Bats get a bad rap, but these adorable flying mammals have an outsized positive impact on our environment. From controlling pest populations to pollinating plants and dispersing seeds (i.e., pooping), bats are a crucial keystone species.
Disease, habitat loss and a warming climate threaten many bat populations in North America and beyond. Our program participants help monitor bat populations and provide critical research efforts, including acoustic surveys and population assessments.
Two SCA crew members on Crystal Lake within Mammoth Cave National Park. (Photo Credit: National Park Service)
Through the end of September, SCA summer placements at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky supported researchers in identifying bat roosts and monitoring their populations through acoustic surveys and exit counts as they emerged from their caves.
Mammoth Cave is home to 13 confirmed bat species. These population counts help researchers assess bat colony health and the impacts of white-nose syndrome, a deadly fungus that has caused a sharp decline among certain threatened species.
A gray bat hangs from a cave wall at Mammoth Cave National Park. (Photo Credit: Adam Mann for USFWS)
We need you now more than ever.
Your support this month will give our crew members more opportunities to hang out with our winged friends while gaining career skills and protecting pollinators! Give today or go completely batty 🦇 and become a monthly sustainer!
