Towards standardized descriptions of the echolocation calls of microchiropteran bats: pulse design terminology for seventeen species from Queensland

The identification of Australian microchiropteran bats using acoustics is in its infancy, with the Anabat System (Corben 1989) predominantly being adopted as a tool to undertake such a task. Although species-significant call characteristics of free-flying bats have not been documented, identification of bats is generally achieved by comparison of recorded calls with calls accompanying the software and/or release calls of captured bats. This practice can be unreliable if a mechanism to describe the call characteristics is not in place for workers to describe their assessments. A much needed part of this mechanism is a common language of ultrasonic terms to facilitate the exchange of information among bat workers. By way of contributing to this need, a terminology to classify the structure of calls (shapes) and another of call parameters was developed. A selection of call parameters, based on international microchiropteran literature, was adapted for Anabat use. The proposed terminologies were used, with the measurement of chosen parameters of selected recordings, to describe some of the call characteristics of seventeen species of microchiropteran bats occurring in southeastern Queensland.