Little information exists on the roost habitat characteristics of reproductive forest bats; hence, we used radiotelemetry to locate 121 roosts of 8 species of bats in 2 study areas on the Coconino National Forest (CNF), northern Arizona, during 1993-95. Only pregnant or lactating bats were examined in the study. Ninetyseven (80%) roosts were in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) snags. Snags used by bats were larger in diameter at breast height (dbh) and were more likely to have exfoliating bark (bark peeling away from the snag, thus creating space between the bark and the snag) than random snags in both areas. In both study areas, roost snags were surrounded by forest with higher tree densities, greater tree species diversity, and trees had larger basal areas than forest surrounding random snags. Forests immediately surrounding roost snags also had higher densities of snags and logs than random snag areas. In the southern study area, roost snags were located closer to water than random snags and were more likely near the tops of slopes. Roost snags in the northern study area were on steeper slopes and were less likely within a recently harvested area. Radiomarked bats frequently used multiple roosts: 37 of 76 (49%) bats used ?2 snags during the study. We recommend preserving all large snags with exfoliating bark and suggest steps to ensure that sufficient numbers of such snags are maintained for roosting bats in the future.
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