Artificial bat roosts are deployed worldwide for conservation and mitigation for loss of habitat. To date, few studies have assessed bat physiological responses to these structures despite the direct fitness consequences associated with artificial roosts. Variations in artificial roost design and placement impact roost temperature and could affect bats’ thermoregulatory responses, with potentially negative implications for energy expenditure and reproduction. To address this knowledge gap, we used temperature-sensitive radio telemetry to quantify the torpor expression of female Indiana bats, an endangered species, using five different artificial roost designs placed in sun-exposed and shaded locations during the summer of 2021 at field sites in Indiana and Kentucky, USA. For bats using the large, thermally stratified artificial roosts we deployed, all variants of a reference design, torpor expression was strongly influenced by minimum daily temperature but not by artificial roost design. Indiana bats exhibited three common thermoregulatory behaviors during this study: continuous endothermy, morning torpor, and all-day torpor use. By switching roosts with seasonal weather shifts, Indiana bats could avoid cooler, shaded artificial roosts, thus avoiding excessive torpor use during pup rearing. Bats shifted from shaded roost placements early in the summer to sun-exposed roost placements after canopy leaf-out occurred. Our results highlight the labile behavioral and thermoregulatory responses of bats to their roosting environments. Offering a variety of artificial roost designs and placements to meet shifting thermoregulatory needs could be critical to enabling bats to maintain a positive energy budget over the course of the maternity season.

We documented multiple attempted predation events of Neotoma magister (Allegheny Woodrat) by Strix varia (Barred Owl) and Buteo jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk) using camera traps paired with live-traps. Given our observations, the life histories of these predators and how they relate to Allegheny Woodrats needs to be further investigated. Pairing passive monitoring tools with live- trapping efforts will not only improve the safety and efficacy of live-trapping practices, but can also elucidate temporal activity patterns of study species and provide natural history observations as outlined here.

Bat box microclimates vary spatially and temporally in temperature suitability. This heterogeneity subjects roosting bats to a variety of thermoregulatory challenges (e.g. heat and cold stress). Understanding how different bat box designs, landscape placements, weather and bat use affect temperature suitability and energy expenditure is critical to promote safe and beneficial artificial roosting habitat for species of conservation concern. From April to September 2019, we systematically deployed 480 temperature dataloggers among 40 rocket box style bat boxes of 5 designs and regularly monitored bat abundance. We used bioenergetic models to assess energy costs for endothermic and heterothermic bats and modelled the overheating risk for each box as a function of design, placement, bat abundance and weather. For endothermic bats, predicted daily energy expenditure was lower for solar-exposed placements, large group sizes and a box design with enhanced thermal mass. For heterothermic bats, shaded landscape placements were the most energetically beneficial and bat box design was not important, because all designs generally offered microclimates suitable for torpor use at some position within the box. Overheating risk was highest for solar-exposed landscape placements and for designs lacking modifications to buffer temperature, and with increasing bat abundance, increasing ambient temperature and slower wind speeds. The external water jacket design, with the greatest thermal mass, concomitantly decreased overheating risk and endothermic energy expenditure. By assessing bat box suitability from two physiological perspectives, we provide a robust method to assess the conservation value of bat box design and placement strategies. We recommend future studies examine how changing thermal mass and conductance can be used to diminish overheating risk while also enhancing the effects of social thermoregulation for bat box users.

Eastern spotted skunks Spilogale putorius are an understudied species that has experienced range-wide declines. Over the past 16 y, camera traps have become an increasingly common tool to monitor and understand their current distribution. To inform best surveying practices, we reviewed 16 camera-trap studies specifically targeting this species. We focused on reported latency to initial detection and three main aspects of study design: seasonality of detections, baits and lures, and camera-trap brands. Latency to initial detection ranged from 1 to 82 d with a mean of 17.1 d (SD = 9.1). Attractants varied among projects, but most (75%) used sardines as bait. The percentage of skunk detections tended to vary across the year, with the highest percentage of skunk detections occurring in March (92%). We conclude by suggesting best practices and directions for future research techniques that will aid in developing more efficient methods to address key knowledge gaps for this elusive species. Given the long timeframes for latency to initial detection, monitoring individual sites for at least 4 wk, with the use of bait, is likely the best strategy to detect eastern spotted skunks. We encourage further experimental approaches on the effectiveness of different baits and lures, and methods to increase latency to initial detection. Collectively, we hope this leads to the development of a standardized monitoring approach that researchers can implement across studies and states within the eastern spotted skunk's range.

