The QUIROTOXPATH Project will assess the impact of environmental pollution and pathogens on bat conservation
Soprano pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus). Photo: Evgeniy Yakhontov
Bats provide essential services for the balance of ecosystems, contributing greatly to their functioning. However, the scarcity of research on this group means that there is still a significant lack of knowledge about the current state of health of the populations of most species, making it difficult to prioritise and plan actions for their conservation.
The "QUIROTOXPATH Project: Assessment of environmental pollution and pathogens on the conservation of bats in wetland National Parks (3201/2024)”, which is funded by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge through the Autonomous Agency for National Parks (call for grants for scientific research projects in the National Parks Network 2024), aims to address the impact of exposure to environmental pollutants and the circulation of pathogens, both individually and synergistically, on the health of bats in two wetland National Parks: Tablas de Daimiel and Doñana..
A distinctive feature of these National Parks is that they are surrounded by large areas of agriculture where the use of pesticides, chemicals that may have secondary or sublethal effects, generally unknown, on non-target wildlife, especially at the highest levels of biological organization. On the other hand, some pathogens have a high potential to determine the dynamics of wild populations and sometimes pose a significant conservation risk when they emerge in weakened populations. In addition to these direct effects, the synergistic effects that environmental contamination and pathogens can trigger remain largely unknown.
In this sense, through the QUIROTOXPATH Project the researchers aim to (i) understand the degree of exposure to contaminants and the prevalence of pathogens relevant to the conservation of bats, (ii) determine the effect of genotoxic alterations induced by environmental pollution, and (iii) delve deeper into the mechanisms by which these regulatory factors can interact, such as those related to the immune system.