If they continue at the current rate of expansion, they threaten many species of sedentary aquatic fauna, including native freshwater mussels. They are efficient fliter feeders and remove significant amounts of silt, particulate matter, and dissolved chemicals. They clean the water. For this reason, mussels are important indicators of the health of the ecosystem they inhabit. Bats Their nocturnal habits, affinity for eerie places like caves, and silent, darting flight have made them the subjects of a great deal of folklore and superstition through the years.
Most bats consume more than half their own weight in insects each night.
Bats have contributed much to man's knowledge through scientific studies of their echolocation abilities, their biology, and certain aspects of their physiology. Many bats in the tropical regions of the world feed on plants. While they feed, some collect pollen on their bodies and carry it to other plants to be pollinated. Some disperse fruit seeds as they feed upon fruit. All of the bats that occur in Missouri are insectivorous.