The birds and the bees may rule the daytime while bats take the night shift and get to work pollinating. Bats play an amazing part in many environments around the world. Many plants species partly or fully depend on bats for their reproductive success. Bats pollinate their flowers or disperse their seeds, making them critical to reforestation. Other bats has an essential role as natural pest control by eating insects.
An example is the agave which is a native plant of Mexico reply mainly on bats for reproduction. Agave is an important plant because it where tequila is derived. Bats and other night pollinators get their energy-rich nectar from agave.
When the agave has grown to its twelfth year, the core called piña is harvested. The piña normally weigh 80-200 pounds and resembles a giant pineapple. The sap from is then collected, fermented and distilled which turns into one of the most enjoyed drinks, tequila.
The smallest magueyero bat (Leptonycteris yerabauenae), has a tongue that is as long as its body. This helps the bat feeds itself from agave during its migration, pollinizing, and spreading seeds, all of which contributes to the reproduction of the centennial plant.
Due to the length of time that the piña can be harvested, many Mexican distillers harvest the piña even if they aren't ready yet. This is putting the magueyero bat in danger since there no enough agave to pollinate.
As reported in Munchies, Rodrigo Medellín, a biologist and researcher from the Universidad Autónoma de Mexico's Department of Ecology (UNAM), is to be given credit for his 20 years of hard work in pulling the maguayero bat off of the endangered species list.
Medellín said: "For the past 50 years, tequila fields have been sown and re-sown with the agave clones that grow from the mother plant and not with seeds. That is why tequila businessmen don't care whether or not bats work as pollinators."
We're depending on our experts who are cautiously working for the ecosystem's balance, but it's not just their obligation alone. They're likewise hoping to persuade farmers to let a rate of their agave plants bloom so that the bats can pollinate them, maintaining plant diversity in the long run.
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