United States Department of Transportation
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Determining the Distribution and Habitat Associations of the Northern Long-Eared Bat in North Georgia
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2020-02-01
[PDF-1.74 MB]
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Edition:Final Report; June, 2013 – February, 2020
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Abstract:Significant mortality from White-nose Syndrome (WNS) has made northern long-eared bats a management priority while simultaneously creating uncertainty around where the species remains prevalent on the landscape. The culmination of these factors results in the need to develop distinct habitat associations for northern long-eared bats in north Georgia. The authors used capture records from 2007-2017 to identify changes in the distribution and habitat use of the northern long-eared bat as it experienced population decline from WNS. The authors used dynamic occupancy modeling relative to covariates to identify landscape features useful for predicting occupancy and extinction. The authors developed models at the home range (65 ha) and potential movement (491 ha) spatial scales surrounding sampling locations. The authors' models indicated that initial occupancy (pre-WNS) was best predicted by percent deciduous forest at the home range scale. In subsequent years (post-WNS), extinction was negatively related to year and elevation at the potential movement scale, indicating that fewer areas were occupied in successive years and that extinction was less likely at higher elevations. The species likely only persisted in areas of high elevation deciduous forest in the state by 2014. In contrast to the authors' hypothesis that extinction rates would be highest at sites closer to WNS positive areas, it was found that low-elevation deciduous forest in the southern extent of the distribution (farther from WNS-positive areas) had the highest probability of site extinction, revealing range retraction into areas where WNS was known to occur. The authors results suggest that the most effective conservation will occur in areas of high-elevation deciduous forests in the northern extent of the range in the state.
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