WINTER HABITAT SELECTION BY NORTH TEMPERATE CAVE BATS

Quantified both microhabitat (within-cave) and macrohabitat (among-cave) locations selected by Eptesicus f.fuscus, Pipistrellus s. subflavus, Myotis keenii septentrionalis, M. l. lucifugus and M. sodalis in the limestone cave and mines of Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Microhabitat parameters reflected microclimate, physical structure and behavioral interactions at the roosting site. Macrohabitat parameters described cave macroclimate, structure, size and external habitat features. Three discriminant functions accounting for >95% of the variance were derived in the microhabitat analysis. Function I was correlated with microclimate and the tendency to cluster, function II with the exposure of the site, and function III with the draftiness of the location. Parameters that were important on a macrohabitat scale differed among species. Zones of suitable microhabitat available within a cave or mine were important factors, but presence or absence of a species at a cave or mine could not be accounted for solely by differences at this level. Cave size is important to several species in this guild. -from Authors