The author of the article is Patryk Strzałkowski, a journalist at Gazeta.pl.
The findings are the result of years of research conducted by Eyal Frank, a professor at the University of Chicago. It all began with a disease affecting bat colonies but led the researcher to much broader conclusions. The results of his work were published this month in the journal Science. The study showed a direct link between the mass extinction of bats and the deaths of hundreds of children.
Consequences of Bat Decline
White-nose syndrome is a fungal disease that has caused the death of millions of bats in North America (the name comes from the characteristic white coating on the bats). The fungus that causes the disease and the death of bats is believed to have been introduced from Europe to America, where it began to wreak havoc on bat populations.
Bats feed on insects and can eat 40% or more of their body weight in a single night. Their diet includes insects considered agricultural pests. Professor Eyal Frank decided to investigate the impact of the declining bat population in parts of the United States on both nature and people.
Without natural pest control by bats, pesticide use in agriculture skyrocketed. In areas where this occurred, child mortality rates also increased. They were as much as 8% higher than in neighboring regions where bat populations remained stable.
This translates to the death of over 1,300 children, caused by the loss of biodiversity and the disruption of natural ecosystem functions.
Humans Suffer When Nature Suffers
As reported by The Guardian, the scientist meticulously investigated whether other factors, such as socio-economic conditions, could explain the increase in child mortality in these regions. However, no other explanation accounted for the spike in child deaths. The only answer was the increased use of pesticides due to the bat population decline.
In recent years, scientists and ecologists have been increasingly vocal about the fact that biodiversity loss and human-driven species extinction are not just problems for wildlife but also for humans.
Other studies and examples from around the world confirm this. In India, for instance, the absence of vultures could be responsible for the deaths of up to half a million people. As scientists have explained, vultures "clean" the environment by consuming carcasses, limiting the spread of diseases. When vultures disappeared, the sanitary and health conditions for people worsened.
Due to climate change and other human activities—such as environmental pollution, habitat destruction, deforestation, and overfishing—plant and animal species are dying off at an accelerating rate. The scale is so significant that scientists refer to it as the sixth mass extinction, this time caused by human actions.
