Gallery MontPhoto biennial grant 2018

Los murciélagos que disminuyen la deforestación en Madagascar

AUTOR/S

Joan de la Malla / Adrià López-Baucells

Joan de la Malla: Biólogo especializado en organismos y sistemas y fotógrafo freelance especializado en temáticas de conservación, naturaleza y medio ambiente. Actualmente centro mis esfuerzos en temáticas conservacionistas,  trabajando con diversas entidades internacionales. Publico regularmente mis imágenes en medios de ámbito nacional e internacional de prestigio y mis imágenes han aparecido en diversas exposiciones, nacionales e internacionales, tanto individuales como colectivas. Recientemente he acompañado en dos ocasiones al Global Change and Conservation para reportar su trabajo de investigación para la conservación en Madagascar. Paralelamente a mi labor fotográfica realizo también una labor docente impartiendo formación sobre fotografía y fotografía científica en diversas universidades.

Adrià López-Baucells: Biólogo especialista en quirópteros, empecé a colaborar con el Museo de Granollers en 2005 como investigador asociado. Desde entonces he llevado a cabo proyectos de conservación en Australia, Colombia, Brazil, Inglaterra, España, y más recientemente Madagascar y Kenya. Actualmente estoy terminando mis estudios doctorales en plena selva amazónica. Desde sus inicios, mi carrera profesional como investigador se complementa profundamente en la comunicación científica a través de reportajes fotográficos (BBC, Biosphere o Swara), exposiciones interactivas y actividades educacionales.

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Los murciélagos que pueden ayudar a salvar los bosques de Madagascar


This project aims to explain the relationship between humans and bats in Madagascar and to shed light on how necessary and misunderstood their coexistence is and the desirability of their collaboration for the benefit of both.

Madagascar is a paradigm of biodiversity but it is currently suffering an intense deforestation pressure due to the slash-and-burn agriculture that is commonly practiced in the island by local farmers. The risk of biodiversity loss in ecosystems of high ecological value (harbouring a large proportions of endemic species) is of great importance. In turn, the country faces great poverty and shows a great demographic growth that inevitably leads to a greater need to understand and manage the growing interactions between humans and wildlife. All this constitutes the framework in which this story happens.

Insectivorous bats are seen with suspicion and distrust by the majority of Madagascar's inhabitants. In the south, hunter-gatherer populations consume them as an occasional source of protein and hunt them when they leave their caves. However, to most of the rest of the population, they seem undesirable animals and are surrounded by superstitions.

A recently study published in 2018 showed that several species of insectivorous bats actually feed on the pests that sometimes devastate rice crops. These pests have an important impact on the yields, decimating them up to 70%. The biological control exercised by bats has a significant effect: increases the productivity of crops and ensures the feeding of the local people while reduces the pressure on the ecosystem by avoiding deforestation for the creation of new agricultural land. However, the local population is not aware of this, and they often expel or kill the bats without knowing the immense benefits they provide.

On the other hand, the guano of these bats is commercially exploited in some caves where they live. Sometimes, malpractice in guano harvesting bothers large bat colonies that, in response, leave the area and, with their depart, the biological control they exerted disappears. There is also modest guano harvesting by local communities that is carried out in a more sustainable way and that is beneficial in some areas where people use this guano as fertilizer in their own crops. Part of this local harvesting happens in the villages themselves as bats take refuge inside the metal roofs (never inside traditional roofs) of modern buildings that are gradually proliferating on the island. This creates a situation in which locals can easily harvest and use the guano but, in turn, also involves undesirable risks to the health and welfare of both humans and bats.

Parallel to this story, the frugivorous bats of the island are one of the main responsible for seeds dissemination, which greatly contributes to the expansion of the scarce remaining forests of the island. These bats, endemic and threatened, are hunted extensively for consumption with various techniques in several places of the island. There are even companies that, despite the bats are threatened, hunt them commercially. Unlike what happens with insectivorous bats, frugivorous bats are widely consumed in the country: they are seen as a delicacy in some regions, while in others they are ate as pure subsistence. However, the guano of these species is very valuable and in some places of the island it is commercially exploited and even exported. This puts these species in value and makes there interests to conserve them for their economic value, making hunting a less desirable activity.

All these complicated relationship, added to a lack of understanding of these animals and the existence of numerous local taboos and myths, create a complex reality that, whether it is correctly managed, can put in value the role of bats and help their conservation. And not only this, but it can also help local communities exercise sustainable exploitation of the diverse ecosystem services that bats provide.