The Economic Cost of Losing Bats

Very informative article, but sloppy editing. “A single colony of bats in Indianan”. Indianan?

And this last statement is just plain incoherent. “But WNS seems like the more immediate threat. But it’s still a mystery how WNS spread, and how to stop it—those the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among other government agencies, is on the case. We may not like bats—but we definitely need them.”

But, But. Those the U.S. Fish and wildlife service…?

Wow. Bad writing.

We live in rural Connecticut, and WNS has devastated the local bat population. Instead of 7 or 8 bats circling over the deck on a summer evening, feasting on mosquitoes and other insects, the insects feast on us if we’re foolish enough to be outside. It’s pretty obvious how much we need our bats back.

I agree, the story is interesting and frightening. But please edit – edit – edit. Sloppy writing is so distracting.

And you mustn’t forget (I read this in another article) that bats help to keep the population of mosquitoes in check. Imagine the diseases those little pests can spread without our trusty batmen?

WNS is a big problem, and I’m glad there’s a focus on it.

I agree that the editing is a bit sloppy, but more importantly, so are the author’s comments about wind turbines. Pureed? Nothing like hyperbole to make an article more interesting. I’m skeptical about these wide-ranging estimates of bat deaths from wind turbines. An estimate of between “33,000 and 110,000 bats” doesn’t exactly sound precise. More like an assumption or wild guess. I’d be interested to see how well the authors of the Science study back up that number, and whether they take into account the turbine operating procedures that have been adopted to prevent bat deaths in recent years.

Actually that statement in false, although not in the way you pointed out. The bats are not “pureed,” for the most part they do not hit the turbines. Their lungs explode when then get too close. The reason for the huge difference in numbers is because the scientists don’t know why the bats go towards the wind turbines. They don’t know if their echolocation works properly around them or doesn’t and they don’t know if the bats are attracted to the turbines or not. In fact, there seem to be at least two types of adaptations to using echolocation, one for large spaces with not as much objects in the way and one for many objects, and scientists aren’t sure if this would be a factor in whether the bats die from the turbines or not. Also, it is not certain how many wind farms will exist in the near future, or where they might exist, as licensing and investment in this technology is fairly new and still developing. For example, if more wind farms are built in the east, where both bats and WNS are more common, the death toll on bats is likely to increase dramatically. (This also depends on whether the turbines are built in winter or summer habitat, as studies suggest that summer habitat is when the bats are more active and may be more likely to be killed.) Whereas if a wind farm was built out on the ocean, the number of bats killed will not increase at all. I hope this helps you understand where those numbers came from. Overall, I agree: good topic, poorly written article.

I am not a bat expert(or an expert), but consider this.

The turbines are moving in their normal path in the fixed location.
The bats, insects, etc. move around during the night as they normally do via the wind, etc.

Now the insects can and most likely dodge the blade because they use their eyes to judge where the moving object is.

Where as the bats are using the echolocation (sound goes out, sound comes in). There has to be a time lapse here…

So if the bat was moving towards the blade ( or chasing something) and it’s brain at one point says the moving blade is here, but a microsecond later the blade moves. This could cause an accident with the blade….

Also consider this as a supporting statement, do you ever see a bat flying in the trees where the leaves are moving? Or where there is something with a lot of movement, besides a food area?

“But it’s still a mystery how WNS spread, and how to stop it—those the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among other government agencies, is on the case.”

He he… this is kinda funny. How does someone get paid to write for Time magazine and write like this??

What’s with the not-so-subtle undertone of not liking bats? Bats are awesome. I love them, as do tons of other people.
Maybe you don’t like bats, but you shouldn’t assume that most of your readers are equally unenlightened.

#6 read the post above. Bats are not killed by hitting the blades.

I agree about the editing! When I see a Time article I never see bad sentence structure. It must be hard to find good talent.

Is there an American news outlet with ANY credit? The editing is simply awful, with the mistakes being everything but subtle. How can anyone take an article seriously that boasts the writing level of a 5th grader?

Perhaps actual scientists and professionals should be paid a little extra to write for the mainstream media, because the journalists certainly aren’t getting the job done.

The sentiment against bats is pathetic. Appreciation is one of the results of quality education, and the author clearly lacks the fundamental awareness needed to be writing on this particular topic.

Oh no don’t tell me,PASSIVE SMOKE RIGHT ?
Oh My GOD

Bats are the coolest creatures on the planet. It’s a real shame that most people don’t recognize or care about them or how much they do for the planet. Thanks for raising awareness.

I’m no expert on bats, but I do understand their hearing is very sensitive. I thought maybe putting a high pitch siren around the windmills,that only they can hear (not people), might repel the bats to go around the windmills. Worth a try.

The pot call the kettle black….

Not terribly informative or well thought out. Seems like this was one of those assignments he didn’t feel was worth doing and that is clearly measured by the lack of effort he put into it. In addition, his attempts to sway his audience towards sympathy for bats is clearly overshadowed by what seems to be his own aversion for them. He is writing to an audience he feels incapable of making a distinction between their real or perceived aversion for the subject and its ecological necessity. Rather insulting and rather a shame–for the bats.

I’m in Missouri, and WNS has been a problem for us for a couple years. I personally witnessed it in one of our caves. The numbers were very low, to the point where many of our caves have been closed in order to not disrupt the bats that have made it so far.

And yes, they are the number one source of eliminating mosquitoes. I’ve made and put up bat houses for years for that purpose.

The problem goes much further than you suspect. White nose syndrome is a monumental problem. And it is true that the negative air pressure around wind turbine blades does cause the bats delicate lungs to literally explode. What isn’t readily apparent is that most bats are migratory and they don’t use echolocation except for hunting. What isn’t advertised by the “Green Energy” folks, like The Sierra Club and even Audubon, idly by and even encouraged the EPA, and in the case of New Jersey, the DEP to bypass the siting guidelines and are trying to put erect these environmental nightmares without full avian and bat studies. The proposed turbine in Union Beach New Jersey was given permits without having to monitor the spring migration in an area that is a fly zone for everything headed west from the eastern flyway. (that’s according to US Fish and Wildlife) Aside from the actual strikes bats are succeptible as are birds. Just a little common sense, take a look at a turbine and see how slow those blades are going. Well the truth is the blade tips are generally moving between 100 and 200 MPH. Now most people are smarter than birds and bats and we are fooled by appearances, what makes anyone think that birds and bats aren’t fooles. Having had pet parrots and other birds I can attest to the fact that they are as bright as a bag of hammers. So if you have one flying toward an acre of blades spinning at hundreds of miles per hour guess what will win? Bats have even less of a chance.

Let’s not forget Batman. I feel pretty safe saying there’s at least a small chance that he could be susceptible to WNS. The mosquitoes are bad enough by themselves but if Batman goes down then you could be getting mugged in addition to getting bitten.

Very informative article. I always had a slight interest in bats although I did not know they played a vital part in our agricultural growth. Hopefully we can prevent the extinction of bats in order to preserve a balance.
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Regardless of the poor editing, there are some extremely interesting comments being posted and the article itself is alarming. I, for one, was not aware that the bat population is endangered and it is obvious this should receive far more attention. I actually debated putting up a “bat” house in my yard to help with insect control.