Oceanic Island Bats Conservation Initiative

Our mission is to raise awareness of the big impact bats have on small oceanic island ecosystem health. We are working to build the capacity of trained bat workers and supporting conservation projects that can be replicated across island archipelagos.

Oceanic Island Bat Conservation The myriad islands embellishing the Earth’s oceans are the most desirable destination for the world’s largest industry – tourism. For vacationers seeking escape, the insularity of islands offers a romantic paradise beyond the pressures of society. Bats are recorded from many island nations, and are often the only native mammal on isolated oceanic islands. Many of the large flying foxes (family Pteropodidae) are recorded entirely from islands archipelagos. On small islands with simplified ecosystems, these bats are among the most important seed dispersers and pollinators of tropical plants, including mangroves that provide critical coastal erosion protection. They play a crucial role in the preservation of mangroves and forests, and their extinction may lead to a cascade of linked plant extinctions.

Island ecosystems, animals and cultures are threatened across Oceania as never before. They have a disproportionately high number of endangered species. On a global basis, 75% of all recent extinctions occurred on islands. Island flying foxes are the unrecognized flagships for conservation of oceanic island archipelagos, linking people, plants and ecosystems, yet have eluded detailed scientific scrutiny and inclusion in oceanic island conservation management initiatives.

Despite nearly two decades of international conservation attention, oceanic island dwelling bats remain in the extinction “hot zone”. At high human densities, particularly in floristically simple systems such as atolls, where bats are harvestable competitors for limited agroforest productivity, the prospects for long-term persistence are poor. There is a clear need for those interested in bat research and conservation to do more to promote scientific understanding of island bat ecology and hence their survival. For these reasons, it is timely for Lubee Bat Conservancy to launch an Oceanic Island Bats Conservation Initiative aimed at highlighting conservation issues of small islands and the big impact of bats on their ecosystem health.

Oceanic Island Bats

Oceanic Island Bats Conservation Initiative Projects

Pacific Island Flying Fox Conference.
Project Leaders: BCI/USFWS Year: 1990
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