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SURPRISING MIGRATIONS BAT CONSERVATION CRITICAL BAT AREAS OF TRI-COLORED BATS BEGINSIN BANGLADESH WIN SUPPORTIN LATIN AMERICA WWW.BATCO N.ORG SPRING 2013 BATSBATSBAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL BatBat ConservationConservation AcrossAcrossAfricaAfrica THE MEMO from our E XECUTIVE D IRECTOR f you were a fine young fellow or lady of good economic and ecological value. So bats remain under-valued family and fortune in the court of English King in most of the world and by many of those who gain the Henry VII, indispensable to your royal chitchat most. In my home state of Pennsylvania, hard hit by White- I was The Book of St. Albans, published in 1486. nose Syndrome, mortality for little brown bats is above 98 In addition to indispensable trivia on hawking and her- percent. Yet the agriculture industry there has remained silent aldry, St. Albans put forth the colorful collective nouns that on listing the little brown bat and other WNS-decimated bats still pop up in party conversation — a flock of crows is a as state-endangered. murder; ferrets gather in businesses; and Think how persuasive studies on the groups of jellyfish and cats are, respec- benefits of such bats to Northeast farming tively, smacks and clowders. could have been – but such studies don’t And what of bats? Bats, then as exist and can’t be done now that these now, suffer from bad PR. You might ex- once-common bats are gone from the land- pect a bevy of bats, but no – bevy is re- scape. Stimulating such research elsewhere served for larks. Bats merit only colonies will be a global priority for BCI in the or clouds. Lest we go another 400 years months and years ahead. with such pedestrian bat terms, I pro- All of us who love and appreciate bats pose we embrace a new descriptor, a have a role to play in changing public per- prosperity of bats. ceptions. I began this column on a light If you’re a member of BCI, you note, but the issue is all-too-deadly serious. know why. Bats are important pollina- We have only an inkling of bats’ impor- tors in the southwestern United States tance to the ecosystems in which we and and around the world. Fruit bats’ dispersal of seeds is key to they live. Like rejuvenating fire in the pine barrens or nutri- the rainforest regeneration. Insectivorous bats consume bil- ent-rich spring floods in an estuary, bats themselves may be a lions of moths and other insects every night. A study pub- landscape-scale ecological process that helps define and sustain lished in Science of “ecosystem services” provided to some ecoregions. It’s an intriguing and not altogether far- agriculture by bats estimated that bats provide about $23 bil- fetched notion, one that bears more attention from the scien- lion/year in chemical-free pest management in the United tific community. States alone. A 2006 study in eight south-central Texas coun- In the meantime, at your next party, royal or otherwise, ties showed bats save cotton farmers about $750,000/year, ar- try remarking on the prosperity of bats you witnessed on your guably making bats the difference between profit and loss. last vacation. It might catch on. Surprisingly, few other studies have been done on bats’ Andrew B. Walker Executive Director Veteran conservationist Andy Walker, formerly of The Nature Conservancy and the New College Foundation, where he was president and CEO, became Executive Director of Bat Conservation International on January 30, 2013. Leave a legacy for bats today... By making a bequest to Bat Conservation International, you’ll be supporting our essential bat conservation, education and research efforts. Putting BCI in your will ensures that bats will be protected for generations to come. To find the charitable gift that best fits your financial goals, visit www.batcon.org/planned. P.O. Box 162603, Austin, Texas 78716 BATS (512) 327-9721 fax: (512) 327-9724 Volume 31, No. 1, s P r i n g 2 0 1 3 P uBlicAtions s tA f f Director of Publications: Robert Locke Photo Editor: Meera Banta FEATURES Graphic Artist: Jason Huerta Copyeditors: Angela England, Valerie Locke BATS welcomes queries from writers. Send your article proposal The Memo from our with a brief outline and a description of any photos to: Executive Director [email protected]. Members: Please send changes of address and all cor res - pondence to the address above or via email to members@bat- 2 Isotopes of Tri-colored Bats con.org. Please include your label, if possible, and allow six Technology reveals unexpected migrations weeks for the change of address. by Erin Fraser Founder: Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle E x E c u t i v E D i r E c to r : Andrew Walker 6 ‘Bat Conservation Africa’ B oA r D o f D i r E c to r s : Walter C. Sedgwick, Chair A collaboration that spans the continent Dr. Cullen Geiselman, Vice Chair by Robert Locke