Bat Projects in Parks: Alaska Region Parks

Summary

Determine Occupancy, Habitat, Roosting, and Migration Patterns for Bats in Alaska National Parks

PI: Paul Burger

In the Alaska Region, acoustic bat detectors were put out into the field in seven national parks. The goal of the project is to determine what types of bats there are and where they are on the landscape. Important questions we hope to answer include what habitat they may be using and what their migration patterns may be. The habitat question is important to understand potential impacts of human activity on bats and the second question is vital to understanding the potential for bats in Alaska to be exposed to diseases such as White-nose Syndrome (WNS) from bats further south. This is especially important now that WNS has been detected in Washington.