Lasiurus borealis day-roost habitat

The eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) is widely considered to be in
decline, inspiring interest in identifying important habitats for
conservation in the eastern United States. Unfortunately, knowledge of
important day-roosting habitats is lacking for much of the species’ range.
We examined patterns of day-roost selection by male and female eastern red
bats at two study sites in southeastern Ohio, U. S. A, to help fill this
information gap. We radio-tagged 28 male and 25 female bats during the
summers of 2016–2019 and located 53 male and 74 female roosts. Day-roost
selection differed between sexes and study areas. In a mostly even-aged
forest with significant historical disturbance, we found males and females
roosting in trees located at higher elevations, with no clear selection
based on tree or stand characteristics. Specifically, males selected trees
with larger diameters located at lower, cooler elevations than females,
which selected smaller diameter trees found at higher, warmer elevations.
However, in a forest with less historical disturbance and more structural
diversity, we found sexes differed in how they selected from available
habitats. These data show that heterogeneity in environmental conditions
can lead to different patterns in selection, even between sites located
within a small geographic area. They also show that eastern red bats
sexually segregate on the local landscape in the presence of diverse
forest conditions but may not do so in the absence of such diversity. We
recommend managing forests to maintain structural diversity across an
elevational gradient to provide male and female eastern red bats with
suitable day-roosting habitat in southeast Ohio.