Supplementary Files
Keywords
Bats
Urban ecology
Citizen science
Conservation
How to Cite
Accepted 2025-06-06
Published 2025-06-16
Abstract
The use of ultrasound detectors has become a key complementary tool for bat monitoring in Colombia. In this study, an Echo Meter Touch 2 acoustic detector was used to record the species of insectivorous bats present on the campus of the Universidad del Tropico Americano. Through the analysis of the recordings, two families and five genera were identified. This exercise highlights the usefulness of acoustic tools, such as detectors that connect to mobile devices, for monitoring and understanding bats that live mainly in urban areas, promoting citizen science and raising awareness about the importance of these mammals.
References
Arias-Aguilar A, Chacón-Madrigal E, Rodríguez-Herrera B. 2015. El uso de los parques urbanos con vegetación por murciélagos insectívoros en San José, Costa Rica. Mastozoología Neotropical. 22(2).
Arias-Aguilar A, Hintze F, Aguiar LMS, Rufray V, Bernard E, Pereira MJR. 2018. Who’s calling? Acoustic identification of Brazilian bats. Mammal Research. 63(3):231–253. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-018-0367-z.
Ávila-Flores R, Fenton MB. 2005. Use of features by foraging insectivorous bats in a large urban landscape. Journal of Mammalogy. 86(6):1193–1204. https://doi.org/10.1644/04-mamm-a-085r1.1.
Bader E, Jung K, Kalko E, Page R A, Rodriguez R, Sattler T. 2015. Mobility explains the response of aerial insectivorous bats to anthropogenic habitat change in the Neotropics. Biological Conservation, 186, 97–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.02.028
Bernal K. 2018. Uso del espacio por murciélagos insectívoros en un gradiente urbano- rural en Villavicencio - Meta. Tesis de pregrado. Universidad de los Llanos.
Blackburn A, Unger US. 2019. Smartphones as a Non-Invasive Surveying Tool to Monitor Bats. Journal of Young Investigators. 37(3):24–30. https://doi.org/10.22186/jyi.37.3.24-30.
Boyles JG, Cryan PM, McCracken GF, Kunz TH. 2011. Economic importance of bats in agriculture. Science. 332(6025):41–42.
Corcoran AJ. 2022. Sing or Jam? Density-Dependent Food Competition Strategies in Mexican Free-Tailed Bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 10(April):1–8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.877579.
Gili F, Bertolino S, Rolando A. 2024. Using mobile device built-in microphones to monitor bats: a new opportunity for large-scale participatory science initiatives. Biodiversity and Conservation. 33(5). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-024-02818-9.
Hill AP, Prince P, Snaddon JL, Doncaster CP, Rogers A. 2019. AudioMoth: A low-cost acoustic device for monitoring biodiversity and the environment. HardwareX. 6:1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2019.e00073.
Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (2023). Colección de Sonidos Ambientales del Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH-CSA). 22127 registros. http://doi.org/10.15472/scqpmf.
Jung K, Kalko EKV. 2010. Where Forest meets urbanization: Foraging plasticity of aerial insectivorous bats in an anthropogenically altered environment. Journal of Mammalogy. 91(1). https://doi.org/10.1644/08-MAMM-A-313R.1.
Jung K, Molinari J, Kalko EKV. 2014. Driving factors for the evolution of species-specific echolocation call design in new world free-tailed bats (Molossidae). PLoS ONE. 9(1):1–9. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085279.
Kalko E, Estrada Villegas S, Schmidt M, Wegmann M, Meyer C. 2008. Flying high - Assessing the use of the aerosphere by bats. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 48(1):60–73. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icn030.
Kunz TH, de Torrez EB, Bauer D, Lobova T, Fleming TH. 2011. Ecosystem services provided by bats. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1223(1):1–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06004.x.
Leal-Sandoval A, Tepatlán-Vargas A, López-Segoviano G, Linares-Holguín O, Sánchez-Peña P, López-Hoffmand L. 2020. Acoustic records of Promops centralis (Thomas, 1915) (Chiroptera, Molossidae) in corn agroecosystems of northwestern Mexico. Check List 16(5): 1269-1276. https://doi.org/10.15560/16.5.1269
López-Baucells A, Rocha R, Bobrowiec P, Bernard E, Palmeirim J, Meyer C. 2016. Field guide to Amazonian Bats.
