Cross-border · Research, innovation and assessment · Germany
Berlin and Naples researchers urge bat conservation to protect ecological functions too
Researchers from Berlin's Natural History Museum, the University of Naples Federico II and Humboldt University argue in Nature Reviews Biodiversity that bat protection must safeguard the animals' ecosystem roles as well as the species.
Why it matters: The authors argue that bat protection must secure the conditions for bats to keep performing their ecosystem roles, not only protect the species themselves.
A new article in Nature Reviews Biodiversity examines the often overlooked loss of the ecological functions that bats perform.
The authors are researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (Berlin's Natural History Museum), the University of Naples Federico II and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
The researchers say that even where bats are still present, their contributions to pest regulation, pollination and seed dispersal may already be declining.
They argue that effective conservation must secure the conditions that allow bats to keep fulfilling their roles in ecosystems, alongside protecting the species themselves.
Editor’s view
Scott James, Research and Innovation Editor
The authors argue that bat protection should extend beyond the species to the conditions that let bats keep regulating pests, pollinating and dispersing seeds, since those contributions may already be waning where bats still occur.
