Disentangling winter relationships: Bat responses to forest stand structure, environmental conditions, and prey composition

Abstract

Private, working forests are a significant component of the landscape in the southeastern United States. Past research has documented diverse bat communities in these areas, but there is limited information on how forest management practices affect bat and insect communities in winter. We applied structural equation modeling to examine relationships among bat activity, temperature, forest structure, and nocturnal insect assemblages across four working pine (Pinus spp.) forest landscapes in the southeastern U.S. Coastal Plain during January to March, 2021–2022. Temperature directly influenced bat activity and insect metrics. Additionally, higher insect ordinal richness positively affected activity of all but one bat taxon. Activity of most bat taxa was also directly influenced by forest structure, generally indicating preference for large areas of semi-open canopied stands and responding negatively to pre-thinned, closed-canopy stands. Forest stand structure affected several insect attributes including catches of Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, and large-sized insects, indicating potential indirect cascading effects on bat taxa associated with specific forest insect assemblages. Our results underscore the importance of maintaining a heterogenous forest landscape with a range of forest stand age and structure from early establishment to thinned, open-canopied stands and offer practical guidance for forest managers seeking to optimize conservation efforts.