Aspects of the foraging and roosting ecology of the large-eared pied bat (Chalinolobus dwyeri) in the western Blue Mountains, with implications for conservation
Elizabeth R. Williams A C and Bruce Thomson A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia.
B Redleaf Environmental, PO Box 3564, Village Fair, Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: drelizabeth.r.williams@gmail.com
Australian Mammalogy 41(2) 212-219 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM17064
Submitted: 26 December 2017 Accepted: 25 November 2018 Published: 13 December 2018
Abstract
The large-eared pied bat (Chalinolobus dwyeri) is listed as vulnerable at both state and federal level, yet little is published on its foraging ecology. Research was conducted to examine its foraging range and habitat (foraging and roosting) preferences. Seven individuals (five female and two male) were radio-tracked in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, on two separate occasions over a total of nine tracking nights. Females had larger foraging areas than males, but both showed high fidelity to preferred foraging areas. Females roosted separately from males, showing less roost fidelity and roosting at a greater distance from the foraging area. Both males and females roosted in west-facing cliff faces without large caverns. The preferred foraging area included: a sharp grassland–forest border in a western-facing valley, a creek or moist drainage gully with wet vegetation types and day roosts within 700 m. At the fine scale, bats foraged along forest edges at mid-to-upper-canopy height and on the outer canopy of individual trees within the forest. Our data suggest that the presence and distance of such habitat requirements should be considered when assessing land management and conservation activities.
Additional keywords: foraging range, microbats, roost fidelity.
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