detectors with programmable zero-crossing analysis interface modules
(Anabat CF Storage ZCAIM; Titley Electronics, NSW, Australia). Detectors were placed in
weatherproof boxes oriented in random directions and angled 45 degrees to a reflective polycarbonateplastic
surface. Detectors were precalibrated to minimize variation in zone of reception among
units. Echolocation call data was downloaded from detectors every other day and the storage
ZCAIMs was cleared for redeployment.
Study extent description: The overall goal for this project was to conduct a baseline inventory of bat species occurring at
Ouray NWR. The 3 specific objectives to accomplish this goal were to: (1) identify water sources
occurring at Ouray NWR where bats could be captured using mist nets and assess species occurrence;
(2) capture and identify bats at these water sites and release unharmed; and, (3) collect echolocation
activity of bats to augment species occurrence information.
Sampling description: Mist netting surveys occurred the nights of 8-15 June, 7-13 July, and 3-10 August 2010. 11 sites were surveyed with mist nets (fig. 1). During the June field trip, up to 6 nets per night of 9 m, 12 m, and 18 m in length were used. These nets were set on 3-m-high poles. It was difficult to capture bats with 3 such low nets and so much water surface area available on the refuge. Therefore, in July and August 2010, higher, “stacked” nets were used. These stacked nets were 6-m high and used 2, 12-m-long nets on a pulley system based on the system designed by Gardner and others (1989). Two of these stacked nets were used per night during the July and August 2010 field trips.
Quality control description: Complete details of the sampling methods and qa/qc can be found here: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1032/pdf/OFR2011-1032.pdf

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive USGS FORT - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge - Bats - 2010
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://bison.usgs.gov/ipt/archive.do?r=usgs-fort-ouray-bats-2010
Publication date of data: 2019-12-11
Language: English
Licences of use: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2014-12-07
Hierarchy level: Dataset