3.7 Mammals
3.7.5 Management Needs Te Mammal Taxa Team indicated that current management levels for many of our bat species are not sufcient to maintain long-term, viable populations. Many laboratories and state and federal biologists are investigating the cause of bat deaths to document the spread of WNS. Research is currently being conducted to investigate the dynamics of the fungal infection and transmission, and determine a way to control the disease. Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel populations have been monitored annually since 1996 via winter nest box surveys. Data are stored in NCWRC’s fying squirrel database. Acoustic surveys have been underway since 2009 and take place in the spring, summer, and fall. A reference library of fying squirrel calls provides known calls of Northern and Southern Flying Squirrels (Gilley 2013) . Radio-telemetry studies have provided additional insight into habitat use , in particular the Northern Flying Squirrel’s use of conifers (Ford et al. 2014) . A predictive model of Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel habitat has been developed for GIS analysis and can be used by researchers as a frst approximation of species distribution (Ford et al 2015) . Management recommendations for the Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel include the need to restore high-elevation forest habitat (Ford et al. 2014). 3.7.6 Threats and Problems Chapter 5 describes 11 categories of threats the Mammal Taxa Team considered during evaluation and ranking process to identify SGCN; information about the expected scope and severity of these threats is available in Appendix G. Evaluation results for Metric 9 indi- cate the most likely threats to have signifcant impacts on mammal populations in North Carolina over the next 10 years include the following:
• Residential and commercial development (e.g., land use change)
• Disease and pathogens (e.g., WNS)
Land-use change, especially from undeveloped land into developed uses, is a critical threat to SGCN mammals. Fire suppression negatively impacts species associated with Longleaf Pines, such as Eastern Fox Squirrels and Southeastern Bat. Many small mammal popula- tions are threatened by loss of early successional habitat across the state due to clean agri- culture and timber practices. Loss of suitable roosts for bats is another important concern due to a decrease in snags in forested areas. White-nose syndrome has emerged as a signifcant threat to bat populations in the state. Continued monitoring of bat populations in the Piedmont for WNS, especially in the Uwharrie region, is important to understanding the spread of the disease. Bats are also
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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