How Preserving Agave Could Help Save an Endangered Bat

The first study to examine how climate disruption is likely to affect the distribution of the Mexican long-nosed bats was published in the journal Scientific Reports in 2019. The overlap between the bats and the Agaves will be reduced by at least 75 percent.

The effects of climate change are already being felt. Climate change has raised Mexico's mean annual temperature since 1960 and has reduced the land's capacity for water retention. Studies show that warmer temperatures increase the amount of water in the soil.

The Mexican long-nosed bat is one of 10 US species that are already severely threatened by climate change.

The bats have adapted to the tall, nectar-filled flowers that are found in the agaves. The bats have become the main pollinators, completing the mutualistic relationship. The bats have fur covered with grains of pollen. When they fly to another agave in search of more food, they transfer the pollen to a new flower, assisting in the cross-fertilization of the plant and boosting the species' genetic diversity and resilience to environmental stresses. Agaves provide food and shelter for a variety of animals, from bees and birds to lizards and small mammals. Their habitats would be disrupted if they disappeared.

About 10,000 years ago, the relationship between people and magueyes began. The leaves were used to make pins and needles and thorns were used to make cords.

Some of the plants are still cultivated for fibers, and the syrup is derived from the aguamiel, or honey water. Pulque is an alcoholic beverage made from the juice of some Agaves, and is popular in some parts of the country. Distillation technology may have been introduced by the Spanish. Although most of the Agaves utilized for these products are cultivated, wild populations are still exploited, and Agaves grown for liquor production are harvested before they flower, leaving little to sustain bats.

BCI and its partners have been working with ejidatarios in northeastern Mexico on ways to preserve the bats by restoring the agaves that protect the land and support their livelihoods. Eshac began working with the Estanque de Norias ejido in 2013 to monitor and educate the people about the importance of the health of their land. They presented a plan for how they could work together to restore the habitat at an ejido voting assembly.