Range prediction for the Giant Fruit-Eating Bat, Artibeus amplus (Phyllostomidae: Stenodermatinae) in South America

Abstract

Suitable habitat range for Artibeus amplus in the Neotropics was predicted using maximum entropy niche modeling, environmental covariates, and museum records from 61 locations across Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname. Environmental covariates included (a) bioclimatic data; (b) elevation; (c) geology; and (d) soil. Model selection was based on graphic analyses of omission/commission, and Akaike information criterion (AIC), small sample size corrected AIC (AIC_c) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Models incorporating all of the above covariates performed best. The predicted suitable habitat range adjusted well to the known range of A. amplus. However, our analysis identifies northern Brazil as a spot requiring further research to determine the presence of A. amplus.

Keywords:

• Artibeus amplus
• suitable habitat
• model
• distribution
• South America

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to D. Warren and J. Laffaille for providing information on model selection and geomorphologic processes, respectively. We are grateful to M. D. Sorenson for his advice in improving some sections of the revised version of the manuscript. We thank the following individuals and institutions for providing data on the specimens used in this study: B. Lim, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM); D. Perico, Instituto Alexander von Humboldt (IND); Instituto de Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia (INC); American Museum of Natural History (AMNH); S. McLaren, Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH); National Museum of Natural History (NMNH); P. Soriano, Colección de Vertebrados de la Universidad de Los Andes (CVULA); A. Lander, Museo de la Estación Biológica de Rancho Grande (EBRG); R. Pérez and M. Salazar, Museo de Biología de la Universidad Central de Venezuela (MBUCV); H. Rojas and J.C. Señaris, Museo de Historia Natural La Salle (MHNLS). C. D. Chavez and M. J. Cuara kindly provided us with the geological information. We also wish to thank A. L. Gardner for providing valuable suggestions on an earlier version of this manuscript.