DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k3j9kd5b9
title: Urban tolerance data for African insectivorous bats

description: With increasing urbanization, particularly in developing countries, it is
 important to understand how local biota will respond to such landscape
 changes. Bats comprise one of the most diverse groups of mammals in urban
 areas, and many species are threatened by habitat destruction and land use
 change. Yet, in Africa, the response of bats to urban areas is relatively
 understudied. Therefore, we collated data on urban presence, phylogenetic
 relationship, and ecological traits of 54 insectivorous bats in Africa
 from available literature to test if their response to urbanization was
 phylogenetically and/or ecologically driven. Ancestral state
 reconstruction of urban tolerance, defined by functional group and
 presence observed in urban areas, suggests that ancestral African bat
 species could adapt to urban landscapes, and significant phylogenetic
 signal for urban tolerance indicates that this ability is evolutionarily
 conserved and mediated by pre‐adaptations. Specifically, traits of high
 wing loading and aspect ratio, and flexible roosting strategies, enable
 occupancy of urban areas. Therefore, our results identify the traits that
 predict which bat species will likely occur in urban areas, and which
 vulnerable bat clades conservation efforts should focus on to reduce loss
 of both functional and phylogenetic diversity in Africa. We, additionally,
 highlight several gaps in research that should be investigated in future
 studies to provide better monitoring of the impact urbanization will have
 on African bats.
description: We compiled a
 list of all mainland African insectivorous bat species using ACR (2018), Kingdon (2013), and Monadjem et al. (2020). We collected aspect ratio, wing
 loading, peak echolocation frequency, roost ecology, and functional group
 data for each of these species from these sources and other available
 literature (ACR., 2018;
 Aldridge & Rautenbach, 1987; Kingdon, 2013; Monadjem et al., 2020; Norberg &
 Rayner, 1987; Salsamendi et
 al., 2005). Available
 ecological trait data and presence in the phylogenetic super‐tree (Jones
 et al., 2005) reduced our data
 set from an initial 219 species to 54 species for statistical
 analyses. We then determined
 whether these species were present in urban (including suburban or
 peri‐urban) areas within their range (personal communication P. Webala, I.
 Tanshi and M.C. Schoeman; and Ancillotto et al., 2015; Andreani et al., 2019; Dekker et al., 2013; Fenton et al., 2002; Geldenhuys et al., 2013; Hoye & Spence, 2004; Jacobs &
 Barclay, 2009; Kurek et
 al., 2020; Lane et
 al., 2022; Legakis et
 al., 2000; O'Malley et
 al., 2020; Roswag et
 al., 2019; Schoeman, 2016; Schoeman &
 Waddington, 2011; Taylor et
 al., 1999; Wojtaszyn et
 al., 2013) and recorded this
 information as presence (1) or absence (0) in urban areas. We categorized
 roost specificity for each species as: utilizing 1 roost type = high, 2
 roost types = medium, and ≥3 roost types = low. Each of the following was
 considered a different roost “type”: caves and mines, tree crevices
 (behind bark and tree holes), foliage, rock crevices, exposed outer walls
 of houses/buildings, roofs of houses/buildings, and road culverts. Roost
 specificity was classified regardless of the surrounding habitat type
 (e.g., open vs. narrow space) or landscape (e.g., highly urbanized vs.
 more rural areas) where the roost was found. We categorized bats
 into urban exploiters, adapters, or avoiders after Jung and
 Kalko (2011) and
 Schoeman (2016) based on wing
 morphology and roost habits. Urban exploiters are open‐air bats with high
 wing loading and aspect ratios and highly flexible roost habits that
 readily use anthropogenic resources; urban adapters are narrow‐edge space
 bats with intermediate wing loading and aspect ratios, and fairly flexible
 roosting habits; and urban avoiders are narrow‐space bats with restricted
 roosting requirements, such as obligate cave roosters (Jung &
 Kalko, 2011;
 Schoeman, 2016).