Citizen Science for Bat Fans!

By Eva Lewandowski, May 26, 2016

Photo: USFWS
Those Elusive Flying Mammals!

Bats can be tricky to spot and observe but let’s try because they need our help.  As disease, habitat loss, and climate change decimate some bat populations, we can help scientists monitor and protect them.

Below, our editors highlight five bat-related citizen projects from around the globe.

Find more than 1,600 projects and events in the SciStarter Global Project Finder.
Cheers!
The SciStarter Team

Photo: Stuart Newson
Norfolk, U.K. Bat Survey
If you’re in Norfolk, UK, learn how to place a bat recording device outside in order to monitor bats. The program will soon be expanding to Scotland as well!

Photo:WDNR, WI Bat Program
Wisconsin Bat Program
Wisconsin folks are needed to do summertime acoustic surveys and roost monitoring, in order to study and protect bat populations.

Photo: Juliet Craig
British Columbia Bat Watch
Count bats as they emerge from roosts anywhere in British Columbia. It’s a fun and easy way to study bats!

Photo: BCT Hugh Clark
National U.K. Bat Monitoring Programme
Anyone in the United Kingdom can help by counting hibernating bats, monitoring summertime roosts, or using acoustic bat detectors to record flying bats.

Photo: NPS
Online Bat Detective
If you’d rather help from the comfort of home, this is the project for you! With Bat Detective, you can listen to and classify calls from bats and insects.
The inaugural issue of the new open access journal, “Citizen Science: Theory and Practice” is available here.
Contact the SciStarter Team 

Categories: Animals, Bats, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Newsletter

About the Author

Eva Lewandowski

Eva Lewandowski

Eva Lewandowski is the Citizen-based Monitoring Coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, where she coordinates a statewide citizen science network. She has a PhD in Conservation Biology from the University of Minnesota and is an active volunteer.