Spatial Determinants of Insectivorous Bat Diversity: Pattern and Process in a Paleotropical Rain Forest

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Insectivorous bats are a highly diverse yet vulnerable component of vertebrate diversity in Old World rainforests. Nowhere is this more evident than in peninsular Malaysia, a critical country for bat conservation, with over 100 known species and local richness in excess of 50 species. Bats that are highly specialized and dependent on rainforests represent an exceptionally diverse group in Malaysia ( 40 species) and are of particular conservation concern. They are poorly suited for prey detection and forage in more open habitats that arise from disturbance events. As a consequence, they are likely to experience a severe decline in diversity as forest habitats are lost or become fragmented. This project will establish the Malaysian Bat Conservation Research Unit, comprising U.S. and Malaysian researchers. The mission of the unit includes: 1) long-term research on bat diversity and conservation; 2) the development and acquisition of skills and resources in the host country; and 3) implementation of a local and web-based education program to highlight the diversity and biology of bats, as well as the international importance of Malaysia to bat conservation. Research will focus on establishing how patterns of species abundance and distribution vary across space and time in undisturbed forest, and identifying the ecological processes that influence these patterns. To this end, we will intensively survey six bat communities within an area of contiguous primary forest and implement radio-tracking studies to test the influence of roosting and foraging ecology on bat abundance and distribution. Both research foci are key considerations for the development of conservation programs to protect this unique fauna.