Characteristics of feeding roosts of Virginia big-eared bats in Daniel Boone National Forest

Examines use of cliff habitat by Plecotus townsendii virginianus in Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky, in 1990-92 and measured 21 habitat variables in 241 potential roosts. Virginia big-eared bats used rock shelters with large entrances and deep passages as feeding roosts. Entrance height, entrance width, shelter depth, and shelter width explained most variation. Discriminant function analysis of shelter use based on external and internal variables, separately, were significant, but neither set of variables reliably classified shelters from an independent data set into feeding roost or nonroosts. Data suggest that Virginia big-eared bats used a wide range of roost sites. -from Authors