The benefits of bats

The role bats play in a healthy ecosystems

As predators, bats contribute to the biodiversity of ecosystems, particularly within wetland ecosystems,  creating an important balance by consuming insects.

“Generally, bats are quite well connected with wetlands.  Little brown bats will feed on mayflies and that sort of thing as they’re emerging from the water,” says Lauren Hooton, a PhD candidate and bat researcher from Trent University.

The services bats provide help to control entire ecosystems. Without bats, other species of animals and vegetation would overpopulate and there would be a significant loss in biodiversity, notes Hooton.

According to James Paterson, a DUC research scientist who studies biodiversity in wetland ecosystems, “wetlands provide a large number of services that benefit society, including carbon storage, water flow regulation, and improving water quality. These benefits rely on biodiversity in wetlands, and bats are a part of those systems. They also help regulate our  climate, and provide habitat for species that have other benefits.”

Bats: a natural control for agricultural pests

Beyond supporting biodiversity and playing a role in essential ecosystems, like forests and wetlands, bats also act as natural pest control.

“They definitely are great consumers of agricultural pests,” says Hooton. “There are numerous agricultural crops that benefit from bats.”

Big and little brown bats, which are common in Alberta, are capable of eating their body weight in insects each night, making them effective at reducing the number of insects like moths and beetles that harm plants. Bats flourish on farms and landscapes that have wetlands.

Hooton encourages people to allow bats to perform their important work in our environment, and to overlook the many myths that have been falsely attributed to them throughout human history.

“They’re at more risk from humans than we are from them.”