Alberta’s bats are facing major threats to their survival, with the nine species ranging in classification from vulnerable to at risk to endangered.

With growing human-related threats, the Waterton Biosphere Region, in conjunction with Alberta Community Bat Program and Dark Sky Guides, hosted a free community information session Aug. 13 to raise awareness.

“We’re keenly interested in species at risk and habitats and how our activity can impact,” says Thomas Porter, WBR’s communications co-ordinator.

“Every species has a role to play in our environment. Sometimes we don’t see it clearly until we have a problem.”

In addition to their place in the ecosystem, bats are economically valuable to Alberta’s agriculture sector. According to the Community Bat Program’s conservation and outreach co-ordinator, Susan Holroyd, pest control by bats amounts to roughly $15-20 million in value to Alberta farmers.

Bats can eat their own weight in insects in a single night, including moths, mosquitoes, maggots, blackflies, lygus bugs and more.

Threats to bats

According to Holroyd, some hazards threatening bats are barbed wire, burdock plants, glue traps, free-range cats, stovepipes, unscreened chimneys, rain barrels and wind turbines.

Many bat species are also greatly impacted by white nose syndrome, a fungus that grows on noses and wings that agitates bats. This keeps hibernating bats awake during the winter, causing them to use up their energy and fat reserves without being able to hunt insects to replenish.

Ten million bats across North America have died from this condition, which has a high mortality rate.

Despite being small like rodents, bats reproduce in the typical style of large mammals, usually having just one pup a season. However, with the threats bats face, only 40 to 50 per cent of new pups will survive their first winter.

In her organization, Holroyd is collaborating on creating a probiotic for bats to fight white nose syndrome. This would work by blasting clay powder into bat colonies to coat their wings in a non-harmful bacteria that will out-compete the harmful fungus.

The importance of dark skies

Devin Paxman, who spoke at the event on behalf of Waterton’s Dark Sky Guides, spoke about the harm of light pollution on nocturnal species like bats.

To justify the use of a nighttime lighting system, Paxman says it should not be unnecessary, annoying, disruptive or inefficient.

To be considered a protected dark sky place, Waterton had to implement changes in the park to cut down on unnecessary lighting according to this criteria.

Some modifications made were making lighting more targeted, dimming the brightness, controlling outdoor lighting to only be used when needed, choosing warmer tones lights to limit ultraviolet photons.

Changes like these help give bats and other species a better chance of survival, and are also easily implemented in residential properties.

Bat awareness in communities

Porter notes that an important aspect of putting on events like this is to help community members in the region understand the trickle-down effects of human actions.

“If we can actively pursue understanding and seek out people that have more knowledge than us, we’re better able to make informed decisions and form opinions that are grounded in science and nature,” he says.

Striking a balance between people and nature, a priority of WBR, requires thoughtful planning and learning at events like this.

“I really hope that people can develop an appreciation for all of our living creatures,” he says, noting that bats are often misunderstood and painted to be scary creatures. “Fear is based in not knowing things.”

After the presentations, the event culminated in the group perched in lawn chairs using special devices to listen for and identify bats.

“The value goes far beyond the event, always, in the way that it encourages critical thought,” Porter says.

WBR’s conservation biologist, Elizabeth Anderson, highlights that a key purpose of these events is to bring an awareness the community might not have otherwise had.

“For almost all species, human impacts are probably one of the biggest things that they face, often in the form of habitat loss and degradation of habitat,” she says.

To learn about upcoming events from WBR, visit their website or email Thomas Porter at tporter@watertonbiosphere.com to join the mailing list.

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