Roost Use and Movements of Northern Long-Eared Bats in a Southeast Nebraska Agricultural Landscape

Bats are important bio-indicators of ecosystem health and provide a number services. White-nose Syndrome habitat loss have led to the decline many bat species in eastern North America, including federally threatened northern long-eared bat, Myotis septentrionalis. was only recently found Nebraska, which lies on western extent this geographic range. To better understand how forest-dependent persists an agriculturally dominated landscape amid growing pressures, we investigated roosting habits at Homestead National Monument located southeast Nebraska. We mist-netted bats eight nights 2019 (16 August–26 August) caught 55 across five species, juvenile bats. unique roosts between two radio-tracked bats; most female were anthropogenic structures tree cavities within 0.23 km capture, while male snags as far 2.73 from capture site. Fence also used by other undocumented recorded three radio-tagged that commuted sites hours after sunset. Our results evidence distributional edge for wooded areas, riparian zones, human-built intensively managed agricultural imperiled species.