Ensuring Food Security Means Protecting Bats

You know how Batman always protected Gotham City? Well real bats do the same thing, only their Gotham City is the world's agricultural fields. They may lack a superhero's tricked-out ride and state-of-the-art armor, but these winged creatures keep the planet's crop fields in production.

Which is why it's so devastating to see that scientists still don't know what's causing North American bats to develop White Nose Syndrome (WNS), a deadly disease where bats awaken more often than usual during hibernation and exhaust their stored fat reserves. All that extra activity means that many bats freeze or starve to death during the winter. Since the mysterious sickness first appeared in 2006, more than one million bats from Canada to Maryland to Missouri have fallen victim to WNS.

While this news bodes badly for bats, it also impacts, well, virtually everyone in North America. As the SuperEco blog recently noted, bats act as a keystone species. That is, they serve a crucial role in North American ecosystems, controlling insects, pollinating plants, and dispersing seeds. America's breadbaskets stay full largely due to bees and bats, both of which suffer declining populations because of enigmatic diseases.

For one, bats binge on bugs, including those that typically descend upon crops ranging from artichokes to watermelons, according to Bat Conservation International (BCI), a non-profit that supports bat conservation efforts and research across the globe. One little brown bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquito-sized bugs in a single hour. The fliers make those Nathan's hot dog-eaters look like diet-conscious supermodels. Bats' penchant for bugs acts as a blessing for farmers and the environment. According to BCI, bats are such efficient eaters of the corn earthworm moth they save farmers in south-central Texas about $1.7 million a year in pesticide costs. Crops thrive because insects aren't devouring them, and farmers needn't spray noxious chemicals all over America's food supply.

Bats also boost crop growth by acting as pollinators and seed dispersers. Bats dine on bananas, avocados, figs, peaches, and more, pollinating these plants as they flit from crop to crop. Because bats defecate as they fly through the air with the greatest of ease, they aid in seed dispersal. Bats are an especially crucial cog when it comes to dispersing seeds in rainforests and are credited with regenerating vast tracts of forest.

My point here isn't to just sing the praises of bats (although Batman was and forever will be one of my greatest crushes). It's to draw attention to the fact that a blight impacting a single mammal can have large-scale impacts on agriculture and global food security. Creating a sustainable food system, then, doesn't just require conserving the land on which we grow crops. It also means protecting the wildlife that calls these regions home.

Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Flickr