Michael C. True Hila Taylor Dorothy Brown W. Mark Ford Jesse L. De La Cruz 2022 <p><span>Reproductively successful and over-wintering populations of the endangered northern long-eared bat (</span><i><span class="html-italic">Myotis septentrionalis</span></i><span>) have recently been discovered on the Coastal Plain of North Carolina. Empirical data on resource selection within the region is limited, likely hindering management of these coastal forests. Our objectives were to determine roosting home range size, selection of day-roost tree species, second- and third-order roosting habitat selection, and to quantify the overall availability of resources in the surrounding landscape. We found core and peripheral roosting home range estimates were large, yet similar to observations from other areas of contiguous forests. Prior to juvenile volancy, female northern long-eared bats appear to select red maple (</span><i><span class="html-italic">Acer rubrum</span></i><span>), water ash (</span><i><span class="html-italic">Fraxinus caroliniana</span></i><span>), and loblolly pine (</span><i><span class="html-italic">Pinus taeda</span></i><span>) as day-roosts, but then use sweetgum (</span><i><span class="html-italic">Liquidambar styraciflua</span></i><span>), swamp bay (</span><i><span class="html-italic">Persea palustris</span></i><span>), and water tupelo (</span><i><span class="html-italic">Nyssa aquatica</span></i><span>) after juvenile volancy. At the second-order spatial scale, roosting home ranges were associated with woody wetlands farther from anthropogenic development and open water. However, within the third-order scale, northern long-eared bats were associated with undeveloped woody wetlands and upland forests, areas containing shorter trees and occurring proximal to open water. Peripheral and core areas were predicted to comprise approximately 20% of the local landscape. Our results show that complex and large tracts of woody wetlands juxtaposed with upland forests in this part of the Coastal Plain may be important for northern long-eared bats locally, results largely consistent with species management efforts in eastern North America.</span></p> application/pdf 10.3390/f13050792 en MDPI Unique land cover classification to assess day-roost habitat selection of northern long-eared bats on the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, USA article