New report says bats are in danger
Bats are important part of ecosystem
Airdate: May 10th, 2023
More than half of the 154 known bat species across North America are at risk of severe population decline in the next 15 years. That’s according to the first ever State-of-the-Bats Report published by the North American Bat Conservation Alliance, a multinational coalition from the United States, Mexico, and Canada, including Bat Conservation International.
Climate change and diseases are just two ways bats are being put at risk.
Bats are an important part of our ecosystem.
On The Spark Wednesday was Dr. Winifred Frick, Chief Scientist at Bat Conservation International, who described why bats are an important part of the ecosystem,”Bats are incredibly important to our ecosystems here in the United States, North America, and all around the world. In the U.S., most of our bats are insect timorous, and they have voracious appetites and eat nocturnal insects, and they go out to forage every night. It’s been estimated that bats provide in the billions of dollars to our agricultural industry here in the U.S. through all of the crop insects that they eat every night. And then globally, as we move into more tropical latitudes, bats are also really important pollinators.”
Frick indicated climate change is a major threat to bats in more ways than one,”Over 82% of bat species are expected to face some kind of a negative impact from climate change. And climate change is both a direct threat to species as also as an amplifier of other threats of species that may have reduced reduced amount of habitat or degraded habitat if they get a catastrophic storm on top of that. That’s the double hit for them.”
Frick told us bats in Pennsylvania have been hurt by white-nose syndrome, a fungus that targets hibernating bats,”One of things is happening in Pennsylvania is that the several of the species there have been really hard hit by the disease white nose syndrome. So Indiana bats, which were already federally listed as endangered, but then also northern long eared bats, which just became listed as endangered, are found throughout Pennsylvania. Little brown bats, which used to be very common, which is over 90% of the population has been lost to white nose syndrome and then tri-colored bats. So those four species are the species that are most heavily impacted by the disease white nose syndrome. Now, Greg Turner with the Pennsylvania Game Commission has done tremendous work on trying to protect bat species in Pennsylvania and is working on some really innovative approaches of working on protecting and changing managing abandoned mine sites in Pennsylvania to provide the best roosting microclimate and conditions to try to help bats survive and recover.”
What can you do to help bats? “There’s things you can do in your own backyard in terms of reducing your pesticide use, planting natives, all the things you can do to be more green and be more climate friendly. Help bats. Because if we’re helping the planet, we’re helping bats.”
