SUMMER ROOST SITE SELECTION OF A DECLINING BAT SPECIES

Date

2022-05

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Austin Peay State University

Abstract

The tri-colored bat (PERIMYOTIS SUBFLAVUS) is a hibernating North American bat species that uses forested landscapes during summer months; however, information on the summer habitat requirements is limited. Summer habitats are critical to population persistence as they support multiple life history stages, including maternity colonies, nursery sites, and foraging locations. As tri-colored bats are highly susceptible to white-nose syndrome, a devastating disease that increases energy expenditure over hibernation, determining the resources that are important for building pre-hibernation fat stores is crucial to their population persistence. My objective was to quantify the characteristics of roost sites selected by tri-colored bats during the summer. I captured, tagged, and tracked 15 bats using radio-telemetry to 55 roost locations. At each roost, I recorded roost habitat characteristics and other forest descriptions within a 0.1 ha circular plot surrounding the roost tree. I repeated these measurements for three random trees per roost tree to serve as available habitat for selection. I used a suite of mixed conditional logistic regression models to test five competing hypotheses describing factors known to influence roost-site selection for various bat species. The top model demonstrated that roost selection was influenced by roost tree height, which may be linked to microclimatic factors. There is a critical information gap for the ongoing recovery of tri-colored bats; better understanding of summer habitat and proper forest management implications, as well as information on scale-specific habitat selection, is needed to better understand tri-colored bat management needs.

Description

Keywords

Tri-colored bat, Bats -- Ecology --Fort Campbell (Ky. and Tenn.)

Citation

DOI