We conducted baited camera-trap surveys in eastern Kentucky during October 2017-April 2018 to assess the efficacy of survey duration and attractant type in detecting Spilogale putorius (Eastern Spotted Skunk) and other Appalachian meso-mammals. We surveyed 16 sites across 10 counties over more than 1200 trap-nights. We observed meso-mammals of 9 species, including 3 records of Eastern Spotted Skunks. Our results indicated that a 2-week survey duration with sardine bait yielded meso-mammal detection rates, richness estimates, and species accumulation curves comparable to a 4-week survey duration with sardine bait; the addition of fatty acid scent tablets did not affect results. However, Eastern Spotted Skunks were not recorded until an average of 15 days after deployment, suggesting that species-specific trapping rates must be considered in the duration of camera-trap surveys.

ABSTRACT Eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis) are nocturnal insectivores distributed throughout eastern North America. While the dietary composition of this species has been broadly studied, dietary variation in Kentucky is not well documented. To evaluate potential regional, seasonal, and reproductive dietary variation for this species, we analyzed fecal samples from 121 individual bats collected throughout Kentucky from June 2004 to September 2006. Fecal samples were dissected under magnification, and prey in fecal samples were visually-identified to ordinal level. Results of our study suggest that overall, beetles (Coleoptera) and moths (Lepidoptera) were consumed about equally. Beetles comprised most of the diet in spring and summer with a shift to moths as the main prey item in autumn. Beetles were consumed more in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains and Southwestern Appalachian ecoregions, whereas moths were consumed more in the Central Appalachian and Interior Plateau ecoregions. These data suggest variation in the eastern red bat diet throughout Kentucky, which we attribute to climatic and regional environmental factors. We speculate that eastern red bats may favor moths in autumn to build essential energy reserves in preparation for hibernation.

........................................................................................................................................................ 1 Objectives ..................................................................................................................................................... 2 Background and Purpose .............................................................................................................................. 3 Materials and Methods .................................................................................................................................. 4 Results and Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 7 Conclusions and Implications for Management .......................................................................................... 20 Policy and Future Research ........................................................................................................................ 20 Literature Cited ........................................................................................................................................... 20 Appendix A. Contact Information for Key Project Personnel .................................................................... 28 Appendix B. List of Completed/Planned Scientific/Technical Publications/Science Delivery Products ... 29 Appendix C. Metadata ................................................................................................................................ 33

We characterized patterns of bat activity outside primary hibernacula of Myotis bats at Mammoth Cave National Park on the days preceding, concurrent with, and following the total solar eclipse which occurred on 21 August 2017. Additionally, we documented nightly patterns of bat activity for hydric habitats and forest corridors across Kentucky during a 7-d period encompassing the eclipse. Our results suggest there was no diurnal bat activity occurring in response to the total solar eclipse, and there was no clear evidence of altered nightly activity patterns. However, these observations provide baseline data for future study of bat responses to eclipse events.

A substantial body of work exists describing timing of migration and hibernation among bats in eastern North America, but less is known about these events among bats inhabiting the Rocky Mountain region. Yellowstone National Park is a geothermally influenced landscape comprised of diverse habitats, creating the opportunity for unique behaviors to develop among local bat populations. We identified the timing of migration for the local bat community and determined if bats overwinter in Yellowstone. To accomplish this, we radiotracked 7 little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus), 5 western long-eared myotis (M. evotis), 4 big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), 4 silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans), and 1 western small-footed myotis (M. ciliolabrum) from August to September 2010 and September to October 2011. We also used acoustic detectors to record bat activity from November through April 2011–2014 and sampled abundance of nocturnal insects using black-light traps from 2011 to 2012. Although availability of insects declined rapidly during August and afterward, several bat species remained active throughout autumn and winter. Bat activity was recorded during all months, even during periods of extreme cold. Radiotagged big brown bats, little brown myotis, and western small-footed myotis remained active in the study area throughout October, after the 1st snowfall of the season. While data for activity patterns in late autumn and winter prevented an estimation of the onset of hibernation, spring emergence occurred in April despite persistence of winter conditions. These data provide insights into the migration and hibernation strategies of bat populations in the Rocky Mountains and highlight gaps in our understanding of seasonal changes in these species.

