A TRAIT-BASED ANALYSIS OF VULNERABILITY OF BATS FROM CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

Climate change is a known threat to biodiversity. Observed effects in U.S. fauna include changes in spatial distribution, abundance, morphology, demography, and phenology. Trait-based analyses have been used to characterize climate change vulnerability of mammals based on their life history traits, but bats are often excluded from these analyses. In this study, I used trait-based analysis to 1) identify traits associated with climate change vulnerability for 45 U.S. bat species, 2) rank species in terms of their climate vulnerability, and 3) compare ranks with species’ conservation status. This study demonstrated climate-vulnerable bats share traits with other climate-vulnerable mammals (e.g., small range, limited dispersal, specialized diet) and current conservation status largely fails to align with climate vulnerability. Natural resource managers may use these results to inform and prioritize conservation efforts for bats.