The researchers also placed the boxes in different positions on the landscape, some facing east and some west, some under the tree canopy, and some in the open, to see if that would change how bats used them. The water jacket box incorporates vacuum-sealed water packets that insulate the box to keep it warmer during cold weather-at least until the water freezes. For one modification, they took out the vents, in one they added a chimney, one had a white tile roof to cool down the box by reflecting solar radiation, and one included a water jacket. But with knowledge that bats need certain temperatures to balance their energy budgets, they also tested rocket box designs with modifications. Some 200-300 bats can pack themselves into these boxes. The team tested a typical box called a rocket box that has two chambers bats can access, with a meter of space each from top to bottom. They published their research in Conservation Physiology. To answer the question, O’Keefe and her colleagues studied how these Indiana bats ( Myotis sodalis) in Indianapolis and Kentucky used a few different types of bat box designs. “This made us ask the question of: Why are these good and the others aren’t?” she said. But while there were more than 3,000 boxes put out originally, bats tended to use only five regularly. Both mechanisms require energy, but it’s possible that warmer bat boxes could help endothermic bats save energy.īat boxes were installed near Indianapolis in 1992, and while some bat species used them, it wasn’t until 2003 that a group of Indiana bats were discovered using a box from the 1990s. Sometimes, they maintain constant temperatures despite cold or warm environments, a process called endothermy. While roosting, bats sometimes lower their body temperature to match cold environments-a process called heterothermy. In the Midwest, bats use boxes from April through early October after hibernating over the winter in caves and mines. “Over the years, bat boxes gradually became common tools for conservation and management.” They can also be used to draw bats into areas for insect control. “Bat boxes are used as mitigation tools to create roosts where natural habitat is lacking, or where we feel like they provide beneficial roosting structures for bats,” said assistant professor and extension wildlife specialist at the University of Illinois Joy O’Keefe. Wooden bat boxes work as artificial roosts for bats in areas with fewer trees around for them to roost in. Conservationists coping with the spread of the deadly white-nose syndrome are finding innovative solutions by thinking inside the box.
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