Bats Pollinate Agave for Tequila; Monarch Migration Faces Threats

Key Quotes

"now one place that the pollinator role is crucial is in the relationship between bats and agave plants and that has consequences both for the ecosystems around the agave and for your liquor cabinets since agave is the source of drinks like tequila and mezcal now you get it right well here to explain this seemingly strange connection is dr kristen lear director of the agave restoration initiative at bat conservation international welcome to science friday"

Dr. Kristen Lear explains the vital connection between bats and agave plants, highlighting how this relationship directly impacts both the ecosystem and the production of tequila and mezcal. This quote establishes the central theme of the bat-agave interaction and its broader economic and ecological significance.

"these bats are as they're feeding from the agave flowers they're kind of these clumsy flyers when they go up to the agave flowers and they kind of clumsily fall onto the flowers and they get covered in pollen and then they spread that pollen over miles between different agave plants these bats can fly 50 kilometers or more one way from a roost at night to go feed and then go back to their roost so they're really spreading that agave pollen across those different agave populations and really helping maintain the genetic diversity of those plants"

Dr. Kristen Lear details the mechanism by which bats act as pollinators for agave plants, emphasizing their role in spreading pollen over significant distances. This quote illustrates the practical, physical process of pollination and underscores the bats' contribution to maintaining the genetic health of agave populations.

"you know because they're out at night we get to see butterflies and bees and hummingbirds you know during the day but these bats are kind of this mysterious unknown pollinator just because they're out at night and we don't get to see them so can the agaves reproduce without the bats"

Dr. Kristen Lear describes bats as "mysterious unknown pollinator[s]" due to their nocturnal activity, contrasting them with more visible daytime pollinators like bees and butterflies. This quote highlights the often-overlooked importance of bats in pollination and sets up a discussion about the necessity of bats for agave reproduction.

"there's now technology that creates a radio tag that's small enough they can actually be glued to the thorax of a monarch butterfly and for the first time we know not only where these journeys start and end but we know everywhere that monarchs go in between and it's pretty amazing"

Dan Fagan explains the revolutionary impact of new radio tagging technology on monarch butterfly migration research. This quote emphasizes how this innovation allows scientists to track the complete journey of individual butterflies, moving beyond previous, more limited tracking methods.

"as a result there are literally billions of potential monitoring stations for these tags and you can get very robust data it's not perfect data there are still spots that are not well covered but there are so many bluetooth enabled cell phones that there are not very many of these dead spots in fact some of the monarchs have even been tracked over the ocean because they come close enough to a passing boat for example"

Dan Fagan describes the widespread data collection capabilities enabled by Bluetooth-enabled cell phones acting as monitoring stations for the tagged monarch butterflies. This quote illustrates the scale and robustness of the data gathered, noting how even unexpected locations like over the ocean can be monitored.

"so we really need to understand what's happening on these migratory paths if we want to save the migration itself because there are serious questions ira as to whether we will see migrating monarchs 20 years from now 30 years from now what a shame that would be yeah it really would be i mean people love this butterfly and if we want to make progress in protecting it we need to really understand its migration much better and until now until this year the paths that monarchs took were almost a complete mystery and now we know"

Dan Fagan articulates the critical need to understand monarch butterfly migration paths to ensure the survival of the migration itself. This quote conveys the urgency of the situation, highlighting the potential for migrating monarchs to disappear within decades and stressing that current research is essential for conservation efforts.