Insectivorous bats in semi-arid agroecosystems − effects on foraging activity and implications for insect pest control

Kahnonitch, Idan; Lubin, Yael; Korine, Carmi

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2017.11.003

Cited by 39 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…When bats find a profitable foraging site, they probably return to it the following nights, and possibly attract more bats to accompany them (Barak & Yom‐Tov, 1987), until the productivity of the foraging ground diminishes. Although bats demonstrate opportunistic feeding that increases with pest availability, their selectivity is probably expressed in where and when they choose to forage (Kahnonitch et al, 2018), and can result in the narrowing of dietary breadth and increased temporal overlap, as we observed. These trophic dynamics are perhaps a consequence of consistently visiting a specific foraging site, cotton fields in our case, over the course of a given time.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 50%

“…Thus, this metabarcoding study enhances the scope of P. kuhlii's potential contribution to pest control. Given the synanthropic nature of P. kuhlii and its affinity for agricultural and human‐disturbed areas (Ancillotto et al, 2015; Kahnonitch et al, 2018; Maxinová et al, 2016), it is expected that its diet contains many more deleterious arthropods in other regions of its distribution. Thus, we urge future studies to employ metabarcoding to investigate its diet at additional locations while focusing on additional crops, and to investigate other synanthropic generalist insectivorous species that may provide important, yet unexamined, ecosystem services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pipistrellus kuhlii is a common and highly synanthropic bat (Ancillotto, Tomassini, & Russo, 2015; Voigt & Kingston, 2016), with a generalist insectivorous diet (Feldman, Whitaker, & Yom‐Tov, 2000; Goiti, Vecin, Gario, Marta, & Aihartza, 2003), that roosts and forages in urban and agricultural habitats that support resurgent arthropod pests (Ancillotto et al, 2015; Kahnonitch, Lubin, & Korine, 2018; Korine & Pinshow, 2004). Previous studies that monitored its foraging activity suggest that it possibly consumes arthropod pests of field crops, pine forests and livestock (Ancillotto et al, 2017; Charbonnier, Barbaro, Theillout, & Jactel, 2014; Kahnonitch et al, 2018). In accordance, Galan et al (2018) found few species of agricultural pests in its diet but only processed three faecal samples.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An appetite for pests: Synanthropic insectivorous bats exploit cotton pest irruptions and consume various deleterious arthropods

et al. 2020

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Conservation biological control (CBC) seeks to minimize the deleterious effects of agricultural pests by enhancing the efficiency of natural enemies. Despite the documented potential of insectivorous bats to consume pests, many synanthropic bat species are still underappreciated as beneficial species. We investigated the diet of Kuhl's pipistrelle (Pipistrellus kuhlii), a common synanthropic insectivorous bat that forages in urban and agricultural areas, to determine whether it may function as a natural enemy in CBC. Faecal samples of P. kuhlii were collected throughout the cotton‐growing season from five roost sites near cotton fields located in a Mediterranean agroecosystem, Israel, and analyzed using DNA metabarcoding. Additionally, data on estimated abundance of major cotton pests were collected. We found that the diet of P. kuhlii significantly varied according to sites and dates and comprised 27 species of agricultural pests that were found in 77.2% of the samples, including pests of key economic concern. The dominant prey was the widespread cotton pest, the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella, found in 31% of the samples and in all the roosts. Pink bollworm abundance was positively correlated with its occurrence in the bat diet. Furthermore, the bats’ dietary breadth narrowed, while temporal dietary overlap increased, in relation to increasing frequencies of pink bollworms in the diet. This suggests that P. kuhlii exploits pink bollworm irruptions by opportunistic feeding. We suggest that synanthropic bats provide important pest suppression services, may function as CBC agents of cotton pests and potentially contribute to suppress additional deleterious arthropods found in their diet in high frequencies.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 50%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An appetite for pests: Synanthropic insectivorous bats exploit cotton pest irruptions and consume various deleterious arthropods

et al. 2020

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“…This is supported by empirical data showing that this bat guild registered very low numbers of road kills (Fensome and Mathews, 2016;Medinas et al, 2013). P. kuhlii is a synanthropic and generalist species that is able to forage in a wide range of habitats (Carmel and Safriel, 1998;Dietz et al, 2009;Georgiakakis et al, 2010;Lisón and Calvo, 2013;Rainho, 2007), including over lit and unlit road edges (Kahnonitch et al, 2018). In addition, it can roost in buildings and tree holes (Cruz et al, 2016) that can be located on road verges (DM, personal observation).…”

