Bat Conservation International (BCI) is an international

nongovernmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

working to conserve

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s and their habitats through conservation, education, and research efforts. BCI was founded in 1982 by bat biologist Merlin Tuttle, who led the organization until his retirement in 2009. Since its establishment, BCI has formed partnerships with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and many national and international agencies and nonprofits, and has produced publications, workshops, scholarships, and research, and site-specific projects in the US and internationally. BCI employs a staff of 30 biologists, educators, and administrators and has members in 60 countries.

Conservation strategies

BCI operates by its "10 critical conservation strategies": 1) Accelerating scientific research 2) Preventing extinction 3) Protecting intact areas with highly diverse bat communities 4) Preserving megapopulations of bats 5) Creating global and regional partnerships 6) Addressing threats impacting multiple species at multiple sites 7) Promoting community-based bat conservation 8) Creating and enforcing legal and policy frameworks 9) Developing and perfecting important technology 10) Investing in future conservation leadership

Addressing serious threats

BCI funds and participates in research to mitigate damage to bat populations. Some of the threats previously or currently addressed include: *The effects of

uranium mines Uranium production is carried out in about 13 countries around the world, in 2017 producing a cumulative total of 59,462 tonnes of uranium (tU). The international producers were Kazakhstan (39%), Canada (22%), Australia (10%), Namibia (7.1%), Ni ...

on bats that use them as roosts *Ways to reduce bat mortality from

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s *Mass mortality from

white-nose syndrome White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fungal disease in North American bats which has resulted in the dramatic decrease of the bat population in the United States and Canada, reportedly killing millions as of 2018. The condition is named for a distinctiv ...

* Guano mining in bat caves

Protecting megapopulations

Being colonial, many bat species form colonies that can consist of millions of individuals.Betke, M., Hirsh, D. E., Makris, N. C., McCracken, G. F., Procopio, M., Hristov, N. I., ... & Crampton, S. (2008). Thermal imaging reveals significantly smaller Brazilian free-tailed bat colonies than previously estimated. Journal of Mammalogy, 89(1), 18–24. Because some bat species are highly aggregated, entire species can be threatened by disturbance to a small number of roosts.McCracken, G. F. (2011). Cave conservation: special problems of bats. Course Booklet, 68. BCI seeks to protect these roosts of high aggregations, or "mega-populations." Some ways that BCI works to protect megapopulations are: *Determining the effects of cave gates on bat usage of caves *Purchasing land with important caves, such as

Bracken Cave Bracken Cave is a cave located in southern Comal County, Texas, outside the city of San Antonio. The -wide crescent shaped opening to the cave lies at the bottom of a sinkhole, formed when the roof of the cave collapsed. It is the summer home t ...

, home of the world's largest bat colony *Using education and outreach to protect bat roosts from purposeful eradication, such as the colony at the Congress Avenue Bridge that was initially unwelcome

Preventing extinction

In their 2014–2018 Strategic Plan, BCI identified 35

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

of bats as priority species that will receive a concentrated focus of research and conservation efforts to hopefully prevent their

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

. BCI is also a member of the

Alliance for Zero Extinction Formed in 2000 and launched globally in 2005, the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) comprises 100 non-governmental biodiversity conservation organizations working to prevent species extinctions by identifying and safeguarding sites where species ...

, which seeks to safeguard the last habitats of critically endangered species. In 2022, Bat Conservation International (BCI) has employed the use of high accuracy workflow via GIS (Global Information System) to survey abandoned mines in New Mexico. They survey habitats that can support favorable conditions (right moisture and temperature, absence of predators, and other factors); protecting habitats helps the native population of bats to avoid extinction. BCI has a team of 30 employees who manages the preservation of 35 endangered bat species with 3 species endemic to the United States. In conjunction with the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

(BLM) and other government regional land management organizations, BCI collects data to locate these sites. Moreover, topographical maps provided by the USGS ( United States Geological Service) and two Arrow 100 Global Navigation satellites System (GNSS) have been used to navigate terrains and locate entrances or gateways to prospective abandon mines that can be used by the bat populations. Sites are then evaluated by using Survey123 (a data collection application) to analyze and disseminate data (temperature, humidity, guano concentrations that determines concentration of food sources, etc.). 785 mines in the vicinity of Palomas Gap, Timber Mountain, Rincon Basin, Burbank Canyon, and Brushy Mountain have been selected by the BCI team as candidate locations. As reported from the ArcNews Winter 2022 issue, BCI has completed evaluating about 308 sites that yielded 8 habitats with evidence of bat activity.

Political advocacy

In addition to promoting scientific research on bats and their conservation, BCI is also involved in public policy. BCI announces opposition to legislation to mobilize its members against it, such as with

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

House Bill 1576, which would have changed how threatened and endangered species are protected in the state. In the future, BCI plans to increase its engagement in legislative and policy efforts to conserve bats.

References

External links

Bat Conservation International
{{Authority control Bat conservation Organizations based in Austin, Texas Organizations established in 1982 Environmental organizations based in Texas 1982 establishments in Texas 501(c)(3) organizations