Pesticides Endanger Bats

ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2012) — Bats are a highly threatened group of animals and many people are concerned with their conservation. The entire group of animals is protected in Europe. 10 of the 19 bat species native to Germany are already found on the red list of threatened species. Therefore it is worrying that bats are not included in the EU-wide authorization procedures for plant protection products. A study by the University of Koblenz-Landau revealed that pesticide contamination of their diet can lead to long-term effects in bats.

Before the EU issues a pesticide approval, it will undergo a regulatory risk assessment required by law. Using various scenarios, the risks for different organisms from acute to long-term effects such as impatcs on reproduction are estimated. To date it is assessed whether new pesticides harm birds and mammals, but so far bats are not mentioned in the current relevant guideline for risk assessment in the EU.

Studies have already indicated that bats are particularly sensitive to pesticides. The threatened animals are still ignored in the risk assessment procedure, even after the amendment of the applicable regulations in 2009, since there is a lack of data according to Dr. Carsten Brühl and Peter Stahlschmidt from the Institute for Environmental Sciences at Landau. "Most studies on bats were carried out in protected areas or in forests" explains Stahlschmidt. So far it was not investigated whether bats forage for food in the agricultural landscape at all although more than half the area of Germany is used for agriculture. In a previous study, the researchers were able to detect 14 bat species on intensively managed agricultural land.


Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120827074200.htm