Summer Roosting by Adult Male Seminole Bats in the Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas

—We used radiotelemetry to locate 51 diurnal roosts for 17 male Seminole bats (Lasiurus seminolus) during late spring and early summer, 2000–2005. We quantified characteristics of roost trees and sites surrounding roosts and compared those measurements with random trees and random locations. All but two roosts were located in the foliage of large overstory pines (Pinus sp.). All roosts were in trees $21.7 cm dbh and roost trees were taller and greater in diameter than random trees. A conditional logistic regression model differentiating roost sites from random locations indicated Seminole bats were more likely to roost at sites with more pines 25.0–49.9 cm dbh, fewer pines 10.0–24.9 cm dbh, lower overstory hardwood basal areas (BA) and more recently cut stumps than random; bats selected open forest sites dominated by large (.20.0 cm dbh) pines. Eighty-four percent of roosts were located in stands that were recently partially harvested or thinned but retained large overstory pines. Relatively open pine forest, with abundant large overstory pines, is important roosting habitat for male Seminole bats during summer on the western edge of their range.