PARENT SESSION
Organized Oral Session 19: Bat habitat use in eastern North American temperate forests: Site, stand, and landscape effects
Organizer(s): RT Brooks and M Ford
Tuesday, August 9, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 510a, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Range extent and stand selection for roosting and foraging in forest-dwelling Myotis septentrionalis and M. lucifugus in New Brunswick, Canada.
Broders, Hugh*,1, 2, Forbes, Graham1, Stephen, Woodley3, Ian , Thompson4, 1 University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada2 Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada3 Parks Canada, Hull, Quebec, Canada4 Canadian Forestry Service, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT- Until recently, much of the forest bat research had a multi-species approach with minimal insight gained into species- and gender-specific patterns. To understand bat biology and appreciate their dependence upon, and role within, forested ecosystems the biological resolution at which studies are directed need to be refined. We studied species- and gender- specific summer aspects of range extent and stand selection in Myotis septentrionalis and M. lucifugus in the Greater Fundy National Park Ecosystem in New Brunswick, Canada using trapping, radio telemetry and ultrasonic monitoring. All bats exhibited an affinity to specific roosting areas. Myotis septentrionalis was a forest interior specialist for roosting and foraging. The roosting and foraging areas were 6.1X and 3.4X larger for females than males, respectively. They selected different stand types for roosting and foraging but both groups foraged in stand types in proportion to their respective availability. For M. lucifugus, females roosted in buildings outside the core of the study area and those captured in the forested landscape were transients. Male M. lucifugus, relative to male and female M. septentrionalishad intermediately sized roosting areas but the largest foraging areas. For foraging they selected water sites more than expected. Foraging activity of this group was greatest at lakes and their activity levels at a site was positively associated with the amount of mature coniferous forest and water within 1 km of the site and negatively associated with the amount of mature deciduous forest with 1 km of the monitoring site. In terms of site selection and range extent for roosting and foraging, our results suggest that this 2-species system is comprised of 4 ecologically independent groups. Therefore, studies of this nature directed at larger biological scales (e.g., either genders combined or guilds) may detect spurious patterns that provide minimal insight into species biology.
Key words: Forest-dwelling bats, stand selection, GIS, New Brunswick