Instructions 2017 Electronic Submittal Bat Survey Data

Instructions for Electronic Submittal of Bat Survey Data for U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service 2017
In an effort to reduce redundancy, increase efficiency, and minimize data entry errors, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) Ecological Services Field Offices in Region 3 (Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin) have collaborated to create
a single standardized spreadsheet 1 for electronic submittal of bat survey data by federal
permittees to the Service. Recently issued permit terms and conditions require submission of data
in the format provided by Service Field Offices (i.e., information identified in the standardized
reporting spreadsheet). In addition to a traditional narrative report, permittees receiving Region 3
issued permits will be required to report their survey data using the “standard” format provided
in the standardized permit reporting spreadsheet (i.e., provision of all spreadsheet information) to
fulfill the annual reporting requirements of a section 10(a)(1)(A) Recovery Permit (Please note:
Other Regions and/or Field Offices may require the same spreadsheet). Permittees are
encouraged to submit their survey data via the standardized permit reporting spreadsheet not
only to facilitate determination of reporting compliance, but also to facilitate improved
assemblage of data to determine impacts on the species. If permittees intend to collect additional
data that does not fit within the format of this spreadsheet, they should coordinate with the
Service Field Office for the study area regarding how to report the additional data 2. If multiple
Federal permittees are contracted and/or subcontracted to conduct bat surveys as part of a single
large project, each permittee is required to separately report the bat captures made under their
permit so that the permittee responsible for each bat capture can be clearly identified. Due to
reductions in bat populations, primarily from white-nose syndrome (WNS), the Service is
requesting that information on all bat observations (i.e., captures, roost counts, and acoustic
detections) of all bat species be submitted, regardless of current Federal status.
Instructions:
The spreadsheet is divided into several worksheets (Capture Site Info, Capture Data, Roost Site
Info, Roost Count, Acoustic Site Info, Acoustic Survey Results, and Accepted Codes). It is
important to start by filling out the “Site Info” worksheets first for whichever surveys have
been completed because the information from these worksheets populates drop-down boxes
in other worksheets. The “Accepted Codes” worksheet provides a list of valid abbreviations
that are to be used in the Capture Data worksheet. It also includes a key to which fields are
required and which are optional.
Site Info Worksheets (Capture, Roost, or Acoustic): One site entry should be made for each
night of monitoring. For mist netting or harp trapping, a survey “site” is an area containing one
or more nets/traps in relatively close proximity that require surveyors no more than 10 minutes to
1

Prior to data submittal, permittees should ensure they are using the most current version of the permit
reporting spreadsheet, which will be available on the Service’s R3 Indiana Bat Summer Survey Guidance
web page (http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/mammals/inba/inbasummersurveyguidance.html).
2
Currently this spreadsheet is not suitable for submitting results of acoustic driving routes.
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walk between during net checks. One GPS point should be taken for each site. The latitude
(LAT) and longitude (LONG) should be entered in decimal degrees (NAD83) for the site either
by taking a point at the net with the most captures or within a centralized location at the site.
Please do not enter the location of each individual net as a site. Should a spreadsheet be
submitted this way the spreadsheet will be returned to the surveyor for revisions. The state and
county in which the survey was conducted are entered using drop-down menus. Once the
spreadsheet is turned into the Service the GPS points will be plotted and the county provided by
the surveyor will be compared to the county where the point actually is located. Sites where the
two values do not match will be flagged as possible bad GPS points. Surveyors responsible for
sites that are flagged will likely be contacted to verify the location of the survey site.
The type of survey refers to the survey method (e.g., mist-net, harp trap, or acoustic). If
surveyors used both mist-nets and harp traps at a particular site, only one entry needs to be made
in the Capture Site Info worksheet for each date. If acoustic detectors, in addition to either mistnets or harp traps, are used at the same site, one entry should be made for the acoustic monitoring
(and included in the Acoustic Site Info worksheet) and another one for the mist-net/harp trap.
The number of nets or traps, used on that particular date should be entered in the “Number of
Net sets/Trap Nights...” column (e.g., 2 mist-net sets and 1 harp trap set for one night equals 3
net/trap nights) 3. The “Habitat Type or Feature being Surveyed” column has a drop-down
menu with general descriptions of likely monitoring locations. Information on the federally
permitted individual(s) responsible for conducting the survey should be entered into the
designated columns. This information should be submitted even if no bats were
captured/detected during a survey night.
Capture Data: Within the Capture Data worksheet information may be entered one of two ways:
either through typing commonly used codes for species, age, sex, and reproductive condition (see
the “Accepted Codes” worksheet), or by using drop-down menus within the appropriate section
(Drop-down Data Entry) 4. If no bats were captured, type “nobats” in the species code column, or
select “No bats” in the scientific name column. The remaining information on captured bats (e.g.
weight, right forearm length, wing score, etc.) should then be completed. If samples were taken,
please provide additional information in the comments field. The “New band or recapture”
field should only be completed if the bat was banded. In the unlikely event that an existing band
is replaced with a new band the new band number should be listed in the Band ID column and
the old band number should listed in the comments. If the bat is radio tagged, the frequency 5
should be entered in the radio frequency field. This will auto-populate a drop-down menu on the
Roost Count worksheet. The “Site ID” field is a drop-down menu comprised of a concatenation
of the Project/Site/Date/Survey Type information from the Site Info 6. The Site ID that is
associated with each bat captured/detected should be selected. The Site Check column was added

