[Pollinator] Fwd: Saving bats could prevent huge U.S. farming losses

[Ladadams at aol.com]

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 From: Clock-Rust.Mary at epamail.epa.gov
To: LDA at pollinator.org
Sent:  4/5/2011 6:54:16 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: Saving bats could prevent  huge U.S. farming losses


Saving bats could prevent huge U.S. farming  losses
(Embedded image moved to file: pic15408.jpg)Photo
Thu, Mar 31  2011
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - America's bats are dying in  their hundreds of
thousands due to a mysterious illness called white-nose  syndrome, and
efforts to save them could prevent billions of dollars in  agricultural
losses, scientists say.
In a paper published in the journal  Science, bat researchers estimated
that a single colony of 150 brown bats  in the U.S. state of Indiana eats
around 1.3 million pest insects a year,  and that the value of such bats
to agriculture may be around $22.9 billion  a year.
They criticized a lack of funds and efforts to save the bats and to  find
out more about what is causing their widespread population decline.  The
current "wait-and-see" approach is unacceptable, they said.
"Bats  are among the most overlooked, yet economically important,
non-domesticated  animals in North America, and their conservation is
important for the  integrity of ecosystems and in the best interest of
both national and  international economies," the scientists, led by
Justin Boyles of the  University of Pretoria in South Africa, wrote in
the journal.
"The life  histories of these flying, nocturnal mammals -- characterized
by long  generation times and low reproductive rates -- mean that
population  recovery is unlikely for decades or even centuries, if at
all."
The  deadly white-nose infection is spreading quickly across the
Northeastern  United States and Canada, and a study published last year
suggested the  disease is likely to cause the regional extinction of the
one species of  bat known as little brown myotis bat.
The syndrome, linked to a fungus that  spreads among bats as they
hibernate, affects at least seven species,  experts say. It was only
identified in the United States 2006, in bats  nesting in caves near
Albany, New York, and since then more than a million  of the flying
mammals have died.
"This disease is burning through our  bat populations like a five-alarm
fire," said Mollie Matteson, a  conservation advocate at the Center for
Biological Diversity in Ohio.
In  a telephone interview, Boyles said the researchers aim was to drive
home  the importance of protecting bats -- animals he said were often
undervalued  by the public and policymakers.
"A lot of people say 'why should we care  about bats?," he explained. "So
our goal is to try and emphasize how  important they are ecologically and
economically," he said.
The  scientists said the rising number of wind turbines in the United
States and  Europe were another major threat to bats. Thousands of dead
bats have been  found near wind farms, and some scientists believe sudden
changes in air  pressure close to wind turbines can cause the lungs of
the tiny creatures  to collapse.
"Solutions that will reduce the population impacts of  white-nose
syndrome and reduce the mortality from wind-energy facilities  are
possible in the next few years," they wrote. "But  identifying,
substantiating, and applying solutions will only be  fueled...by
increased and widespread awareness of the benefits of  insectivorous bats
among the public, policy-makers and  scientists.
(Editing by Paul  Casciato)

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