Bats and their vital ecosystem services: a global review

Abstract

Bats play crucial ecosystem services as seed dispersers, pollinators, controllers of insects, and nutrient recyclers. However, there has not been a thorough global review evaluating these roles in bats across all biogeographical regions of the world. We reviewed the literature published during the last two decades and identified 283 relevant studies: 78 dealt with the control of potential insect pests by bats, 80 related to the suppression of other arthropods, 60 on the dispersal of native or endemic seeds, 11 dealt with the dispersal of seeds of introduced plants, 29 on the pollination of native or endemic plants, 1 study on pollination of introduced plants, and 24 on the use of guano as fertilizer. Our literature search showed that queries combining the terms “seed dispersal,” “insectivorous bats,” “nectarivorous bats,” “use of guano,” and “ecosystem services” returned 577 studies, but half were experimental in nature. We found that the evaluation of ecosystem services by bats has been mostly conducted in the Neotropical and Palearctic regions. To detect differences across relevant studies, and to explain trends in the study of ecosystem services provided by bats, we performed generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) fitted with a Poisson distribution to analyze potential differences among sampling methods. We identified 409 bat species that provide ecosystem services, 752 insect species consumed by bats and 549 plant species either dispersed or pollinated by bats. Our review summarizes the importance of conserving bat populations and the ecological services they provide, which is especially important during the current pandemic.

Human-bat interactions in central Colombia: Regional perceptions of a worldwide fragile life zone

“…This vision about nature can have important implications for the conservation of bats exclusive of government initiatives because a large part of the territories where these species occur are communal property and belong to ejidos or Indigenous communities. Undoubtedly, the conservation of biodiversity in communal lands involves local people and implies values, local knowledge, culture, social perception about the nature of the environment and conservation actions that are carried out where they already exist (Berkes 2008;Ramos et al 2007). However, there are few studies on bats that simultaneously analyze the human dimension and the human-bat interaction in communal lands, beyond pointing out conflicts and risk with these species, which is common in other places of the world (Prokop and Randler 2018;Torres et al 2018).…”

“…In areas where attacks on domestic animals occur, people tend to generalize and stigmatize all bats as hematophagous, causing death and persecution of them (Cordero-Schimidt 2012). Frugivory was the third most reported diet at 27.4% (Sheherazade et al 2017), but the respondents probably do not realize that Neotropical fruit bats (Phyllostomidae) are important seed dispersers of at least 549 plant species with high ecological and economic value according to the latest reviews (Ramírez-Fráncel et al 2021;Scanlon et al 2014).…”

“…Our study found that the community was unaware of the importance of bats to the provision of any ecosystem services (18.8%, Table 1). These results are of concern because even though bats are fundamental to the functioning of natural and modified landscapes, there are misconceptions that have led to the underestimation of the ecological roles that bats play (Boyles et al 2011;Kalka et al 2008;Kemp et al 2019), as well as the lack of information on some basic concepts and services that this group fulfills (Ramírez-Fráncel et al 2021).…”

“…This influence increases the human-bat conflicts because the simplest action to avoid encounters is killing the bats (even for non-hematophagous species). This is one of the main threats to the bat populations in Colombia, and negatively affects the perceptions about their vital ecological roles in the ecosystems (Moya et al 2015;Ramírez-Fráncel et al 2021;Torres and Fernández 2012). Therefore, to conserve bats in landscapes with human presence and activity requires better empirical support and a greater understanding of human-bat interaction.…”

“…The functional role that bats play becomes a component essential to the Neotropical forest dynamics because they contribute to the maintenance of environmental stability through ecosystem provisioning and regulating services such as insect pest control, pollination, seed dispersal, and production of guano as plant fertilizer. These are essential mechanisms for the dynamics of forested or cultivated areas and indicators of the state of health of the forests (Kunz et al 2011;Melathopoulos et al 2015;Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005;Ramírez-Fráncel et al 2021;Van Toor et al 2019).…”