Roost selection by male northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis) in a managed fire-adapted forest

Conservation in multi-use landscapes requires identifying and conserving critical resources for imperiled species because those resources may otherwise be destroyed or degraded by human activity. Summer day-roost sites are critical resources for bats, so conserving roost sites is thus an important component of many bat conservation plans. We used VHF telemetry to identify and characterize summer day-roost selection by male northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis) at the western edge of their range in South Dakota, USA. We tracked 18 bats to 43 tree roosts and used an information theoretic approach to determine the relative importance of tree- and plot-level characteristics on roost site selection. Bats selected roost trees that were larger in diameter, more decayed, closer to more snags, and under denser canopy than other trees available on the landscape. Protecting large-diameter snags within intact forest is important for the conservation of this federally threatened species, particularly along the western edge of its range where it may be subject to range contraction and local extinction. Protecting short ([≤] 3 m) snags in particular may be a low-risk, high-reward strategy for conservation of resources important to male northern long-eared bats.