Chapter 3 North Carolina Species
information regarding statewide distribution and abundance; we have few programs in place to monitor the species; or there are questions regarding what factors affect the population size and distribution of these species. Research is needed to better understand bat presence, abundance, and distribution in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain, especially for those mountain species that are at-risk due to WNS and have populations living in other parts of the state that may serve to rescue mountain populations in the future. There is a need to identify where these Coastal and Piedmont populations are roosting and foraging, so that we can protect these habitats. Long-term survey sites for mist-netting bats have been established in the Mountain region of North Carolina, but much less information is known about the distribution and abundance of bats in the Piedmont, Sandhills, and Coastal Plain. Protocols for acoustics surveys using an acoustic call filter and classifier have been developed and incorporated into a robust, long-term monitoring approach. However, there continues to be a knowledge gap regarding the abundance and trends in abundance of the Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel due to low captures and recaptures and vocal detections. It is also not known how pervasive the Strongyloides robustus nematode is in the Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel population. 3.7.5 Management Needs The Mammal Taxa Team indicated that current management levels for many of our bat species are not sufficient 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 to 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 flying squirrel database. Acoustic surveys have been underway since 2009 and take place in the spring, summer, and fall. A reference library of flying 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. 2015) . A predictive model of Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel habitat has been developed for GIS analysis and can be used by researchers as a first 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. 2015). 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. Evaluation results for Metric 9 about the
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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