The extent to which prescribed fires affect forest structure and habitats of vertebrate species is an important question for land managers tasked with balancing potentially conflicting objectives of vegetation and wildlife management. Many insectivorous bats forage for insect prey in forested habitats, serving as the primary predators of nocturnal forest insects, and are potentially affected by structural changes in forests resulting from prescribed fires. We compared forest-stand characteristics of temperate oak–hickory forests, as measured with airborne laser scanning (light detection and ranging, LiDAR), with categorical estimates of burn severity from prescribed fires as derived from Landsat data and field-based Composite Burn Indices, and used acoustic monitoring to quantify activity of insectivorous bats in association with varying degrees of burn severity (unburned habitat, low severity and medium severity). Forest-stand characteristics showed greatest separation between low-severity and medium-severity classes, with gap index, i.e. open-air space, increasing with degree of burn severity. Greater mid-storey density, over-storey density and proportion of vegetation in the understorey occurred in unburned habitat. Activity of bats did not differ with burn severity for high-frequency (clutter-adapted or closed-space foragers) or low-frequency (edge or open-space foragers) bats. Results indicate that differing degrees of burn severity from prescribed fires produced spatial variation in canopy structure within stands; however, bats demonstrated no shifts in activity levels to this variation in canopy structure, suggesting prescribed fire during the dormant season, used as a management practice targeting desired changes in vegetation, is compatible with sustaining foraging habitat of insectivorous bats.

We sought to identify forest canopy characteristics useful for predicting activity of the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), an endangered species found at Mammoth Cave National Park (hereafter, the Park). To do so, we used Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) to quantitatively describe understory, mid-story, and canopy structure across the Park (Dodd et. al 2013). Concurrent with the collection of remotely-sensed data, we conducted surveys for bat activity from August 2010 through October 2011 using acoustic detectors (Anabat II) deployed along geo-referenced transects (Dodd et al. 2013). These acoustic surveys were conducted before the detection of White-nose Syndrome at MACA (USNPS 2013). Analysis of acoustic data was carried out using Echoclass v.1.1, and echolocation pulses classified as belonging to the Indiana bat were considered per detector / night as our response variable. We then derived a suite of forest canopy descriptors for our acoustic survey points using the ALS data set. This suite of variables incorporated descriptors based on the absolute measurements of ALS hits at 10-m increments throughout the forest canopy, as well as measurements for total canopy height and canopy gap. Our suite also incorporated predictive variables developed by Lesak et al. (2011), which apportioned the incidence of ALS hits throughout the forest canopy by collapsing ALS data into 10 proportionate bins scaled to the height of the canopy. All descriptors were based on a 15-m radius centered on an acoustic survey point. These descriptive variables included: • Total Density (sum of all ALSderived CHP from the ground to the top of the canopy) • Gap Index (percent of open air space >3 m in height without vegetative structure) • Canopy Height (height of canopy at the 90th percentile of ALS hits aboveground) • Understory Density (sum of ALSderived CHP from the ground to 10-m aboveground) • Midstory Density (sum of ALSderived CHP from 10 to 20-m aboveground) • Overstory Density (sum of ALSderived CHP from 20 to 30-m aboveground) • Legacy Density (sum of ALS-derived CHP > 30-m aboveground)

