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Description Participants

Archived NIMBioS Working Group

Design and Analysis of Bat Population Monitoring

Bat photo.

Topic: Acting Locally and Modeling Globally: Developing a comprehensive modeling strategy for estimating trends in North American bat species distributions and abundances

Meeting dates: May 7-9, 2013

Organizers:
Susan C. Loeb (U.S. Forest Service, Southern Research Station)
Thomas Ingersoll (Department of Defense)
Jeremy Coleman (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Laura Ellison (U.S.G.S., Fort Collins Science Center)
Thomas Rodhouse (NPS Upper Columbia Basin Inventory and Monitoring Network)

Objectives: Despite their ecological significance and the many threats facing their populations, no large-scale program currently exists to monitor and track bat populations across North America. However, many analytical questions must be addressed before a large-scale bat monitoring program can be created such as: 1) how can we combine logistic-scale response variables of occupancy modeling with the ratio-scale response variables of abundance modeling, and 2) how can we combine disparate non-random samples from hibernacula and foraging habitat in a way that adequately represents continental scale trends? The geographic scope, the multi-scale nature of the anticipated design structure, and the need to incorporate data collected under different protocols and methodologies, including occurrence and count data, create a very challenging statistical and analytical setting. The specific objective of this NIMBioS working group is to address these and other analytical questions and draft a coherent model-based analytical framework that can enable bat occurrence and abundance data collected across broad geographic regions to be synthesized into robust, statistically-defensible assessments of population trend and extinction risk. The 3-day working group meetings will include participation by statisticians, quantitative ecologists, and bat biologists with experience in the development and analysis of regional and national-scale long-term ecological monitoring programs.


photo.

Meeting Summaries


Mtg # Dates Agenda Summary Photo Evaluation
1 May 7-9, 2013 pdf Link Report

Group photo.
Mtg. 1 participants. (Back row, L to R): Tushar Kansal, Tom Ingersoll, Jon Reichard, Matt Clement, Tom Stanley, Wayne Thogmartin, Doug Johnson, Tom Hallam, Pat Feild, John Sauer; (Front row, L to R): Laura Ellison, Susan, Loeb, Tom Rodhouse, Kathi Irvine, Subhesh Lele, Robin Russell, Cori Lausen

 

NIMBioS Working Groups are chosen to focus on major scientific questions at the interface between biology and mathematics. NIMBioS is particularly interested in questions that integrate diverse fields, require synthesis at multiple scales, and/or make use of or require development of new mathematical/computational approaches. NIMBioS Working Groups are relatively small (up to 10 participants), focus on a well-defined topic, and have well-defined goals and metrics of success. Working Groups will meet up to 3 times over a two-year period, with each meeting lasting up to 2.5 days.

A goal of NIMBioS is to enhance the cadre of researchers capable of interdisciplinary efforts across mathematics and biology. As part of this goal, NIMBioS is committed to promoting diversity in all its activities. Diversity is considered in all its aspects, social and scientific, including gender, ethnicity, scientific field, career stage, geography and type of home institution. Questions regarding diversity issues should be directed to diversity@nimbios.org. You can read more about our Diversity Plan on our NIMBioS Policies web page. The NIMBioS building is fully handicapped accessible.


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From 2008 until early 2021, NIMBioS was supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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