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Community Ecology of Bats in Southern Lower Michigan, with Emphasis on Roost Selection by Myotis Lisa Winhold

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Community Ecology of Bats in Southern Lower Michigan, with Emphasis on Roost Selection by Myotis Lisa Winhold Eastern Michigan University Digital Commons @ EMU Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2007 Community ecology of bats in Southern Lower Michigan, with emphasis on roost selection by myotis Lisa Winhold Recommended Citation Winhold, Lisa, "Community ecology of bats in Southern Lower Michigan, with emphasis on roost selection by myotis" (2007). Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. Paper 35. http://commons.emich.edu/theses/35 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Digital Commons @ EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ EMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMMUNITY ECOLOGY OF BATS IN SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN , WITH EMPHASIS ON ROOST SELECTION BY MYOTIS By Lisa Winhold Thesis Submitted to the Department of Biology, Eastern Michigan University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Ecology and Organismal Biology Thesis Committee: Allen Kurta, Ph.D., chair Catherine Bach, Ph.D. Tamara Greco, Ph.D. Cara Shillington, Ph.D. February 12, 2007 Ypsilanti, Michigan APPROVAL COMMUNITY ECOLOGY OF BATS IN SOUTIIERN LOWER MICHIGAN, WTIH AN EMPHASIS ON ROOST SELECTION BY MYOTIS By Lisa Winhold APPROVED Dr. Allen Kurta. Committee Chair Dr. CatherineBach, Committee Member It/y'^,L.ul- Dr. Tamara Greco, Committee Member Dr. CaraShillington, ,r4^.fl..-12- Dr. Tamara Greco, DepafrmentHead Deborahde Laski- inith, Interim Dean of the Graduate DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents, who not only provided ample moral and financial support, but also took the time to introduce me to the outdoors through numerous camping, caving, kayaking, and hiking trips, which allowed me to develop an interest in ecology. This is also dedicated to D. Roberts and K. Roberts, who introduced me to caving, sparking my interest in bats and cave ecology. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My thesis could not have been possible without the abundant help I received throughout the process; therefore, I would like to extend my gratitude to the people who were involved. I cannot even begin to express the gratitude I have toward my major professor, A. Kurta, for his guidance and dedication to helping me through graduate school and the thesis process. I thank my committee members, C. Bach and C. Shillington for their input and patience and T. Greco for substituting for C. Shillington during my defense. The project was funded by Bat Conservation International, Eastern Michigan University’s Biology Department, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources State Wildlife Grants Program. I thank R. Foster and A. Kurta for providing their data of the regional, Thornapple River, and Fort Custer surveys as well as P. Clark of the Michigan Department of Community Health for unpublished data on rabies submissions from 1997 to 2005. S. Francoeur provided valuable statistical advice, and G. Hannan helped identify trees in my plots. T. Price, H. Semple, J. Tankersley, and W. Welsh helped with GIS analysis. I thank J. Alexander and J. Hartenburg, without whom the biology department could not function and my field work would have been significantly more challenging. I thank M. Becker, M. Camilleri, K. Clinansmith, J. Dudak, M. Farmer, R. Foster, K. Foster, S. Friedl, M. Gorecki, E. Hough, T. Jones, M. Kurta, M. Luelleman, S. Miller, L. Peter, H. Rice, M. Sauter-Portelli, D. Starkey, B. Wilson, K. Winhold, T. Winhold, and E. Winterhalter for their dedication to the field work. I also would like to thank P. Miller and T. Miller for allowing me to stay with them while I finished, J. Winhold and J. Winhold for moral and financial support, and the many landowners who allowed access to their land for mist-netting and roost observations. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Z. Winhold for making sure I did not work too hard at any given time, thus keeping me sane during the process. iv ABSTRACT I studied the roosting niche of three sympatric species of Myotis (little brown bat, M. lucifugus ; northern bat, M. septentrionalis ; and Indiana bat, M. sodalis ) and examined changes in composition of the entire bat community in southern Lower Michigan over long periods. Little brown bats roosted in buildings, whereas northern and Indiana bats used trees. Northern and Indiana bats differed primarily in species of tree used, whether the tree was living or dead, and use of cavities or loose bark. There were no differences among species in composition of landscapes surrounding roosts. I also netted bats during 2004–2006 and compared my captures to previous surveys. Over 26 years, composition of the entire community has changed with the addition of two new species, evening bats ( Nycticeius humeralis ) and eastern pipistrelles (Pipistrellus subflavus ), and a drastic decline in relative abundance of red bats ( Lasiurus borealis ). v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Dedication......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments..............................................................................................................iv Abstract.............................................................................................................................. v List of Tables ....................................................................................................................vii List of Figures.................................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1: Roosting Niche of Three Species of Myotis in Southern Lower Michigan .... 1 Introduction............................................................................................................ 2 Methods.................................................................................................................. 6 Results................................................................................................................... 14 Discussion............................................................................................................. 21 Literature Cited..................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 2: Long-term Changes in the Bat Community of Southern Lower Michigan.... 52 Introduction........................................................................................................... 53 Methods................................................................................................................. 55 Results................................................................................................................... 63 Discussion............................................................................................................. 72 Literature Cited..................................................................................................... 80 Appendices........................................................................................................................ 97 vi LIST OF TABLES Page 1.1. Decay classification ................................................................................................. 39 1.2. Bats radiotracked ..................................................................................................... 41 1.3. Mean ± SE for tree characteristics........................................................................... 42 1.4. Results of MANOVAs performed on tree characteristics ....................................... 43 1.5. Roost and random tree genera.................................................................................. 44 1.6. Mean ± SE for plot characteristics........................................................................... 45 1.7. Results of MANOVAs performed on plot characteristics ....................................... 46 1.8. Mean ± SE of tree genera in plots............................................................................ 47 1.9. Mean ± SE of landcover types................................................................................. 48 1.10. Results of ANOVAs performed on landcover types................................................ 49 1.11. Mean ± SE of landscape features............................................................................. 50 1.12. Results of MANOVAs performed on landscape features........................................ 51 2.1. Bats captured during 2004–2006 regional survey .................................................... 91 2.2. Bats captured with different netting procedures ....................................................... 92 2.3. Results of chi-squared comparisons of netting procedures....................................... 93 2.4. Bats captured in each paired survey.......................................................................... 94 2.5. Results of chi-squared comparison of paired surveys............................................... 95 2.6. Bats submitted for rabies testing............................................................................... 96 vii LIST OF FIGURES Page 1.1. Landcover of southern Lower Michigan.................................................................... 40 2.1. Locations of paired surveys ....................................................................................... 89 2.2. Locations of 83 sites netted
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