FORAGING ECOLOGY OF THE FLORIDA BONNETED BAT, Eumops floridanus By ELYSIA WEBB A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2018 © 2018 Elysia Webb To my family—especially to my grandparents, who have encouraged, molded, and inspired me more than they will ever know ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe an interminable amount of gratitude to a great deal of people. First, I would like to thank my adviser Dr. Holly Ober for offering me this position and investing her time into helping me grow as a scientist and a thinker. This project also would not have been possible without the assistance of Dr. Elizabeth Braun de Torrez. Liz was my role model and it meant so much that she was around to answer my questions, as well as show me the ropes in the field and in the lab. I’m grateful to Dr. Robert McCleery for allowing me space in his lab and giving me a community to fit myself into. I also could not have accomplished one of these chapters without the generosity of Dr. Jiri Hulcr, who gave me access to a lab and the supplies I needed. This project would have been impossible without the generous support of Bat Conservation International and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. I am indebted not only for financial resources, but for time spent, equipment lent, housing provided, and a host of other reasons. Brendan Myers, Troy Hershberger, and Rob Aldredge of Avon Park Air Force Range were very helpful in providing access and assistance for my field work. Thank you for not letting me get blown up by active ordnance, be blinded by lasers, or get burned up in that one wildfire. I would also like to thank my field technician Shalana Gray. Her indomitable enthusiasm made field season 2017 one for the books; I could only wish that time had passed us more . Despacito. I have had an amazing host of teachers from the very beginning of my educational career, but a few stand out—thank you Mrs. Ruetschle, Mrs. Schlegel, Mrs. Dunn, Mrs. LeVesseur, Mr. Schumaker, Ms. Thiel, Mr. Revis, Mrs. Nartker, Mr. Campbell, and Dr. Buckley for preparing me for this point. I could only hope that 4 someday all students have access to the same quality of education that I was privileged enough to have. I would also like to thank my husband Ian. Ian has been my absolute rock since starting grad school. Many times, he believed in me when I no longer had faith in myself and encouraged me to keep pressing forward. I cannot imagine a more supportive partner. Of course, none of this would have been possible without my family: my sister Kayla who is the manifestation of the word “strength” and helps me be strong, too; my grandparents who instilled in me a love of hiking, camping, catching crawdads, and rolling rocks; and my mother. My mother has made incredible sacrifices for her children. She lined the walls of our house with bookshelves and filled them all three rows deep. She taught me to love reading and learning. Her belief in my greatness has never wavered, and she always pushed me to succeed. This is just as much her accomplishment as it is my own. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 8 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 9 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 10 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 13 Background ......................................................................................................... 13 Objectives ............................................................................................................ 13 2 MOVEMENT PATTERNS AND HABITAT SELECTION OF Eumops floridanus ..... 15 Background ......................................................................................................... 14 Methods ............................................................................................................... 18 Movement Patterns ....................................................................................... 21 Habitat Selection ........................................................................................... 21 Results ................................................................................................................. 23 Movement Patterns ....................................................................................... 23 Habitat Selection ........................................................................................... 25 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 25 Movement Patterns ....................................................................................... 25 Habitat Selection ........................................................................................... 28 Management Implications ............................................................................. 30 3 DIET CHARACTERIZATION OF Eumops floridanus, WITH ANALYSIS OF SEASONAL AND GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION ...................................................... 35 Background ......................................................................................................... 34 Methods ............................................................................................................... 37 Guano Collection ........................................................................................... 37 Molecular Sequencing ................................................................................... 41 Data Analysis ................................................................................................ 42 Results ................................................................................................................. 44 Diet Characterization ..................................................................................... 44 Seasonal Variation ........................................................................................ 45 Geographic Variation .................................................................................... 46 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 47 6 Diet Characterization ..................................................................................... 47 Seasonal Variation ........................................................................................ 50 Geographic Variation .................................................................................... 51 Management Implications ............................................................................. 52 4 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 60 APPENDIX LIST OF UNIQUE PREY TAXA OF Eumops floridanus ......................... 61 REFERENCE LIST........................................................................................................ 72 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ............................................................................................ 81 7 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 2-1 Foray loop length and maximum distance from roost of E. floridanus at Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area, FL, by sex and season. ................. 31 2-2 Home range sizes of E. floridanus roosting at Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area, FL ........................................................................................ 32 3-1 Number of guano samples collected from E. floridanus, by site and sex. ........... 54 3-2 Frequency of occurrence (FOQ) in percentage of insect families in the diet of E. floridanus........................................................................................................ 55 3-4 Insect orders and families consumed by Eumops spp. ....................................... 59 A-1 List of unique prey taxa of E. floridanus identified to order or higher specificity. ........................................................................................................... 62 8 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 2-1 Foray loop length of E. floridanus roosting at Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area, FL, by month and sex .......................................................... 31 2-2 Maximum distance from roost of E. floridanus roosting at Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area, FL, by month and sex ............................................. 32 2-3 Home ranges (95% MCP) of E. floridanus roosting at Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area, FL were smaller for males than females. ............................ 33 2-4 Three-dimensional heat map of a female E. floridanus at BWWMA. .................. 33 2-5 Frequencies of each land class in observed and randomly generated foray loops of E. floridanus roosting in Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area, FL. ...................................................................................................................... 34 3-1 Diagram of