Flying-foxes (Pteropus spp.) are large, extremely mobile bats that are difficult to monitor, which poses serious impediments to the sound conservation management of these ecologically important species (Welbergen et al., 2020). Knowledge of species abundance, distribution, and population dynamics is crucial for conservation planning, and also allows for the assessment of the effectiveness of management activities and the impacts of catastrophic events. Monitoring is of growing importance as human impacts increase the necessity for conservation management of wild populations (e.g., Westcott et al., 2012).
We have demonstrated that weather radar data provide reliable information on the abundance of flying-foxes in a roost (camp), both retrospectively and in real-time, at a daily resolution (see Meade et al. (2019) for a detailed description of the methods). As such, radar represents an extremely promising tool for improving the monitoring of vulnerable flying-fox populations and for managing human interactions with these ecologically-important mammals.
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AIM: To maximise the utility of weather radar data for monitoring flying-fox populations from landscape to continental scales
CURRENT RESEARCH:
- Improving existing automated workflows for estimating the activity, abundance, and directions of flying-foxes emerging from their roosts throughout eastern Australia.
- Developing an automated workflow for detecting new/or unknown flying-fox roosts in live and archival weather radar data.
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- Investigating the utility of weather radar data to help inform the safe operation of airports and windfarms (see also Meade et al. 2019)
- Investigating the utility of weather radar data for assessing remotely, and retrospectively, the severity of impacts of extreme heat events on flying-foxes (see also Meade et al. 2019).
FUNDING: ARC Discovery (DP170104272); Regional Bushfire Recovery for Multiregional Species and Strategic Projects Program; Western Sydney University (ongoing)
Example outputs
Figure 1. The daily variation of flying-foxes emerging from the roost at Yarra Bend (Melbourne) from 2009 to the present.
Table 1. The numbers and timings of flying-foxes departing from the Yarra Bend roost in the direction of Melbourne Airport. The risk ratings help inform safe airport operations during critical times of the day and year (from Supplementary Table 2 in Meade et al. 2019)
References
- MEADE, J., VAN DER REE, R., STEPANIAN, P. M., WESTCOTT, D. A. & WELBERGEN, J. A., 2019. Using weather radar to monitor the number, timing and directions of flying-foxes emerging from their roosts. Scientific Reports, 9(1):10222.
- MCCARTHY, E. D., MARTIN, J. M., BOER, M. M. & WELBERGEN (2022). Ground-based counting methods underestimate true numbers of a threatened colonial mammal: an evaluation using drone-based thermal surveys as a reference. Wildlife Research, doi: 10.1071/WR21120
- YABSLEY, S. H., MEADE, J., HIBBURT, T., MARTIN, J. M., BOARDMAN, W. S. J., NICOLLE, D., WALKER, M., TURBILL, C & WELBERGEN, J. A. (2022). Variety is the spice of life: flying-foxes exploit a variety of native and exotic food plants in an urban landscape mosaic. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10:907966
- MEADE, J., MARTIN, J. M., & WELBERGEN, J. A. (2021). Fast food in the city? Nomadic flying-foxes commute less and hang around for longer in urban areas. Behavioral Ecology, 32: 1151-1162
- YABSLEY, S. H., MEADE, J., MARTIN, J. M., & WELBERGEN, J. A. (2021). Human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox. Plos One, 16: e0259395.
- MCCARTHY, E. D., MARTIN, J. M., BOER, M. M. & WELBERGEN (2021). Drone-based thermal remote sensing provides an effective new tool for monitoring the abundance of roosting fruit bats. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 7: 461-474
- WELBERGEN, J. A., MEADE, J., FIELD, H., EDSON, D., McMICHAEL, L., SHOO, L. P., PRASZCZALEK, J., SMITH, C., MARTIN, J. (2020) Extreme mobility of the world's largest flying mammals creates key challenges for management and conservation. BMC Biology, 18: 101