Spatial and land‐use determinants of bat species richness, functional diversity, and site uniqueness throughout the largest Tropical country, Brazil

Abstract

Abstract Bats are one of the most species‐rich mammal groups in the Tropics. This highly radiated group embodies many distinct ecomorphological traits, prompting their functional diversity. Furthermore, bat assemblages typically have high beta‐diversity due to distinctive compositions across geographic gradients. We aimed to understand the distribution of multifaceted bat diversity metrics (i.e. species richness, functional richness, Rao’s quadratic entropy, and local contribution to beta‐diversity) as a function of land‐cover variables, environmental productivity and complexity, and anthropogenic features in the largest Tropical country worldwide: Brazil. We gathered data on bat distribution based on empirical published datasets and embodied the assemblages at the metacommunity scale, based on 10‐km radial clusters. We obtained spatial data on land cover, gross primary production, vegetation height, and human population density for the same radial clusters. We analysed the data via diversity metrics, descriptive statistics, and generalised additive models. Our results showed that two main metaregions (central‐western Amazon and the Atlantic coast) embrace the largest richness of bat species. The major positive predictor of bat diversity metrics was vegetation height. Bat diversity metrics throughout Brazil were also significantly influenced by agriculture (negatively) and urban cover (partially positively). We can conclude that bat diversity is more predictable from vegetation height and landscape features – especially agriculture and urban cover – at the metacommunity scale, whereas functional and local contributions to beta‐diversity metrics are more predictable from spatial autocorrelations, with some biome‐induced constrained effects. For the conservation of Brazilian bats and the many ecosystem services they provide, it is absolutely essential to prevent the further collapse of Brazilian biomes that is currently ongoing and fuelled by landscape changes, expansion of agribusiness frontiers, deforestation, and fires.