TY - JOUR
T1 - Association, roost use and simulated disruption of Myotis septentrionalis maternity colonies
AU - Silvis, Alexander
AU - Ford, W. Mark
AU - Britzke, Eric R.
AU - Johnson, Joshua B.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the US Army Environmental Quality and Installation Basic Research 6.1 program. We thank Jimmy Watkins, Mike Brandenberg and Charlie Logsdon for their assistance in supporting this project. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources graciously provided field housing for this project. We thank James Fraser, James Parkhurst, Michael Whitby, M. Brock Fenton, Meryl Friedrich, and several anonymous reviewers for comments that improved this manuscript. Use of trade, product or firm names does not imply endorsement by the US government.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/3
Y1 - 2014/3
N2 - How wildlife social and resource networks are distributed on the landscape and how animals respond to resource loss are important aspects of behavioral ecology. For bats, understanding these responses may improve conservation efforts and provide insights into adaptations to environmental conditions. We tracked maternity colonies of northern bats (Myotis septentrionalis) at Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA to evaluate their social and resource networks and space use. Roost and social network structure differed between maternity colonies. Overall roost availability did not appear to be strongly related to network characteristics or space use. In simulations for our two largest networks, roost removal was related linearly to network fragmentation; despite this, networks were relatively robust, requiring removal of >20% of roosts to cause network fragmentation. Results from our analyses indicate that northern bat behavior and space use may differ among colonies and potentially across the maternity season. Simulation results suggest that colony social structure is robust to fragmentation caused by random loss of small numbers of roosts. Flexible social dynamics and tolerance of roost loss may be adaptive strategies for coping with ephemeral conditions in dynamic forest habitats.
AB - How wildlife social and resource networks are distributed on the landscape and how animals respond to resource loss are important aspects of behavioral ecology. For bats, understanding these responses may improve conservation efforts and provide insights into adaptations to environmental conditions. We tracked maternity colonies of northern bats (Myotis septentrionalis) at Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA to evaluate their social and resource networks and space use. Roost and social network structure differed between maternity colonies. Overall roost availability did not appear to be strongly related to network characteristics or space use. In simulations for our two largest networks, roost removal was related linearly to network fragmentation; despite this, networks were relatively robust, requiring removal of >20% of roosts to cause network fragmentation. Results from our analyses indicate that northern bat behavior and space use may differ among colonies and potentially across the maternity season. Simulation results suggest that colony social structure is robust to fragmentation caused by random loss of small numbers of roosts. Flexible social dynamics and tolerance of roost loss may be adaptive strategies for coping with ephemeral conditions in dynamic forest habitats.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.01.016
DO - 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.01.016
M3 - Article
C2 - 24468215
AN - SCOPUS:84893858115
VL - 103
SP - 283
EP - 290
JO - Behavioural Processes
JF - Behavioural Processes
SN - 0376-6357
ER -