Understanding patterns of species distribution and diversity plays a vital role in biodiversity conservation. Such documentation is frequently lacking for bats, which are relatively little studied and often threatened. The Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in peninsular India is a bat hotspot with 63 species. We conducted a comprehensive bat survey across the southern Western Ghats and used maximum entropy modeling (MaxEnt) to model the potential distribution of 37 bat species for which sufficient data were available. We generated binary maps of each species using species-specific thresholds to estimate suitable habitat areas and overlaid binary maps of species to produce bat hotspots (we use the term “bat hotspot” for regions that were suitable for more than 25 bat species). We also estimated species richness across protected area networks in the southern Western Ghats to assess the level of protection. The highest levels of species richness were found mainly along the southmost Periyar–Agastyamalai landscape. The study also identified a 1,683 km2 area of potential bat hotspot and 726 km2 (43%) of the total bat hotspots are currently within the protected area network. However, more than 50% of suitable habitats for each of the 37 species remain unprotected. Therefore, conservation decisions are needed to take into account both bat hotspots and species with restricted distributions.

中文翻译：

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确定印度半岛西高止山脉的蝙蝠保护优先区域

了解物种分布和多样性的模式在生物多样性保护中起着至关重要的作用。蝙蝠经常缺乏这样的文件，蝙蝠的研究相对较少，而且经常受到威胁。印度半岛的西高止山脉生物多样性热点是一个有 63 种蝙蝠的热点地区。我们在西高止山脉南部进行了一次全面的蝙蝠调查，并使用最大熵模型 (MaxEnt) 来模拟 37 种蝙蝠物种的潜在分布，这些蝙蝠物种有足够的数据可用。我们使用特定于物种的阈值生成每个物种的二进制地图以估计合适的栖息地区域，并叠加物种的二进制地图以产生蝙蝠热点（我们使用术语“蝙蝠热点”来表示适合超过 25 种蝙蝠物种的区域）。我们还估计了西高止山脉南部保护区网络的物种丰富度，以评估保护水平。物种丰富度最高的地区主要分布在最南端的 Periyar-Agastyamalai 景观中。该研究还确定了 1,683 平方公里的潜在蝙蝠热点区域，目前有 726 平方公里（43%）的蝙蝠热点位于保护区网络内。然而，这 37 个物种中的每一个都有超过 50% 的合适栖息地没有受到保护。因此，保护​​决策需要考虑蝙蝠热点和分布受限的物种。目前有 683 平方公里的潜在蝙蝠热点地区和 726 平方公里（43%）的蝙蝠热点总面积在保护区网络内。然而，这 37 个物种中的每一个都有超过 50% 的合适栖息地没有受到保护。因此，保护​​决策需要考虑蝙蝠热点和分布受限的物种。目前有 683 平方公里的潜在蝙蝠热点地区和 726 平方公里（43%）的蝙蝠热点总面积在保护区网络内。然而，这 37 个物种中的每一个都有超过 50% 的合适栖息地没有受到保护。因此，保护​​决策需要考虑蝙蝠热点和分布受限的物种。