2010 Program and Abstracts

15th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Bat Diversity Network
and 20th Colloquium on Conservation of Mammals in the Southeastern United States
February 18-19, 2010
Asheville, NC

Downloads:

• Program and Abstracts (pdf 184 Kb)
• Summary of the 2010 SBDN and Mammal Colloquium Annual Meeting (pdf 116 Kb) by M.K. Clark.

SUMMARY OF THE 2010 SBDN AND MAMMAL COLLOQUIUM ANNUAL MEETING

On February 18th and 19th 2010 the 15th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Bat Diversity Network (SBDN) and 20th Colloquium on the Conservation of Mammals in the Southeastern United States (Mammal Colloquium) was held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Asheville, N.C. Both meetings were well-attended, bringing to the Appalachian Mountains a wide diversity from state and federal agencies, academic institutions, private business, non-governmental organizations, tribal environmental agencies, and caving groups. Registration for both meetings totaled 152.

SBDN Meeting-Thursday, 18 February 2010

The events began on Thursday morning with an SBDN Board meeting led by President Darren Miller. In the afternoon at the regular annual meeting over 120 attended the presentations. A special session on White Nose Syndrome attracted 25 members of two local caving grottos (Flittermouse Grotto and Mountain Empire Grotto) and likely boosted attendance from regular members.

The annual meeting began with the business session led by Darren Miller who called on officers and committee members for reports. Treasurer Tim Carter's report was followed by accounts of activities from the following committees: Awards (Susan Loeb), Bat Blitz (Joy O'Keefe), Bat Database (Eric Britzke), SE Bat Coordinator Position (Bree McMurray) and White Nose Syndrome (Tom Risch). Activities by state were summarized by Bree McMurray.

2010 Board of Directors. Front L-R: Dennis Krusac, Joy O'Keefe, Bree McMurray, Nikki Castleberry, Trina Morris. Back L-R: Tom Risch, Darren Miller, Michael Baker, Tim Carter, Brian Carver, Bob Currie.

Two awards were presented to members. Troy Best, Auburn University professor and Curator of Mammals, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for decades of research and conservation work with bats in the Southeast and other areas. His educational efforts have produced many fine biologists and conservationists and his work with professional and conservation organizations have significantly furthered bat and mammal research, education and conservation in the Southeastern states and elsewhere. Mary K. Clark received an SBDN Service Award for commitment to SBDN spanning the 15 years of the existence of the group and in the years of group formation.

The annual business meeting concluded with a discussion about re-organizing the leadership structure for the SBDN. Members were asked to comment about changing the organizational structure; all comments were positive regarding changes proposed (read proposal). An announcement was made that the defunct SBDN newsletter, Nightwing News, will be resurrected and a call for a volunteer editor was made.

After the break the remainder of the annual meeting was devoted to a special session on White Nose Syndrome (WNS) organized by SBDN member Eric Britzke. Presentations included an update on the spread of WNS (Jeremy Coleman, WNS coordinator, US Fish and Wildlife Service), decontamination procedures (Hazel Barton, Northern Kentucky University), current lab investigations (Kevin Keel, Assistant Research Scientist, Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, University of Georgia), a review of the Kentucky response plan (Brooke Slack, Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife), and documentation of baseline data using acoustic surveys (Eric Britzke, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center ). The 15th annual SBDN meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. after a panel discussion between the audience and the WNS session speakers. (Watch Coleman, Keel and Barton videos).

Social and Silent Auction- Thursday evening, 18 February 2010

On Thursday evening a Social for attendees of both the SBDN annual meeting and the Mammal Colloquium was held in the Top of the Plaza at the Renaissance Hotel. Friends and colleagues mingled and enjoyed abundant food and beverage from 7:00 p.m. until midnight. Susan Loeb, chair of the SBDN Awards Committee, arranged a silent auction during the Social to raise funds for the student awards program. The auction was a huge success, winning bids totaled $604.50.

Auction items were contributed by Speleobooks, Bat Conservation International (BCI), Chester Martin (original artwork - a roosting Rafinesque's big-eared bat), Dennis Krusac (2 handcrafted pens), Elizabeth Evans (handmade longleaf pine needle basket), Jennifer Rae Atkins (3 Myotis prints), and Steve Mitchell (bat boxes plus other items). Many thanks to BCI, Speleobooks and all of the other donors that provided items for the silent auction.

Mammal Colloquium-Friday, 19 February 2010

The meeting convened at 7:50 a.m. A total of 24 oral and 8 posters were scheduled for the Colloquium on Friday, February 19th. Twelve students entered the oral presentation competition, four entered the poster competition. Two poster sessions were held, one in mid-morning and one mid-afternoon. Friday morning the two sessions of oral presentations primarily featured students entered in the student awards competition.

The first session after lunch was composed of invited speakers and organized by local committee members Joy O'Keefe (USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station) and Matina Kalcounis-Rüppell (University of N.C. Greensboro). This Symposium on the Summer and Winter Ecology of Three Cave Myotis in the Southeast featured five research and conservation presentations related to the Myotis known to have been affected by White Nose Syndrome at that time-leibii, lucifugus and septentrionalis. These species are not receiving federal conservation protection, but are likely to experience substantial population declines throughout the southeast region due to White Nose Syndrome. The session concluded with a group discussion.

Student Award Winners

Acknowledgements

In addition to registration fees, we received substantial financial contributions from members that allowed us to provide plentiful break food and beverage and a large reception with free beverages. Many thanks to Copperhead Consulting (Mark Gumbert, Paint Lick KY), Mountain State Biosurveys LLC (Keith Johnson, Lesage WV), Moonlight Consulting (Mary Clark, Raleigh NC) Nightwing Consulting (David Saugey, Jessieville AR) and the N. C. Bat Working Group (Mary Frazer, Raleigh NC). Clark Bros. LLC (Elizabethtown NC) and Clearwater Enterprises (White Lake NC) provided computer, internet, copy and printing services. The N. C. Dept of Transportation assisted with program printing. Steven Mitchell (N. C. Dept. of Transportation, Raleigh NC), Ben Hess (N. C. State Museum, Raleigh NC) and Ed Corey (N. C. State Parks, Raleigh NC) did a stellar job of registering participants and selling conference T-shirts. Mary Kay Clark chaired the local host team that consisted of members of the N. C. Bat Working Group - Mary Frazer (N. C. Dept. of Transportation Raleigh NC), Lisa Gatens (N. C. State Museum, Raleigh NC) , Matina Kalcounis-Rüppell (University of North Carolina - Greensboro) and Joy O'Keefe (USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station, Clemson SC). Suzanne Escovitz, Lois Davis and Dennis Donnelly of the Asheville Renaissance Hotel worked with us to create affordable lodging rates and ensure that our that all meeting space was adequate and events at the Renaissance went smoothly. Thank you to all the presenters, to those who arranged special sessions and to the moderators and AV personnel that kept the sessions going. Members of the Flittermouse Grotto and Mountain Empire Grotto networked to get White Nose Syndrome session information to local grotto members. This was one of the largest annual meetings of the two groups and we are appreciative of the effort made to attend the 2010 bat and mammal meetings in these tough economic times.