Climate change is threatening many bat species

Nature : Rising temperatures can affect bats’ access to food, hibernation patterns, reproduction schedule, and range sizes, according to a study published in Mammal Review. The researchersâmdash;Mathieu Lundy, Hayley Sherwin, and Ian Montgomery of Queens University Belfast in the UKâmdash;studied 47 European and North American species and found that at least 38 of them would be affected not only by a warmer climate but also by disease and ever-increasing extreme weather events such as droughts and heat waves. Species already considered threatened or endangered will be particularly vulnerable. Bats, which make up more than one in five mammal species, are both ecologically and economically important because they pollinate plants and disperse their seeds.