Anne-Louise Band, Secretary Sandy Read, Treasurer 10 CRITICAL AREAS FOR BAT CONSERVATION Bert Grantges; Dr. John Hayes; C. Andrew Marcus; Bet- tina Mathis; Dr. Gary F. McCracken; John D. Mitchell; Latin American conservationists build a grand strategy Steven P. Quarles; Susan Wallace; Joe Walston; Joseph by Luis F. Aguirre and Rubén M. Barquez Zillo. Honorary Directors : Sharon R. Forsyth; Elizabeth Ames Jones; Travis Mathis; Wilhelmina Robertson; William 13 A FIRST FOR BATS IN BANGLADESH Scanlan, Jr. by Nurul Islam Verne R. Read, Chairman Emeritus s c i E n c E A Dv i s o ry c o m m i t t E E : Dr. Gary McCracken (Board Liaison), Dr. Kate Jones, Dr. Thomas H. Kunz, Dr. Tigga Kingston, Dr. Rodrigo NEWS & NOTES Medellín, Dr. Paul Racey, Dr. Charles Rupprecht. BCI Science Panel 15 Rodrigues flying fox: a tragic wonder Dr. Leslie S. Hall, Dr. Greg Richards, Australia; Dr. Jiri Gaisler, Czech Republic; Dr. Arnulfo Moreno-Valdez, Forest Service awards for BCI Mexico; Dr. Herman Limpens, Netherlands; Dr. Armando Neighbors save Austin bats Rodriguez-Duran, Puerto Rico; Dr. Shahroukh Mistry, ; Dr. José R. Ochoa, . Honors for Bracken volunteers United States Venezuela Membership Manager: Amy McCartney BCI Member Snapshot BATS (ISSN 1049-0043) is published quarterly by Bat The Wish List Con ser vation International, Inc., a nonprofit corporation supported by tax-deductible contributions used for public ed- ucation, research and conservation of bats and the ecosystems that depend on them. © Bat Conser vation International, 2013. All rights reserved. Bat Conservation International’s mission is to conserve the world’s bats and their ecosystems to ensure a healthy planet. A subscription to BATS is included with BCI membership: Senior, Student or Educator $30; Basic $35; Friends of BCI $45; Supporting $60; Contributing $100; Patron $250; Sus- taining $500; Leader Circle $1,000. Third-class postage paid at Austin, Texas. Send address changes to Bat Conser vation In- ternational, P.O. Box 162603, Austin, TX 78716. COVER PHOTO: Straw-colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) are perhaps the most iconic bats of Africa. Their seasonal migrations span much of the continent – and so does the new Bat Conservation Africa network that was created with BCI’s sup- Facebook.com/batcon Twitter.com/BatConIntl port in February 2013. See page 6. PHOTO © MERlIn d. TuTTlE, BCI / 0010431 IISOTOPESSOTOPES OF OF TTRIRI--COLOREDCOLORED BBATSATS TechnologyTechnology revealsreveals unexpectedunexpected migrationsmigrations by Erin Fraser courtesy of M.B. fenton Before this study, little was known about the tri-colored bat’s complex travels among sum- mer, fall and winter roosts. ri-colored bats are among the most common then ovulate and become pregnant after emerging from hiber- bats in much of eastern North America, yet nation in the spring. T relatively little is known of their seasonal trav- Although there is little information about tri-colored bats’ els among summer roosts, swarming sites and hibernacula. Our movements among summering grounds, swarming sites and hi- research goal was to apply new technology to old museum spec- bernacula, they are generally believed to be short-distance, re- imens (collected between 1878 and 1986) to investigate the un- gional migrants who move across the landscape in all directions usual migrations of tri-colored bats – making us feel kind of like as they travel among sites. cold case detectives. However, seasonal variation in abundance and sex ratio Our study, funded in part by Bat Conservation International within local populations has led some researchers to suspect Student Research Scholarships, indicates a fundamentally dif- these bats may migrate across significantly longer distances as ferent picture of migratory behavior than has been previously “latitudinal migrants” that travel south in the autumn (in this assumed for this species. case to hibernation sites), then return northward in the spring. Known until recently as eastern pipistrelles, the little insect- Another species considered to be a latitudinal migrant, the hunting tri-colored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) roost during the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), may migrate more than 1,250 summer months alone or in small, female-only colonies in miles (2,000 kilometers) one way. buildings or foliage. In the autumn, they travel to “swarming A better understanding of the migratory patterns and range sites,” usually caves or abandoned mines. Each night for as long of the tri-colored bat is essential for effective conservation deci- as several weeks, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of bats gather sions. Not only is the species among those battered by White- in and around swarming sites in a truly spectacular sight. This nose Syndrome, but tri-colored bats account for a substantial is when mating occurs.