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

食虫蝙蝠是旧大陆雨林中脊椎动物多样性的一个高度多样化但脆弱的组成部分。 没有什么地方比马来西亚半岛更明显了，马来西亚是蝙蝠保护的关键国家，已知物种超过100种，当地丰富度超过50种。 高度专业化和依赖雨林的蝙蝠在马来西亚是一个非常多样化的群体（40种），特别值得保护。 它们不太适合在更开放的栖息地，由干扰事件引起的猎物检测和饲料。 因此，随着森林生境的丧失或支离破碎，它们的多样性可能会严重下降。 该项目将建立由美国和马来西亚研究人员组成的马来西亚蝙蝠保护研究单位。 该单位的使命包括：1）对蝙蝠多样性和保护的长期研究; 2）在东道国发展和获得技能和资源; 3）实施一项本地和基于网络的教育计划，以突出蝙蝠的多样性和生物学，以及马来西亚对蝙蝠保护的国际重要性。研究将侧重于确定物种丰度和分布模式如何在未受干扰的森林中随空间和时间变化，并确定影响这些模式的生态过程。为此，我们将深入调查6蝙蝠社区内的一个地区的连续原始森林和无线电跟踪研究，以测试栖息和觅食生态蝙蝠的丰度和分布的影响。 这两个研究重点是保护计划的发展，以保护这种独特的动物群的关键考虑因素。

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.