Bats in mountainous regions are facing more threats and lack of data compared with their lowland counterparts, a recent study showed. Lead author Rohit Chakravarty in an interview with Mongabay said there is much to be learned about bats dwelling in mountains, which are known to host one-third of the world’s biodiversity and half of the total bat biodiversity hotspots. Of the 1,482 recognized bat species around the world, 1,331 are in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species database, meaning 151 species have yet to be evaluated in terms of threat status. Chakravarty, who is also a researcher at the India-based NGO Nature Conservation Foundation, used the database to categorize species that predominantly exist in mountains as “mountain-dwelling” and those near the top of the mountains as “highland-dwelling.” Their analysis showed that the 148 mountain-dwelling species are proportionately more data deficient than other species. Chakravarty is concerned that data-deficient species might also be threatened but there is not enough information to analyze their threat status. Meanwhile, the 46 highland-dwelling species “are proportionately more threatened” or are categorized as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. Chakravarty said one reason for data deficiency is the difficulty of working in mountains. “You’re working in the night in areas that are hard to access, studying animals that are rather elusive.” In addition to limited funding for bat research, he said mountain bats also face the threat of climate change. “As the temperature warms up, lower-elevation species keep moving to higher elevations. But then the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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