Sustainable practices could save Mexico's blue agave, tequila and bats

Many associate tequila with lime wedges, salt and parties. But the popular drink also has a negative impact on biodiversity, both on the blue agave from which it is made and, perhaps more unexpectedly, on bats. Both are threatened by one-sided cultivation.Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, together with colleagues in Mexico and the U.S., have studied which measures can have a positive effect on biological diversity. The study is published in Environmental Research Communications.The increasing global popularity of tequila has driven increasingly intensive cultivation of blue agave. Most producers work with an asexual reproduction technique that prevents the plants from flowering.When flowering, the sugar goes to the nectar in the flowers and the plant is no longer useful for tequila production. This technique damages the agave's genetic diversity and puts the crop at long-term risk. It becomes less resistant to, for example, pests and climate change. In addition, ...