Housing Support: On-site housing available, at no cost to Fellow

Housing Description: The host site location is the Ozark Plateau NWR. Housing will be provided by the Sequoyah NWR or the Ozark Plateau NWR, depending on which has availability.

The refuges are approximately 85 miles from the Tulsa Ecological Services (ES)office. The Fellow would regularly work from the refuge, and occasionally come into the Tulsa ES office to meet with the ES staff helping to oversee and supervise this project. A work vehicle will be available for transportation from the refuge where the Fellow is housed to the Tulsa ES office.

For Sequoyah, all necessary amenities, such as grocery stores, can be found nearby in the towns of Vian (6 miles) and Sallisaw (27 miles). Sequoyah has a modular home with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living area, kitchen, dining area, and a laundry room. For Ozark, all necessary amenities can be found nearby in the town of Siloam Springs, AR (21 miles). The housing at Ozark Plateau NWR has a bedroom, bathroom, living room, full kitchen, and a washer and dryer.

Valid Driver’s License: Required

Transportation Support Description: No public transportation is available at this site location. A personal vehicle or alternate mode of transportation at the Fellow’s expense, is required for commuting to and from work and personal needs. For personal transportation, such as grocery store trips, the Fellow will use their personal vehicle. For work, a vehicle will be available for the Fellow to use to travel from the refuge to the Tulsa ES office and to travel from the refuge to field sites with others from the refuge or ES offices.

Position Description: The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) is a coordinated bat monitoring program across North America. This collaborative effort allows us to assess bat population status and trends, inform responses to stressors, and sustain viable populations.

We have many years of historical bat data across the southwest region from capture efforts, colony counts, mobile transects, and stationary acoustic monitoring, that have not yet been incorporated into the NABat database. The primary deliverable will be a compilation of legacy data that will be uploaded to the NABat Partner Portal, allowing for a more accurate assessment of bat population status and trends across the region.

These data will be used to inform species status assessments, recovery planning, changes in relative abundance in post-white nose syndrome (WNS) areas, and may also be used to guide consultation and other conservation planning processes for Endangered Species Act (ESA) compliance. Efforts to incorporate legacy data will ensure that we are consistently using the best available information to inform our decision processes.

We also have many years of WNS and Pd (the fungal pathogen that causes WNS) surveillance data. These data currently exist as individual reports from the U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center and cooperating university labs. A secondary deliverable will be a compilation of these data and, if time allows, the development of an accessible on-line mapping tool that would allow users to search by species, date, location, results, sample type, etc., to better understand the current status and the progression of the disease across the region.

Many bat species can be identified through acoustic monitoring and the use of automated species identification software can facilitate this process. However, manual vetting of acoustic data is often necessary for reliable species identification. The manual vetting process is a specialized skill set that will be fostered through this opportunity. The selected candidate will also have opportunities to assist with bat data collection through acoustic monitoring and colony counts.

To implement this position, the selected Fellow will be responsible for:

• Compiling existing stationary acoustic data,
• Compiling existing mobile acoustic data,
• Compiling existing museum specimen data,
• Uploading data to the NABat partner portal,
• Assisting with bat emergence counts, and
• Assisting with acoustic data collection.

Minimum Education Level: Open for consideration to undergraduate rising seniors/seniors and graduate students who will not complete their degree requirements before September 22, 2024.

Fields of Study:

• Biological Sciences
• Education/Outreach
• Geographic and Information Sciences
• Information Technology/Computer Sciences

Working Conditions Requirements: 

• Ability to conduct field work involving hiking and carrying equipment
• Ability and willingness to live in refuge housing during the Fellowship
• Ability and willingness to periodically commute the Tulsa ES Office from the refuge
• Ability and willingness to do occasional work at night for acoustic data collection and bat exit counts, along with a potential overnight stay at a different site when conducting field work

Desired Characteristics: 

• Interpersonal communication skills
• Project management experience
• Leadership roles (school, extracurricular, etc.)
• Teamwork skills
• Data management skills