CURRENT STATUS OF THE BATS IN TURKEY WITH THEIR ECOGEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMENDATIONS FOR NATIONAL CONSERVATION STATUS (MAMMALIA: CHIROPTERA)

Bats are among the important indicator species which indicate how the quality of an ecosystem and habitat changes against threats. Turkey has a rich geography containing a wide variety of ecosystems and habitats for bats. The distributions of the bats in Turkey based on ecogeographic regions was discussed in this study. 152 records belonging to 28 bat species obtained as a result of the field works carried out between 2004 and 2018 as well as the records of the bats obtained from 131 previous studies conducted in Turkey were examined together and their current distributions were determined based on 10 ecogeographic regions. As a result of this study, it was stated that 39 bat species have existed in Turkey so far. Among these species. IUCN criteria and their current distributions in Turkey were compared with a simple scoring. As a result, it was suggested that 5 species considered to be under least concern (LC) according to IUCN criteria were rare or under threat in Turkey. In this study, important distribution data were presented to be used in the determination of the effects of the human activities (wind power stations, habitat damage, opening caves to tourism etc.), which affect bat population negatively, on bats. The conservation status and distributions of bats based on ecogeographic regions were presented for the first time in Turkey. In consideration of this information, it was determined that the bats in Turkey were under threat in terms of their ecosystems and it is required to determine the conservation status at the national level compatible with IUCN criteria.