hibernacula vicinity and use trees and snags as day roosts 

 during late spring, summer, and early fall. Accordingly, 

 protection of tree roosts and forested habitat around 

 Indiana bat hibernacula in the Appalachians is important 

 to safeguard males from direct mortality and/or harmful 

 modification of their roosting and foraging habitat. 



Within the central and southern Appalachians, published 

 roost research on male Indiana bats has been limited to a 

 study of immediate post-hibernation emergence in the 

 Ridge and Valley of western Virginia (Hobson and 

 Holland 1995) and two pre-hibernation studies 

 conducted just before and during fall "swarm" on the 

 Cumberland Plateau in eastern Kentucky (Kiser and 

 Elliot 1996; MacGregor et al. 1999). Although critical for 

 natural resource managers in a region where forest 

 management is substantial on private lands (DiGiovanni 

 1990) while decreasing rapidly on public lands (Ford et 

 al. 2000), there are few data on roost characteristics of 

 male Indiana bats during the non-hibernation spring and 

 summer seasons. The objective of this study was to 

 provide preliminary data on male Indiana bat day roosts 

 in the central Appalachians of West Virginia and relate 

 those findings to current forest management practices. 



Study Area and Methods 



We examined summer day roosts of a male Indiana bat on 

 the Fernow Experimental Forest, a 1,900-ha research 

 forest located in Tucker County, West Virginia. Elevations 

 in this portion of the Allegheny Mountains subsection of 

 the Unglaciated Appalachian Mountains and Plateau 

 Physiographic Province generally range from 600 to 1300 

 m. Topography is characterized by steep side slopes with 

 broad ridge tops and narrow valleys (Fenneman 1938). 

 The climate is cool and moist with annual precipitation 

 exceeding 155 cm (Madarish et al. 2002). On upland 

 sites, mature (> 70 years), second-growth Allegheny/ 

 northern hardwood forests are dominated by American 

 beech {Fagns grandifolia), sugar maple {Acer sacchariim), 

 red maple {A. rubrum), black cherry {Prunus serotina), 

 northern red oak {Qiiercus rubra), yellow hirch.. {Betula 

 alleghaniensis), black birch {B. lento)., Fraser magnolia 

 {Magnolia fraseri), and basswood {Tilia americana) . 

 Riparian areas on the Fernow are dominated by eastern 

 hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis) and rosebay rhododendron 

 {Rhododendron maximum). Because the Fernow is 

 designated as a forestry research area, it contains younger 

 forest stands (< 10 years) that originated from clear- and 

 deferment cutting and older stands altered by diameter- 

 limit and selection cutting. 



Portions of the Fernow and surrounding landscape in 

 eastern West Virginia are underlain by the Greenbrier 

 Limestone strata (Madarish et al. 2002) with karst 



formations and numerous caves. Locally, several of these 

 caves serve as minor hibernacula for Indiana bats. Big 

 Springs Cave, located near the center of the Fernow, 

 annually winters approximately 200 male and female 

 Indiana bats. During the summer maternity season, 

 female Indiana bats probably are absent throughout most 

 of the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia, including 

 the Fernow (Owen et al. 2001). Male Indiana bats that 

 hibernate in Big Springs Cave remain in and around the 

 Fernow (< 25 km radius) during the spring, summer and 

 fall where they day roost in trees (L. E. Thomasma, 

 USDA Forest Service, commun.). As a result, timber 

 harvests for research purposes on the Fernow are limited 

 to October 1 through April 30 to avoid "take" of an 

 endangered species through habitat modification or direct 

 mortality that could occur by felling an occupied roost 

 tree.' 



On 16 June, 2000, at approximately 2200 hr, we captured 

 a male Indiana bat with a single mist net placed over 

 Elklick Run near the center of the Fernow Experimental 

 Forest. We confirmed species identification by the 

 presence of a keeled calcar and short toe hairs that did not 

 extend beyond the knuckle or claw (Whitaker and 

 Hamilton 1998). The bat had the following 

 measurements: forearm 38 mm, ear 8.5 mm, tragus 6 

 mm, and mass 7.0 g. We assigned the bat to the adult age 

 class by examining the degree of epiphyseal-diaphyseal 

 fusion (Anthony 1988; Racey 1988). We attached a 0.51- 

 g model LB-2 radio transmitter (Holohil Systems Ltd., 

 Woodlawn, ON)' to the hair between the bat's scapula 

 using Skin Bond® surgical adhesive (Pfizer Hospital 

 Products Group, Largo, FL). Transmitter mass was 

 approximately 7 percent of the bat's body weight, slightly 

 in excess of the recommended 5 percent of body mass 

 (Aldridge and Brigham 1988). We used LA12-QAVM 

 receivers (AVM Instruments, Colfax, CA) and folding, 

 three-element Yagi antennas to locate the Indiana bat's 

 day roosts. The bat was tracked for 4 successive days 

 before the transmitter was shed. 



At each day roost or within a 10-m-radius circular plot 

 with the roost as plot center, we recorded roost-tree 

 species, d.b.h. (cm), height (m), snag class, bark-cover 



'Adams, M. B., Knibbs, J., Rodrigue, J. L., Edwards, P. J., 

 Wood, P., Ford, W. M., Kochenderfer, J. A., Schuler, T. M., 

 Crews, J. 2000. Fernow Experimental Forest: environmental 

 impact statement, Final Rep. On file at the Northeastern 

 Research Station, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. 



^The use of trade, firm, or corporate names in this report is for 

 the information of the reader. Such use does not constitute an 

 official endorsement or approval by the USDA Forest Service of 

 any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be 

 suitable. 



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