VOLUME 74 Dodd, Luke E. and Lynne K. Rieske. 2013. Temporal Variation of Nocturnal Lepidoptera and Other Insects at Robinson Forest, Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 74:3–9. Emily S. Gustin and Stephen C. Richter. 2013. Use of Genetic Markers to Verify the Distribution of Northern Leopard Frogs (Lithobates pipiens) and Southern Leopard Frogs (Lithobates sphenocephalus) in Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 74:10–15. Michael K. Bomford, Tamara D. Sluss, Ken J. Bates, and Sharmali Hansford. 2013. Potential of Kentucky Freeway Rights-of-Way to Displace Fossil Fuel Consumption through Production of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.). Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 74:16–25. James A. Evans and A. Jonathan Smith, Jr. 2013. New County Distribution Records for Butterfly Species in Eastern Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 74:26–29. Todd Levine, David White, Laura Francisco, and Gary Rice. 2013. Comparison of Schindler-Patalas Traps and Wisconsin Nets for Monitoring Zooplankton in a Large, Shallow Reservoir. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 74:30–36. Donald Adongo, Maeve L. McCarthy, and Ryan C. Walls. 2013. An Integer Programming Model of Fire Station Allocation in Murray, Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 74:37–40. Luke E. Dodd and Lynn F. Faust. 2013. Seasonal occurrence and habitat affiliations of Lampyridae at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 74:41–42. VOLUME 75 David White. 2014. History of the Kentucky Academy of Science over Its First 100 Years. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 75:3–36. Natalie N. Hatcher, Susana Moon, and Joe R. Wolf. 2014. Partial Characterization of a Novel Bacteriocin from Bacillus cereus GS1, a Soil Isolate. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 75:37–46. Fawn Brooks and C. Andrew Day. 2014. Analyzing the Mixed Flood Hydroclimatology of the Red River Basin, Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 75:47–52. Andrea P. Wilhoite, Janie K. Knell, and Wilson González-Espada. 2014. Use Of Herbal Supplements among College Students in Eastern Kentucky: Impact Factors. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 75:53–68. Frederick N. Bebe, Terry Hutchens, Kenneth M. Andries, Ken J. Bates, Terry Gipson, and Myron Evans. 2014. Meat Goats in Hillside Pastures: Control of Undesirable Plant Species and GPS Collar Determination of Activity Patterns. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 75:69–79. Michael J. Lacki, James J. Krupa, and Sonia P. Lacki. 2014. Extralimital Movement of Seminole Bats (Lasiurus seminolus) into Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 75:80–84. Luke E. Dodd, Michael J. Lacki, Daniel R. Cox, and Lynne K. Rieske. 2014. Prey Consumed by Bats Across Central Appalachia Prior to Detection of White-nose Syndrome. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 75:85–93. Erin E. Barding and Michael J. Lacki. 2014. Occurrence of Nematodes (Dracunculus spp.) in Reintroduced River Otters in Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 75:94–96. VOLUME 76 Christopher L. Schardl. 2015. Margaret I. King. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 76:3–5. Walter S. Borowski, Kristopher Carroll, Malcolm P. Frisbie and Daniel J. Ratterman. 2015. Non-point Sources and Point Sources for Nutrient and Fecal Microbe Contamination in a Typical Upland Stream: Tates Creek, Madison County, Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 76:6–34. Maythem Al-Amery, Watchareewan Jamboonsri, Chad Lee, James Hammond, Tim Phillips and David Hildebrand. 2015. Evaluation of Flax as a Viable Crop Again in the South Central U.S. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 76:35–42. Daniel C. Biles and John S. Spraker. 2015. Results on Uniqueness of Solutions for a Generalized Second Order Differential Equation. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 76:43–46. Steven J. Price, Christian R. Oldham, Wade M. Boys and Leo J. Fleckenstein. 2015. First Record of Snake Fungal Disease in Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 76:47–48. VOLUME 77 Marissa A. Buschow and David Brown. 2016. Winter Territoriality of White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) in Kentucky. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 77. Kenton L. Sena, Ben Brammell, and S. Ray Smith. 2016. Converting Abandoned Hayfield to Switchgrass Increases Small Mammal Relative Abundance. Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 77. David J. Eisenhour and Brooke A. Washburn. 2016. Long-Distance