Section: Variablementioning

confidence: 75%

Road effects on bat activity depend on surrounding habitat type

Medinas

Ribeiro

Marques

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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The effects of roads on bats are still a poorly documented issue. Most of the available research focuses on large and hightraffic highways, while low-medium-traffic roads are often assumed to have negligible impacts. However, small roads are ubiquitous in landscapes around the world. We examined the effects of these roads, as well as habitat types, on the activity of three bat guilds (short-, mid-and long-range echolocators) and the most common bat species Pipistrellus kuhlii. We performed three bat acoustic surveys between May and October 2015, with these surveys being performed along twenty transects that were each 1000 m long and perpendicular to three roads with different traffic volumes. The surveys were performed in dense Mediterranean woodland ("montado") and open agricultural field habitats, which were the two dominant land uses. At each transect, bat activity was simultaneously registered at 0, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 m from the road with the use of an ultrasound recorder. According to the generalized linear mixed effects models, the overall activity of bats and of the short-and mid-range echolocators increased with increased distance from the roads and was dependent on the surrounding habitats. In contrast, the long-range echolocators and P. kuhlii were more tolerant to road. Our results also show that the activity was higher in woodland areas, however road verges seem to be a significant habitat in an open agricultural landscape. The major negative effects extended to approximately 300 m from the roads in woodlands and penetrate further into the open field (N500 m). The j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / s c i t o t e n v management of roadside vegetation, combined with the bat habitat improvement in areas that are further from the roads, may mitigate the negative effects. To make road-dominated landscapes safer for bats, the transport agencies need to balance the trade-offs between habitat management and road kill risk.

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“…Thus, many studies have shown that urbanization adversely alters bat activity [5], abundance [1], and species diversity [6,7]. Yet, despite the negative connotations of urbanization, studies suggest that urban areas have the potential to provide resources necessary to sustain healthy bat populations in the form of fragmented green spaces, such as parks, cemeteries, and golf courses [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home range expansion in response to temperature by evening bats (Nycticeius humeralis) in an urban environment

Hall¹,

Bennett²

2020

Preprint

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Background: Despite the negative connotation of urban sprawl for bat populations, fragmented green spaces such as parks, cemeteries, and golf courses have the potential to provide necessary resources for bats. For example, water resources in these areas can include natural or semi-natural lakes, ponds, streams, and drainage ditches. Such water resources, however, are frequently ephemeral when subject to prolonged periods of high temperatures. We, therefore, hypothesize that bats will expand or shift their home ranges from these urban green spaces into the surrounding neighborhoods to access alternative resources, such as residential swimming pools. Methods: To explore whether bats expand their ranges from urban green spaces, we conducted a telemetry study in which we radio-tracked resident evening bats (Nycticeius humeralis) in a local park system during their summer activity period from 2017-2019 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. From radio-tracking surveys, we measured home range size using a k-LoCoH method and the percentage of these home ranges that fell within the park system. We compared these variables using linear and non-linear regressions with temperature. Results: We successfully tracked a total of 30 bats over the 3-year period and found a positive correlation between home range size and temperature. Furthermore, we observed that home ranges increased 6 times in size when temperatures exceeded 30ºC. Conclusions: Our study indicates the importance of urban neighborhoods surrounding green spaces in providing alternative resources, such as water, for bats. If managed appropriately, these urban areas have the potential to act as urban oases for bat populations, which in turn can contribute to their conservation.

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Insectivorous bats in semi-arid agroecosystems − effects on foraging activity and implications for insect pest control

Cited by 39 publications

References 71 publications

An appetite for pests: Synanthropic insectivorous bats exploit cotton pest irruptions and consume various deleterious arthropods

An appetite for pests: Synanthropic insectivorous bats exploit cotton pest irruptions and consume various deleterious arthropods

Road effects on bat activity depend on surrounding habitat type

Home range expansion in response to temperature by evening bats (Nycticeius humeralis) in an urban environment

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