UMIT develops sensor platform to monitor Tirol bat colonies

A technology developed by UMIT Tirol, a private university, will provide detailed insights into bat colonies in churches across Tirol, ORF reports.

The work focuses on maternity roosts where endangered bats raise their young. Researchers are studying colonies of the greater and lesser mouse-eared bats at parish churches in Walchsee and Unterlangkampfen, and at Wilten Abbey.

In a pilot study, UMIT Tirol researchers developed a multi-sensor platform that automatically collects radio-frequency identification, acoustic and video data at several locations. The information can show how the bats move, how colonies are structured and when they are active, as well as how environmental factors affect them.

The pilot study is intended to lay the groundwork for long-term monitoring, tracking established colonies’ activity patterns over several years and providing a fuller picture of changes in their populations.

UMIT’s Fiona von der Straten is involved in the research, with support from Johanna Hetterscheidt and the head of the university’s Institute of Measurement and Sensor Technology. The work is part of the international Interreg project CABLES, which also involves Ecotone’s Christoph Walder, the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie and the University of Padua.