With rapid growth comes rapid development, often with little concern for ecological processes. Beaufort County is one of the fastest-growing counties in our state. In a recent study in coastal North Carolina, the majority of northern long-eared bats were captured in wetlands on large tracts of public lands – areas that are the least affected by agriculture and urbanization. Many imperiled bats, like the federally protected northern long-eared bat, cannot thrive in small patches of habitat and instead require large parcels of unfragmented forest. Habitat can be fragmented through urbanization, leaving communities with small, isolated patches of forest. What is sometimes less obvious is the fragmentation of habitat as opposed to its outright destruction. These are drastic and noticeable changes to forests that affect bats worldwide. Habitat loss comes in many forms, including clearcutting land for timber, creating pastureland for livestock, or converting forests to cropland. Because they require many different forms of habitat, the loss of one kind of habitat can be detrimental to their survival. For example, the northern long-eared bat hibernates in caves or large tree cavities in the winter, roosts in trees in the summer, and forages in large parcels of intact forest. A recent study suggests that increasing temperatures may even affect bats’ ability to echolocate! Habitat Lossīats around the world often use different kinds of habitats for foraging and roosting. If females begin birthing their pups in the winter, this shift in phenology, or seasonal timing of biological phenomena, can result in the death of pups born early when insects are not usually prevalent in cold climates.Ĭlimate change also affects bats by causing range expansions, altering the abundance of food sources, and shifting hibernacula temperatures to those that are not optimal for hibernating bats. Insectivorous bats in temperate zones typically give birth in the spring when insects are in large abundance. Climate change is altering migratory behavior and shifting the timing of reproduction – two cyclical processes closely linked to seasonal food availability. In addition to extreme weather events that directly kill bats, there are indirect effects that have concerning implications. On average, Australia has one major die-off event that consists of 1,000 or more dead bats each year. There is evidence this is the new normal. It is second to a heatwave in 2014 that killed >45,500 flying foxes. Even worse, this is not the largest flying fox die-off event. This was one-third of Australia’s spectacled flying fox population. In northern Australia where temperatures exceeded 108℉. In November 2018, at least 23,000 spectacled flying foxes (so named because of the light circles of fur around their eyes) perished over two days during an extreme heat event With climate change comes an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. We are going to focus on three of the significant stressors bats are currently facing: climate change, habitat loss, and disease. Populations of bats are in decline worldwide for a variety of reasons. Now that I have (hopefully!) convinced you that bats are vital for our world, I have a bit of a depressing topic this month and will be covering some of the threats bats are facing and the essential work we can do to help them. Last month, we discussed bats’ many beneficial traits and the assortment of important roles they play in the ecosystem.
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