SAVE THE MARIANA FRUIT BAT
Sam's Opinion
What Do We Think?
Doubtlessly you have heard rumors about blood-sucking, scary, hair-nesting bats, and are wondering what on earth could make a small bat located on some pacific islands worth saving. This is exactly why the unique and beneficial Mariana Fruit Bat is endangered--because many people don’t know enough about this harmless mammal’s vital economic and environmental role to make informed decisions on whether it should be saved. Desperately in need of help, the Mariana Fruit Bat, a keystone species, should be saved no matter the cost because of its irreplaceable ecosystem services, its economic benefits, and because it is a unique species that has a right to survival.
Arguments against saving the Mariana Fruit Bat include its cultural significance when cooked as a delicacy, the expense of saving it ($12,578,000 according to its recovery plan), and the fact that ranchers, farmers, and the US Military would need to change their practices in order to prevent habitat destruction (Draft, 2009). But even through all of these barriers in the way of the Mariana Fruit Bat’s survival, the benefits of this species may outweigh the downsides to saving it.
Economically, Mariana Fruit Bats play an important role in pollination of plants, which benefits Guam’s agriculture. The bats pollinate fruit trees and flowers when they suck nectar from the flower’s center (Lemke, 1986). There is not even a number of dollars to sum up this massive role in Guam’s economy--how would Guam and the Mariana Islands pollinate their fruit without this keystone species? Every plant needs pollination, and Guam would suffer unbelievably without the help of these bats. Bees would be forced to do all of the pollination work, which would overwork, and potentially be too much work, for the bee, another keystone species. Or, humans would have to pollinate by hand, which is a massive job. Additionally, Mariana Fruit Bat’s pollination benefits the environment by pollinating flowers so that other animals can thrive off of them. The other animals of Guam and the Mariana Islands are dependent on this bat--what would they do without it?
Mariana Fruit Bats help both environmentally and economically by spreading seeds. When they eat fruit and then excrete it, they spread seeds to other parts of the island. Imagine the seed spreading benefits if there were thousands of these bats, like there used to be before the 1960s. They also migrate between islands in the Mariana Islands, and thus spread seeds thoroughly through this part of the world. This brings in more fruit trees and plants for richer plant life, and also benefits forest regeneration in the case of a natural disaster such as a typhoon or a fire (Lemke, 1986).
Finally, Mariana Fruit Bats don’t digest the seeds, and instead coat them with a small shell of fertilizer from their body. When these large colorful bats land on trees to munch on fruit, they store the seeds in a separate part of their bodies, where they aren’t processed like the rest of the fruit. When they excrete the seeds, their excrements cover the seeds in small balls, which fertilize plants for richer plant life. Through these undeniably helpful ecosystem services, the Mariana Fruit Bats contribute to a massive part of Guam’s economy. Have you ever bought bat excrement fertilizer at your local garden store? This is called guano, and is a rich and frequently used fertilizer for agriculture (Wiles, 2004). Guano is an extremely rich fertilizer, and well processed guano can cost over $200 for a small 20 pound bag (Brown, 2011). Guano is sought out by organic gardeners and commercial companies alike, and is extremely high quality. Imagine the blow to Guam’s economy if guano was lost! Ultimately, Guam would lose millions of dollars and have one less product to sell.
The Mariana Fruit Bat has a right to live. It harms no one, and lives peacefully while helping out other animals, plants, the environment, and the economy, along the way. The sad truth is we have a long way to go before we can save this precious species, but with your help, it has a better chance.
Sophie’s Opinion
The Mariana Fruit Bat is a pivotal species within the Marianas Islands and Guam. These incredible bats quite literally hold together the ecosystem they live within, all the while supporting an even healthier environment by helping with reforestation. I think there is absolutely no question as to whether this amazing creature is worth saving. The answer is one thousand times yes. The beautiful islands these bats inhabit would never be the same if they continue down the path they are forced to be on right now.
Scientifically speaking, the bats are keystone pollinators, meaning the entire system of pollination on the islands would collapse if they died. That right there is enough to work extremely hard to make sure these bats are saved. Why? Without pollination, plants can never bear fruit or reproduce. What would happen then would be absolutely devastating. The loss of multiple species of plants that weren’t ever pollinated would take an immense and irreparable toll on their ecosystem. The plants depend on the Mariana Fruit Bat to pollinate them, which means that their survival is of the utmost importance. Mariana Fruit Bats also greatly affect their environment through seed dispersal. They fertilize and drop seeds all over the islands through their guano, meaning they are keystone seed dispersers. If the fanihi were to go extinct, the lack of seed dispersal would have a huge toll on the amount of forest regeneration the bats are currently performing that is helping immensely with the deforestation that has taken a toll on the whole world.
