Background/Question/Methods The number of golf courses continues to rise as the sport becomes more popular worldwide. The various impacts of their construction and maintenance is a nuanced topic of research. For some wildlife taxa, golf courses contain a diverse array of microhabitats and resources. In general, the wildlife studies that take place on golf courses primarily focus on birds and insects. Because bats occupy a similar niche as insectivorous birds, and because there are comparatively fewer studies that highlight bat activity on golf courses, we surveyed the bat communities on 11 different New Jersey golf courses using acoustic monitoring in 2019 and 2020 to investigate what landscape-level factors influenced bat activity. We used multi-season generalized linear mixed-effect models to explore which landscapes make golf courses more important for bats. Results/Conclusions Our models showed species-specific relationships with the surrounding landscape matrix. Eptesicus fuscus was more active on golf courses when the surrounding landscape contained more suburban areas (its preferred roosting habitat). Lasiurus borealis showed a preference for golf courses when the surrounding landscape had fewer streams and open fields, its preferred foraging habitat. Myotis lucifugus and M. sodalis were more present on golf courses when the surrounding landscape had more large, continuous patches of forest. Our models show that bats generally visit golf courses more frequently when the surrounding landscape has more roosting sites, but fewer foraging sites. Among a less suitable matrix, the golf course may be a high-quality habitat patch in some respects. Given that North American bats face many hardships, and given that urbanization is slowly fragmenting existing habitat, urban green spaces (like golf courses) may become important islands of biodiversity for temperate bats.
