f^7 ^ a ^ 



I |Cr)A United States 

 JL^AA Qepartmentof 



Agriculture 



Forest Service 



Northeastern 

 Research Station 



Research Note NE-378 



Summer Roost-Tree Selection 

 by a Male Indiana Bat on the 

 Fernow Experimental Forest 



W.Mark Ford 

 Jennifer M. Menzel 

 Michael A. Menzel 

 John W. Edwards 



Abstract 



We attached a radio transmitter to an adult male Indiana 

 bat {Myotis sodalis) in June 2001 on the Fernow 

 Experimental Forest in the Allegheny Mountains of 

 north-central West Virginia. The bat was tracked for 4 

 successive days before the transmitter failed. The bat 

 roosted in three living trees over the study period. Two 

 roosts used for a single night each were in large shagbark 

 hickories (> 45 cm d.b.h.); the roost used for two 

 successive nights was located in a large sugar maple (69. 1 

 cm d.b.h.). Roost trees were characterized by large areas of 

 exfoliating bark and all were canopy-dominant within 

 surrounding stands. One shagbark hickory was a residual 

 tree left following a patch clearcut 6 years earlier. 

 Although few inferences can be drawn from one Indiana 

 bat, many characteristics of this individuals's roost 

 selections in the central Appalachians were consistent 

 with tree roosts observed in other regions during the non- 

 hibernation period of this species. 



The majority of the Indiana bat's {Myotis sodalis) winter 

 hibernacula and summer maternity range is in the lower 

 Ohio Valley and Ozark Plateau of the Midwest (Menzel et 

 aJ. 2001b). However, there are 92 Priority II and III 

 hibernacula of this endangered species in the central and 

 southern Appalachians from northeastern Alabama to 

 central Pennsylvania (Humphrey 1978; USDI Fish and 

 Wildl. Serv. 1999; Menzel et al. 2001b). Summer 

 maternity activity of female Indiana bats is believed to be 

 rare in forest habitats in the central Appalachians of 

 Virginia and West Virginia (Brack et al. 2001 ; Owen et 

 al. 2001). However, most male Indiana bats remain in the 



W. MARK FORD and JENNIFER M. MENZEL, 

 research wildlife biologists, USDA Forest Service, 

 Northeastern Research Station, Parsons, West Virginia; 

 MICHAEL A. MENZEL, graduate research assistant, 

 and JOHN W. EDWARDS, assistant professor. West 

 Virginia University, Division of Forestry, Morgantown, 

 West Virginia. 



1 



