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Human alterations of landscapes, such as habitat conversion and infrastructure buildouts have caused population declines and extinctions of numerous species. Anthropogenic change negatively impacts surrounding landscapes, but in some cases, lead to an increase in synathropy. Bats are one such group that often take advantage of human altered landscapes, roosting in anthropogenic structures such as buildings and transportation infrastructure. However, less is known about how non-traditional or artificial roost sites may affect persistence of synathropic bat species. We conducted a literature review to evaluate the ecological relationship between bats and artificial roosts, specifically transportation structures, as they are often the only roost structures available in some landscapes. Our evaluation revealed that numerous studies on artificial roost selection have been conducted in the eastern region of North America, as well as abroad. Use of transportation structures by bats varies across landscapes, specifically due to variation in annual climate, availability of natural roosts, and bridge structure design. This review enhances our understanding of bat roost ecology, possible pitfalls of synanthropic behaviour, and identify trends related to bat-bridge associations that may improve conservation outcomes for synanthropic species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration of monarch butterflies ( Danaus plexippus) from Canada and the United States to overwintering sites in Mexico is one of the world’s most amazing biological phenomena, although recent threats make it imperative that the resources needed by migrating monarchs be conserved. The most important first step in preserving migration resources—determining the migration flyways—is also the most challenging because of the large-scale nature of the migration. Prior attempts to determine the flyways using mark-recapture techniques with wing tags gave some clues, but this important information has never been fully obtainable until now. In 2005 the citizen-science program, Journey North, initiated a project that asked participants to record sightings of overnight roosts of monarchs during their fall migration, and this project now provides an ideal way to illustrate the flyways used by monarchs on their way to Mexico, with the assumption that roost locations indicate migration routes. We used 3 years of this data to elucidate the flyways on a continent-wide scale, that revealed two distinct flyways, but only one appears to lead directly to Mexico. This main, ‘central’ flyway begins in the American Midwest states and southern Ontario, then continues south-southwest through the states of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas, and finally passes through Texas and northern Mexico. These data also highlighted a separate, smaller flyway along the eastern and coastal states, but there was a noticeable lack of roost sightings in this flyway at lower latitudes. Since there are few recoveries of marked monarchs in Mexico originating from coastal areas, we compared the timing of roost formation in this ‘eastern’ flyway with the main, central flyway. Roosts in the eastern flyway lagged behind the central roosts in timing, suggesting that monarchs traveling in this flyway have a reduced chance of making it to the Mexico wintering site. Combined, our evidence indicates that locations in the central flyway should be considered priority areas for conserving migration resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Insectivorous bats are integral components of terrestrial ecosystems. Despite this, a growing number of factors causing world-wide declines in bat populations have been identified. Relatively abundant species are important for bat conservation because of their role in ecosystems and the research opportunities they offer. In addition, species that have been well-studied present unique opportunities to synthesize information and highlight important areas of focus for conservation and research. This paper focuses on a well-studied abundant bat, Eptesicus fuscus . I review the relevant literature on habitat use, diet and roost selection by E. fuscus in North America, and highlight important areas of conservation and research for this species, including the effects of roost disturbance, control of economically important insect pests, exposure to pesticides, long-term monitoring of populations, and the potential consequences of expanding populations. These issues have broad implications for other species and can be used to focus future research and conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]