Influences of Landscape Features on Bat Activity in North Dakota

Land conversion and modification threatens many wildlife and plant species in the northern Great Plains, including bats. Our objective was to assess the association of bat species with landscape features in the northern Great Plains of North Dakota, USA, taking the first step towards understanding the habitat needs of bats in this region. We examined patterns of bat activity across different landscapes, identified those landscape features associated with high levels of bat activity, and determined which specific land features (i.e., vegetation and water types) were most commonly associated with each bat species. We used passive acoustic monitoring to measure bat activity at sites across North Dakota, and assessed detailed land characteristics at each site. We used nonmetric multidimensional scaling and multivariate regression tree analysis to examine relationships between bat activity and landscape variables. Bat foraging activity was influenced by structural landscape characteristics and the availability of specific water resources. High levels of bat activity were associated with riparian forested areas of varying structural complexity, ponds, and, to a lesser extent, open riparian lands. Individual bat species were influenced by land type and water resources differently. We identified big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) and little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) as indicators of open riparian and pond landscapes, respectively. These results highlight the importance of prairie riparian landscapes and maintaining heterogeneity across the landscape for conservation and management of bat communities. Further, we identified ponds as an important landscape feature for little brown bats, a species of conservation concern, indicating that this specific feature should be a focus of conservation efforts on prairie wetlands. (c) 2019 The Wildlife Society. It is important to establish baseline information about bat populations to better inform management decisions. In this study, passive acoustic monitoring across 4 ecoregions of North Dakota, USA, revealed the importance of riparian corridors to many bat species, and the role of the little brown bat as an indicator species for pond landscapes.