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Bats face a disproportionate share of conservation challenges relative to their ecological importance, partly because negative cultural associations make public sympathy harder to generate than for more visually appealing species. Yet bats provide substantial economic value, consuming vast quantities of crop-damaging insects and, in some regions, pollinating commercially important plants. A significant threat in recent decades has been white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that disrupts hibernation and has caused steep population declines in affected caves. Conservationists have found that simply restricting cave access, while intuitive, is insufficient on its own, since the fungus can be transported on clothing and equipment; successful programs instead combine access limits with strict decontamination protocols for anyone entering multiple cave sites.