The conclusions are the result of many years of research conducted by Eyal Frank, a professor at the University of Chicago. It all started with a disease attacking bat colonies, but led the scientist to much broader conclusions. The results of his work were published this month in the magazine ““Science”.
The study found a direct link between the mass die-off of bats and the deaths of hundreds of children.
Consequences of the lack of bats
White-nose syndrome is a fungal disease that has led to the death of millions of bats in North America (named for its characteristic white coating). The fungus that causes disease and death in bats had to be dragged from Europe to America, where it began to wreak havoc on the local bat populations.
Bats feed on insects and can eat 40 percent or more of their own weight in a night. Their diet also includes insects considered agricultural pests. Prof. Eyal Frank decided to investigate the impact of the decline in the bat population in parts of the United States on nature and people.
Without the bats’ natural pest control, agricultural pesticide use increased dramatically. In places where this happened, child mortality also increased, rising as much as 8 percent higher than in neighboring regions where bat populations were stable.
This means the death of more than 1,300 children resulting from the loss of biodiversity and the natural functioning of the ecosystem.
People suffer when nature suffers
As described by “The Guardian“, the scientist carefully investigated whether there were other explanations for the increase in child mortality in these regions – such as socio-economic factors. However, nothing else explained such an increase in child mortality in these regions. The only answer was the increased use of pesticides due to the decline in the bat population.
Scientists and ecologists have been increasingly saying in recent years that the loss of biodiversity and human-driven species extinction is not only a problem for wildlife, but also for us.
This is confirmed by other studies and examples from around the world. For example, in India, the lack of vultures may be responsible for the deaths of up to half a million people. As scientists wrote, By eating carrion, vultures “clean” the environment, which limits the spread of diseases. When the vultures disappeared, the sanitary and health situation of people worsened.
Due to climate change and other effects of human activity – environmental pollution, habitat destruction, deforestation, over-fishing – plant and animal species are becoming extinct at an increasingly rapid rate. The scale is so large that scientists they talk about the sixth great extinction – this time caused by humans.