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“With the loss of these one, two, maybe 10 million bat individuals in these populations, what are the implications?”
Bats in the U.S. are being plagued by a fungal condition called white-nose syndrome. Northern Arizona University biologist Jeffrey Foster talked at the ScienceWriters2011 conference in Flagstaff on October 16th about what the loss of large numbers of bats would mean.
“And certainly, implications for ecosystem for ecosystem function, particularly for forest health, since these bats feed primarily on insects, and the insects are a major part of these forests. Human health implications, particularly with the vectors of particular diseases that we have out there. And then finally, economic implications for agriculture…so there’s a recent estimate by Boyles et al. of the economic impact of bats at nearly $23 billion. Clearly bats are very, very important to agriculture in the United States.”
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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8 Comments
Add CommentI think even the average person understands the problem and the implications of losing these valuable creatures. What we need is solutions, which are not easily coming to a cold fungus that attacks hibernating bats. It is often not even apparent until the weakened bat comes out of its lair from hibernation now too weak to survive. This is a double whammy on the population with the pregnant females.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI quote from the article... "very important to agriculture in the United States". Agriculture does not exist is other parts of the world!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisScience activities and science reporting need better inclusiveness. The lack of consciousness is the problem. Many in the world know for eons that killing of bats and wolfs and other animals impact humans in profound ways... and this transcends geographical boundaries!
The report is not being unnecessarily parochial. It concerns an affliction of bat colonies in the US so the reference to US agriculture is not irrelevant. Nor does it imply that agriculture is not found in other parts of the world or that bats do not play an important role in ecosystems and agriculture outside the US.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPat (in Australia where we also have bats and agriculture)
Come on, surely I'm not the only one who read the article only to think "They should stop sniffing that stuff"?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is Interesting that the link of the podcast leads us to another web magazine of science vulgarization that is ScienceDaily.com and not to a web page of registration of scientific research. I think this interesting only and not necessarily a bad thing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe link to the web page of the registration of scientific research that is at the final of the article of ScienceDaily.com is:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6025/41
Get ready for the bugs to look like a sand storm coming at you. I built a bat house and put it in a warm location and I have six bats living with me now and they keep the whole neighborhood bug free. It feels really good to sit outside at night without any bug spray on and still no bugs biting or stinging you. The only thing I have to dodge now is the little bats taking a dive at me to catch the bug that was going to bite or sting me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBuild them a good warm bat house and keep them close...you'll be glad you did.
Here is something funny I learned about those little brown bats that you may not believe: If you talk to them in a kind and gentle non-threatening voice, they will come and sit on your table and listen to you and sometimes even take a drink out of your glass of water.
That is very cool about communing with bats. But I would caution readers that bats are a significant vector of rabies. You may not want to drink out of that glass after they had a sip (though don't know if rabies can be transmitted that way). That is why it is advised if you ever wake up with a bat in your bedroom, you have yourself treated for rabies...or vampirism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRobert, the area where I live is treated every year with anti rabies bait because of the high coon and fox populations, but I still have myself checked with garlic for vampirism at dinner every evening. The little brown bat is really quite friendly and if you don't try to pick one up, it won't bite you to protect itself. They seem to know if they can trust you or not and if they don't trust you, they won't come around you.
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