The spread of white-nose syndrome (WNS) across the eastern United States has raised conservation concerns and provided motivation for efforts to monitor the impacts of this disease. Currently, WNS has not yet been detected in Montana, or any other western state besides Washington, and it is unknown how severe it will impact species in this region once it arrives. Within an occupancy model framework, we analyzed mist netting and acoustic records for eight bat species in Montana to estimate baseline distributions across the state prior to the arrival of WNS. Heterogeneity in the probabilities of occupancy for each species was explained with covariates for forest cover (%), elevation, ruggedness, and average degree...
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