Assessing distribution range and suitable habitat patches in the greater mouse‑tailed bat Rhinopoma microphyllum (Brünnich 1782) (Chiroptera: Rhinopomatidae) using MaxEnt in Iran

Bats with a wide range of distribution are considered as one of the most important indicators of environmental changes. In this study, the distribution range and suitable habitat patches of the large-tailed bat (Rhinopoma microphyllum) in Iran were investigated. First, the presence points of the species in the country were collected and then modeling was done using MaxEnt. The habitat variables used in this study are a combination of climate, human, vegetation and topographic variables. In order to implement the model, the bias file was used to select the pseudo-absence points of the background using the kernel density function within a radius of 50 km of the presence points. The model was carried out with 10 replications and the average prediction map was analyzed as the result map. The TSS threshold was used to identify habitat patches. Based on the results, the model was successful in the average performance (AUC=0.90) and differed from the random model in all thresholds (P-value <0.001). According to Jack Knife analysis, vegetation, climatic and topographic variables had the greatest effect on species distribution respectively. Thirty habitat patches were identified, the largest one started in the south and covered the western part of the country. Other distribution patches are scattered in the southeast and central parts of the country. The area of the patches varies from 221.04 Km2 as the smallest patches to 219416.78 Km2 as the largest patches and in total, they cover 15.9 percent of the country.