%0 Journal Article
%T Ecological and Economic Importance of Bats (Order Chiroptera)
%A Mohammed Kasso
%A Mundanthra Balakrishnan
%J ISRN Biodiversity
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/187415
%X Order Chiroptera is the second most diverse and abundant order of mammals with great physiological and ecological diversity. They play important ecological roles as prey and predator, arthropod suppression, seed dispersal, pollination, material and nutrient distribution, and recycle. They have great advantage and disadvantage in economic terms. The economic benefits obtained from bats include biological pest control, plant pollination, seed dispersal, guano mining, bush meat and medicine, aesthetic and bat watching tourism, and education and research. Even though bats are among gentle animals providing many positive ecological and economic benefits, few species have negative effects. They cause damage on human, livestock, agricultural crops, building, and infrastructure. They also cause airplane strike, disease transmission, and contamination, and bite humans during self-defense. Bat populations appear to be declining presumably in response to human induced environmental stresses like habitat destruction and fragmentation, disturbance to caves, depletion of food resources, overhunting for bush meat and persecution, increased use of pesticides, infectious disease, and wind energy turbine. As bats are among the most overlooked in spite of their economical and ecological importance, their conservation is mandatory. 1. Introduction The order Chiroptera is the second most diverse among mammalian orders, which exhibits great physiological and ecological diversity [1]. They form one of the largest nonhuman aggregations and the most abundant groups of mammals when measured in numbers of individuals [2]. They evolved before 52 million years ago and diversified into more than 1,232 extant species [3]. They are small, with adult masses ranging from 2£¿g to 1£¿kg; although most living bats weigh less than 50£¿g as adults [4]. They have evolved into an incredibly rich diversity of roosting and feeding habits. Many species of bats roost during the day time in foliage, caves, rock crevices, hollows of trees, beneath exfoliating bark, and different man-made structures [2]. During night, they become active and forage on diverse food items like insects, nectar, fruits, seeds, frogs, fish, small mammals, and even blood [3]. The forelimb of a bat is modified into a wing with elongated finger bones joined together by a thin and large (85% of the total body surface area) membrane with rich blood flow [5]. Their wing is an unusual structure in mammals enabling for active unique powered flight. Skin covering the wings of bats not only constitutes a load-bearing area that enables
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.biodiversity/2013/187415/