<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.17095" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=3>
<DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid">
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial'">
<HR>
From: Clock-Rust.Mary@epamail.epa.gov<BR>To: LDA@pollinator.org<BR>Sent:
4/5/2011 6:54:16 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time<BR>Subj: Saving bats could prevent
huge U.S. farming losses<BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Saving bats could prevent huge U.S. farming
losses<BR>(Embedded image moved to file: pic15408.jpg)Photo<BR>Thu, Mar 31
2011<BR>By Kate Kelland<BR>LONDON (Reuters) - America's bats are dying in
their hundreds of<BR>thousands due to a mysterious illness called white-nose
syndrome, and<BR>efforts to save them could prevent billions of dollars in
agricultural<BR>losses, scientists say.<BR>In a paper published in the journal
Science, bat researchers estimated<BR>that a single colony of 150 brown bats
in the U.S. state of Indiana eats<BR>around 1.3 million pest insects a year,
and that the value of such bats<BR>to agriculture may be around $22.9 billion
a year.<BR>They criticized a lack of funds and efforts to save the bats and to
find<BR>out more about what is causing their widespread population decline.
The<BR>current "wait-and-see" approach is unacceptable, they said.<BR>"Bats
are among the most overlooked, yet economically important,<BR>non-domesticated
animals in North America, and their conservation is<BR>important for the
integrity of ecosystems and in the best interest of<BR>both national and
international economies," the scientists, led by<BR>Justin Boyles of the
University of Pretoria in South Africa, wrote in<BR>the journal.<BR>"The life
histories of these flying, nocturnal mammals -- characterized<BR>by long
generation times and low reproductive rates -- mean that<BR>population
recovery is unlikely for decades or even centuries, if at<BR>all."<BR>The
deadly white-nose infection is spreading quickly across the<BR>Northeastern
United States and Canada, and a study published last year<BR>suggested the
disease is likely to cause the regional extinction of the<BR>one species of
bat known as little brown myotis bat.<BR>The syndrome, linked to a fungus that
spreads among bats as they<BR>hibernate, affects at least seven species,
experts say. It was only<BR>identified in the United States 2006, in bats
nesting in caves near<BR>Albany, New York, and since then more than a million
of the flying<BR>mammals have died.<BR>"This disease is burning through our
bat populations like a five-alarm<BR>fire," said Mollie Matteson, a
conservation advocate at the Center for<BR>Biological Diversity in Ohio.<BR>In
a telephone interview, Boyles said the researchers aim was to drive<BR>home
the importance of protecting bats -- animals he said were often<BR>undervalued
by the public and policymakers.<BR>"A lot of people say 'why should we care
about bats?," he explained. "So<BR>our goal is to try and emphasize how
important they are ecologically and<BR>economically," he said.<BR>The
scientists said the rising number of wind turbines in the United<BR>States and
Europe were another major threat to bats. Thousands of dead<BR>bats have been
found near wind farms, and some scientists believe sudden<BR>changes in air
pressure close to wind turbines can cause the lungs of<BR>the tiny creatures
to collapse.<BR>"Solutions that will reduce the population impacts of
white-nose<BR>syndrome and reduce the mortality from wind-energy facilities
are<BR>possible in the next few years," they wrote. "But
identifying,<BR>substantiating, and applying solutions will only be
fueled...by<BR>increased and widespread awareness of the benefits of
insectivorous bats<BR>among the public, policy-makers and
scientists.<BR>(Editing by Paul
Casciato)<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>