The implications of acoustic software match ratios for bat species identification and composition

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Jazmyn Broxton, Laura Nicholson and Christina Romagosa, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, Jazmyn Broxton, DDCSP Collaborative, Jazmyn Broxton, ESA SEEDS Programs, Elizabeth C. Braun de Torrez and Holly Ober, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Gainesville, FL, Raymond R. Carthy, Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, U.S. Geological Survey, Gainesville, FL

Background/Question/Methods
The conservation of species and their habitats are a vital focus for environmental managers. For bats and other threatened species groups, acoustic software plays a crucial role in species monitoring. This increasingly popular tool allows environmental managers to gain a better understanding of species composition and distribution among different habitats for species-specific management practices. However, there is limited data regarding the efficacy of the identification software and low agreement among scientists regarding a standard confidence-level setting (match ratio) across acoustic studies. This project sought to understand how alteration of the match ratio feature on the acoustic software, Kaleidoscope, affected species composition and whether the manipulation of the match ratio changed the conclusions of a preliminary environmental impact study exploring the effects of hydrologic restoration on bat activity in southwest Florida. This analysis used recordings from 68 sites randomly stratified across Picayune Strand State Forest and Fakahatchee Strand State Park. Call files were processed and identified through Kaleidoscope pro software. We then compared the number of calls per species across match ratios and ran one-way ANOVAS for each species to determine the significance of these changes.
Results/Conclusions
Overall, match ratio did not significantly affect the conclusions of the environmental impact case study. However, match ratio did significantly change conclusions for three species: the Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis), the Northern yellow bat (Lasiurus intermedius), and the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus EPTFUS). These findings suggest that match ratio can have a significant impact on the findings of habitat use intensity and environmental impact studies for some bat species. These conclusions emphasize the importance of acknowledging the effect that automatic classification settings can have on results and can help inform species-specific management decisions and monitoring protocols for species sensitive to these setting changes.