We often see bats as just a fleeting flash of black at twilight, diving and darting for bugs. Though they get a bad rap as creepy, they're crucial members of the ecosystem. And in some areas of Brazil, they're under threat.
What's happening?
Disturbing new research shows bats in Brazilian rainforests are suffering from bioaccumulation of heavy metals and toxic chemicals. Researchers from Brazil's State University of Santa Cruz recently published the results of a study that illuminated the problem.
The researchers took hair samples from bats from a variety of regions in the state of Bahia and checked them for heavy metals. They found the bats contained notable amounts of manganese, lead, and copper.
According to Julián Barillaro, the lead researcher in the study and a conservation ecology researcher, bats from areas with less natural forest habitat, like monoculture crops and pastures, had higher levels of metals because of exposure to high levels of agrochemicals.
Why are bats important?
Toxins and heavy metals bioaccumulate in bats, and the more they're exposed, the more likely they are to develop serious health defects. And losing bats is terrible for an ecosystem.
Bats are key pollinators, they keep pests at bay with their appetite for insects, and they spread seeds. They're crucial for the healthy development of forests and a balanced ecosystem. As a direct result, they're important in safeguarding our food supply.
Losing bats means having to heavily rely on chemicals for pest control and crop growth, and research suggests that has a devastating effect on local communities, especially when it comes to infant mortality.
What's more, bats are something like a mammalian canary in a coal mine. If animals like bats are showing high levels of toxins and heavy metals in a local environment, that means humans in the area are likely exposed to the same things.
"If the environment is contaminated, if animals are contaminated, it will inevitably reach humans," Ana Luiza Destro, a biochemistry postdoc at the Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil, told Mongabay. "Whether through the food chain, the ingestion of contaminated water or even through inhalation."
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Always 😥 What can be done to decrease use of pollutants to help save bat populations?
Moving away from agrochemicals, practicing sustainable and organic agriculture, and ensuring bats have adequate natural habitat, will go a long way to ensuring a healthy, productive population of bats throughout Brazil. And anywhere else bats live, for that matter.
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