While some species thrive in urban areas, many are absent from such environments. Those that are successful often have high behavioural flexibility that allows them to exploit new niches in a human-modified landscape. Northern myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) is an endangered bat species rarely identified in urban areas, though it is unclear whether this is due to absence or difficulties in surveying. We investigated the ecology of a population of northern myotis within Canada’s largest conurbation, including reproductive status, roosting preference, and movements. Using capture surveys, we confirmed the presence of reproductive females and healthy juveniles over two seasons. Using radio telemetry and acoustic surveys, we identified a cluster of tree roosts in the centre of the forest, and foraging areas concentrated around waterways within the bounds of the forest. These observations suggest the roosting and movement ecology of this population is similar to that observed for this species in rural environments, despite the urban surroundings. Our results suggest that northern myotis is not a synurbic species but can occur within urbanized environments when suitable habitat is available. We suggest that large forest patches with mature, interior forest cover are likely to be an important resource for northern myotis, and they will be vulnerable to the loss or fragmentation of these features in rapidly urbanizing landscapes. These findings are highly relevant to the ecology and preservation of northern myotis and present a case for greater consideration of this species in urban forests.

Arthropods are the most diverse taxonomic group of terrestrial eukaryotes and are sensitive to physical alterations in their environment such as those caused by forestry. With their enormous diversity and physical omnipresence, arthropods could be powerful indicators of the effects of disturbance following forestry. When arthropods have been used to measure the effects of disturbance, the total diversity of some groups is often found to increase following forestry. However, these findings are frequently derived using a coarse taxonomic grain (family or order) to accommodate for various taxonomic impediments (including cryptic diversity and poorly resourced taxonomists). Our intent with this work was to determine the diversity of arthropods in and around Algonquin Park, and how this diversity was influenced by disturbance (in this case, forestry within the past 25 years). We used DNA barcode-derived diversity estimates (Barcode Index Number (BIN) richness) to avoid taxonomic impediments and as a source of genetic information with which we could conduct phylogenetic estimates of diversity (PD). Diversity patterns elucidated with PD are often, but not always congruent with taxonomic estimates–and departures from these expectations can help clarify disturbance effects that are hidden from richness studies alone. We found that BIN richness and PD were greater in disturbed (forested) areas, however when we controlled for the expected relationship between PD and BIN richness, we found that cut sites contained less PD than expected and that this diversity was more phylogenetically clustered than would be predicted by taxonomic richness. While disturbance may cause an evident increase in diversity, this diversity may not reflect the full evolutionary history of the assemblage within that area and thus a subtle effect of disturbance can be found decades following forestry.