Insect Pest Pheromone Lures May Enhance the Activity of Insectivorous Bats in Mediterranean Vineyards and Apple Orchards

Abstract

Insectivorous bats may play a significant role in regulating populations of agricultural pests. Currently, few methods are available to enhance the activity of bats in agroecosystems. We asked whether synthetic sex pheromones, used in integrated pest management (IPM) to impede the mating success of major moth pests in vineyards and apple orchards, could also enhance the activity and richness of insectivorous bats, their natural enemies. We hypothesized that applying concentrated sex pheromones of pest moths will alter the movement patterns of male moths, indirectly affecting bat richness and activity. We compared the effect of sex pheromones on bats under two different agricultural management systems: conventional farming and IPM. We used synthetic sex pheromones of Lobesia botrana or Cydia pomonella; both are among the most destructive moth pests in vineyards and apple orchards, respectively. Using passive acoustic monitoring, we compared species richness and bat activity in plots without and with additional pheromones. In both IPM vineyards and IPM apple orchards, total bat activity and species richness significantly increased after applying the pheromone treatment, with a positive correlation between total bat activity and the numbers of moth pests in the vineyards. In conventional vineyards, bat species richness increased significantly, but not total bat activity. IPM vineyards had significantly higher species richness than conventional vineyards, both before and after the pheromone treatment. Our study shows that moth pheromone lures, commonly used as a pest control method, may also attract insectivorous bats, which in turn may further suppress the pests. These findings highlight the potential of insectivorous bats as pest control agents and call for further research directed at integrating them in IPM practices.

Admittance to Wildlife Rehabilitation Centres Points to Adverse Effects of Climate Change on Insectivorous Bats

“…This confirms observational and experimental evidence gathered from bat-box monitoring [ 22 , 32 ] and suggests that the phenomenon is more widespread than previously thought. Natural roosts are a relatively rare resource, so ever-growing urbanisation has provided bats with alternative, artificial roosts that mimic natural conditions; a wall crack resembles a rock crevice, hence, it is plausible that a transition from roosting in crevices to roosting in buildings has occurred in the long history of human–bat coexistence [ 33 ]. However, while roosting sites are more abundant in buildings than in nature, buildings offer a low diversity of roosting conditions [ 21 ] and, consequently, a narrower range of microclimates to exploit.…”