3

Double or triple-high nets are considered as one net set.
If using the drop-down menus, it is not necessary to go back and fill out the abbreviated codes section.
5
If the bat is tagged with a coded nano tag the frequency recorded should be the radio frequency
combined with the code, e.g., freq: 151.922 code 101. In this example the value entered into the radio
frequency cell should be 151.922101. This value needs to remain a number in order for other portions of
the spreadsheet to work (e.g., 151.922-101 would cause errors).
6
If the drop-down appears blank, scroll up within the drop-down box to find the site name.
4

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in 2017 to verify that the submitted “Site ID” was valid. It should auto-populate with the project
name when a Site ID name is entered.
Roost Site Info: The roost worksheet requests much of the same information that is found within
the 2016 Range-Wide Indiana Bat Summer Survey Guidelines. Many cells are comprised of
drop-down menus to facilitate data entry. If the exact location of the roost was not accessible due
to terrain, access, etc. the approximate location of the roost may be entered by selecting
“triangulated” in the Location Accuracy column.
Roost count: This worksheet relies heavily on information from other worksheets in order to
simplify data entry. When a count is conducted only six pieces of information need to be entered:
the species of bat known to use the roost; the “Bat ID 7” (if a bat was radio tracked to this roost)
and “Roost ID”, which are derived from information from the Capture Data and Roost Site Info
worksheets respectively. If the radio tagged bat was occupying the tree the night the count was
conducted, select “yes” in the appropriate box; if the bat was absent from that tree, select “no”,
or “unknown” if it’s not known whether the bat is present the day of the count. This information
will be used to track bat movements between roost trees. Finally, the “Date” the survey occurred
and the “Total Emergence Count” observed on that date need to be entered. If multiple counts
occur at the same roost please enter all of the counts, including zero counts, not just the high
count. Should several radio tagged bats use the same roost on the same date, create a separate
entry for each radio-tracked bat (for an example see Table 2.) 8. In instances where either no
counts were conducted at a roost, or the exact location of the roost was not determined (i.e., the
position was determined through triangulation) it is still necessary to enter data into the Roost
Count worksheet. Enter all of the pertinent information (Species, Bat_ID, Roost_ID, and Date).
For triangulated roosts, the Date should be the date the roost was located, and “Used by this bat
the night of the count?” should be “yes”, the emergence count should be left blank (see example
below).
Table 2. Example of roost count data involving 3 bats, two of which used the same tree on the
first night, but used different trees on the second night.
Used by this bat
Roost_ID
Total
Bat ID
the night of this
(use dropEmergence
Date
Comment
(if applicable)
count? (if
down menu)
Count
applicable)
150.001-CCW Yes
CC RT1
35 5/15/2017
151.002-CCW Yes
CC RT1
35 5/15/2017
150.001-CCW Yes
CC RT1
40 5/16/2017
151.002-CCW Yes
CC RT2
2 5/16/2017
No count
150.003-CCW Yes
CC RT 3
5/17/2017
conducted
149.003-CCW Yes
CC RT4
5/17/2017 Triangulated

7
8

The Bat_ID is a combination of the radio frequency used to track the bat and project name.
This is to facilitate the tracking of individual bats.

