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On a muggy summer night, while cicadas and crickets screeched in the woods at the Land Between The Lakes Recreational Area, a couple of Austin Peay State University graduate students attached a small microphone to the top of a van. Once it was set, they drove slowly through the wooded natural area, collecting sounds they couldn\u2019t hear with the naked ear.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe microphone records bat calls \u2013 high frequency sounds we don\u2019t hear generally,\u201d graduate student Seth McCormick said. \u201cIt records and makes a document of it, so we\u2019re able to see the pattern of each bat call. That way we can determine what species of bats are present.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCormick and APSU grad student Morgan Kurz have made names for themselves within the scientific community in recent years because of their in-depth bat research. Their expertise led the U.S. Forest Service to contract with the APSU Center of Excellence in Field Biology this summer to monitor bat species in the 300-plus acre natural area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re only one of about eight universities nationwide that has a contract to do this kind of work,\u201d Dr. Andy Barrass, associate professor of biology at APSU, said. \u201cI\u2019m real happy to have outstanding graduate students to do this work. \u201c<\/p>\n
The U.S. Forest Service contacted the school to conduct the survey because of fears that white nose syndrome might decimate the area\u2019s rich bat population. For the last three years, the fungus disease known as white nose syndrome has led to the death of more than 1 million bats in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficials wanted to monitor what species of bats they have at LBL and create a kind of database in case white nose hits,\u201d Kurz said. \u201cThat way, we\u2019re able to see what kind of aftermath it has.\u201d<\/p>\n
The students arrived at the LBL natural area around 8:15 that July evening, just as the sun was setting, but with temperatures as high as 100 degrees during the day, the night sky offered little relief. McCormick and Kurz unloaded their equipment, attached the microphone to the roof of their van and then drove slowly through the forest in as straight a line as possible.<\/p>\n
The microphone above emitted a light, flicking sound when it picked up a bat call. Occasionally, the students would turn down the sensitivity so the equipment wouldn\u2019t record the crickets, frogs and cicadas so prevalent in the summer night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also recorded at stationary points,\u201d McCormick said. \u201cWe\u2019d sit at each point for 10 minutes with two different types of microphones to see what types of bats were in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n
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