Published by Associazione Teriologica Italiana Volume 30 (1): 74–83, 2019 Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy Available online at: http://www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it doi:10.4404/hystrix–00172-2019 Research Article Priority-setting for Philippine bats using practical approach to guide effective species conservation and policy-making in the Anthropocene Krizler Cejuela Tanalgo1,2,3,4,∗, Alice Catherine Hughes1,3 1Landscape Ecology Group, Centre for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan Province 666303, People’s Republic of China 2International College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China 3Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan Province 666303, People’s Republic of China 4Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Southern Mindanao, Kabacan 9407, North Cotabato, the Republic of the Philippines Keywords: Abstract asian tropics endemism National level approaches to the development and implementation of effective conservation policy forest loss and practice are often challenged by limited capacity and resources. Developing relevant and hunting achievable priorities at the national level is a crucial step for effective conservation. The Philip- islands pine archipelago includes over 7000 islands and is one of only two countries considered both a oil palm global biodiversity hotspot and a megadiversity country. Yet, few studies have conducted over- arching synthesis for threats and conservation priorities of any species group. As bats make up a Article history: significant proportion of mammalian diversity in the Philippines and fulfil vital roles to maintain Received: 01/19/2019 ecosystem health and services we focus on assessing the threats and priorities to their conserva- Accepted: 24/06/2019 tion across the Philippines. Habitat loss from logging and agriculture and hunting are the main threatening process to over half of the Philippine bats. Using available information on species’ threats, conservation status, and endemism, we developed priority settings for Philippines bats to Acknowledgements This research project is supported by the Chinese National Natural enable effective future decision making. We determined endemic and threatened species are the Science Foundation (Grant No. U1602265, Mapping Karst Biodiversity highest priority and larger bats are under more intense threat than smaller bats. Our finding further in Yunnan), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese suggests that in order to bolster bat conservation and prevent future species loss, it is important to Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA20050202), the West Light Tal- identify emerging threats and its extent, increase conservation education, develop effective policies, ent Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No.Y9XB011B01), the Chinese Academy of Sciences Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research and forge equitable partnerships between scientists and stakeholders towards research and outreach Center fund (Grant #:Y4ZK111B01). This work is part of the Doctoral pro- capacity. ject of KCT supported by the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Government Scholarship council, P.R. China. The authors, also would like to thank Dr. Leonardo Ancillotto (University of Naples Federico II) and the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments that benefited in the improvement of the final manuscript. Introduction in the Philippines deforestation rate has massively increased over the Within Island tropical ecosystems such as those in the Philippines bats past decades causing more than 83% of native forest loss (Posa et al., fulfill unique and crucial roles, and when extirpated the entire struc- 2008). This rate coupled with future climatic change is projected to ture and function of the ecosystem is likely to alter considerably (Cox increase extinction risk of a large proportion of bat fauna in the re- and Elmquist, 2000; Jones et al., 2009a; Wiles and Brooke, 2008; Kunz gion, largely as a result of reduced suitable habitats (Lane et al., 2006; et al., 2011). Bats provide wide range of essential ecosystem services Hughes et al., 2012). Apart from the threats of environmental changes, from pollination, seed dispersal, pest control, and tourism (Kunz et al., negative perception and lack of knowledge of bat ecosystem services 2011; Bumrungsri et al., 2013; Wanger et al., 2014) and some sensitive hinder effective conservation implementation and drive persecution of species are ecosystem health indicators (Medellin et al., 2000; Russo populations despite growing evidence on their importance (Hutson et andJones, 2015). Many bat species and their populations are threatened al., 2001; Mickleburgh et al., 2009; Florens, 2015; Mildenstein et al., by a variety of threats (O’Shea et al., 2016; Voigt and Kingston, 2016). 