Bats are important components of biodiversity within forested ecosystems. This research addressed habitat characteristics that influence species occupancy and stable isotopes and wing morphology to assess community structure within the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge. To meet these objectives, I deployed echolocation recorders, mist-nets and conducted roost checks to capture bat acoustics; fur samples were also collected to measure ratios of carbon (C13/12) and nitrogen (N15/14). Relationships between occupancy, habitat class and features were not apparent for most species. However, Lasiurus and Mytois spp. showed positive relationships with proximity to roads, Lasiurus, positive with stem density and Perimyotis subflavus, negative with basal area. Stable isotope analysis revealed some distinction of trophic niches while wing morphometrics indicated bats of similar wing shape and size show greater trophic overlap. Collectively, these results suggest that habitat management, as current within the study area, will have limited influence on local bat distributions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-5899 |
| Date | 06 May 2017 |
| Creators | Veum, Scott Allan |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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