Mantilla-Meluk H, Jiménez-Ortega AM, Baker RJ. 2009. Phyllostomid bats of Colombia: annotated chekclist, ditribution, and biogeography. Special Publications, Museum of Texas Tech University 56:1-44. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.142854
Martínez-Medina D, Sánchez J, Zurc D, Sánchez F, Otálora- Ardila A, Restrepo-Giraldo C, Lizcano DJ 2021. Estándares para registrar señales de ecolocalización y construir bibliotecas de referencia de murciélagos en Colombia. Biota Colombiana, 22(1), 36–56. https://doi.org/10.21068/c2021.v22n01a03
Miller BW. 2003. Community Ecology of the Non-phyllostomid bats of Northwestern Belize, with a landscape level assessment of the bats of Belize. PhD. Dissertation, University of Kent, Canterbury, U.K. 290 pp.
Mora EC, Macías S, Vater M, Coro F, Kössl M. 2004. Specializations for aerial hawking in the echolocation system of Molossus molossus (Molossidae, Chiroptera). Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology. 190(7):561–574. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-004-0519-2.
Mora EC, Torres L. 2008. Echolocation in the large molossid bats Eumops glaucinus and Nyctinomops macrotis. Zoological Science, 25(1), 6–13. https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.25.6
O’Farrell MJ, Miller BW. 2003. Application of Acoustic Survey Methods for Inventorying Free-flying, Non-phyllostomid Bats in Belize. Journal of Belizean Affairs. 5: 46-59.
O'Farrell MJ, Gannon WL. 1999. A comparison of acoustic versus capture techniques for the inventory of bats. J Mammal. 80(1):24-30.
O'Farrell MJ, Miller BW. 1997. A new examination of echolocation calls of some neotropical bats (Emballonuridae and Mormoopidae). J Mammal. 78(3):954-963.
Ortega, J C, MacSwiney G, Zamora-Gutiérrez V. 2022. Compendio de los llamados de ecolocalización de los murciélagos insectívoros mexicanos.
Raven Pro Sound Analysis Software (version 1.6.5); K Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics. Ithaca, NY, USA, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University. https://www.ravensoundsoftware.com/software/raven-pro/
Ramírez-Chaves H E, Leuro Robles NG, Castaño Rivera A, Morales-Martínez DM, Suárez Castro AF, Rodríguez-Posada ME, Zurc D, Concha Osbahr DC, Trujillo A, Noguera Urbano EA, Pantoja Peña GE, González Maya JF, Pérez Torres J, Mantilla Meluk H, López Castañeda C, Velásquez Valencia A, Zárrate Charry D. 2024. Mamíferos de Colombia. v1.14. Sociedad Colombiana de Mastozoología. Dataset/Checklist. https://doi.org/10.15472/kl1whs
Rodríguez-Aguilar G, Orozco-Lugo CL, Vleut I, Vázquez LB. 2017. Influence of urbanization on the occurrence and activity of aerial insectivorous bats. Urban Ecosystems, 20(2), 477–488. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-016-0608-3.
Siemeres B, Kalko E, Schnitzler H. 2001. Echolocation behavior and signal plasticity in the Neotropical bat Myotis nigricans (Schinz, 1821) (Vespertilionidae): A convergent case with European species of Pipistrellus? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 50(4):317–328. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650100379.
Schnitzler, H U, Kalko E K. 2001. Echolocation by insect-eating bats. BioScience, 51(7), 557-569.
Smirnov DG, Klimov AS, Numerov AD, Trufanova EI. 2023. Experience in Using an Echo Meter Touch Ultrasonic Module in Studies of the Species Composition, Occurrence, and Biotopic Preferences of Bats (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) in Voronezh Oblast. Biology Bulletin. 50(7). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359023070245.
Yantén A V, Cruz-Roa A, Sánchez FA. 2022. Traffic noise affects foraging behavior and echolocation in the Lesser Bulldog Bat, Noctilio albiventris (Chiroptera: Noctilionidae). Behavioural Processes. 203 (April). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104775.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.