Mar 27, 2008

The Bats and the Bees

by Tim Ogden

We recently wrote about the continuing problem of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a still unexplained phenomena that emerged last year which is responsible for major die-offs of commercial bees. Far from a curiosity, CCD potentially affects us all because of the vital role that bees play as pollinators. Without them, agricultural yields could fall dramatically.

On Tuesday, the New York Times wrote about a similar affliction now appearing in bat populations. What scientists are calling “white nose syndrome” is killing up to 90 percent of bats in major colonies in the mid-Atlantic and northeast US. Biologists are baffled as to the root cause of the syndrome—the dying bats suffer from a variety of maladies. Oddly, despite the eerie similarities with CCD, the Times doesn’t refer to bees at all.

Just like the knock-on effects of reduced bee populations, a major decline in bat populations could have wide ramifications. Bats are primarily responsible for controlling insects like mosquitoes which carry a variety of diseases from West Nile Virus to encephalitis. Some species of bats also play a significant role in agriculture, both as pollinators and as predators of pests that ruin some crops.

File this as another high-impact opportunity.