Island of Hawai'i, 'ōpe‘ape‘a day-roost use, 2018-2022

The 'ōpe‘ape‘a, also known as the Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus semotus; Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), is a solitary, insectivorous, and foliage-roosting endemic species. We investigated day-roost lability and fidelity, nocturnal activity patterns at the roost, and long-term use of roosts by 'ōpe‘ape‘a.

The full data release consists of six tabular datasets: (1) Island of Hawai‘i, 'ōpe‘ape‘a day-roost detection records, 2018-2021, (2) Island of Hawai‘i, 'ōpe‘ape‘a day-roost switch metrics, 2018-2021, (3) Island of Hawai‘i, 'ōpe‘ape‘a day-roost activity metrics, 2018-2021, (4) Island of Hawai‘i, 'ōpe‘ape‘a day-roost long-term fidelity, 2019-2022, (5) Island of Hawai‘i, 'ōpe‘ape‘a day-roost visual checks, 2019-2022, and (6) Island of Hawai‘i, 'ōpe‘ape‘a day-roost change-points, 2019-2021.

For the study of day-roost behavior, we examined day-roost lability by quantifying the frequency of switching among roosts monitored for bat occupancy, and quantified fidelity as a measure of the prevalence of re-occupancy and use of the day roost. We examined within-night bat activity over multiple nights and produced nocturnal time-budgets specific to the day roost with change-point analysis of radio-telemetry recordings and by direct observation of bat occupancy at a day roost. Finally, we investigated long-term use of day roosts.