Microbat fieldwork underway!

WCL PhD student Rani Davis has started her fieldwork on the pest control benefits of microbats in macadamia orchards in South East Queensland, Australia.

Releasing a Broad-nosed bat (genus Scotorepens) captured at one of Rani’s study sites. This bat was radio-tracked to a nearby roost for another PhD project on microbats in South East Queensland. Photo: Hiro Kidoguchi.

Rani Davis collecting a scat sample from an Eastern Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus megaphyllus). Photo: Robin Rowland.

Since September 2024, Rani has been monitoring the abundance of key macadamia pests and microbat activity within orchards, visiting known microbat roosts, and most excitingly... catching microbats!

By visiting roosts and catching bats, Rani is collecting valuable scat samples to understand the diet of microbats in this agricultural system.

To date, she has captured 10 microbat species within macadamia orchards in South East Queensland.  

Long-eared bats, like the one pictured above (Nyctophilus Bifax), are commonly captured within the macadamia orchards that Rani is surveying. Photo: Hiro Kidoguchi.

Rani Davis holding an Eastern Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus megaphyllus) after collecting a scat sample. Photo: Robin Rowland.

Through this fieldwork, Rani aims to investigate the extent to which microbats consume key agricultural pests, and how their diet changes in relation to pest abundance over the course of the growing season.

This first season of fieldwork will provide key insights and lots of learning opportunities to guide Rani’s PhD research moving forward.