Environmental and spatial characteristics that affect roost use by Seba’s short-tailed bat (Carollia Perspicillata) in a Colombian cave

Abstract

Bats use roost sites to reduce energy costs, for reproduction, and to protect themselves from harsh weather conditions and predators. The roosts differ in the environmental and spatial features that may be used by bats during roost selection, but the relationship between the types of roosts and the physical and spatial characteristics remain poorly understood. We studied the characteristics of roost sites used by Carollia perspicillata in a cave with an area of approximately 600 m 2 located in a remnant of tropical dry forest in Colombia. A total of 156 roost sites were sampled. Temperature, relative humidity, distance of the roost site from the cave entrance, relative location within the cave, the roost-site height, and the roost-site area were correlated with each other by canonical correlation analysis. A total of seven types of roost were identified, Cavity, Protrusion, Crack-with- Protrusions, Cavity-with-Protrusions, Cavity-with-Crack-and-Protrusions, Stalactite, and Rock-Structure. Protrusions had the highest frequency (64) and was preferred, along with Crack-with-Protrusions (32), over Rocky-Structure (9) and Stalactite (4), and these were not positively related to the measured characteristics. The Cavity-with-Protrusions, Cavity-with-Crack-and-Protrusions, and Cavity types were not used by Carollia perspicillata. The results indicate that the selection of the roost sites is addressed by the tendency of lower values, environmental characteristics, and spatial measures.