Evaluation of Landscape-level Habitat Attributes of Indiana Bats (Myotis Sodalis) Autumn Home Ranges in the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Evaluation of Landscape-level Habitat Attributes of Indiana Bats (Myotis Sodalis) Autumn Home Ranges in the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama PDF full book. Access full book title Evaluation of Landscape-level Habitat Attributes of Indiana Bats (Myotis Sodalis) Autumn Home Ranges in the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama by Benjamin Battlle. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Benjamin Battlle
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bats
Languages : en
Pages : 82
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Benjamin Battlle
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bats
Languages : en
Pages : 82
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bats
Languages : en
Pages : 24
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Habitat (Ecology)
Languages : en
Pages : 54
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bats
Languages : en
Pages : 752
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Andrew Broni Kniowski
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 95
Get Book Here
Book Description
Abstract: The majority of the summer range of the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) is within agricultural areas, yet despite known negative effects of agriculture, few studies have examined the ecology of the Indiana bat within a highly agricultural landscape. To evaluate the effects of agriculture on Indiana bats I asked the following questions: 1. Do Indiana bats selectively use habitat within an agriculturally-dominated landscape? 2. Do Indiana bats select habitat differently at different spatial scales within an agricultural landscape? And 3. Do Indiana bats select and use habitat within an agricultural landscape differently than other areas of their range? From a study area along Big Darby Creek in Pickaway Co. Ohio USA, I captured 60 Indiana bats (including five recaptured bats) July-September 2008, April-September 2009, and April-September 2010. I calculated home ranges of 32 individuals that had an average area of 210.5 ha ± 130.6 SD. I used distance based analysis to evaluate habitat selection within the home range, and at 1200 m and 4000 m spatial scales. At each scale, bats selected areas closer to forest and open water and farther from cropland than was expected by chance. The bats heavily used the wooded creek corridor, but also utilized wooded patches in upland areas. I tracked 51 bats to 56 roost trees 474 times. The bats used roost trees in a variety of locations and across a broad area. Most roost trees were located within the wooded creek corridor, but seven were more than 1 km from open water. I evaluated the location of roost trees within the landscape at 1200 m and 4000 m spatial scales. Roost trees were not located randomly at either spatial scale. The only significant factor in both cases was the distance to open water. There was also was a significant difference in physical characteristics of used and available roost trees (A = 0.257, P = 0.025) and primary and secondary roost trees (A = 0.032, P = 0.013). Widely scattered roosts suggest Indiana bat colonies use a broad area within the context of an agricultural landscape. The selection of habitats in a highly agricultural landscape appears similar to other landscapes and the selection is consistent over a broad range of spatial scales. Preserving forested areas with ample supplies of snags within agricultural landscapes, including smaller patches and especially along waterways, should be a conservation priority for the Indiana bat.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bats
Languages : en
Pages : 52
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Dane A. Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
North American bat species face a range of environmental stressors which have negatively impacted recovery of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and led to inclusion of the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) as a federally threatened species. Historic threats like disturbance of winter hibernacula and habitat loss continue to imperil both species, but the introduction of the fungal disease white-nose syndrome (WNS) into North America in 2006 resulted in substantial population declines in several species of Myotine bats in the eastern and central portions of the United States. Prior to the emergence of WNS, M. septentrionalis populations were estimated in the millions, and the rangewide M. sodalis population had experienced almost a decade of steady recovery. However, since the onset of WNS, M. sodalis populations have declined steadily and M. septentrionalis now faces extirpation from much of its range. Additionally, the development of wind power facilities across large portions of the central U.S. has increased the likelihood that critical habitat will be lost or fragmented and pose a new threat of large-scale mortality caused by collisions between bats and turbine blades. Objectives of this study were to 1) quantify maternity habitat characteristics of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) in northern Missouri to identify factors that drive selection and 2) identify local- and landscape-scale habitat characteristics associated with occupancy of M. sodalis and M. septentrionalis. To identify drivers of maternity roost selection of M. sodalis in Northern Missouri, we used mist nets to capture pregnant and lactating females during the summers of 2017 and 2018 and applied radio transmitters to individuals with sufficient body mass. We tracked 24 M. sodalis for an average of 5.8 days and identified 21 roost trees. We conducted emergence counts at each roost to classify them as primary or alternate and collected habitat data for each tree and the surrounding area. We then collected the same habitat data at available roosts and used discrete choice models to compare selected roosts with available trees within the study area. The top ranked model for primary roosts included tree diameter (DBH), tree height, and canopy cover while the top ranked model for alternate roosts included DBH, snag basal area, and canopy cover. Our results indicate that the probability of primary roost selection was greatest for trees with DBH ~ 50 cm and height of ~ 17 m. Roost site selection probability decreased with canopy closure, falling to 0 above ~ 75% closure. The probability of selection for alternate roosts was associated with greater canopy closure (~ 75%), smaller trees (~ 35 cm) and was positively associated with snag basal area. Land managers who wish to promote maternity habitat for M. sodalis could preserve existing snags, implement techniques to create new large-diameter snags, and, when possible, acquire additional bottomland hardwood forests to ensure the availability of an extensive network of available roost trees. To identify the local- and landscape-scale factors associated with occupancy of M. sodalis and M. septentrionalis, we used ANABAT SD1 acoustic detectors to record the echolocation calls of passing bats at 87 sites during the maternity seasons of 2017 and 2018. We deployed three detectors at each site for a minimum of two consecutive nights and recorded a total of 581 detector nights. Calls were identified to species, and detection histories of M. sodalis and M. septentrionalis were used to develop single-season occupancy models which used environmental covariates to estimate the probability of detecting each target species and evaluated the effects of local and landscape habitat characteristics on occupancy probability. The top detection model for M. sodalis included minimum temperature, barometric pressure, average wind speed, and moon minutes. The top detection model for M. septentrionalis included amount of precipitation. Our models indicate that the primary drivers of M. sodalis occupancy were percent of landscape (3 km) composed of wooded wetlands, distance to nearest wooded wetland, forest connectivity, forest shape, and wetland connectivity. Occupancy was positively associated with the proportion of wooded wetlands on the landscape, forest shape, and wetland connectivity and negatively associated with distance to nearest wooded wetland, forest connectivity, and proportion of forest on the landscape. The primary factors associated with M. septentrionalis occupancy were proportion of wooded wetlands on the landscape and wetland connectivity. Occupancy was positively associated with proportion of wooded wetlands and negatively associated with the degree to which wetlands were connected. We recommend land managers preserve riparian forest habitat and enact measures to reduce clutter and stem density in upland forests to improve overall habitat suitability and increase the likelihood that forests in this region can support foraging Myotis bats.
