2006
DOI: 10.1890/1540-9295(2006)004[0238:evotpc]2.0.co;2
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Economic value of the pest control service provided by Brazilian free-tailed bats in south-central Texas

Abstract: Brazilian free‐tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) form enormous summer breeding colonies, mostly in caves and under bridges, in south‐central Texas and northern Mexico. Their prey includes several species of adult insects whose larvae are known to be important agricultural pests, including the corn earworm or cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa zea). We estimate the bats' value as pest control for cotton production in an eight‐county region in south‐central Texas. Our calculations show an annual value of $741 000 pe… Show more

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Cited by 348 publications
(294 citation statements)
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“…However, careful extrapolations taking into account bat feeding rates, population sizes, pest reproduction, and survivorship, and the costs of inputs allow for estimation of the economic impact of predation for other bats, particularly molossids forming large colonies. Cleveland et al (2006) estimate that Mexican free-tailed bats (T. brasiliensis) feeding on the cotton bollworm moth in Texas provide pest limitation services worth roughly US $183 per ha and year to cotton growers. Extending these estimates to agricultural areas throughout the USA suggests that bat predation could have a value of nearly US $23 billion annually (Boyles et al 2011).…”
Section: Insectivorous Bats and Pest Limitationmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…However, careful extrapolations taking into account bat feeding rates, population sizes, pest reproduction, and survivorship, and the costs of inputs allow for estimation of the economic impact of predation for other bats, particularly molossids forming large colonies. Cleveland et al (2006) estimate that Mexican free-tailed bats (T. brasiliensis) feeding on the cotton bollworm moth in Texas provide pest limitation services worth roughly US $183 per ha and year to cotton growers. Extending these estimates to agricultural areas throughout the USA suggests that bat predation could have a value of nearly US $23 billion annually (Boyles et al 2011).…”
Section: Insectivorous Bats and Pest Limitationmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…En este proceso las especies frugívoras se puede alimentar de frutos de especies pioneras y de estados sucesionales tardíos promoviendo la regeneración de los bosques tropicales al depositar las semillas en ambientes propicios para la colonización (Fleming & Heithaus, 1981;Fleming & Williams, 1990;Fenton et al, 1992;Gorchov, Cornejo, Ascorra & Jaramillo, 1993;Law, Anderson & Chidel, 1999 En el presente estudio se registraron seis especies de murciélagos insectívoros, siendo los más comunes Saccopteryx leptura (Schreber, 1774), Micronycteris megalotis (Gray, 1842), y Tonatia saurophila (Koopman & Williams, 1951). Los murciélagos insectívoros pueden ser los principales consumidores de insectos, y dados los relativos grandes volú-menes consumidos (más del 100% de la masa corporal por noche) y las largas distancias que atraviesan (varios kilómetros por noche), estos murciélagos juegan un papel importante en la disminución de las poblaciones de insectos nocturnos (Pierson, 1998;Cleveland et al, 2006). Además de la alta abundancia de especies frugívoras y del mayor número de especies insectívoras, es notable la presencia de tan solo una especie nectarívora, Choeroniscus minor (W. Peters, 1868), con una baja abundancia.…”
Section: Riqueza De Especies De La Comunidad De Murciélagosunclassified
“…Consecuentemente, los murciélagos son de gran importancia dentro de cualquier ecosistema, puesto que son controladores de poblaciones de insectos, y contribuyen con la regeneración de los bosques mediante los procesos de polinización y dispersión de semillas (Emmons & Feer, 1997;Soriano, 2000;Muñoz, 2001;Cleveland et al, 2006). Se ha demostrado que los murciélagos pueden ser utilizados para evaluar el nivel de perturbación de un sitio, ofreciendo una visión funcional que es complementaria a lo que puede ser percibido con medidas de diversidad o estructura vegetal (Fenton et al, 1992;Medellín, Equihua & Amin, 2000).…”
unclassified
“…Most of the cave dwelling bat species in South Africa are insectivorous (Monadjem et al 2010), and feeding on nocturnal insects they provide valuable eco logical services to the environment, and economic services to man (Boyles et al 2011 Although not yet quantified for cave dwelling species in South Africa, these services may extend over fairly large areas as many cave dwelling species in Australia and Malaysia have been shown to travel considerable distances at night to forage (Thomson 2002, Struebig et al 2009, Vincent et al 2011. The increased scale of these valuable ecological and economic services provided by large colonies of cave roosting bats has been documented in the USA (Cleveland et al 2006). The diurnal roosts of bats are important as they offer protection from exposure to day time ambient conditions and predators, promote energy conservation, and facilitate social interactions (Kunz and Lumsden 2003).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%