One of the North American bat species most impacted by white-nose syndrome (WNS) is the northern long-eared bat Myotis septentrionalis, which as a result has been listed under the Endangered Species Act. WNS was first detected in Wisconsin in 2014. Unfortunately, little is known regarding the ecology of M. septentrionalis in this state pre-WNS to guide management supporting post-WNS recovery efforts. The objectives of our research were to (1) assess characteristics of trees that are associated with roost tree selection and (2) investigate how characteristics of maternity colony networks compare to colonies in the eastern USA. We mist-netted at 3 sites in Wisconsin in 2015 and 2016, and affixed radio transmitters to 39 female M. septentrio nalis. We tracked bats to 53 confirmed day roosts. We found that roost trees were larger, more decayed, and more likely to be in dominant canopy closure areas than random trees. Oaks Quercus spp. were used most frequently and in proportion to their availability in the landscape at 2 field sites, whereas invasive black locust Robinia pseudoacacia was used more than expected based on availability at another site. Overall, minimum convex polygon sizes for maternity roosts were variable (5.2 to 8.9 ha) but similar to values reported for other regions. However, network centrality was low, indicating equitable use of day roosts and more frequent roost switching compared to other regions. Our findings provide information that increasing availability of potential day roosts in the landscape during the reproductive period may improve recruitment, which may in turn mitigate some of the detrimental population effects from WNS.

中文翻译：

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在威斯康星州的三个地点调查北方长耳蝙蝠的产妇栖息地选择

受白鼻综合征 (WNS) 影响最严重的北美蝙蝠物种之一是北方长耳蝙蝠 Myotis septentrionalis，因此已被列入《濒危物种法》。WNS 于 2014 年首次在威斯康星州被发现。不幸的是，关于 M. septentrionalis 在该州 WNS 前的生态学知之甚少，以指导支持 WNS 后恢复工作的管理。我们研究的目的是 (1) 评估与栖息树选择相关的树木的特征，以及 (2) 调查母性殖民地网络的特征与美国东部的殖民地相比如何。2015 年和 2016 年，我们在威斯康星州的 3 个地点布网，并在 39 只雌性 M. septentrio nalis 上安装了无线电发射器。我们追踪蝙蝠到 53 个已确认的日间栖息地。我们发现栖息树更大，更腐烂，并且比随机树木更有可能位于主要的树冠关闭区域。橡树栎属 最频繁地使用，并且与它们在 2 个野外站点的景观中的可用性成比例，而侵入性刺槐 Robinia pseudoacacia 的使用量超过了基于另一个站点的可用性的预期。总体而言，产妇栖息地的最小凸多边形大小是可变的（5.2 到 8.9 公顷），但与其他地区报告的值相似。然而，网络中心性较低，表明与其他地区相比，公平使用日间栖息地和更频繁的栖息地切换。我们的研究结果提供的信息表明，在生殖期间增加景观中潜在日间栖息的可用性可能会改善招募，这反过来可能会减轻 WNS 对种群的一些不利影响。