Departamento de Conservación y Recreación (DCR) Conservar. Proteger. Disfrutar.
Departamento de Conservación y Recreación (DCR) 
Murciélago tricolor. Foto de Phil Lucas.
La última semana de octubre es la Semana de los Murciélagos, un momento para reconocer los importantes servicios ecosistémicos que los murciélagos aportan en todo el mundo.
Estos mamíferos alados viven en casi todas partes de la Tierra, y aunque es posible que nunca los veas, es muy probable que vivan cerca de ti.
Aunque la Semana de los Murciélagos cae alrededor de Halloween, no hay que temer a los murciélagos. El 1,400 especies de murciélagos en todo el mundo brindan una gran cantidad de servicios, desde el control de insectos hasta la polinización. Son una parte esencial y beneficiosa de los ecosistemas naturales.
Virginia es el hogar de16 especies de murciélagos, incluido el murciélago brasileño de cola libre (Tadarida brasiliensis), recién llegado debido al calentamiento del clima. Virginia incluso tiene su propio murciélago estatal: el murciélago orejudo de Virginia (Corynorhinus townsendii virginianus), una especie en peligro de extinción a nivel federal.
Murciélago orejudo de Virginia. Foto de JH Fagan/Departamento de Conservación y Recreación de Virginia.
Nearly a quarter of bats are considered critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable, according to Bat Conservation International. The disease white-nose syndrome appeared in New York in 2006 and through 2012 had killed nearly 7 million bats in the Eastern United States and Canada, including tens of thousands in Virginia. Habitat loss and climate change are other major threats.
Bats are particularly vulnerable to threats posed by disease and habitat loss. Unlike most mammals their size, individual bats can live up to several decades with most species only producing a single offspring per year.
“Even without additional threats, it will take decades for populations to recover from the white-nose syndrome epidemic,” said Wil Orndorff, karst protection coordinator with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. “Now more than ever, people need to value and respect bats.”
Recent events have served to reinforce bats’ bad reputation. SARS Coronavirus 2, the virus causing COVID-19, is believed to have originated in China from a species of horseshoe bat, distant relatives to North American bat species. Bats are known to carry rabies, and bat species in other parts of the world have been linked to other zoonotic diseases.
However, if bats are treated with respect and left alone, the health risk they pose to humans is small when compared to the huge benefit they provide in controlling insect pests.
DCR is involved in many bat protection efforts with partners such as the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, faculty and students from Radford University and Virginia Tech, landowners, and volunteers from the conservation and caving communities. Scientists with DCR’s Natural Heritage Program monitor known bat populations and search for undocumented roosts and hibernacula to assist in conservation efforts to benefit bats.*
DCR’s work also involves a range of activities to protect bat habitat, including the acquisition and management of natural areas used by bats, the installation of gates at cave entrances to limit human access impacts, and education to cave owners and the caving community.
“While bats, being nocturnal, are out of sight to most of us, they should not be out of mind,” said Jason Bulluck, director of the Virginia Natural Heritage Program. “They are a valuable part of Virginia’s native biodiversity and critical to balancing insect populations. Most importantly, bats help to control large population outbreaks of non-native insects, which pose enormous threats to agricultural crops.
Los esfuerzos para proteger a los murciélagos y sus hábitats contribuyen a garantizar la persistencia de los servicios ecosistémicos gratuitos
, en beneficio de la biodiversidad y el bienestar humano. Más sobre los murciélagos
Programa Karst del Patrimonio Natural de Virginia
Departamento de Recursos de Vida Silvestre de Virginia
Servicio de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de EE. UU. – Hoja informativa sobre el murciélago orejón de Virginia
Equipo de respuesta al síndrome de la nariz blanca – Gestión forestal y murciélagos
*Debido a las preocupaciones sobre el manejo humano de los murciélagos durante la pandemia del nuevo coronavirus, el DCR y el DWR han suspendido el trabajo que involucra contacto directo con murciélagos.
El Coordinador de Protección Kárstica del DCR, Wil Orndorff, y el Director del Programa de Patrimonio Natural, Jason Bullock, contribuyeron a este artículo.
Categorías
Patrimonio natural
