Bats - Integral to the Environment

Bats are an essential part of the environment. It is estimated that they have existed for more than 50 million years. Approximately one thousand species of bats exist in the world today. A single group of bats is referred to as a colony.

Even though they are classified as mammals, bats are capable of flight. The scientific name given to bats, Chiroptera, translates to “hand-wing.” Bats are then classified into two separate categories. These two categories are Microchiroptera, which means “small hand-wing,” and Megachiroptera, which means “large hand-wing.”

Bats in the nectar drinking category help to pollinate a variety of plants. These plants include night blooming desert plants that would cease to flourish if the bats were not available to pollinate them. The giant Saguaro cactus, bananas, mangos, dates, cashews, agave, and figs owe their existence to nectar drinking bats. Additionally, bat guano is used as fertilizer due to its rich content.

Rainforest growth relies on bats. Fruit eating bats spread rainforest growth by depositing seeds through their bat droppings. Many of the accessible plants known today rely on bats for their existence.

Pest control is assisted by insect eating bats. The bats act as natural pest control that helps to keep the insect population down. This decreases the need to spray harmful pesticides in both the agricultural and residential communities. In fact, a single bat can ingest as many as 600 mosquitoes in a single hour. Bats also ingest countless numbers of rootworm, a pest that harms local farming communities.

In addition to nectar, fruit, and insects, different species of bats also eat frogs, fish, and small mammals. Some species of bats have even been known to consume other bats. In fact, three species of bats are known as Vampire Bats. These three species survive by drinking the blood of small mammals and birds. The Vampire Bats originated in Central and South America.

The smallest known bat is the Bumblebee bat. It originates from Thailand and only weighs as little as a penny, no more.

The natural roosts for bats are trees. However, as the human element takes over more and more of their natural habitat, bats have learned to adapt and relocate within buildings and caves. They have even taken up residence beneath bridges. Many of the bat species are now on the Endangered Species List.

Mars Life Search Update

From the AP - An orbiting spacecraft has discovered a key mineral in bedrock on the Martian surface that suggests the planet might once have had an environment hospitable to life, scientists reported Thursday.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter detected carbonate mineral in rock outcrops in Nili Fossae, a region of valleys that have cut into the planet’s ancient crust, suggesting the area was not as harsh as other places on Mars.

The mineral, which forms in the presence of water, had previously been detected in trace amounts in Martian dust and soil. But its presence in bedrock indicates water there wasn’t as acidic and thus more hospitable to life.

The region “would have really been a clement, benign environment for early Martian life,” said mission scientist Bethany Ehlmann of Brown University.

The results were presented Thursday at an American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco and will appear Friday in the journal Science.

Scientists planning the next Mars landing — the Mars Science Laboratory — initially considered Nili Fossae as a potential landing site, but it did not make the final cut.

The launch of the lab is set for 2011.