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PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Series 4, Volume 65, Supplement I 
Louisiana was that roosts used by wintering Rafinesque’s big-eared bats were mainly hollow water 
tupelo trees with chimney-like openings and no basal openings (Rice, 2009). 
Warm Season Roosts in Caves and Mines: One sandstone cave monitored in southeastern 
Kentucky from 1993-1998 housed up to 118 Rafinesque’s big-eared bats in summer (Hurst and 
Lacki, 1999). The cave was also used in winter, but areas of the cave used by the maternity group 
in summer were consistently warmer than chambers used for hibernation. Radio-tagged bats mon¬ 
itored at this cave showed high roost fidelity in summer (Hurst and Lacki, 1999). A gated mine in 
northwestern South Carolina was known to house a maternity colony of 40-60 bats each year for 
at least 12 years (Loeb and Britzke, 2010). Abandoned mines are used as roosts by this species dur¬ 
ing summer in the North Carolina portion of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Currie, 
2000a). 
Warm Season Roosts in Hollow Trees: During summer Rafinesque’s big-eared bats exploit 
a diverse array of trees as roosts. Many species of large-diameter hollow trees have been docu¬ 
mented as day or night roosts for Rafinesque’s big-eared bats, especially in forested wetlands. The 
rates at which cavities occur in trees of bottomland hardwood forests can vary with species and size 
of trees (Stevenson, 2008). Use of specific individual trees can span multiple years (Loeb and 
Zamoch, 2011). Species of trees used as roosts include black gum {Nyssa sylvatica), water tupelo 
(Nyssa aquatica ), bald cypress ( Taxodium distichum), eastern cottonwood ( Populus deltoides), 
southern magnolia ( Magnolia grandiflora ), American beech ( Fagus grandifolia ), American 
sycamore {Platanus occidentalis ), shellbark hickory ( Carya laciniosa ), pignut hickory ( Carya 
glabra), sweetgum ( Liquidambar styraciflua), green ash {Fraxinus pennsylvanica), river birch 
( Betula nigra), yellow poplar ( Liriodendron tulipifera), and oaks ( Quercus spp.; Clark, 1990, 2003; 
Hoffman, 1999; Lance et al., 2001; Gooding and Langford, 2004, Mirowsky et al., 2004; Trous¬ 
dale and Beckett, 2005; Carver and Ashley, 2008; Stevenson 2008; Loeb and Zamoch, 2011; Mar¬ 
tin et al., 2011; Clement and Castleberry, 2013b,c; Fleming et al., 2013a; Stuemke et al., 2014). In 
many areas, Rafmesque’s big-eared bats roosting in hollow trees in bottomland hardwood forests 
switch roosts often, but they may be loyal to clusters of trees in a relatively small area (Clark, 2003; 
Gooding and Langford, 2004; Rice, 2009). Below we summarize findings regarding roosts in hol¬ 
low trees by state. 
Arkansas and Tennessee : Three radio-tagged Rafmesque’s big-eared bats captured in bot¬ 
tomland hardwood forest of the Rex Hancock/Black Swamp Wildlife Management Area of eastern 
Arkansas roosted in four hollow water tupelo trees with high openings (Hoffman, 1999). In west¬ 
ern Tennessee, six Rafmesque’s big-eared bats radio tracked to roosts in Pinson Mounds State 
Archaeological Park used living, hollow water tupelo trees as roosts, and favored hollow trees larg¬ 
er in girth than trees that were unused, and larger than hollow trees used by sympatric southeast¬ 
ern myotis (Carver and Ashley, 2008). 
Georgia : Primarily using radio telemetry and transect surveys that searched 1,731 hollow trees 
in a floodplain study area in central Georgia, Clement and Castleberry (2013c) found Rafinesque’s 
big-eared bats roosting in 170 hollow trees and counted a total of 870 bats at these roosts (730 bats 
were in 30 maternity colonies, which were in trees with larger internal cavities). Nearly all roost 
trees were in semi-permanently flooded or seasonally flooded areas. Occupied trees were larger 
and had larger cavity volumes and smoother interior walls than unoccupied trees, suggesting that 
avoidance of predators (snakes are more apt to climb rougher internal walls in summer) is an 
important aspect of summer roost selection (Clement and Castleberry, 2013c). 
Kentucky : Rafmesque’s big-eared bats radio tracked in summer on the floodplain of the Ohio 
River in Kentucky (Johnson et al., 2012a) switched roosts every three days regardless of sex or 
reproductive status; distances moved between consecutive roosts averaged 829 meters, with males 
