Four undergraduates in Brooke Maslo's lab present poster at the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Conference

Michelle Aris ('17), Leslie Tsen ('16), Brian Schumm ('18), and Amanda Bevan ('16), together with Rutgers alum, Kathleen Kerwin (MS '14), presented a poster entitled A Systematic Review of Roost-site Characteristics of Forest-dwelling Bats affected by White-nose Syndrome at the 72^nd Annual Northeast Fish and Wildlife Conference in Annapolis, MD on April 4^th, 2016. Over the past year, the group worked closely with Assistant Professor Brooke Maslo to review the literature for 9 bat species that occur in eastern North America to identify similarities and differences in habitat preferences for these species at multiple scales. The group identified significant overlap in roost-site preferences between northern long-eared bats and Indiana bats, suggesting that protections for both federally listed species are likely complimentary. In addition, northern long-eared bat protections may confer benefits to these five additional species (big brown, eastern red, little brown, silver-haired, and tricolored bats), meaning that northern long-eared bats may serve as an effective conservation umbrella for the remaining group. They also highlighted the need for additional studies on the less represented species within the target group, particularly eastern red and tricolored bats.

April 2016