The impact of fire severity from the 2019 to 2020 mega-fires on roosting ecology of a rainforest-dependent bat (Phoniscus papuensis)

The 2019-2020 megafires in southeastern Australia extensively burnt forests includingfire-sensitiverainforests. Assessments of species'responses typically consider differences in occupancy or density between burntand unburnt forest, but here we focus on how thesefires influenced roost selection by a rainforest-dependent bat.We radio-tracked golden-tipped batsPhoniscus papuensisinfire grounds to investigate whether roost location ortype was influenced byfire severity one-year post-fire. Overall, we tracked 19 bats for a total of 117 roost-days.Bats roosted (including maternity colonies) in the suspended nests of yellow-throated scrub-wrens and browngerygone, typically in gully rainforest. No bats were captured, or roosts located, wherefire severity was high. In theburnt portion of the northern study area,P. papuensisdisplayed a significant preference for roosting in unburntrainforest compared to its availability along adjacent gullies. Patches of rainforest burnt by low-moderate severityfire were ranked as second preference. In the burnt portion of the southern study area, most roosts were in rain-forest mapped as burnt by low-moderatefire severity, however, no selection was evident relative to availability ofrainforest and mappedfire severity. Actual roost locations in the southern study area revealed that 62% were insmall pockets of unburnt rainforest, with burnt areas nearby. We recorded early breeding and signs of a second lit-ter in late summer, suggesting a post-fire resource pulse in their prey (spiders). A higher than usual reproductiveoutput may assist in recovery, along with the bat's mobility to aidfinding remaining pockets of unburnt or lowseverity burnt rainforest with suitable bird nests for roosting. However, recolonization of rainforest burnt by highseverityfire willfirst require recovery of structural complexity, microclimate and the recolonization of host bird-built nests. We recommend ongoing monitoring to assess the recovery of this specialist bat.