Geographic variation in the relationship between large-scale environmental determinants and bat species richness

Abstract

Several studies have already shown the close relationship between geographic gradients of biodiversity and distinct environmental determinants such as energy, environmental heterogeneity and seasonality. Nevertheless, whether and how such relationships vary around the globe remains poorly understood. Here we used spatial models to answer whether the bat species richness-environment relationship on a global scale are constant across geographic space. We also partitioned the contribution of the different environmental determinants on bat species richness at different regions of the globe. We found that the relationship between bat species richness and environment is not constant across geographic space and that the shared contributions of environmental determinants are more important than their unique contributions. We conclude that understanding geographic gradients of biodiversity and its environmental determinants, particularly for bats, is more complex than previously thought because the relationship between species richness and environment varies considerably across geographic space.