In my view, if these bats tragically die, any inkling of hope for healthy new forests go down with them. I think what makes this bat even more important to save is that the guano they release acts as a fertilizer for the seeds dropped with it (Draft, 2009). Without this fertilization, the forests of the islands would be drier, with more weeds, less water and a much smaller amount of biodiversity. The icing on the cake is that some native plants just won’t grow if they haven’t been eaten and passed through a Mariana Fruit Bat. (Brown, 2011). That means that some species of trees would die out completely, the ecosystem out of balance. I think that anyone can see that this bat is completely and totally necessary for the world around it.
If simply the cold scientific facts aren’t enough to convince someone of the need for this beautiful bat to be saved, there is something else that I truly believe justifies preserving this species. That is the fact that every single living being has a right to life. Anyone with a heart can understand the true value of life and realize that all living beings should have life as a birthright. The Mariana Fruit Bat has evolved and grown to live comfortably in its specialized niche, and no one has the right to take that away from them. They deserve to be fought for, and protected when they aren’t strong enough to protect themselves. My true belief is that all beings are created equal, and this bat is an important part of the careful balance we call life. It is up to humans, the creatures that have declared themselves dominant, to preserve the beauty and balance that has been so intricately evolved on Earth. I believe wholeheartedly that the Mariana Fruit Bat is a precious species that has every right to live and thrive alongside the rest of us.
James's Opinion
Bats are misunderstood creatures. While often perceived as rabid, scary, vampire-like creatures, in reality they are just furry, harmless birds that humans would not be able to survive without. Most people, especially Guam locals, believe the costs of saving the species to be too great, but the Mariana Fruit Bat is worth every penny to them and to us because of its irreplaceable role in its ecosystem. Certainly, as estimated by the Fish and Wildlife service, 12,578,000 US dollars is a high price to pay for a five year recovery plan on the Mariana Fruit Bat (Draft Revised Recovery Plan for the Mariana Fruit Bat or Fanihi, 2009). Yet this seemingly high cost is only a minuscule fraction of the US’s expenditures on unsustainable practices. In fact the United States spends more than $200,000 per minute on oil, adding up to about $312 million per day (Safe, Strong and Secure: Reducing America’s Oil Dependence, 2004). Additionally, the Guam locals have historically hunted the Fruit Bat, nearly to extinction, for soups and ceremonial purposes (Lemke, 1986). However, while through this illegal hunting the locals earn a small, one time satisfaction, they are dooming themselves and future generations from their ecosystem’s economic goods. Mariana Fruit Bats fill an extremely special niche within their ecosystem on Guam. They are the only frugivorous mammal on the islands, which means that the role they play in seed dispersal is indispensable (Winter, 2007). Without these mammals providing pollination to the vegetation of Guam, the locals would not have the lust vegetation they live in today.
For example, the Liana plant is extremely dependent on the Mariana Fruit Bat, and in return provides the bat with fleshy bracts to eat.Pollen is carried between flowers on the bat’s fur, providing both flowers and fruit the means to survive, while also benefitting the bat’s own precious life (Lemke, 1986). The Fruit Bat also creates guano, an extremely rich fertilizer dispensed in the form of bat excrement (Winter, 2007). These bats are especially evolved to coat their digested food in a small shell of fertilizer before dropping it onto the forest floor, providing nutrient rich soil for the plants that the Guam economy depends on (Wiles, 2004). With store bought guano costing over $200 for a small 20 pound bag (Brown, 2011), the original 13 million dollar expenditure would save millions for the people of Guam in the long run. Sadly, habitat fragmentation from military base construction (Mariana Fruit Bat, 2012), the consequences of the humans’ invasive Brown Tree Snake species (Endangered Species in the Pacific Islands, 2012), and illegal hunting by locals (Lemke, 1986), have pushed the Mariana Fruit Bat nearly to the brink of extinction. These small bats have historically endured much hardship in their lives, and with as little as 50 individuals left on some islands the loss of this keystone species is becoming a serious reality (Brown, 2011). The Mariana Fruit Bat deserves to be saved, not just for their right as living creatures, but for them to balance and maintain the rest of Guam’s wildlife.
