The Importance of Late Quaternary Climate Change and Karst on Distributions of Caribbean Mormoopid Bats

Abstract

The bat family Mormoopidae includes three species with distributions in the Caribbean. These taxa-Mormoops blainvillei, Pteronotus parnellii, and P. quadridens-roost predominantly in hot cave chambers where temperatures may reach 40° C and humidity is close to 100%. We tested the hypothesis that mormoopid bat extirpations in this region were due to climatic changes and the loss of suitable cave environments due to flooding caused by sea level rise associated with the late Pleistocene to Holocene (ca. 10 ka) climate change transition. Ecological niche models (ENMs) were developed to estimate the current, mid-Holocene, and Last Glacial Maximum distributions of these three bat species and to assess whether suitable climatic habitat for these taxa had been stable across time in the Caribbean. Additionally, we examined the importance of karst formations (where hot caves typically form) as a predictor for the distributions of Caribbean mormoopid bats. Our results show that mormoopid bat distributions in the Caribbean have remained relatively stable over time with climate ENMs indicating up to a 19% expansion in the amount of suitable habitat from late Pleistocene to the present. Presence of karst was a good predictor when used alone or when combined as karst-climate ENMs. Fossil evidence shows that some populations of mormoopids became extirpated as recently as 3.6 ka. These data, taken together with our conclusion that suitable climate habitat for mormoopid bats existed in the Caribbean beyond late Pleistocene to Holocene transition, suggest that these bats may have survived this climate change event by roosting outside their characteristic hot cave environment.

Climate change may drive cave spiders to extinction

“…In spite of that, correlative distribution modelling techniques have been rarely -and only recently -applied to these particular biological systems (Bryson et al 2014, Naranjo et al 2014, Fišer et al 2015, Mammola et al 2015a, Soto-Centeno et al 2015, Christman et al 2016, Cooper-Bohannon et al 2016, Ferreira et al 2016, Sán-chez-Fernández et al 2016.…”

Late Holocene land vertebrate fauna from Cueva de los Nesofontes, Western Cuba: stratigraphy, last appearance dates, diversity and paleoecology

“…Only values that differed less than 140 years were considered contemporaneous (Semken et al, 2010), although the rule of thumb may extend up to ±200 years due to multiple intercepts and conversion curve topography on dates during the last 2000 years (Geyh and Schleicher, 1990 in MacPhee et al, 1999). Late Quaternary epochs and time intervals discussed follow Morgan and Woods (1986), Soto-Centeno et al (2015) and limits established by the IUGS (International Union of Geological Sciences).…”

Applying species distribution models to caves and other subterranean habitats

“…Summary of the studies applying species distribution models (SDM) in subterranean ecosystems. We excluded studies on bats (Lisón et al 2013, Soto-Centeno et al 2015, Cooper-Bohannon et al 2016, Herkt et al 2016 and their parasites (Flory et al 2012, Escobar et al 2014) from this compilation, as bats are likely to use caves exclusively as shelters, and their distribution is likely to be driven by several external factors, such as the availability of feeding areas, flight paths, availability of roosts, etc. is particularly challenging because human access to these habitats is difficult, often demanding the use of specific caving techniques and equipment (Zagmajster et al 2010).…”