Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference 2016

AUTHORS: Jacquelyn A. Dearborn*, University of Missouri Department of Fisheries and Wildlife; Elisabeth Webb, Missouri Cooperative Fisheries and Wildlife Research Unit at University of Missouri; Sybill Amelon, United States Forest Service at University of Missouri; Shauna Marquardt, United States Fish and Wildlife Service Missouri Ecological Services Field Office

ABSTRACT: Historically, bottomland hardwood forests encompassed much of the south-central United States, but within the last century there has been a 96% loss of these forest ecosystems. Many tree species found in bottomland hardwood ecosystems are used by Indiana bats as roosting sites, however, resource selection by bats can vary depending on geographic location and habitat type. With nearly half of the range-wide population hibernating in Missouri and Illinois, it is important to gain information on how Indiana bats utilize some of the remaining bottomland hardwood ecosystems found in southern areas of those states. Maternity colony habitat use in particular is important to examine, since the viability and productivity of maternity colonies are essential in contributing to population growth of this federally endangered species. We captured and used radio-telemetry to track Indiana bats at Cypress Creek and Mingo National Wildlife Refuges during summer 2015. We tracked 11 female Indiana bats to 16 distinct roost locations, 7 of which were telephone poles with artificial bark that refuge biologists had placed on the landscape. Four available trees were selected for each used roost tree (N=60) and habitat covariates were measured at both used and available trees. To evaluate roost site habitat selection, we compared habitat characteristics at used and available roost locations with logistic regression models and ranked model performance using AICc weight. At Cypress Creek, the top model for roost tree selection included tree species and tree height, whereas at Mingo, the top model included percentage of exfoliating bark and percent canopy cover. Our results indicate differences in roost site habitat selection parameters between the two refuges. Due to strong selection for artificial trees at Cypress Creek (an option not present at Mingo), habitat selection differences may have management implications for Indiana bat habitat restoration in bottomland hardwood ecosystems.

AUTHORS: Brett Andersen*, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Keith Geluso, University of Nebraska at Kearney

ABSTRACT: The Great Plains once served as a buffer creating a division between many eastern and western woodland species. However, expansion of riparian corridors along these prairie waterways has enabled a broad assortment of eastern deciduous mammals to expand their distributional range westward. Several eastern bat species, including the tricolored bat Perimyotis subflavus, eastern red bat Lasiurus borealis, and evening bat Nycticeius humeralis, have now been captured much farther west than previously recorded. Although such captures may be anomalies, some evidence points toward the possibility of significant range extensions for these species with continued existence beyond the Great Plains. The existence of such species in previously undocumented areas should encourage researchers to factor in the possible occurrence of eastern bat species to reduce the likelihood of misidentification. Adding a cohort of eastern species to western North American classification systems needs to be considered to aid in the identification of species potentially occurring outside of their historic ranges and facilitate the continued evaluation of these species’ westward expansion.

AUTHORS: Timothy Carter*, Ball State University; Jocelyn Karsk, Ball State University; Kristi Confortin, Ball State University; Scott Haulton, Indiana DNR, Division of Forestry

ABSTRACT: With the listing of the northern long-eared bat Myotis septentrionalis in April 2015, there has been increased interest in the ecology of the species. This is especially true on managed forest lands where the effects of those management practices on this species may not be known. We report the results of 4 years of tracking female northern long-eared bats to maternity roost trees on state forest lands in southern Indiana. From 2012 thru 2015 we tracked 68 bats to 175 roost trees as part of the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment (HEE) located in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest and Yellowwood State Forest in southern Indiana. For each roost we recorded standard microhabitat characteristics. Northern long-eared bats roosted in both living and dead trees. While some variation existed among roosts characteristics, they were remarkably consistent across years. Average DBH was 30.4 cm, average roost-tree height was 18.2 m, average roost height was 8.2 m, while average canopy closure was around roosts was 55%. Some roosts were associated with regeneration openings (i.e. at edge or within interior) but most were either in intact forest or forested areas that had recently received a single-tree selection harvest.

AUTHORS: Jocelyn Karsk*, Ball State University; Dr. Tim Carter, Ball State University; Scott Haulton, Indiana DNR, Division of Forestry

ABSTRACT: Silviculture treatments have long been implemented on state forest lands in Indiana. There is a need to better understanding these influences on bat species in order to understand which forest management practices might best promote bat conservation, especially for threatened and endangered species. The northern long-eared bat Myotis septentrionalis was federally listed in 2015 and this listing is having major implications for land managers since the northern long-eared bat uses forested landscapes for summer roosting habitat. Our goal was to examine roost selection at the stand scale and how it might be influenced by historical harvest practices in a managed forest. Our study site was at the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment (HEE) located in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest and Yellowwood State Forest in southern Indiana. We generated presence-only models of roost selection using the program MaxENT using 105 known roost locations to identify areas important to summer roosting habitat within our study area and to identify important stand-scale factors in habitat selection. The landscape variables that we used were elevation, aspect, slope, distance to major roads, distance to regeneration openings, distance to harvested edges, and forest type. With decreasing populations and likelihood of captures, models may become an important alternative for informing future management actions.

AUTHORS: Allison Sacerdote-Velat*, Lincoln Park Zoo

ABSTRACT: Meadow jumping mice Zapus hudsonius are rare in many northern Illinois grasslands and are a focus of conservation assessments and recovery efforts. We developed a zoo breeding program for wild founder mice in 2012. Offspring were headstarted at Lincoln Park Zoo in Illinois. In 2013, we released 17 radio-telemetered headstarts to supplement an extant population, and compared post-release movements and short-term survival. Eight mice were hard-released without acclimation other than pre-release provisioning of native food items. Nine mice were soft-released into 0.25 m2 enclosures in the supplementation site and were provisioned with food and water for three nights prior to release. We conducted releases in July and September. Mice were tracked daily for two weeks and then five times per week for the duration of transmitter life (21-30 d). We calculated minimum convex polygon (MCP) home ranges for all mice and examined known-fate short-term survival. MCP home range differed greatly with release type, with a mean soft release MCP of 261 m2 and a mean hard release MCP of 5,269 m2. Home range did not differ with season. Litters in 2013 were male-biased so we could not examine a sex effect. Survival did not differ with release type or season. Fifteen headstarted mice survived the duration of radio-tracking. Both release treatments had a single mortality, with predation that appeared to be from Asian mantis. The breeding colony exhibited low reproductive output in 2014, so we are currently examining movements and survival of wild translocated mice with hard and soft release as an alternative conservation strategy, and comparing movements to resident control mice. While Z. h. hudsonius is not protected, it serves as a surrogate species, providing recovery information to efforts for federally protected subspecies of jumping mice.