Author: Darrell Edward Evans
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bats
Languages : en
Pages : 32
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Michael G. Just
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
It is estimated that 95% of all federally endangered Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) hibernate in 71 hibernacula in the eastern US. Given the species0́9 high site fidelity, seasonally heightened population densities, and the limited availability of suitable overwintering sites, land use and cover change (LUCC) near hibernacula is expected to affect wintering populations. The landscapes surrounding hibernacula not only provide critical roosting and foraging habitat but also support the highly specific microclimates Indiana bats need for successful hibernation. To date, the assumption has been that the greater the amount of forest cover, the better the habitat for Indiana bats. The extent to which Indiana bat hibernacula may be threatened by LUCC has not been previously investigated. Land adjacent to most hibernacula does not have land use or conservation protections; consequently, it is important that LUCC near hibernacula is evaluated to assess and prevent harmful impacts to wintering Indiana bat populations. Landscape characterizations included measurements of land cover composition and spatial configurations, as well as climate and insolation variables. I modeled potential future LUCC through 2016 near 225 Indiana bat hibernacula using an empirically derived, stochastic projection model that combines Markov chain analysis, multi-criteria evaluation, and cellular automata. Drivers of the model included biophysical and socioeconomic variables. Characterization and modeling were performed at two spatial extents and at several management groupings chosen for their relevance to the species0́9 biology and conservation. Two spatial extents approximating areas expected to be used by bats were considered, owing to the importance of scale in species habitat use. The change in the forest proportion of the landscape ranged from 7.38 - 98.99% (mean 74.42% ± 2.31% [90% CI]) in 1992, 4.91 - 95.142% (66.99% ± 2.12%) in 2001, and a projected 3.33 - 78.09% (47.75% ± 2.15%) in 2016. This change represents a 26.67% decrease in the mean proportion of forest surrounding hibernacula projected over 24 years. The mean proportion of developed land was projected to increase by 7.82% by 2016. The extent to which these rates of change in land use and cover will support conservation of the Indiana bat is an important question. LUCC has and will likely trend towards more-isolated forest patches and, in some cases, extremely heterogeneous landscapes. Results indicate that bat populations might best be supported by a certain degree and type of landscape heterogeneity rather than by maximum contiguous forest cover. The major findings of this research are: 1.) Hibernacula with greatest Indiana bat population counts were surrounded by landscapes that were more heterogeneous than hibernacula with lower counts. Bat populations at hibernacula were not highly correlated with forest cover alone as had been predicted. 2.) Privately-owned hibernacula had more heterogeneous landscapes than federally-owned hibernacula. 3.) Landscapes describing the smaller, more proximal expected use area near hibernacula were less heterogeneous than those for the larger expected use area. 4.) Forest cover declined and is projected to decline further in every landscape surrounding hibernacula in this study. 5.) There was no clear pattern among landscape variables and geographic or management groupings. 6.) There was a linear relationship between Indiana bat population counts and landscape variables, including insolation, edge density, and proportion of forest cover.
Author: Kathryn M. Womack
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic Dissertations
Languages : en
Pages : 83
Get Book Here
Book Description
The federally endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) uses fragmented forests in largely agricultural landscapes during the maternity season. Understanding how land use and land management affect bat activity and insect prey availability would provide insight into resource needs of Indiana bats. We had three main objectives, first to determine resource selection by foraging Indiana bats during the maternity season and to compare resource use among pregnant and lactating individuals. Second, we sought to estimate home range size using utilization distributions for individual Indiana bats. Finally, we wanted to determine if we could predict Indiana bat activity by using habitat, weather, and prey availability data within our study area. We used an information theoretic approach to examine a priori models for our first and third objective. To evaluate our second objective, we used telemetry data to calculate the area within 50% and 95% probability contours of utilization distributions estimated by the fixed kernel method. We found variation among individuals in resource selection and home range size. Indiana bat activity was higher in areas managed by prescribed fire and with high percent canopy cover, and at sites with higher dry insect biomass collected in malaise traps. We believe prescribed fire benefitted bats by reducing understory clutter. In contrast, forest management practices that greatly reduce canopy cover may have a negative impact on Indiana bats.
