Bats are essential for human survival; according to researches this flying mammals participate in the balance of the ecological systems. They do this by serving as pollinators, seed dispersers, and insect eaters. Without bats some fruits and plants species would not be able to multiply. However, there is an ecological threat as bats are now endangered. The brown bat is a resourceful animal in terms of pollination, seed dispersal but is has been observed to be at risk of extinction due to human activities. This essay analysis the roles of brown bat in ecology system and what would happen if it gets endangered.
There are over 1200 indentified bat species in the world. The bats make around 20 percent of all mammas. The brown bat is unique type of bat that lives in caves and dark places in groups of 20 or more (Denmead et al., 2017). Physically, it has dark glossy brown fur. It has long ears of up to 8 inches which are narrow, naked and have rounded tips. The bats appear to have wings and tail membranes having glossy dark brown. They mostly feed on flying insects in caves (Szoke, & Hornok, 2016). During spring the bats disperse and travel hundred miles to new places.
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The brown bats are useful in the ecology because they have the capability of eating up to 600 mosquitoes in an hour (Szoke, & Hornok, 2016). There might be ecology imbalance as people are killing bats in massive scales. For instance Israel recently launched a campaign to kill bats. These have resulted of more than 90 percent of bats in the Israeli environment (Kunz, & Parsons, 2016). Consequently there has been proliferation of the insects that were controlled by the bats. The insects which include moths are now invading agricultural fields. The plant production is going down and humans are at risk of suffering food shortage. There should be protection of bats in order to have good food production. There should be controlled use of pesticide to avoid killing the little brown bats. Doing so would ensure the survival of natural predators such as brown bats (Kunz, & Parsons, 2016).
References
Denmead, L. H., Darras, K., Clough, Y., Diaz, P., Grass, I., Hoffmann, M. P., ...&Tscharntke, T. (2017). The role of ants, birds and bats for ecosystem functions and yield in oil palm plantations. Ecology.
Kunz, T. H., & Parsons, S. (2016). Anthony ELP and Kunz TH (1977) Feeding strategies of the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus, in southern New Hampshire. Ecology 58: 775-786. Arnett EB Brown WK Erickson WP Fiedler JK Hamilton BL Henry TH et al.(2008) Patterns of bat fatalities at wind energy facilities in North America. Journal of Wildlife Management 72: 61-78. Pathophysiology and recovery of myotis lucifugus affected by white nose syndrome , 65 , 36.
Szoke, K., &Hornok, S. (2016). Epidemiological significance of bats (Chiroptera) in Europe, with emphasis on their bloodsucking ectoparasites as potential transmitters of vector-borne pathogens. MAGYAR ALLATORVOSOK LAPJA, 138(1), 15-29.
