Microbats are an essential part of healthy urban ecosystems and play an important role in regulating insect populations in the City of Melbourne.

Climate change is predicted to increase threats from pest insect populations, and has the potential to cause significant and costly damage to the urban ecosystems and human health. Microbats are one of our first lines of defence.

In February and March 2020, the City of Melbourne partnered with the University of Melbourne to deliver a Microbat BioBlitz. With very little information existing about microbats in the city, the aim was to establish baseline microbat biodiversity data for the city, while also engaging the community and providing opportunities to connect with nature.

The Microbat Bioblitz featured 16 citizen science events held over three weeks in a range of different park locations:

• Mini Microbat BioBlitzes: We held 15 mini-blitz events where over 200 citizen scientists in total helped researchers set up nets, safely capture microbats and record and identify their distinctive calls. Data was collected across five locations across Royal Park, Fitzroy Gardens, Carlton Gardens and Kings Domain.
• The Big Microbat BioBlitz: On Saturday 8 February, we held a large, family friendly event at the Royal Park Tennis Club with almost 100 attendees. This featured bat-crafts, presentations from experts and an opportunity for members of the public to see live bats up close through a captive microbat exhibit.

Citizen science surveys showed a total of five species present across the parks surveyed. The most abundant species found was Gould’s wattled bat (Chalinolobus gouldii). We detected the most calls from this species (31 per cent of identified calls) and even managed to safely capture and release three adult Gould’s wattled bats, two males and one female.

Other species identified from their distinctive calls were the Chocolate wattled bat (Chalinolobus morio), Little forest bat (Vespadelus vulturnus), White-striped free-tail bat (Austronomous australis) and Southern free-tailed bat (Ozimops planiceps).

Overall, the microbat community across the city was characterised by relatively low microbat diversity, and a disproportionately high level of Gould’s wattled bat activity.

Why was this the case? We suspect this species’ combination of adaptable roosting and foraging behaviour likely drives its success in urban landscapes.

Findings will help inform how we manage open spaces and provide habitat and resources for these remarkable creatures.

Additional surveys

During March and April, a further data collection period using static bat detectors mounted in trees was undertaken after the citizen science events. The purpose of these surveys was to understand if the survey methodology using citizen scientists reduced the quality or quantity of data collected.

Findings were similar, although a further two species were identified: the Lesser long-eared bat (Nyctophilus geoffroyi), and Large forest bat (Vespadelus darlingtoni). This was mostly because the static bat detectors can collect data for much longer periods of time, but some bat species may also avoid the presence of people.