Bats Worth Billions to Agriculture—But They’re Dying Fast

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Bats are an economic boon worth approximately $23 billion per year, and possibly up to $54 billion, to U.S. agriculture, a study in today’s issue of Science estimates. Their voracious appetite for insects—a colony of 150 brown bats eats about 1.3 million pesky, crop-chomping bugs each year—means that bats function as effective, and free, natural pesticides. How the Heck:

• A previous study found that bats saved farmers an average of $74 an acre in pesticides (ranging from $12 to $174 an acre), across eight cotton-growing counties in southeastern Texas.
• Using that figure as a jumping-off point, the researchers extrapolated how much the disappearance of bats across the nation would cost per year. They came up with the yearly cost of $3.7 billion to $54 billion, putting their own estimate at $22.9 billion.
• That estimate, they point out, just includes money saved purchasing pesticides; it doesn’t take into account secondary costs, like the impact of pesticides on the environment.

What’s the Context:

• Unfortunately, bats are dying at an alarming rate. The mysterious, as-yet-incurable white-nose syndrome has killed over a million bats in the U.S. and Canada since 2006.
• Nor is white-nose syndrome all bats are up against: Wind turbines can kill them two different ways.

• It’s not looking good for the bats. White nose syndrome may drive some New England species to extinction within 15 years, and the disease is still spreading.
• Nor is there much money going into the hunt for a cure: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service spent only $2.4 million studying white-nose syndrome last year—about a tenth of a percent of the low-end estimate of bats’ economic value—and research budgets for the disease are likely to shrink even further, reports Brandon Kiem at Wired Science.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/04/01/bats-worth-billions-to-agriculture-but-theyre-dying-fast/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+80beats+%2880beats%29

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

My guess is that the illegals are catching them and then cooking them up.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

We need a bat tax.

If bats were effective insecticide we would not need chemicals.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Gary and Alla

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

We need a bat tax.

If bats were effective insecticide we would not need chemicals.

If there is such a tax, I'm sure California already has it.

[graceroxas 17]

Bats are an economic boon worth approximately $23 billion per year, and possibly up to $54 billion, to U.S. agriculture, a study in today’s issue of Science estimates. Their voracious appetite for insects—a colony of 150 brown bats eats about 1.3 million pesky, crop-chomping bugs each year—means that bats function as effective, and free, natural pesticides. How the Heck:

• A previous study found that bats saved farmers an average of $74 an acre in pesticides (ranging from $12 to $174 an acre), across eight cotton-growing counties in southeastern Texas.
• Using that figure as a jumping-off point, the researchers extrapolated how much the disappearance of bats across the nation would cost per year. They came up with the yearly cost of $3.7 billion to $54 billion, putting their own estimate at $22.9 billion.
• That estimate, they point out, just includes money saved purchasing pesticides; it doesn’t take into account secondary costs, like the impact of pesticides on the environment.

What’s the Context:

• Unfortunately, bats are dying at an alarming rate. The mysterious, as-yet-incurable white-nose syndrome has killed over a million bats in the U.S. and Canada since 2006.
• Nor is white-nose syndrome all bats are up against: Wind turbines can kill them two different ways.

• It’s not looking good for the bats. White nose syndrome may drive some New England species to extinction within 15 years, and the disease is still spreading.
• Nor is there much money going into the hunt for a cure: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service spent only $2.4 million studying white-nose syndrome last year—about a tenth of a percent of the low-end estimate of bats’ economic value—and research budgets for the disease are likely to shrink even further, reports Brandon Kiem at Wired Science.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/04/01/bats-worth-billions-to-agriculture-but-theyre-dying-fast/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+80beats+%2880beats%29

I wish someone can localize this study in the Philippines and other developing countries where bats get hunted down for food or otherwise perish because of ecosystem degradation.

Grace

[Darnell 8,479]

I put in 3 bat boxes on my organic micro-farm last weekend - One of them is populated now. Yay Me ! It's not the New England breed either, but a hardy Tex-Mex breed.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Darnell

[Darnell 8,479]

We need a bat tax.

If bats were effective insecticide we would not need chemicals.

There's some tax credits for 'using green technologies' but

you first must qualify as an ongoing farm on yer taxes

(I qualify)

So it's possible to write off the cost of the bat box.

Does that help yer cause?