Bats hung in after battling hurricanes.

In 1989, the eye of Hurricane Hugo passed within 10 kilometers of Puerto Rico's Caribbean National Forest, where for 3 years researchers had tracked three species of bats. The storm provided the team with a unique opportunity to see how the bats respond to such natural disasters.

While two species suffered population declines and then made gradual recoveries, the third species' numbers grew slightly, Michael R. Gannon of Pennsylvania State University in Altoona and Michael R. Willig of Texas Tech University in Lubbock report in the June BIOTROPICA. To keep tabs on the bats, the two captured them using nets and marked each animal with a numbered necklace. The researchers also put radio transmitters on some to monitor their travel.

The red fig-eating bat appeared healthy soon after the storm, Gannon and Willig report. But its numbers dropped quickly, probably because the bat is unable to fly far to forage for food. The proportion of pregnant or lactating females declined from 93 percent to 29 percent of the population. Only in the past year has this bat begun to make a comeback.

The population of Jamaican fruit bats remained low for 2 years after the hurricane. Strong fliers, these animals may have moved to other, less damaged areas. The number of Greater Antillean long-tongued bats grew slightly, in part because of an increase in flowering plants, on whose nectar this bat dines.

Other species in the forest would have suffered from a permanent loss of any of these winged creatures. "Bats are keystone agents of pollination and seed dispersal in the tropics," Gannon and Willig point out.