Stable hydrogen isotope in tropical bat hair and the Asian isoscape: A dataset to advance migration research

Stable hydrogen isotope analysis is an emerging technique in ecological studies, provides an approach to understand animal migration, and provides locality information for wildlife forensics. In Asia, the application of stable hydrogen isotopes has largely been limited to hydrology and climatology. Maps of stable isotopes in precipitation (isoscapes) have not previously been developed at high resolutions across Southeast Asia, hindering our ability to understand migratory patterns for species too small to radio-track or reliably recapture. To advance the use of stable hydrogen analysis in Asia, we collated data and constructed an isoscape for three regions (Eurasia, Asia and Southeast Asia) and provides a cross-reference stable hydrogen isotopes data from the hair of 25 tropical bat species. The dataset provides a foundational resource for Asian isoscape analysis, and important datapoints for calibration in assigning the geographic origins of migratory species in Asia.