Bats actively track and prey on grape pest populations

Baroja, Unai; Garin, Iñazio; Vallejo, Nerea; Aihartza, Joxerra; Rebelo, Hugo; Goiti, Urtzi

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107718

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Prey availability strongly influences their activity [ 11 ], and the pests that are active in agroecosystems can significantly contribute to bat diets. In this study, we did not consider the temporal relevance of bats to insect resources; however, other studies have confirmed their temporal response [ 12 ]. Thus, the functional response of bat populations to insect pests may help to monitor and manage sudden pest outbreaks in agricultural systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several natural predators of pests (generalists and specialists) are present in agricultural ecosystems [ 10 ]. Generalist predators are usually opportunistic predators; persistence in foraging time allows generalist predators to prey on different pests following an outbreak, track sudden pest invasions, and respond to changes in available pest resources [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Therefore, generalist predators serve as biological factors that play a crucial role in regulating the dynamic processes of harmful arthropods [ 14 , 16 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Annual costs of around USD 613/ha in the macadamia orchards of South Africa are avoided because of the presence of bats [ 23 ]. Insectivorous bats also have a wide range of foraging areas and can feed on newly available resources, showing a functional response to pest outbreaks [ 12 , 13 ]. Functional response is the response of the predation rate or activity of each predator to variation in prey density, i.e., the response of predators to prey [ 24 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Consumption and Diversity Variation Responses of Agricultural Pests and Their Dietary Niche Differentiation in Insectivorous Bats

Zhu,

Liu,

Gong

et al. 2024

Animals

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Insectivorous bats are generalist predators and can flexibly respond to fluctuations in the distribution and abundance of insect prey. To better understand the effects of bats on arthropod pests, the types of pests eaten by bats and the response of bats to insect prey need to be determined. In this study, we performed DNA metabarcoding to examine prey composition and pest diversity in the diets of four insectivorous species of bats (Hipposideros armiger, Taphozous melanopogon, Aselliscus stoliczkanus, and Miniopterus fuliginosus). We evaluated the correlation between bat activity and insect resources and assessed dietary niche similarity and niche breadth among species and factors that influence prey consumption in bats. We found that the diets of these bats included arthropods from 23 orders and 200 families, dominated by Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Diptera. The proportion of agricultural pests in the diet of each of the four species of bats exceeded 40% and comprised 713 agricultural pests, including those that caused severe economic losses. Bats responded to the availability of insects. For example, a higher abundance of insects, especially Lepidoptera, and a higher insect diversity led to an increase in the duration of bat activity. In areas with more abundant insects, the number of bat passes also increased. The dietary composition, diversity, and niches differed among species and were particularly significant between H. armiger and T. melanopogon; the dietary niche width was the greatest in A. stoliczkanus and the narrowest in H. armiger. The diet of bats was correlated with their morphological and echolocation traits. Larger bats preyed more on insects in the order Coleoptera, whereas the proportion of bats consuming insects in the order Lepidoptera increased as the body size decreased. Bats that emitted echolocation calls with a high peak frequency and duration preyed more on insects in the order Mantodea. Our results suggest that dietary niche differentiation promotes the coexistence of different bat species and increases the ability of bats to consume insect prey and agricultural pests. Our findings provide greater insights into the role of bats that prey on agricultural pests and highlight the importance of combining bat conservation with integrated pest management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Consumption and Diversity Variation Responses of Agricultural Pests and Their Dietary Niche Differentiation in Insectivorous Bats

Zhu,

Liu,

Gong

et al. 2024

Animals

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“…Across Europe, several studies have applied DNA metabarcoding to bat faeces to understand bat trophic niches and the insect communities that they predate upon (Arrizabalaga-Escudero et al 2019;Galan et al 2018;Swift et al 2018). DNA metabarcoding of the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) diet within a vineyard-dominated Mediterranean agroecosystem showed that the species is a natural suppressor of many insect pests that negatively impact agriculture (Baroja et al 2019) and consumption of pest species by R. hipposideros was higher than for other bat species (Baroja et al 2021). Such evidence can support the establishment of management programmes favouring population growth of bats, thereby benefiting insect diversity and the wider agricultural community via the suppression of pest species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This approach uses proven good quality and quantity DNA, and excludes low quality samples, and facilitates the inclusion of questions related to sex and individual level dietary preferences. Such questions were previously only addressed in studies that captured bats and placed them in cloth bags to facilitate the collection of faeces (Mata et al 2016;Galan et al 2017;Arrizabalaga-Escudero et al 2019), but species such as R. hipposideros are sensitive to disturbance (Weinberger et al 2009) and best studied using a non-invasive approach (Harrington 2018;Baroja et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

One Bat’s Waste is Another Man’s Treasure: A DNA Metabarcoding Approach for the Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Using Bat Faeces

Curran

Browett

O’Neill

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Arthropod populations are constantly changing due to changes in climate and the globalisation of trade and travel. Effective and diverse monitoring techniques are required to understand these changes. DNA metabarcoding has facilitated the development of a broad monitoring method to sample arthropod diversity from environmental and faecal samples. In this study, we applied DNA metabarcoding to DNA extracted from bat faecal pellets of Rhinolophus hipposideros, the lesser horseshoe bat in Ireland, a highly protected bat species of conservation concern in Europe. From as few as 24 bat faecal pellets, we detected 161 arthropod species, spanning 11 orders, including 38 pest species of which five were determined to be priority pests, highlighting important ecosystem services. We also report the identification 14 species not previously reported in Ireland, but upon further investigation found that many of these are likely misidentified due to inadequacies in the genetic reference database. For the first time, we were able to use non-invasively collected bat samples to examine the role of sex in the diet of bats and found that the male and female diets did not differ significantly. However, sampling location did explain variation within the diet, highlighting how landscape features influence arthropod composition and diversity. We discuss the current limitations of the methodology in Ireland, how these can be overcome in future studies, and how this data can be used for biodiversity monitoring and informing conservation management of protected bat species.

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One bat’s waste is another man’s treasure: a DNA metabarcoding approach for the assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Ireland using bat faeces

et al. 2022

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Bats actively track and prey on grape pest populations

Cited by 19 publications

References 84 publications

The Consumption and Diversity Variation Responses of Agricultural Pests and Their Dietary Niche Differentiation in Insectivorous Bats

The Consumption and Diversity Variation Responses of Agricultural Pests and Their Dietary Niche Differentiation in Insectivorous Bats

One Bat’s Waste is Another Man’s Treasure: A DNA Metabarcoding Approach for the Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Using Bat Faeces

One bat’s waste is another man’s treasure: a DNA metabarcoding approach for the assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Ireland using bat faeces

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