Contrasting spatial and temporal activity patterns of little brown bats ( <i>Myotis lucifugus</i> ) at maternity roosts and swarming sites

Abstract Life history of many animals is often concentrated around central or focal places such as roosts or breeding sites that impose spatial constraints and shape habitat use. Central place behaviors vary depending on life stages, environmental conditions, and the annual cycle of a species—highlighting the need to consider these variations in management plans. The objective of our study was to contrast central place behaviors of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) during summer around a maternity roost, while lactating females raised their pups, and during pre-hibernation swarming (mating) at a cave for both males and females. Given the differences in energetic constraints between seasons and sexes, we hypothesized that return rates, activity, distribution, and habitat use would differ between the maternity roost and the hibernaculum and that male and female behavior would differ. We used an automated telemetry network consisting of 10 receiver towers at each site to track bat movements in the surrounding area. This system recorded over 370,000 detections from 23 lactating females at the maternity roost and over 90,000 detections from 23 males and 15 females at the hibernaculum. The maternity roost acted as a typical central place with females returning to the roost on 81 ± 29% of nights and with activity concentrated in a ∼5 km radius of the roost, primarily along a riparian corridor. At the swarming site, males and females returned on only 22 ± 27% of nights, although when they returned males stayed longer than females. Bats were detected up to 13 km from the swarming site and males were overall detected more frequently than females, suggesting that the spatial extent of use differs between sexes. Our study is one of the first to automatically track bats around both a maternity roost and a hibernaculum, and we offer practical suggestions to improve study designs—particularly to address seasonal shifts and sex-specific behavioral variation. We also highlight the importance of integrating seasonal perspectives to better support ­management plans for bats.