#microbats — Public Fediverse posts

I just spent three nights camping at #BirdLife Australia's #Gluepot Reserve in the #mallee of #SouthAustralia.

Tenperatures were reaching 37/38 C, and it's very dry there. The reserve has a small dam, but no other open water. The #MurrayRiver is about 40 km to the south.

But the #insects that appeared at night were primarily #freshwater species - lots of #CaddisFlies (#Trichoptera), #Chironomidae and #BackSwimmers (#Notonectidae).

This video shows the insects attracted to a #LepiLED UV light. If these mostly originated down at the river, the insect #biomass streaming up across this region (wind-blown?) is absolutely staggering.

There were also LOTS of #microbats everywhere, and the stars were incredible.

#entomology #biodiversity #Australia

A perfect sweet baby angel little brown bat. They're being orally vaccinated for white nose syndrome, which is a fungal infection that plagues many tiny hibernating bats in America.

Edit: don't worry, they are released roughly 10 minutes after capture after they've been weighed, chipped, banded, and vaccinated. :bat_cute:

#littlebrownbat #bat #bats #batsofmastodon #microbat #microbats #batvax #batvaccine

A perfect sweet baby angel little brown bat. They're being orally vaccinated for white nose syndrome, which is a fungal infection that plagues many tiny hibernating bats in America.

Edit: don't worry, they are released roughly 10 minutes after capture after they've been weighed, chipped, banded, and vaccinated. :bat_cute:

#littlebrownbat #bat #bats #batsofmastodon #microbat #microbats #batvax #batvaccine

A perfect sweet baby angel little brown bat. They're being orally vaccinated for white nose syndrome, which is a fungal infection that plagues many tiny hibernating bats in America.

Edit: don't worry, they are released roughly 10 minutes after capture after they've been weighed, chipped, banded, and vaccinated. :bat_cute:

#littlebrownbat #bat #bats #batsofmastodon #microbat #microbats #batvax #batvaccine

A perfect sweet baby angel little brown bat. They're being orally vaccinated for white nose syndrome, which is a fungal infection that plagues many tiny hibernating bats in America.

Edit: don't worry, they are released roughly 10 minutes after capture after they've been weighed, chipped, banded, and vaccinated. :bat_cute:

#littlebrownbat #bat #bats #batsofmastodon #microbat #microbats #batvax #batvaccine

A perfect sweet baby angel little brown bat. They're being orally vaccinated for white nose syndrome, which is a fungal infection that plagues many tiny hibernating bats in America.

Edit: don't worry, they are released roughly 10 minutes after capture after they've been weighed, chipped, banded, and vaccinated. :bat_cute:

#littlebrownbat #bat #bats #batsofmastodon #microbat #microbats #batvax #batvaccine

Where will all the microbats go when the NSW forests are logged and clear-felled?

Decline of rare UK bat linked to tree felling for British empire’s fleets
"Rife deforestation 500 years ago aligns with western barbastelle slump, finds study of bat DNA."

"The examples of flora and fauna disappearing because of human excesses over the past 50 years are manifold, but research has found that the decline of a characterful bat began in the UK when its trees were felled for shipbuilding 500 years ago."

"“These bats usually roost in mature oak and beech trees, and move around every few nights – so they benefit from areas with substantial woodland cover. Our findings reveal that the northern and southern British populations have declined over several centuries, beginning about 500 years ago. This coincides with a period of widespread tree-felling to supply wood for colonial shipbuilding. It is likely that the decline we found was triggered by this loss of woodland – which has continued since that period.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/14/decline-of-rare-uk-bat-linked-to-tree-felling-for-british-empires-fleets

The barbastelle are sparsely distributed in the landscape and absent from many areas of the country.
https://www.vwt.org.uk/species/barbastelle/
#deforestation #bats #MicroBats #insects #logging #biodiversity #extinction #BritishEmpire #colonialism #extractivism #NSWLogging #NSWForestry #LoggingImpacts #TheGreatKoalaNationalPark