BATS OF THE HARDWOOD ECOSYSTEM EXPERIMENT
BEFORE TIMBER HARVEST: ASSESSMENT AND PROGNOSIS
Jeremy J. Sheets, John O. Whitaker, Jr., Virgil Brack, Jr., and Dale W. Sparks
Abstract: Before experimental harvest of the Yellowwood (YW) and Morgan-Monroe (MM) State Forests (Indiana) as part of the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment, bats were sampled using mist nets at four locations in MM and five locations in YW during each summer 2006 through 2008. Netting locations were adjacent to forest stands scheduled for experimental manipulations following conclusion of netting in 2008. This effort produced 342 bats (in order of abundance): northern myotis (Myotis septentrionalis), eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis), big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), Indiana myotis (M. sodalis), little brown myotis (M. lucifugus), tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus), hoary bat (L. cinereus), and silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans). These data provide a baseline to understand how bats are affected by short- and long-term forest manipulations initiated in summer 2008.
