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Many people avoid bats, but a Sudbury environmental group hopes to replace that fear with curiosity while studying the city’s local bat population.
The Junction Creek Stewardship Committee hosted what it’s calling a “bat walk” at Park Lawn Cemetery this past weekend, inviting people to join in as they searched for the nocturnal animal.
Since bats are active at night and can be difficult to see, participants used iPads fitted with echometers to pick up the high-frequency sounds bats make through echolocation.
“There’s so much interest in bats in the Sudbury area,” said Evan Voutier, an ecological technician with the committee.
“We’ve realized there’s not a lot of research on bats in our area. So we’re trying to do our part for that, but also include the public in our research and bring them along and show them how our techniques work.”
Junction Creek Stewardship is studying how bats use different habitats throughout Greater Sudbury.
“[We are] not just focusing on good habitats or ones that will have lots of bats, but also ones where there is a little bit of effects to their habitats and seeing the effects and the types of bats that are in those areas compared to others,” Voutier said.
One type of habitat that’s abundant in northern Ontario is abandoned mines, which can provide places for some bats to hibernate during the winter.
Bat populations on the decline
Biologist and naturalist Franco Mariotti, who’s a volunteer for the group, said learning more about local bats is important as they continue to face threats.
“We know that bats are endangered because of this white-nose fungus that’s killing them off,” he said.
White-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that affects hibernating bats, has caused major declines in bat populations across North America. It forces hibernating bats to wake up too often, causing them to burn through their stored energy and starve before spring.
Some species also face risks from wind turbines. Rapid changes in air pressure around spinning turbine blades can cause gases in body fluids to form bubbles. This is similar to decompression sickness, often referred to as “the bends.” According to Mariotti, this leads to severe internal trauma and often death.
Despite declining populations, he said the group’s research has shown that bats are present throughout the Sudbury area.
“Out of the eight species of bats in Ontario, how many do we have in Junction Creek? All eight,” he said.
“This is what we’ve learned in the past year or so, which is amazing. So all of Ontario’s bats can occur right here in downtown Sudbury.”
He added that bats play an important role as the main predators of insects, helping control agricultural pests and forest pests.
Mariotti said he hopes the public “bat walks” changes the way people think about the animal.
“Bats are one of these rare animals that just fascinate and make you wonder about the natural world,” he said.
The Junction Creek Stewardship Committee will host another public “bat walk” on August 19.
