Fidelity of Bats to Forest Sites Revealed From Mist-Netting Recaptures

Abstract

Although site fidelity to permanent roost structures by bats is generally known, long-term fidelity to areas such as foraging or drinking sites is unknown. Furthermore, mist-net recaptures of bats over multiple years are rarely reported. Extensive mist-net surveys were conducted over the course of 8 y in the Ouachita National Forest of central Arkansas, United States to investigate long-term site fidelity and recapture rates of individually marked forest bats. Among eight species that were captured, five species were recaptured over spans ≥1 y, including eastern red bats Lasiurus borealis, Seminole bats L. seminolus, evening bats Nycticeius humeralis, tri-colored bats Lasiurus borealis, and northern long-eared bats Myotis septentrionalis. Some individuals were recaptured multiple times over multiple years, and the maximum span over which an individual was recaptured was 1 y for Seminole bats, 2 y for tri-colored bats, 3 y for evening bats, 4 y for eastern red bats, and 5 y for northern long-eared bats. These results indicate long-term site fidelity by multiple bat species to particular forest sites, primarily pools along small intermittent streams. Proximity to these sites should be considered when conducting management activities.

Effects of Hierarchical Roost Removal on Northern Long-Eared Bat (Myotis septentrionalis) Maternity Colonies

“…Northern long-eared bats are known to exhibit inter-annual site fidelity of at least 5 years in a mixed pine-deciduous system in Arkansas [ 79 ], but our low recapture rates relative to our sampling effort suggest that bats marked during the first year of our study largely were not present in the second. Whether this is due to high annual adult mortality or some other socio-spatial assortment dynamic is unknown, but Perry [ 79 ] also recaptured few banded individuals. Consistent patterns of space use between years suggest that, although colony composition changed, colony identity did not.…”

Assessing the status and trend of bat populations across broad geographic regions with dynamic distribution models

“…Longevity and low fecundity, particularly in temperate-region Vespertilionidae, cause bat populations to change slowly (Barclay et al 2004). Apparently this is enhanced by the site fidelity both within and among seasons that has been observed for many bat species (Hillen et al 2010, Perry 2010. It is for these reasons that bats have been suggested as useful bioindicators ).…”

“…This is an important capability particularly if SDMs are to be used to evaluate highly mobile species or species experiencing range contraction, avoiding the awkward assumptions of stationarity implicit in most SDMs (Zurell et al 2009, Elith et al 2010. Temporal non-stationarity has been widely described for local patterns of bat activity at nightly and seasonal scales (Hayes 1997, Fischer et al 2009), but the longevity of bats (Barclay et al 2004) and the fidelity to roosting and foraging areas exhibited by many species (Pierson 1998, Hillen et al 2010, Perry 2010) are likely to induce year-to-year stability at regional scales. If so, this would confer additional power to detect declines in occurrence probabilities induced by extrinsic forces such as disease and climate change, making for a robust long-term monitoring strategy.…”

Origins and migratory patterns of bats killed by wind turbines in southern Alberta: evidence from stable isotopes

“…The fur of resident silver-haired bats was collected by E. (Perry 2011) and reproductive female hoary bats return annually to Delta Marsh (Koehler and Barclay 2000). We thus assumed that any hair collected pre-molt was hair grown at the same site the previous year.…”