| The federally endangered gray bat (Myotis grisescens) is an obligate, year-round, cavedwelling species. Efforts to protect caves occupied by gray bats have proved beneficial to recovery. Specific gray bat foraging area characteristics also are critical to gray bat population recovery and maintenance. In summer 2000 and 2001, I determined gray bat presence/absence with Anabat II acoustic bat detectors in potential foraging areas near 2 bachelor colonies in northwest Georgia. In 2000, I systematically sampled 213 locations near water sources over an 8.3 x 9.4 km sampling grid that was established over a 5,100 km2 study area. Each sampling point was monitored for 20 minutes. A predictive landscape-level model was developed in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In summer 2001, to further refine gray bat spatial activity patterns on a macro-habitat level, I sampled 114 locations that were predicted on a landscape level as gray bat foraging areas based on data from 2000.; In 2001, I developed a macro-habitat foraging model based on 5,124 echolocation call sequences collected at 114 locations within gray bat foraging areas delineated by the GIS model. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
