Journal
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY
Volume 94, Issue 3, Pages 640-649Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1644/11-MAMM-A-153.1
Keywords
bat; Chiroptera; fire; Mesa Verde National Park; Myotis; rock crevice; roost
Categories
Funding
- American Society of Mammalogists
- Ariel Appleton Fellowship of the Research Ranch Foundation
- Bill Burtness Fellowship of the Rocky Mountain Goats Foundation
- Colorado State University Douglas L. Gilbert Memorial Scholarship Fund
- Lois Webster Fund of the Audubon Society of Greater Denver
- National Science Foundation
- Organization for Bat Conservation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
All 16 species of bats known to occur in western Colorado are found at Mesa Verde National Park (MVNP) in the southwestern United States. Since 1996, wildfires have burned more than 70% of MVNP (>15,000 ha), potentially altering food and roosting resources for bats. During the summers of 2006-2007, we investigated roost use by reproductive female western long-eared myotis (Myotis evotis). We located 33 bat roosts in rock crevices and 1 in a juniper snag. All but 2 of the roosts were in unburned habitat. Bats roosted alone or in small groups (<= 3 individuals) and switched roosts frequently (1-7 roosts per bat, median = 1.5 roosts per bat, SE = 0.5 roosts per bat). We compared occupied roosts with randomly selected unoccupied crevices and used an information theoretic approach to determine which variables were most important in determining roost use at microhabitat and landscape scales. At the microhabitat scale, maternity roosts were higher above the ground and deeper than random, unoccupied rock crevices. At the landscape scale, roosts were closer to water and farther from burned habitat than random crevices, providing reproductive female M. evotis with the best opportunities to drink and forage for insects. Tree roosts are apparently not a vital resource for reproductive female M. evotis during the summer months at our study site, presumably because of the extensive availability of rock crevices. Understanding site-specific roosting behavior is important for proper management of bat populations because differences can exist between geographic regions, even among areas with similar plant communities.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available