Phyllostomid bats as a model to test zoogeographic units in Ecuador: insights for biogeography, conservation, and management.

Nine Zoogeographic Units (ZU) have been hypothesized for Ecuador, with seven
of these units located within the continental portion of the country. Each ZU was defned
by climate, topography, elevation, and vegetation type. In spite of their historical ap-
plication, the validity of ZUs has not been tested. The goal of the present study was to
treat the ZUs as hypotheses and test their validity. For this purpose, species of the bat
family Phyllostomidae were used as a model. A total of 13,262 validated bat records,
representing 109 species and six feeding guilds (with confrmed taxonomic identifcations
and geographic information), were analyzed using multivariate statistical analyses and
geographic modeling. Results obtained from the Multidimensional Scaling Analysis,
Detrended Correspondence Analysis, and Pairwise comparisons provided evidence
that the ZUs as proposed were valid, based on information from phyllostomid bats,
although no species was restricted to the Temperate Forests and High Andes. In addi-
tion, geographic models showed that Tropical Eastern Forests and Subtropical Eastern
Forests were the most likely areas to be inhabited by phyllostomids. Bat species in the
High Flying Frugivore and Insecti-Carnivore trophic guilds displayed a clear spatial
pattern highly related to ZUs. The fndings of this study provide important informa-
tion regarding the validity of these ZUs for establishing priorities concerning research,
conservation, and management in this group of mammals.