TY - JOUR
T1 - Correlates of cave-roosting bat diversity as an effective tool to identify priority caves
AU - Phelps, Kendra
AU - Jose, Reizl
AU - Labonite, Marina
AU - Kingston, Tigga
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines for permission to conduct this study (permit no. 2011-04, 2013-02). We are especially grateful to all those that assisted with fieldwork, most of whom were undergraduate students, as well as Bohol Island State University for lodging and transportation during portions of this project. The study was supported by U.S. Department of State – Fulbright Fellowship , Bat Conservation International , American Philosophical Society , The Explorers Club , American Society of Mammalogists , National Speleological Society , Cave Research Foundation , John Ball Zoo , Sigma Xi and Texas Tech Association of Biologists . This manuscript benefited from interactions through the Southeast Asian Bat Conservation Research Unit (SEABCRU) network supported by the National Science Foundation (grant no. 1051363 ). We thank Jodi Sedlock and Nancy McIntyre for comments on an earlier version of this manuscript, Marina Fisher-Phelps for preparing our map and Julie Parlos for molecular confirmation of some species identifications.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2016/9/1
Y1 - 2016/9/1
N2 - Cave ecosystems are subterranean biodiversity hotspots, but limited knowledge of the distribution of diversity among caves hampers their conservation. Surveys of surrogate taxa (e.g., keystone species) can identify hotspots of biodiversity when knowledge about an ecosystem is lacking. Bats are keystone species in cave ecosystems because their guano is the primary energy source supporting diverse assemblages of cave-dependent wildlife. However, directly measuring bat diversity is time-consuming and requires expert knowledge; instead, we suggest the use of correlates of bat diversity that can be derived from readily accessible data (e.g., land-use maps) and straightforward methods not requiring expert knowledge (e.g., cave surveys, interviews) as a foundation for prioritizing caves. To identify easily measurable correlates of bat diversity, we compared assemblage composition and species abundances of 21 bat species captured in 56 caves on Bohol Island, Philippines, along gradients in environmental factors and human disturbance. Model- and distance-based methods indicated that surface-level disturbance (i.e., percent non-forested habitat, degree of urbanization and road development) along with cave complexity (i.e., available roosting area, structural heterogeneity, number of entrances and temperature range) were the most influential factors governing cave-roosting bat assemblages, thus representing correlates of bat diversity. Prioritization schemes based on these correlates select combinations of caves with greater species richness than both random selection and selection of caves based on observed richness from intensive bat surveys. The use of easy-to-measure environmental and disturbance correlates of bat diversity is an effective tool to prioritize caves to protect cave-roosting bats and the cave-dependent wildlife they support.
AB - Cave ecosystems are subterranean biodiversity hotspots, but limited knowledge of the distribution of diversity among caves hampers their conservation. Surveys of surrogate taxa (e.g., keystone species) can identify hotspots of biodiversity when knowledge about an ecosystem is lacking. Bats are keystone species in cave ecosystems because their guano is the primary energy source supporting diverse assemblages of cave-dependent wildlife. However, directly measuring bat diversity is time-consuming and requires expert knowledge; instead, we suggest the use of correlates of bat diversity that can be derived from readily accessible data (e.g., land-use maps) and straightforward methods not requiring expert knowledge (e.g., cave surveys, interviews) as a foundation for prioritizing caves. To identify easily measurable correlates of bat diversity, we compared assemblage composition and species abundances of 21 bat species captured in 56 caves on Bohol Island, Philippines, along gradients in environmental factors and human disturbance. Model- and distance-based methods indicated that surface-level disturbance (i.e., percent non-forested habitat, degree of urbanization and road development) along with cave complexity (i.e., available roosting area, structural heterogeneity, number of entrances and temperature range) were the most influential factors governing cave-roosting bat assemblages, thus representing correlates of bat diversity. Prioritization schemes based on these correlates select combinations of caves with greater species richness than both random selection and selection of caves based on observed richness from intensive bat surveys. The use of easy-to-measure environmental and disturbance correlates of bat diversity is an effective tool to prioritize caves to protect cave-roosting bats and the cave-dependent wildlife they support.
KW - Cave disturbance
KW - Chiroptera
KW - Conservation planning
KW - Keystone species
KW - Mvabund
KW - Site prioritization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84978289116&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.biocon.2016.06.023
DO - 10.1016/j.biocon.2016.06.023
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84978289116
SN - 0006-3207
VL - 201
SP - 201
EP - 209
JO - Biological Conservation
JF - Biological Conservation
ER -