I have a bat that can live either within a cavity or within the foliage of a tree. I have adopted a tree-dwelling bat which hangs on trees. Is it really suitable? I would suggest looking at all scholarly papers within your chosen field of study instead of writing them in a general English sense. What is the meaning in science if words are used in different contexts, than are used in normal verbs? Based on a quick jstor search, it looks like Tree-dwelling is generally the term applied to bats that make their home inside trees (cavities, leaves). As a specific example use see this article from the Journal of Mammalogy Summer Roost Selection by Tree-Dwelling Bats Nyctalus noctula and N. leisleri: A Multiscale Analysis