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Acoustic Survey Results: Enter each species detected during the survey, and the bat ID software
program used to identify that species. The number of calls identified for each species should
include the total number of calls identified by the computer program plus the number of calls that
were qualitatively identified. If more than one program is used to analyze data from a site, each
species identified should be included on a separate line for each software program used to
identify that species (even though this may create multiple lines with the same species). The Bat
ID Software Program Used column is supplied with a drop-down menu of programs currently
approved for use for summer surveys of Indiana bats 9. The version of the ID software program
used should also be identified in the Version column. Be sure to include the MLE value for all
species, not just the federally-listed species. In order to simplify reporting, surveyors only need
to include those species/categories where the MLE value is significant (i.e., ≤ 0.05). If there are
no instances where the MLE value is significant for a particular survey night select “No bats” on
the Acoustic Survey Results worksheet for that night. The number of calls confirmed through
qualitative ID should be indicated for each site by species including the full name of the
individual providing the qualitative ID. As with previous worksheets, the “Site ID” column is a
drop-down menu comprised of a concatenation of the Project/Site/Date/Survey Type information
from the Acoustic Site Info worksheet. The Site ID check column should auto-populate with the
name of the project, if it does not, then the Site ID is not valid.
DO NOT move columns or adjust the format of this spreadsheet.
Naming instructions for saving files:
•
•

•

If all of the surveys for a permit number are on one spreadsheet (this can be multiple
states), save the file as that permit number (e.g., TE000000).
If all of the surveys have the same permit number and but are on several spreadsheets
broken up by states, use the permit number and then list out the state names (e.g.,
TE000000_OHIO_INDIANA, TE000000_IOWA).
If there are multiple permit numbers from the same organization/individual’s name, use
the organization/individual’s name and the state or states (e.g., Leibii_Inc_OHIO). To
avoid confusion, this should include every survey that organization/individual conducted
in that state.

Please coordinate within your organization to ensure that multiple individuals aren’t submitting
the same data.
For questions about using USFWS spreadsheets contact your local Service Field Office.
Software developers seeking technical assistance with the USFWS spreadsheets should contact
Keith Lott at keith_lott@fws.gov

9

A current list of Service-approved acoustic programs/versions is available at
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/mammals/inba/surveys/inbaAcousticSoftware.html

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Lessons learned, an abridged list of the most common issues from 2016:
1. Surveyors copying/pasting data into the spreadsheet caused numerous issues in 2016.
Copying/pasting data overrides the data validation included into the spreadsheet. It also
deleted information in some columns that were hidden, thus the Site and Bat ID numbers
were not appearing in the appropriate drop-down menus.
Solution: The hidden columns that were commonly overwritten have been moved
to the ends of the spreadsheets and additional R-code has been written to detect
some of the more common issues.
2. The Site Info worksheet is meant to summarize the information collected for the site, and
is not meant for individual net locations. For example, if you’re walking between 3 nets
during a night those nets would be included on a single line of the Capture Site Info
worksheet and “3” would be entered into the “Number of Net sets/Trap nights for this
Date at the Site”.
3. “New band or recapture” this should only be filled in if the bat is banded.
Solution: A reminder has been incorporated into the spreadsheet.
4. Surveyors entering invalid data into the Site column on the Capture Data or Acoustic
Survey Results or Roost Count worksheets.
Solution: Check columns have been added. When valid data is input or selected
the Check column will auto-populate with the project name or “Good”.
5. If the exact location of the roost was not accessible due to terrain, access, etc. the
approximate location of the roost may be entered by selecting “triangulated” in the
Location Accuracy column.
6. Remember that if you survey a site for a night and don’t record or capture any bats to
enter “No bats” for that night of surveying. These observations are important for two
reasons 1) it documents that the level of effort for that site was sufficient for a
presence/absence survey 2) it is used to calculate a catch per effort to look at trends in
bat captures.

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