Mountains host significantly more data deficient and threatened bat species than lowlands

Abstract

Mountains harbour one third of the world’s biodiversity and much of it is under increasing anthropogenic pressure. Yet, global assessments of the occurrence, and threat status of most mountain taxa, especially elusive ones are lacking, thereby hindering conservation and research prioritisation. In this study, we synthesise the distribution and conservation status of bats, a species rich taxon on mountains. By using data on geographical and elevational distribution ranges from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), we examined bat species richness on mountains, species that predominantly occur in mountains (‘mountain dwelling species’), and those restricted to upper montane and alpine regions within mountains (‘highland dwelling species’). We also used published trait datasets to investigate the traits that are associated with mountain dwelling in bats. Globally, we identified 148 mountain dwelling and 46 highland dwelling bat species. Bat diversity is highest in the Northern Andes and Guiana Highlands. The mountain dwelling nature of bat species was found to be significantly associated with biogeographic realm. Importantly, our results show that mountain dwelling species are proportionately more data deficient than species that predominantly occur in lowlands. Additionally, highland dwelling species are proportionately more threatened than lowland species. Our results highlight a significant dearth of knowledge on mountain dwelling bat species. We conclude that more research is needed for bats specialised on mountain ecosystems. Our results draw attention towards improving the knowledge and protection of bat species that occur predominantly at high elevations across the world.