Bats in Temples of south India

The data includes microhabitats inside temples where bats were roosting. Dark rooms: closed rooms with few small openings, low natural light and not frequently used by people; Crevices: stone pillars that supported the roof created gaps between the joints for some species to roost; Temple towers: conical structures built over the entrance or the deity and Walkways: wide walking space around the deity room covered by a stone roof. We also counted the number of independent buildings in the temple complex, which bats use to move between them during the day due to disturbance. Temple size was based on visual observation; those with deity rooms and walkways were considered small, those with deity rooms, walkways and towers considered medium-sized, and those having deity rooms, multiple towers, and two walkways (inside and outside) were considered large. We also recorded the number of trees in the temple complex and open wells used by bats. <br> We classified disturbances such as renovation, construction, power washing, and other maintenance activities as 0 or 1. A temple received a value of 0 when there was no disturbance and a value of 1 when there was a disturbance. We also collected information on the number of temple visitors and classified temples on a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 indicating few visitors and 3 indicating having large crowds. <br> <strong>Land-use features</strong> We used the composite analysis of land cover available using high-resolution (10m) European Space Agency (ESRI) data for 2020 [41] to identify major land uses around temples in the region.