Deriving Habitat Models for Northern Long-Eared Bats from Historical Detection Data: A Case Study Using the Fernow Experimental Forest

Abstract

The listing of the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act following severe population declines from white-nose syndrome presents considerable challenges to natural resource managers. Because the northern long-eared bat is a forest habitat generalist, development of effective conservation measures will depend on appropriate understanding of its habitat relationships at individual locations. However, severely reduced population sizes make gathering data for such models difficult. As a result, historical data may be essential in development of habitat models. To date, there has been little evaluation of how effective historical bat presence data, such as data derived from mist-net captures, acoustic detection, and day-roost locations, may be in developing habitat models, nor is it clear how models created using different data sources may differ. We explored this issue by creating presence probability models for the northern long-eared bat on the Fernow Experimental Forest in the central Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia using a historical, presence-only data set. Each presence data type produced outputs that were dissimilar but that still corresponded with known traits of the northern long-eared bat or are easily explained in the context of the particular data collection protocol. However, our results also highlight potential limitations of individual data types. For example, models from mist-net capture data only showed high probability of presence along the dendritic network of riparian areas, an obvious artifact of sampling methodology. Development of ecological niche and presence models for northern long-eared bat populations could be highly valuable for resource managers going forward with this species. We caution, however, that efforts to create such models should consider the substantial limitations of models derived from historical data, and address model assumptions.

Tree roosts of northern long‐eared bats following white‐nose syndrome

“…For our study, elevation likely served as a surrogate measure of topographic position. Given the undulating terrain in MCNP, we suggest that habitat associations observed for non‐reproductive females in spring (i.e., more mature forests with higher canopy cover situated in more sheltered ravine bottoms) were reflective of forest conditions promoting cooler microclimates insides roost trees (Ford et al ). Roost trees with reduced solar exposure surrounded by decreased ambient temperatures should be expected to facilitate use of daytime torpor in tree roosting bats (Turbill et al , Willis et al , Ruczyński ), especially for non‐reproductive females during the staging period when food supplies are likely scarce and weather conditions frequently inclement.…”

Bat activity following repeated prescribed fire in the central Appalachians, USA

“…In all burn conditions, activity had a slightly positive relationship with increased elevation. Because burn intensity is greater on upper slopes (Mladenoff 1999), reductions in clutter that improve foraging condition may have negated previously negative relationships with bat activity and increasing elevation in the central Appalachians at elevations where oak-dominated types are replaced by northern hardwood to the west on the Allegheny Plareau (Ford et al 2005;Ford et al 2016b).…”

“…Of the suite of bats in the region, the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis [Miller and Allen, 1928]; MYSO) and the threatened northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis [Trouessart, 1897]; MYSE) are two species potentially impacted by prescribed fire (Austin et al 2018b). Prescribed fire use may alter non-hibernating season day-roosts, (i.e., trees and snags) or change foraging habitat conditions (Carter and Ford 2002;Perry 2012;Ford et al 2016b;Silvis and Perry 2016b). Because there has been limited work examining the relationships of these and other bat species in the central Appalachians relative to the return of fire as a prescriptive tool, land managers are often challenged to show that burning is not additive in negative impacts to these already stressed species (Johnson et al 2010b;Ford et al 2016a).…”

“…Although most bat and fire research in central Appalachians has focused on day-roost ecology (Johnson et al 2009(Johnson et al , 2010bFord et al 2016aFord et al , 2016b, acoustics have been used to monitor fire effects on bat activity (Johnson 2012). Cox et al (2016) found that bat activity in the Cumberland Plateau was higher after spring and fall prescribed burns in savannah conditions than after spring and fall prescribed burns in woodlands.…”

Landscape-scale distribution of tree roosts of the northern long-eared bat in Mammoth Cave National Park, USA

“…Use of multi-scale analyses in examining roost selection of North American bats has been achieved for foliageroosting species (Veilleux et al 2004;Limpert et al 2007;Hein et al 2008) and select Myotis species (Arnett and Hayes 2009;Lacki et al 2010;Hammond et al 2016;Jachowski et al 2016), with a range of landscape patterns found to be beneficial depending on species and geographic location. Comparative studies are limited on landscape-level selection of tree roosts by the northern long-eared bat, Myotis septentrionalis (Pauli et al 2015;Ford et al 2016); a threatened species experiencing severe population declines across much of its distribution in North America (USDI 2015).…”