| Bat species distributions are affected by landscape level and microhabitat features that operate on many scales. Understanding habitat characteristics that drive species richness of bats or restrict habitat suitability for certain species may provide for opportunities to improve habitat management for bats. We conducted a multi-species occupancy study across lands managed by four open-space agencies in Marin County, California, where 13 bat species potentially occur. We placed acoustic detectors (Pettersson D500x) at 50 randomly selected points across the study area, for at least seven nights per location, to examine bat occupancy in relation to landscape-level and microhabitat covariates. Detection probabilities and occupancy varied across the region by both species-specific characteristics (e.g., call intensity) and habitat covariates (e.g., vegetative clutter and broad habitat type). Understanding the distributions of bat species in relation to habitat features can inform habitat management actions to support individual species, guilds, or overall species richness across the region. Multi-species occupancy analysis provides a powerful tool to examine the relationship between habitat covariates and bat distributions using acoustic monitoring. Wider adoption of this method will provide a more complete understanding of how bat communities use the landscape. |