Multi-scale Predictors of Northern Long-eared Bat (Myotis septentrionalis) Occupancy in the United States

Amy K. Wray^{1, *}, Bradley J. Udell¹, Helen T. Davis¹, Richard D. Inman¹, Bennet T. Lohre¹, Haley B. Price¹, Jonathan D. Reichard², Andrea N. Schuhmann¹, Bethany R. Straw¹, Frank C. Tousley¹, Jill Utrup², Ashton Wiens³, and Brian E. Reichert¹

¹United States Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Avenue Building C, Fort Collins, CO 80526. ²United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services, 300 Westgate Center Drive, Hadley, MA 01035. ³United States Geological Survey, Geology, Energy and Minerals Science Center, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20192.^*Corresponding author.

Journal of North American Bat Research, Volume 3 (2025):1–18

Abstract
Historically, Myotis septentrionalis (Northern Long eared Bat) was among the most common forest-interior species in North America. Largely due to high mortality from white-nose syndrome, this species has experienced severe population declines across its range. To create an updated species distribution map representing summer occupancy probabilities from 2017 to 2022, we integrated stationary acoustic data with live-capture data from the database of the North American Bat Monitoring Program into a multi-scale, multi-method occupancy modeling framework. Our results provide data-driven predictions with quantified uncertainty for summer occupancy probabilities for Northern Long-eared Bats at 2 spatial scales across the range of the species, while also accounting for inherent observation biases (e.g., imperfect detection).

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