By Jorge Andrade

Chiropters, commonly known as bats, are an order of mammals with the fascinating ability to fly.

Bats are the only mammals able to fly!

Bats are quite a wide and numerous order, with approximately 1411 species (Burgin et al., 2018) and the second largest order of mammals.

From an ecological point of view, bats are of the utmost importance as they occupy a wide variety of ecological niches. There are some bats that are pollinators, seed dispersers, and predators of terrestrial arthropods and small vertebrates.

The intrinsic value of bats and their roles in the environment make this order of mammals immensely important, not only in the ecological context, but also, in the economic and social context. Economy? Society? Yes, beyond the importance of the bat per se, bats have a positive impact on economic activities and human well-being.

Pallid bat. This is the subspecies that is endemic to BCS.

But, how does this happen? Bats provide a variety of ecosystem services, which are defined as all the benefits that human societies derive from ecosystems (MEA, 2003). These include natural resources, ecosystem processes that regulate the conditions in where humans live, ecosystem contributions that benefit societies, and basic ecosystem services that allow that all of the above can be executed (MEA, 2003).

The ecosystem services provided by bats (Kunz et al., 2011) are:

  • Regulation or suppression of arthropods
  • Pollination
  • Seed dispersal
  • Provisioning services
  • Cultural services

How does this benefit us? There are many more examples of the importance of bats to humans from the point of view of ecosystem services.

Such as the Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis), which is a well distributed insectivorous bat in the American continent. Its diet is based on hemipterans (for example, cicadas), homopterans (for example, woodlice), neuropterans (for example, green lacewings), coleopterans (for example, beetles), nocturnal lepidopterans (for example, butterflies) and hymenopterans (for example, bees). 

It has been described that a maternity colony of T. brasiliensis with an average of 1 million individuals consumes 8.4 tons of insects in one night, many of them are important pests for agriculture (Kunz et al., 2011). For example, in cotton and corn fields in the US, its service as a natural predator of moths has been valued in at least $3.7 billion dollars per year (Boyles et al., 2011; Fenton & Simmons 2014).

“No bats, no tequila”. Many of us have heard this warning from Dr. Rodrigo Medellín. As ridiculous as it may sound, it is a real and well founded warning. The tequila zone in Mexico is located on the migratory route of the greater long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris nivalis) and the lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae). These bats are pollinators of the agave and other species. The genetic diversity of agaves and their long-term conservation depends on bats.

Can you imagine Mexico without tequila and mezcal? We could lose both if we lose bats!

Bats are also relevant in the worldview of different cultures. For example, in the Mayan civilization bats were associated with the night, darkness, death, sacrifices by beheading, and extraction of the heart, as well as sexuality and fertility (UNAM, 2019).

We owe lots to bats and its conservation involves the conservation of various ecosystem goods and services which we take advantage of.

References

  • Boyles, J. G., Cryan, P. M., McCracken, G. F., & Kunz, T. H. (2011). Economic importance of bats in agriculture. Science, 332 (6025), 41-42.
  • Burgin, C. J., Colella, J. P., Kahn, P. L., & Upham, N. S. (2018). How many species of mammals are there? Journal of Mammalogy, 99 (1), 1-14.
  • Fenton, M. B., & Simmons, N. B. (2014). Bats. A World of Science and Mystery. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 240 pp.
  • Kunz, T. H., Braun de Torrez, E., Bauer, D., Lobova, T., & Fleming, T. H. (2011). Ecosystem services provided by bats. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1223 (1), 1-38.
  • MEA (2003). Ecosystems and  Human  Well-being:  a  Framework for  Assessment.  Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Island Press, Washington, D.C., USA.
  • Romero, S. R. (2012). Zotz: El murciélago en la cultura maya. Revista Digital Universitaria. Retrieved from: http://www.revista.unam.mx/vol.13/num12/art112/index.html ISSN: 1607-6079