A Phenological Study of Bat Communities in Southern Mississippi Caves

<p>Mississippi is generally not known for its caves, and consequently its cave flora and fauna remain largely unstudied. From fall 2010 to winter 2013, we studied the bat populations in the three largest caves in Mississippi. The most common (and only) species found in these caves were <em>Myotis austroriparius </em>and <em>Perimyotis subflavus</em>. I collected monthly data on the number of bats per species, behaviors and locations of the bats within the caves, as well as atmospheric data at selected positions within each cave. All three caves were found to have significant temperature differences between seasons (winterPerimyotis subflavus </em>was found in significantly higher numbers during winter, and individuals were usually in torpor. However, an experiment in winter with “marked” (by nearby strings) <em>P. subflavus </em>revealed that the majority of these bats did not remain in their original positions for more than two days. In contrast, <em>M. austroriparius </em>was found in significantly higher numbers in the summer than winters. Two of the caves were used as maternity roosts by <em>M. austroriparius</em>. The largest cave in Mississippi, which unfortunately was highly vandalized, usually contained ~8,000 <em>Myotis austroriparius </em>during the summer months. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biological Sciences

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Roth, Zachary Uriah

Contributors dc:contributor

• David Beckett
• Frank Moore
• Carl Qualls

• tricolored bat
• southeastern myotis
• caves
• torpor
• phenological changes
• Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/62

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1072