Bill,
This is a classic example of why it's dangerous for scientists to
justify the protection of a species based on it's supposed utility to
humans. Saving the bats should be about saving the bats, not about
what we humans will miss when the bats are gone.
Insect populations can rebound faster than mammal populations. If a
bat population falls so low that it is no longer sustainable, it's
going to be a darn sight harder to get it re-introduced into an area
than it will be for the insects to repopulate the area once their
predators are gone.
Diana
On Oct 28, 2008, at 6:52 PM, Mixon Bill wrote:
What's wrong with this picture? from the radio-show transcript
recently pointed to by a post here)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
GELLERMAN: Well if it's not the white nose syndrome that's killing
the bats, what is it?
KUNZ: Well I've got several hypotheses here.
GELLERMAN: Again, Batman - professor Tom Kunz.
KUNZ: It has to do with fat. And it has to do with insects and it
has to do with other potential reasons why insect populations around
the world are declining. You may or may not know this, but insect
populations - in particular, moths and some beetles, for example in
New York State, a little lady bug beetle is going down the tubes. So
this leads to the hypothesis there's a reduction in the number of
insects that are available to bats during the fall of the year, when
they need that fuel to deposit fat to successfully hibernate.
GELLERMAN: This is still just a hypothesis, just a theory, but one
thing is certain: bats which are critical to holding the population
of insects in check and play important roles in pollinating forests,
are dying in large numbers in New England. And bats in caves could
be like the canary in the coal mine.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So bats are important because they control the insect population,
but they are dying because there aren't enough insects.... (And bats
in the northeastern US don't pollinate forests, though some insects
do.) -- Mixon
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Diana R. Tomchick
Associate Professor
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Department of Biochemistry
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Rm. ND10.214B
Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A.
Email: [email protected]
214-645-6383 (phone)
214-645-6353 (fax)
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