Quantifying ecological and economic value of pest control services provided by bats in a vineyard landscape of central Chile

Pedro, Annia Rodríguez-San; Allendes‬, ‪Juan Luis; Beltrán, Clemente A.; Chaperon, Pascal N.; Saldarriaga‐Córdoba, Mónica; Silva, Andrea X.; Grez, Audrey A.

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2020.107063

Cited by 54 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…With over 1,400 species distributed globally, bats make up the second largest mammalian order and provide key ecosystem services as seed dispersers (Villalobos-Chaves and Rodríguez-Herrera, 2021), pollinators (Cordero-Schmidt et al, 2021), and pest suppressors (Aizpurua et al, 2018;Vesterinen et al, 2018;Ramírez-Fráncel et al, 2021;Maslo et al, 2022). Despite the fact that the economy largely benefits from services provided by bats (Wanger et al, 2014;Rodríguez-San Pedro et al, 2020;Aguiar et al, 2021), they are highly susceptible to human activity (Voigt and Kingston, 2015;Frick et al, 2019). Indeed, 21% of species are considered endangered or near threatened (IUCN), and globally every four out of five bat populations are decreasing (Welch and Beaulieu, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting Effects of Chronic Anthropogenic Disturbance on Activity and Species Richness of Insectivorous Bats in Neotropical Dry Forest

et al. 2022

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For prioritizing conservation actions, it is vital to understand how ecologically diverse species respond to environmental change caused by human activity. This is particularly necessary considering that chronic human disturbance is a threat to biodiversity worldwide. Depending on how species tolerate and adapt to such disturbance, ecological integrity and ecosystem services will be more or less affected. Bats are a species-rich and functionally diverse group, with important roles in ecosystems, and are therefore recognized as a good model group for assessing the impact of environmental change. Their populations have decreased in several regions, especially in the tropics, and are threatened by increasing human disturbance. Using passive acoustic monitoring, we assessed how the species-rich aerial insectivorous bats—essential for insect suppression services—respond to chronic human disturbance in the Caatinga dry forests of Brazil, an area potentially harboring ca. 100 bat species (nearly 50% are insectivorous), but with > 60% its area composed of anthropogenic ecosystems under chronic pressure. Acoustic data for bat activity was collected at research sites with varying amounts of chronic human disturbance (e.g., livestock grazing and firewood gathering). The intensity of the disturbance is indicated by the global multi-metric CAD index (GMDI). Using Animal Sound Identifier (ASI) software, we identified 18 different bat taxon units. Using Hierarchical Modeling of Species Communities (HMSC), we found trends in the association of the disturbance gradient with species richness and bat activity: species richness was higher at sites with higher human disturbance, whereas bat activity decreased with increasing human disturbance. Additionally, we observed taxon-specific responses to human disturbance. We conclude that the effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on the insectivorous bat fauna in the Caatinga are not homogeneous and a species-specific approach is necessary when assessing the responses of local bats to human disturbances in tropical dry forests, and in other biomes under human pressure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting Effects of Chronic Anthropogenic Disturbance on Activity and Species Richness of Insectivorous Bats in Neotropical Dry Forest

et al. 2022

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“…However, food security and sustainability are of major importance to agriculture production [9]. In recent years, many studies have shown that scientific pest management programs are important because overuse of pesticides can be harmful to human health and the environment [8,10]. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the incidence and distribution of pests and diseases in vineyards for the purpose of pest control has become difficult for local governments and growers to achieve.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

UAV Data as an Alternative to Field Sampling to Monitor Vineyards Using Machine Learning Based on UAV/Sentinel-2 Data Fusion

et al. 2021

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Pests and diseases affect the yield and quality of grapes directly and engender noteworthy economic losses. Diagnosing “lesions” on vines as soon as possible and dynamically monitoring symptoms caused by pests and diseases at a larger scale are essential to pest control. This study has appraised the capabilities of high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data as an alternative to manual field sampling to obtain sampling canopy sets and to supplement satellite-based monitoring using machine learning models including partial least squared regression (PLSR), support vector regression (SVR), random forest regression (RFR), and extreme learning regression (ELR) with a new activation function. UAV data were acquired from two flights in Turpan to determine disease severity (DS) and disease incidence (DI) and compared with field visual assessments. The UAV-derived canopy structure including canopy height (CH) and vegetation fraction cover (VFC), as well as satellite-based spectral features calculated from Sentinel-2A/B data were analyzed to evaluate the potential of UAV data to replace manual sampling data and predict DI. It was found that SVR slightly outperformed the other methods with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.89%. Moreover, the combination of canopy structure (CS) and vegetation index (VIs) improved prediction accuracy compared with single-type features (RMSEcs of 2.86% and RMSEVIs of 1.93%). This study tested the ability of UAV sampling to replace manual sampling on a large scale and introduced opportunities and challenges of fusing different features to monitor vineyards using machine learning. Within this framework, disease incidence can be estimated efficiently and accurately for larger area monitoring operation.

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“…Bats also benefit humans as they provide a wide range of valuable ecosystem services, such as pollination (Howell and Roth, 1981) and pest control (Boyles et al, 2011;Kemp et al, 2019;Weier et al, 2019). Just lately, it has been estimated that bats save vineyards with up to 7% of their production through pest suppression (Rodríguez-San Pedro et al, 2020). However, despite their usefulness for humans, bats have suffered from fear, hostility as well as cultural prejudice throughout history (Kingston, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disease Avoidance Model Explains the Acceptance of Cohabitation With Bats During the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

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Bats and humans have a close relationship based on cohabitation, with bats taking roost in buildings. It has been suggested that bats function as a reservoir of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease in humans. A misconception that bats can spread SARS-CoV-2 to humans may have increased negative emotions toward bats and reduced individuals’ acceptance of cohabitation with bats during the COVID-19 pandemic. By applying the disease avoidance model, we tested whether knowledge about bats would be associated with reduced negative emotions toward bats, which in turn would be associated with increased acceptance of cohabitation with bats. Moreover, we tested whether previous experiences of bats, perceived COVID-19 risk, age, gender and level of education would be associated with negative emotions and acceptance of bats. A quantitative survey (N = 577) collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland was analyzed with multiple linear regression. The results supported the disease avoidance model. Negative emotions toward bats reduced the acceptance of cohabitation with bats. However, knowledge about bats was associated with increased acceptance of bats both directly, as well as indirectly, via reduced negative emotions. Moreover, perceived COVID-19 risk was associated with increased negative emotions toward bats, and reduced acceptance of bats. Females were more likely than other respondents to report negative emotions, and reduced acceptance of cohabitation with bats. Prior experience of bats was associated with increased acceptance of bats as neighbors. These findings suggest that COVID-19 pandemic may threaten the existence of bats if no action is taken. The findings highlight the importance of correcting misunderstandings about non-human species as transmitters of diseases to humans.

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Quantifying ecological and economic value of pest control services provided by bats in a vineyard landscape of central Chile

Cited by 54 publications

References 43 publications

Contrasting Effects of Chronic Anthropogenic Disturbance on Activity and Species Richness of Insectivorous Bats in Neotropical Dry Forest

Contrasting Effects of Chronic Anthropogenic Disturbance on Activity and Species Richness of Insectivorous Bats in Neotropical Dry Forest

UAV Data as an Alternative to Field Sampling to Monitor Vineyards Using Machine Learning Based on UAV/Sentinel-2 Data Fusion

Disease Avoidance Model Explains the Acceptance of Cohabitation With Bats During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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