Bats in the genus Corynorhinus possess a suite of morphological characters that permit them to effectively use both gleaning and aerial-hawking foraging strategies to capture Lepidoptera. Consequently, they occupy a specialized feeding niche within North American bat assemblages and are of particular interest for dietary studies. We collected fecal pellets from a colony of C. rafinesquii (Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat) at Mammoth Cave National Park during August-October 2011 and amplified cytochrome-c oxidase subunit 1 fragments of prey from these pellets. We used the Barcode of Life Database to identify prey, and evaluated the size of prey species based on published values. The mean wingspan of prey we recorded from our samples was smaller than average values reported for Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat using traditional methods (P <= 0.01), suggesting that surveys of culled insect parts beneath roosting sites may lead to biased estimates of the size and breadth of prey species eaten by gleaning bats. Mean wingspan of lepidopteran prey consumed by Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat in our study was larger (P <= 0.01) than values reported for the Myotis septentrionalis (Northern Long-Eared Bat), which is a smaller, sympatric gleaner in eastern North America. Further, comparisons of our diet data with abundance of prey suggest macrolepidopteran taxa are consistently consumed by Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat to greater degree than microlepidotera. Our findings suggest that North American Corynorhinus consume a wider range of sizes and species of Lepidoptera than previously reported in studies based solely on identification of culled prey-wings beneath feeding roosts.

The rapid colonization of the Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus across cave systems in eastern North America and the associated bat mortalities (white-nose syndrome; WNS), necessitates studies of cave-hibernating bats that remain unaffected by, or in close proximity to, the leading edge of the fungal distribution to provide baseline predisturbance data from which to assess changes due to fungal effects. Studies of the physiological ecology of cave-hibernating bats during the spring staging and autumn swarming seasons are few, and an understanding of patterns in body condition of bats associated with entry into and emergence from hibernation is incomplete. We sampled bats at the entrance to a cave in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, during swarming and staging, prior to (2011 and 2012), concurrent with (2013), and following (2014) the arrival of the WNS fungus. We evaluated seasonal and annual changes in body mass and body condition of bats entering and leaving the cave. We captured 1,232 bats of eight species. Sex ratios of all species were male-biased. Capture success was substantially reduced in 2014, following the second winter after arrival of the WNS fungus. Significant temporal variation in body mass and body mass index was observed for little brown bats Myotis lucifugus, northern long-eared bats M. septentrionalis, and tri-colored bats Perimyotis subflavus, but not Indiana bats M. sodalis. Little brown bats and northern long-eared bats demonstrated significant increases in mean body mass index in 2014; this pattern likely reflected a relatively better body condition in bats that survived exposure to the WNS fungus. Most species demonstrated highest body mass and body mass index values in late swarming compared with other sampling periods, with tri-colored bats showing the greatest percent increase in body mass (42.5%) and body mass index (42.9%) prior to entering hibernation. These data indicate significant intraspecific variation in body condition of cave-hibernating bat species, both among years and between the seasons of autumn swarming and spring staging. We suggest this variation is likely to have implications for the relative vulnerability of species to WNS infection across the distribution of the Pseudogymnoascus fungus.

ABSTRACT An understanding of prey consumption patterns across bat species is lacking in a community context across Appalachia. This region of North America is of immediate importance to conservation efforts given the emergence of White-nose Syndrome (WNS). We report on prey consumed by 187 bats captured in mist nets from 2006 to 2008 in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Results indicate that consumption of arthropod groups varies among bat species and geographic location, but Coleoptera and Lepidoptera were important dietary items across this predator assemblage. We attribute the variation observed across bat species to be due to differences in ecomorphology and foraging strategies. This study provides baseline data for investigating feeding patterns following impacts from WNS in the Central Appalachian region.

Lepidoptera are a conspicuous, diverse group of forest insects that are responsive to land management and perturbation. Nocturnal Lepidoptera and other insects were surveyed using blacklight traps during June and July of 1997 at Robinson Forest, a large experimental forest located in the Appalachians of eastern Kentucky. Though the capture of Lepidoptera and other common insect orders varied little between sampling locations, a seasonal trend was detected; fewer Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, and total insects in general were captured in June versus July. Lepidoptera ≥20 mm in wingspan were further identified and enumerated. A total of 664 Lepidoptera of ≥100 species and 13 families were tabulated. Species turnover, particularly for the most abundant species, was commonplace between June and July. The food habits of abundant species were varied, suggesting the assemblage of Lepidoptera at Robinson Forest is not only taxonomically rich, but is functionally rich as well.