Introducing Savanna
Seasonal biotechnician with the National Park Service
Introducing Savanna, a seasonal biological science technician for Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. Originally from Iowa, Savanna studied biology and French at Central College in Pella, Iowa where she unexpectedly fell in love with studying nature. After graduation, she interned with a conservation non-profit where she traveled the state of Iowa and removed invasive species. The diversity of plants and animals she witnessed in a state that’s widely known for its monoculture crops surprised her! Following that internship, she knew she wanted to work in conservation and took a position with Minnesota GreenCorps near the Twin Cities doing environmental education work. This past summer and fall, Savanna worked predominantly with the National Park Service along the Mississippi River on wildlife monitoring projects, including a long-term bat acoustic monitoring project and a study exploring beaver impacts on floodplain forest regeneration. In her free time, Savanna enjoys running sporadically, rock climbing, drinking homemade oat milk lattes while petting her roommate's cats, and exploring Minnesota parks!
Savanna, Maggie and Rachael bat monitoring
For bats, flying at night is less risky, as daytime bird predators like hawks are unable to hunt and fly well in the dark. For insectivorous bats, it may be linked to increased activity at night of insects that are preferred food. For example, lots of Minnesota bats enjoy a tasty moth snack. Some scientists also argue that insect-eating bird species are not active at night, so bats have less competition for food. Whatever the reason for choosing to fly in darkness, Minnesota bats evolved an incredible ability to navigate jumbled, pitch-black forests in search of tasty snacks using high-frequency sound. Imagine rapidly flying through a forest wearing a blindfold and successfully catching an insect smaller than a grain of rice without running into anything.
bat monitor set up
This past summer, Savanna led the park's annual acoustic monitoring study of the Twin Cities Mississippi corridor and coordinated the placement and movement of acoustic monitors across 28 field sites along the Mississippi River. Imagine a green 5”x 7” box attached to a small (but mighty) microphone on a long pole and extended out along trails, roads, and other cutlines that bats use for flyways.
The study is a part of a long-term effort to monitor bat populations across the Great Lakes region. It began in response to the rapid spread of white-nose syndrome throughout North America and is replicated across 8 Great Lakes Inventory Network parks including MISS.
"I would leave the acoustic monitors up for 7 nights and then return to retrieve them. Then I would send the stored data to the Great Lakes network." Over time, this project is monitoring the health of bat populations and will promote awareness of the importance of native bats in Minnesota. Bat species seek out the presence of water to feed off insects and they often move about via water corridors, so a park oriented around a river is one of the best places to study bats!
Now that it's winter, many animals go into hibernation or migrate south. Savanna explains why some bats may migrate while other bats don't, “When winter comes along, all critters have adaptations that allow them to survive. Native Minnesota bat species chose to either short-term migrate to local/regional caves or long-term migrate to the southern United States and even Central America. There are benefits and repercussions to both. Overwintering poses a threat as insect resources are sparse and if local cave hibernating bats fail to store up enough fat or are woken up too many times throughout the winter, they risk starvation. If they are successful, they avoid a long, dangerous journey south and are ready to emerge alongside insect populations in the spring. Long-term migration is a dangerous journey requiring good health and energy use. If the migration is successful, long-distance migrants will feast all winter in the warm south. It is hard to argue why a given species choose a method. Many tropical birds evolved migration to northern places in the summer because of limited territory and food resources in the tropics, and I would argue the same may be true for some bat species like the Hoary Bat that live in Minnesota in summer.”
A couple of weeks ago, Savanna presented for a Lunch n’ Learn series. Watch Savannas’ presentation: https://vimeo.com/782951587
View our past blog posts related to bats.:
Interested in becoming a seasonal biotechnician with the National Park Service next summer? Learn more about applying for federal jobs here: https://fb.watch/hxKI_DpSo4/