Bats of Nahanni National Park Reserve and Surrounding Areas, Northwest Territories

• Published in: Northwestern naturalist (Olympia, Wash.) Vol. 95; no. 3; pp. 186 - 196
• Main Authors: Lausen, Cori L, Waithaka, John, Tate, Douglas P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405 Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology 22.12.2014
• Subjects: Animal populations; bat diversity; Bats; Bats (Animals); Biological taxonomies; Caves; Climate change; Distribution; Eptesicus; Eptesicus fuscus; Karsts; Lasiurus; Myotis; Myotis myotis; Nahanni National Park; National parks; Night tables; Northwest Territories; Species; Statistics; Territories; Watersheds; Canada
• ISSN: 1051-1733; 1938-5315
• DOI: 10.1898/13-16.1

Few bat inventories have taken place in Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, an area currently known to be the northernmost extent of the ranges of at least 6 bat species. Only 2 species of bats, the Northern Myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) and Little Brown Myotis (M. lucifugus), were previously known from the Nahanni National Park Reserve in the southwestern NWT. We used mistnets (15 nights) and AnaBat ultrasound detectors (23 nights) to survey bats in the South Nahanni River Watershed and surrounding area, to undertake the first formal survey of bats in the Northwest Territories. We confirmed the presence of the 2 species formerly documented from the area, as well as an additional 5 species not previously recorded from the region, including: Long-eared Myotis (Myotis evotis), Long-legged Myotis (M. volans), Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus), Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinerus), and Eastern Red Bat (L. borealis). Four species were captured in mistnets (Northern Myotis, Little Brown Myotis, Long-eared Myotis and Long-legged Myotis), 1 species was detected acoustically and observed visually in flight (E. fuscus), and 2 species were only detected acoustically (L. cinereus, L. borealis). We documented both sexes for Long-legged, Northern, and Little Brown Myotis; however, reproduction was confirmed only in the latter 2 species. These observations represent the most northerly record (61°N) for Long-eared Myotis and Long-legged Myotis in North America, extending their range approximately 300 km. These 2 species have not been captured elsewhere in NWT, despite recent substantial sampling effort in southcentral NWT. Further sampling effort is needed in southwestern NWT to better understand the distribution of bats in this region.