In 2019, on the magazine Scientific reportsGómez-Ruiz and Lacher followed up their previous paper with the first one study to examine how climate disruption might affect the distribution of Mexican long-nosed and long-nosed bats. After modeling the potential distribution for 2050 and 2070, they found that overlap between bats and bats would decrease by at least 75%.
Climate change has caused a lot of damage. Although drought has always been a regular part of life in northeastern Mexico, agriculture, livestock rearing, and other human activities have reduced the soil’s ability to hold water, and since 1960, Climate change has increased Mexico’s average annual temperature. Studies suggest that warmer temperatures increase soil evaporation, exacerbate water shortages and promote desertification.
The severity of the situation prompts the Endangered Species Alliance to include the Mexican long-nosed bat in its 2021 report Last chanceOne list out of 10 species in the United States have been severely impacted by climate change.
Over the millennia, many agave species have evolved adaptations like towering, nectar-filled flowers that make them a favorite food for bats. At the same time, bats have become the main pollinators of plants, perfecting a mutualistic relationship. When bats eat agave nectar, their plumage is covered with pollen grains. When they fly to another agave in search of more food, they transfer pollen to a new flower, aiding the plant’s cross-fertilization and promoting the species’ genetic diversity and tolerance. with environmental pressures. Furthermore, agaves prevent soil erosion and provide food and shelter for a variety of other animals, from bees and birds to lizards and small mammals. If they and the pollinator species disappear, their habitat will be severely disrupted.
The relationship between people and magueyes, as agaves are known in Mexico, began about 10,000 years ago. The leaves were used as an impenetrable roofing for dwellings, their stiff fibers were used to manufacture strong wire, and the spikes were made into pins and needles.
Today, several species of agave are still grown for their fiber, and agave syrup is extracted from the sap, known as aguamiel, or “honey water.” In fact, all parts of the plant are edible, including the sweet flower stalks, which are roasted. When the juice of some agaves plants ferment, it becomes an alcoholic beverage known as pulque, has long been popular in some regions of the country. Distillation technology, possibly introduced by the Spaniards, has led to today’s multi-billion dollar tequila industry. Lear says that although most of the crops used for these products are cultivated, wild populations are still exploited and the crops grown for alcohol are harvested before they are released. flowers, there is very little left to feed the bats to eat the nectar.
BCI and its partners have been working with ejidatarios in northeastern Mexico on measures to conserve bats by reintroducing bats to protect their land and support their livelihoods. According to Flores-Maldonado, Eshac began working with Estanque de Norias ejido in 2013, monitor farm and bat species and educate people about their importance to the health of their land. In 2019, they held a ejido meeting to vote and present a plan for how they can work together to restore agave habitat. “They brought the community in,” said Lear, “and they worked with a team of ejido members to design conservation measures” – deciding, for example, deciding where to grow vegetables and where to fence small areas from their livestock while leaving enough grazing land for livestock.
