UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum Newsletter, March, 2003

By Lois Blumenthal

Internationally recognized flower bat expert Dr. Theodore Fleming visited the Cayman Islands this March. He and his team focused on several rare and endemic Caribbean species with a special emphasis on cave-dwelling bats and the web of ecological interactions between plant-visiting bats and their food plants.

Antillean Fruit and Nectar Bat (Brachyphylla nana), an obligate cave dweller, pollinates numerous Caribbean plants and also disperses seeds throughout native forests. Photo by Courtney Platt, www.courtneyplatt.com

“We now have a detailed understanding of the ecological importance of plant-visiting bats in neotropical ecosystems. This information has played a crucial role in recent campaigns to conserve tropical bats.” Dr. Fleming commented. Tropical bats are important to pollination and seed dispersal of native plants as well as an important natural predator of moths, beetles, mosquitoes and other insects.

Dr. Fleming took tissue samples as part of his genetic study of Caribbean Phyllostomid bats, particularly the Buffy Flower Bat (Erophylla sezekorni) and the Big-eared Bat (Macrotus waterhousii).  This work is in the preliminary stages, but will elucidate historical migration patterns in the Caribbean.

The Cayman Islands’ elusive Buffy Flower Bat lives only in caves and pollinates local plants and trees, including Agave, Calabash and Silk Cotton. Dr. Fleming used radio transmitters in an attempt to determine the feeding range and roosting locations in the densely vegetated Lower Valley Forest.

In keeping with his strong belief that biologists should contribute to conservation efforts in the countries they visit, Dr. Fleming appeared twice on local television, was featured in several newspaper articles and his visit culminated with a well attended slide show. He focused on the importance of native forests and undisturbed caves for the survival of the Caribbean’s endemic bats.

Dr. Fleming’s visit follows the research of Wildlife Biologist, Anne Louise Band, who rediscovered the White-shouldered bat within the Lower Valley Forest. Efforts to save this forest are being intensified as a result of the information gained from these two significant research projects.