Landscape scale habitat suitability modelling of bats in the Western Ghats of India: Bats like something in their tea

Bats in the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot, show nuanced responses to tea-dominated landscapes. While most species prefer forest fragments and shade-grown coffee plantations, they exhibit a negative response to heavily modified tea plantations, with two species entirely avoiding them. This study is the first to model habitat suitability for bats at multiple spatial scales (100–4000 m) using both acoustic and capture data in an Old World context. Small-scale variables like tea plantation cover and distance to water were strong predictors of bat occurrence, reflecting their high mobility. The findings suggest that tea-dominated landscapes can still support diverse bat populations if they include forest fragments and shade coffee, offering insights for conservation strategies in agricultural landscapes.

Wordley, C. F. R., Sankaran, M., Mudappa, D., & Altringham, J. D. (2015). Landscape scale habitat suitability modelling of bats in the Western Ghats of India: Bats like something in their tea. Biological Conservation, 191, 529–536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.08.005