Genomic insights into climate-driven vulnerability of the threatened piscivorous bat Myotis pilosus

Although climate change poses a major threat to global biodiversity, population-level genomic vulnerability assessments remain critically limited for highly sensitive, threatened taxa like bats. To better inform proactive conservation strategies, we integrated genome-wide SNPs with spatial environmental variables to assess the population genetic structure and climate vulnerability of the threatened piscivorous bat <i>Myotis pilosus</i>. We partitioned the relative effects of geographic distance and environmental heterogeneity on intraspecific genetic differentiation, and applied environmental association analyses alongside gradient forest modeling to identify adaptive genomic variation and forecast genomic offsets. Our analyses revealed three major geographic lineages. The Central-Southern lineage maintained the highest levels of genetic diversity, whereas populations at the Northern and Southwestern range edges exhibited lower diversity. Environmental heterogeneity, particularly temperature seasonality, played a more critical role than geographic distance in shaping intraspecific genetic divergence. Furthermore, we pinpointed four key genes harboring potentially function-altering variants linked to thermogenesis, oxidative stress, and membrane fluidity. By projecting adaptive variants into future climate scenarios, we predict that populations from Yunnan and Shandong face the most severe risk of maladaptation, marking them as the highest priorities for conservation efforts. These findings provide actionable, genomics-informed strategies for conserving this threatened bat and emphasize the necessity of incorporating population-level genomic vulnerability assessments into future conservation frameworks.