Priorities for Bat Conservation: Analysis of the responses to a Questionnaire in July 1989 by the participants of the Eighth International Bat Research Conference

The responses to a questionnaire by the participants to the Eighth International Bat Research Conference in July 1989 showed that there is a strong consensus among researchers about the conservation problems facing bats, particularly regarding the issues of habitat loss and ignorance and prejudice about bats. There was broad agreement that if bat conservation does not achieve a higher profile, then bat habits will be unknowlingly degraded, such as by forest logging, that species' ranges will contract, and species will go extinct In priority order, the issues identified were: effects of a fragmentation of habitat; effects of logging; surveys of bats at specific locations, or habitats; and effects of mining. For government wildlife agencies, the top priorities were surveys of bats of threatened habitats, insisting on bat studies in environmental impact statements, and education programmes. Priorities in ecological studies were considered to be habit selection and roost selection, followed by studies of movements and diets. Respondents agreed that there was a value of bat research to broader conservation issues: rainforest plant species benefit from seed dispersal by fruit bats; surveys of bats can assist in the identification of high value areas for nature conservation; and a drop in bat species diversity can indicate a degraded habitat What emerged from the results was the clear need for greatly increased attention to specific areas in bat conservation, and that bat conservation should move into the public spotlight.