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Abstract
Management of endangered species often involves working in complex systems with high uncertainty about ecological and social dynamics. Despite this uncertainty, there is often a need to act to prevent species extinctions. The endangered Mexican long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris nivalis) is one such species for which management actions are proceeding with many key uncertainties remaining. These actions are focusing on augmenting agave populations to increase the overall availability of agave nectar, one of the species’ primary food sources, near known roosting caves and along the bats’ migratory route. Agaves are also used by rural people in Mexico for many important economic and cultural uses and are an important livelihood resource. Key uncertainties in this system include: the effects of agave harvest and management on agave populations and flowering; the potential impacts of bat conservation interventions on agaves; the bats’ responses to augmented flowering agaves as foraging resources; and the potential livelihood impacts of conservation interventions on local people. This dissertation uses an integrative approach to address the social and ecological dynamics of this conservation issue to reduce key uncertainties. I first conduct a bat foraging study to identify what characteristics of agaves and the landscape affect bat visitation rates to flowering agaves, which can inform the design and development of agave augmentation strategies that seek to create high-quality foraging resource areas. Then, I employ an ethnoecological approach to understand how current agave management practices impact agaves and how proposed agave augmentation strategies could affect food resource availability for bats. This approach allows me to scrutinize underlying ecological assumptions about the effects of local land users on agaves, thus allowing for the development of more nuanced and effective conservation strategies. I also apply a livelihoods approach to understand current agave harvesting and management practices and livelihoods in order to identify opportunities for enhancing synergies and reducing trade-offs between livelihood and bat conservation goals. Ultimately, this dissertation provides a holistic exploration of the social-ecological dynamics, including synergies and trade-offs, of a bat conservation issue and informs the development of conservation efforts that fit both the local ecological and social contexts.