Island-Restricted Bats Should Be Conservation Priorities

About a quarter of the over 1,300 species of bat are endemic to islands, meaning they are found there and nowhere else. These island-restricted bats play important roles in island ecosystems through seed dispersal, pollination, and pest control. On some islands, bats are the only indigenous mammals (the ability to fly helped them make it to places that other mammals never reached).However, a knowledge gap exists and little is known about the ecology and conservation status of many island-restricted bats. A recent study out of the University of Helsinki investigated these gaps with the hopes of guiding future research efforts and conservation priorities.Read my post at the PLOS Ecology Blog: Bats Found Only on Islands in Trouble Worldwide.