The key ecological role of bats in New England
A Big Brown Bat Big (species found in New England) in flight.
— Photo by Rhododendrites
From an article by Frank Carini in ecoRI News’s series Wild New England, except for picture above.
“Across North America dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and other pesticides had a significant impact on bats from the 1940s through the ’60s. Since the ban of DDT, in 1972, bat populations had been slowly recovering, until a fungal disease appeared three-plus decades later.
“Bat populations crashed again, when white-nose syndrome was discovered in a New York cave in 2006. The fungus that causes the disease spread rapidly across much of the United States, and the number of bat species that hibernate in caves and mines plummeted….
{But bats seem to be overcoming their latest challenges.}
‘‘These mammals play a vital ecosystem role. The nine bat species found in southern New England are insectivores, meaning they eat insects such as mosquitoes and some moths humans would label pests. It’s been estimated that an individual bat can eat 600 insects an hour. Nearly 70% of bat species feed primarily on insects. Some eat fruit, rodents, frogs, and fish….’’