The Handbook of Acoustic Bat Detection

Reviews / Votes

This book explores thoroughly the working processes to be considered, and challenges arising, when designing survey methods for acoustic driven bat work. The authors discuss, at length and with case driven examples, how potential pitfalls can be allowed for or avoided, in order to enable more effective gathering and analysis of data, thus leading to improvements in the interpretation and reporting of results. It is a book, that in my view, is essential reading and beneficial for bat consultants/researchers anywhere, and at all levels of experience, in that it makes the reader think really hard about the way they currently do things, and either reinforce, with evidence, the reasons for current good practice, or generate, where appropriate, a change in approach. All of which ultimately means a far deeper understanding of the subjects catered for, leading to improvements in working practices, and therefore having a positive impact upon bat conservation, particularly as it relates to bats and development. -- Neil Middleton * Author of Social Calls of the Bats of Britain and Ireland, Is That A Bat? and The Effective Ecologist * Acoustic detection has become a standard method for determining the presence of bats, and for species identification and monitoring. The resolution, accuracy and scale with which these surveys can be carried out has risen dramatically with the availability of automated real-time recording. Acoustic monitoring does have its limitations, however, and The Handbook of Acoustic Bat Detection addresses these by providing an in-depth understanding of the properties of bat calls, manual species identification, analysis of results and the background physics of sound. First published in German in 2018, this English translation includes new content that was not included in the original. * Conservation Land Management * This well-written and ably translated volume presents a thorough but accessible compendium on a timely subject. Runkel et al. give excellent coverage of highly technical systems applied to the biology of the animals. They explain methods with direct application to large-scale industrial developments, but never lose sight of the fundamental importance of the experienced observer who understands the animals and the environment. -- Winston C. Lancaster * The Quarterly Review of Biology *