Register with iBats

1. Register with the site at by clicking on Register at the bottom-right of the home page. Fill in your details (you can ignore the “Upload Avatar” box if you wish by checking the “Check to upload later” box). Click on “Register and Sign In Now”. You should now be signed into the site. Next time you visit you can simply put in your email address and password into the boxes at the bottom-right hand corner of the home page to sign in. Don’t forget to sign in whenever you visit the site.

Join a Project

2. To join an existing project (for example the UK project) click on ‘Projects’ on the menu bar, then on ‘Join a Project’. Put a tick in the check box of the project you wish to join (for example, for the UK put a tick in the iBatsUK box). The moderator of the project will then be contacted and will be in touch.

View the Survey Protocol and Equipment List

3. To view the survey protocol click on ‘Monitoring’ on the menu bar and then click on ‘Monitoring protocol’. You can download a copy of the protocol, recording sheet and software manual for GPSTuner in pdf format under ‘Support Materials’ on the right hand side of the page. View a list of equipment required by clicking on ‘Equipment’ on the menu bar.

  Upload your Survey Data Sheet, Sound Files and GPS Data

4. Once you have completed a survey click on ‘Monitoring’ on the menu bar and then click on ‘Add an event’ to upload your data. Make sure you agree to the ‘Consent to release records’ statement and then select your project (e.g., ‘iBatsBulgaria’) from the menu at the bottom of the page. Select ‘Enter New Event’ and then fill in the following information.

• Is this a new route?– select ‘Yes’ if this is the first time the route has been surveyed, ‘No’ if it’s a repeat survey.
• Route name - choose a name for the route – e.g., tabachka
  
• Event Date – select survey date using the calendar
  
• Event Owner – select someone who participated in the survey to be the event owner. Only event owners have the ability of editing the information about the survey after it has been uploaded.
  

Click on SUBMIT

Click on each of the following to enter/upload the relevant information

• People – add the names of people involved in the survey
  
• Equipment – leave these blank if your project has not been assigned any numbered registered equipment from the iBats Program, otherwise select your equipment from the drop down menu.
  
• Conditions – fill out information for conditions before and after the survey (leave it blank if you don’t have a value)
  
• Wildlife – follow the instructions to enter details of any wildlife encountered on the route
  
• GPS upload – follow the instructions to upload your gps file
  
• Sound upload – follow the instructions to upload your sound file.
  

Click EXIT EVENT to finish entering data

  View the Sound Analysis Protocol

5. Click on ‘Sound analysis’ on the menu bar and the click on ‘Sound analysis protocol’ to view the protocol for analysing bat sounds using BatSound (details to follow for Wavesurfer). You can see examples of bat calls by clicking on ‘Bat call guide’.

  Download Sound Sequences to Analyse

6. To download sound files from the online database do the following:

• Click on ‘Sound analysis’ on the menu bar and then click on ‘Soundgrab’.
  
• Select your project from the list (e.g., iBatsRomania), select the survey route you would like to analyse from the list and click the SELECT button.
  
• The sound file from the whole survey route has been split into manageable 5 minute chunks (0-5 mins, 5 – 10 mins, etc). Select the one you would like to download and click the MAKE A CHUNK button. Right click on the sound file name that appears at the bottom of the page and select ‘Save as…’ to download that chunk to your computer.  

  Upload your Sound Analysis Data

7. Once you have analysed your sound files following the iBats sound analysis protocol do the following to upload your data to the database:

• Click on ‘Analyze sound’ in the menu and select your project from the list at the bottom of the page (e.g, Tha'iBats).
• Select the survey route (event) you have analysed from the drop down list
  
• If this is the first time you have tried to enter data about an event you will be asked what the time expansion and sample rate is. It is usually ‘x10’ and ‘320ms’ unless you have changed the standard protocols.
  
• Now you will go through the whole list selecting those 5 minutes in which you have recorded bat sounds. Each time you select yes, another set of input boxes will appear.
  
• At the bottom of the page, enter the start time of the beginning the 320ms snapshot in which you first recorded a bat call. Enter the number of social call sequences in the box (If none, enter 0).
  
• Next you need to enter data about any echolocation call sequences that you have found. Click on the ADD button to do this.
  
• In the box that appears, enter data for the clearest echolocation call in each of the sequences you have found.
  
• Click either ADD to add another call from another sequence in the same 320ms snapshot or click the FINISH button.
  
• iBats tries to identify the species that the call belongs for you and automatically fills this in. However, if you want to change this then click on the edit button next to the species name and click on the species (one or more) that you think it is.
  
• To enter call sequence data from another 320ms snapshot within the same 5 minute sound file enter the start time of the beginning the 320ms snapshot in which you first recorded a bat call as before. To finish entering data for this 5 minute sound file click the FINISH button.
  
• To enter data from another 5 minute sound file following the instructions above.
  
• Note that you can change your data after entering it by clicking on the EDIT buttons.

  View Project Reports

8. To view a project report click on ‘REPORTS’ in the menu bar and then click on ‘Project Report’. Select your project and this will display:

• A map of the survey routes within your project area (e.g., New York).

• Click on the markers to view the route name.

• A table showing the routes surveyed.

• Click on the route name to view the dates on which the route was surveyed.
• You can download a copy of the GPS route by clicking on GPS.
• Click on Details to view the data collected during the survey.

Maps showing survey routes and the distribution of bats encountered, as well as summary tables of bats encountered along routes, will be available shortly.