A recent study performed by Gary McCracken, head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, has been featured in numerous online newspapers, including the International Business Times. McCracken analyzed the economic impact of the loss of bats in North America in agriculture and found it to be roughly $22.9 billion a year, with the extremes ranging as low as $3.7 and $53 billion a year. Bat populations in North America are being hit hard by the fungal disease White Nose Syndrome and wind turbines. This hurts the economy because bats’ diet of pest insects reduces the damage the insects cause to crops and decreases the need for pesticides, McCracken said in his study.