Preliminary assessment suggests that acoustic lures can increase capture rates of Australian echolocating bats

Abstract

Capture is essential for any field research on bats that requires confirmation of species, sex, maturity and reproductive status, or that involves radio-tracking or marking individuals. However, bats can be difficult to capture. We made a preliminary test of the effectiveness of an acoustic lure that produces ultrasonic simulations of bat social calls for enhancing capture rates in harp traps. Over 102 trap-hours at seven forest sites in north-eastern Queensland, 65 bats representing seven species were captured in traps with lures, while no bats were captured in paired control traps. The results indicate great potential for the development and application of acoustic lures to increase the efficiency of field surveys and research on Australian echolocating bats that involve capture.