Southern Research Station

Title: Evening bat summer roost-site selection on a managed pine landscape

Author: Hein, Chris D.; Miller, Karl V.; Castleberry, Steven B.

Date: 2009

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Description: 

Creation and maintenance of forested corridors to increase landscape heterogeneity has been practiced for decades but is a new concept in intensively managed southern pine (Pinus spp.) forest.  Additionally, more information is needed on bat ecology within such forest systems.  Therefore, we examined summer roost-site selection by evening bats (Nycticeius humeralis) in an intensively managed landscape with forested corridors in southeastern South Carolina, USA, 2003-2006.  We radiotracked 53 (26 M,27 F) adult evening bats 75 (31 M, 44F) diurnal roosts.  We modeled landscape-level roost-site selection with logistic regression and elevated models using Akaike’s Information Criterion for small samples.  Model selection results indicated that mature (>40 yr) mixed pine-hardwood stands were important roost sites for male and lactating female evening  bats.  Upland forested corridors, comprised of mature pine or mixed pine-hardwoods, were important roosting habitats for males and, to a lesser extent, lactating females.  Male roosts were farther from open stands and lactating females roosts were farther from mid-rotation stands than randomly selected structures.   Our results suggest most structures (i.e large trees and snags) in mature forests are important habitat components for evening bats.  We recommend maintaining older (>40 yr old) stand conditions in the form of forest stands or corridors across managed landscapes to provide roosting habitat.  Furthermore, our results suggest that an understanding of sex-specific roost-site selection is critical for developing comprehensive guidelines foe creating and maintaining habitat features beneficial to forest bats (JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT 73 (4):511-517, 2009)

Keywords: Evening bat, forested corridors, forest management, intensively managed forests, model selection, Nycticeius humeralis, pine, Pinus ssp., roost-site selection, South Carolina.

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Citation

Hein, Chris D.; Miller, Karl V.; Castleberry, Steven B.  2009.  Evening bat summer roost-site selection on a managed pine landscape.   .