2016). Worldwide, the principal cause of bat mortality and extinction are hunt- To circumvent future habitat reduction and consequent species loss ing for bushmeat and unprecedented rates of habitat loss and degrada- it is essential that conservation scientists understand how many species tion (Mickleburgh et al., 2002; Racey, 2013; O’Shea et al., 2016; Voigt are at risk, the extent of threats in different scales and dimensions (e.g., and Kingston, 2016). species, genetics, landscape) and set achievable conservation targets, In Southeast Asia, a substantial percentage of bat fauna may be de- which address key gaps and drivers of species loss (Rudd et al., 2011; pendent on intact forest (Kingston, 2010). Deforestation in the region Brum et al., 2017; Conenna et al., 2017; Tanalgo and Hughes, 2018). may cause a loss of over 74% of the forest by the end of the century Conservation threats and appropriate solutions vary in each country (Sodhi et al., 2004; Miettinen et al., 2011; Meyer et al., 2016), and and initiatives to protect intact areas and species conservation prior- itisation are typically refined and implemented according to geopol- itical territories (Trimble and van Aarde, 2012; Tuttle, 2013; Ellison, KCT and ACH shared senior authorship. 2014; Verde Arregoitia, 2016). Thus, the development of priorities and ∗Corresponding author Email addresses: [email protected] (Krizler Cejuela Tanalgo), conservation management approaches should start in the local or na- [email protected] (Alice Catherine Hughes) tional scales to compliment larger-scale targets e.g., regional or global Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy ISSN 1825-5272 18th June 2019 ©cbe2019 Associazione Teriologica Italiana doi:10.4404/hystrix–00172-2019 Conservation Priorities for Philippine bats in the Anthropocene Figure 1 – Density and distribution of Species Priority Index (SPI) among Philippine bats. This analysis shows that thirty-nine percent (n=39 spp., 49%) of Philippine bats have above- average values (dashed line) vulnerability level based on combined threats, conservation status, and endemism under the scenario where direct threats are given higher proportion Figure 2 – The mean values of Species Priority Index (SPI) based on dierent Conservation (Tdir=50%) vs. other threats (Tind =40%, Tnat =10%). Status (red bars) and Endemism (blue bars). To assign priorities for species we ranked each species using the Spe- scale priorities (Gärdenfors, 2001; Kark et al., 2009; Rudd et al., 2011; cies Priority Index (SPI(s)). It is a simple index based on the species Mazor et al., 2013; Beger et al., 2015). Moreover, developing and im- threats (T), conservation status, and endemism, which can be mod- plementing national-level priorities makes it easier for policy-makers elled into multiple scenarios based on the proportion of total threats or to address the most pressing concerns and allocate appropriate efforts changes in conservation status. It can be calculated as the quotient of (e.g., funding for research targets) targeting species that require imme- initial SPI1(s) and maximum SPImax. This can be calculated using the diate conservation intervention. In this paper, we originally aimed to mathematical formula: (1) develop species conservation priorities based on endemism, conser- vation status and threats, (2) identify a key threatening process to Phil- SPI1(s) SPI(s) = ; ippine bats, and (3) assess the links between threats and research efforts, SPImax which is a fundamental component to developing effective national to where SPI1(s) is the initial species (s) priority value from calculated regional conservation prioritisation (Tanalgo and Hughes, 2018). sums of weighted means of species absolute number of threats (T(s), Tdir(s)=direct threats, Tind(s)=indirect threats, Tnat(s)=natural threats) Materials and methods multiplied to species conservation status (Con(s)) and endemism (E(s)) values based from scoring assigned by Tanalgo and Hughes (2018) ac- We assayed the priorities of 79 species of Philippine bats based on a cording to IUCN red list classification. This can be calculated using database of recent bat studies in the Philippines (Tanalgo and Hughes, the mathematical formula: 2018) based on the literature published between 2000–2017 obtained from Web of Science (Thompson Reuters), Google Scholar, self- SPI = [(xT¯ w% );(xT¯ w% );(xT¯ nat w%nat )] archived ResearchGate and personal correspondence to bat scient- 1(s) ∑ dir dir ind ind ists based in the Philippines. A total of 142