Anthropogenic impacts drive habitat suitability in South Asian bats

Abstract

Abstract Despite their diversity and importance as ecological indicators and ecosystem service providers, the macroecology of bats in South Asia is poorly understood, and until recently studies on the ecological niches of these species have been rare. This study analyses the ecogeographic predictors of habitat suitability in South Asian bats by conducting ensemble ecological niche modelling using four algorithms (random forests, artificial neural networks, multivariate adaptive regression splines, and maximum entropy) to define suitability envelopes for 30 selected bat species, based on topographic, land-use and -cover, and additional anthropogenic impact factors. Anthropogenic impact variables were associated with the highest importance, and Median Night-time Light was the biggest driver of habitat suitability for most of the study species. Projected suitable areas ranged between 6.54% and 22.98% of the study area. Regions such as the Thar desert of northwestern India were consistently identified to have low suitability. The Western Ghats region, the Himalayas, and Sri Lanka were identified as suitability hotspots for more than half the study species and comprised a majority of anthropogenic or human-impacted habitats. This study offers insight into the impacts of anthropogenic pressure on the macroecology of bats in a megadiverse region and stresses the importance of analysing ecogeographic effects on ecological niches and habitat suitability, which can be vital to inform conservation planning and policymaking in the future.