Bats in the U.S. are being plagued by a fungal (condition) called white-nose syndrome. Northern Arizona University biologist Jeffrey Foster talked at the ScienceWriters2011 conference in Flagstaff on October 16th about what the loss of large numbers of bats would mean.

 

“And certainly, implications for ecosystem for (ecosystem) function, particularly for forest health, since these bats feed primarily on insects, and the insects are a major part of these forests. Human health implications, particularly with the vectors of particular diseases that we have out there. And then finally, (economic) implications for agriculture…so there’s a recent estimate by Boyles et al of the economic impact of bats at nearly $23 billion. Clearly bats are very, very important to (agriculture) in the United States.”