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Landscape predictors and spatial distribution of little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) coastal foraging habitat along the Northern Gulf of Alaska

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Abstract

White-nose syndrome (WNS) has significantly impacted little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) (MYLU) populations in North America and continues to spread throughout the Pacific Northwest, posing a potential threat to populations in Alaska. Unfortunately, little is known about MYLU habitats in the coastal environments of the Northern Gulf of Alaska. It is imperative to fill this knowledge gap as the most fundamental information needed to direct research and conservation. To address this issue, we conducted a study to identify landscape features associated with MYLU foraging habitat and map its spatial distribution in the coastal zone (0–200 m above sea level) of the Kenai Peninsula. We collected a spatially explicit, stratified-random sample of MYLU foraging activity near waterbodies within six dominant landcover types using 24 automated recording devices. We used the machine learning algorithm, TreeNet, to identify important landcover features associated with the presence-absence of MYLU foraging locations and used these associations to generate a predictive model of MYLU foraging habitat across the entire coastal zone of the eastern Kenai Peninsula. Bats foraged in areas close to freshwater bodies with moderately sloped terrain along southwestern to north-facing aspects ≤ 50 m from conifer forests, and < 150 m from the coastline at elevations < 200 m. Foraging habitats were discontinuous, but extensively distributed as a patchwork along the coast. Our model highlights specific areas where strategic planning, research, and inter-agency and federal-Tribal collaborations can be made as we work proactively to confront WNS in the sub-Arctic.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the repository, National Park Service (NPS) Integrated Resource Management Applications (IRMA) DataStore at https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2297313.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the National Park Service White Nose Syndrome advisory committee for funding this project. We appreciate the support and work ethic of the KEFJ administrative staff and M/V Serac boat crews. We give a special thank you to the exceptional field work of M. Petschauer and S. Kirlin, and the gracious support of A. Jarosz from Chugach Regional Resource Commission. Minitab, LLC. Technical Support team helped us understand the new TreeNet platform for building and predicting our model output. We very much appreciate the two anonymous reviewers and editor for helping us improve this manuscript. The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of any government agencies. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US government.

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  1. Kenai Fjords National Park, U.S. National Park Service, Seward, Alaska, USA

    Timothy C. Mullet

  2. Alaska Regional Office, U.S. National Park Service, Anchorage, Alaska, USA

    Paul Burger

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. TCM contributed to project conception, funding and equipment acquisition, budgeting, planning, field staff hiring and supervision, methods development, coordination and implementation of field data collection, data management, data analysis, modeling, and writing this manuscript. PB contributed to funding acquisition, field data collection, data management, data analysis, and revising this manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Timothy C. Mullet.

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Conflict of interest

The results presented in this manuscript were acquired from work funded by the U.S. National Park Service (PMIS 245426 and PMIS 254496) for the purpose of filling data gaps on bats inhabiting national parks in Alaska in the context of white-nose syndrome. Field work was conducted by the National Park Service and Chugach Regional Resource Commission. We declare that there are no competing or conflict of interest.

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The original online version of this article was revised: Under the heading “Sample site selection”, in third paragraph, the text “503-m minimum foraging distance Randall (2014)” was replaced with “650-m intermediate foraging distance Henry et al. (2002)”. Under the heading “Data analysis”, the text “503-m” was replaced with “650-m”. Under the heading “Model assumptions” the third point, the text “503 m” was replaced with “650 m”.

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Mullet, T.C., Burger, P. Landscape predictors and spatial distribution of little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) coastal foraging habitat along the Northern Gulf of Alaska. Polar Biol 46, 1203–1213 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-023-03194-w

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