Bats Serve as Pest Suppressants in Beech Forests

Danilo Russo^*
*Correspondence: Danilo Russo, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, United Kingdom, Email:

Introduction

One of the most misunderstood and underappreciated species on the earth is the bat. Although bats are great and highly fascinating species for wildlife ecologists, humans frequently have unfavourable attitudes toward them, probably because they are so enigmatic. Unfortunately, these misconceptions and worries about bats put the environment's ecosystem, biodiversity, and conservation at risk. One of the most varied and widely distributed groups of living mammals is the bat. They serve as biological pest control agents for crops and contribute to a number of ecological functions. Their abundance can be a reflection of variations in arthropod prey species' populations.

Additionally, bats have a great deal of potential as bio indicators since they show quantitative responses to habitat loss and climate change and have a big impact on the biota. In fact, protecting bats is crucial for biodiversity as well as because Most bats consume insects that fly at night, including many agricultural pests. Bats are important in regulating insect populations since they are the main predators of night-flying insects. According to estimates from research, some bats consume more than 70% of their body weight in insects each night, while some pregnant females consume 100% of their body weight in insects. Another way to look at it is that "A single small brown bat can devour up to 1,000 mosquito-sized insects in a single hour," according to an example on the website of Bat Conservation International. The largest known roost in South Africa is located at De Hoop cave, where 300,000 or more bats are thought to congregate annually [1].

Researchers from the University of Venda in South Australia and their associates discovered that bats foraging near macadamia fields were consuming stinkbugs, a significant agricultural issue. Bat excretions from bats captured on fields were collected by the researchers and sent to the University of Copenhagen in Denmark for genetic testing. According to early findings, stinkbug remains were found in the excretions of four out of five species, including the African pipistrelle bat, the yellow house bat, the mops free-tailed bat, and the Egyptian slit-faced bat. Ecosystem services are advantages derived from the natural world that improve people's quality of life. By calculating the benefits or losses in human welfare brought on by modifications in the delivery of ecosystem services, economic valuation is carried out. Although it has long been assumed that bats are essential for pollination, seed dissemination, and arthropod suppression, these ecosystem services have only lately started to undergo a thorough evaluation [2].

Description

Here, we examine the literature that is currently available on the ecological and monetary effects of the ecosystem services that bats provide. In the context of the various ecological services provided by insectivorous, frugivorous, and nectarivorous bats around the world, we discuss their food preferences, foraging habits, adaptations, and phylogenetic histories. We discuss the effects of these ecological interactions on both natural and agricultural systems for each trophic ensemble. We emphasise the study required to fully understand the ecosystem services under consideration throughout this assessment [3].

Finally, we give a thorough description of how ecosystem services are valued economically. Unfortunately, there haven't been many researches done to date that estimate the economic value of ecosystem services supplied by bats. Nevertheless, in this paper, we present a methodology that could be applied in future studies to more completely address this issue. Bats produce consumables like food and guano, which are frequently traded in markets where the price reflects an economic worth. The economic worth of nonconsumptive services, such as inputs for agricultural production and leisure pursuits, can be estimated using nonmarket valuation methods. You can use data on the ecological and financial importance of the ecosystem services that bats provide [4].

Due to numerous anthropogenic activities including urbanisation, deforestation, and various forms of pollution, many ecosystems around the world are now under greater danger than ever. Since they provide numerous ecological services (such as insect control, pollination, seed dispersal, water and air purification, soil stabilisation, decomposition of wastes, binding of toxic substances, mitigation of diseases, mitigation of floods, and climate regulation, etc.), numerous provisions (such as food, fuel, fibre, and medicines), and cultural advantages, healthy ecosystems are essential for the improvement of human wellbeing (e.g., esthetic, spiritual, educational, and recreational). The United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment has formally acknowledged these actions and outcomes, which are generally referred to as ecosystem services [5].

Within a certain region, bats that coexist frequently host similar bacteria. Depending on the disease or pathogen variation, the significance of crossspecies transmission events in seasonally shifting communities may vary, but it is not entirely obvious for any system. In rare instances, co-roosting species may maintain infection cycles without interspecies transmission. Transmission rates are influenced by contact rates and a population's susceptibility to illnesses. Some scholars claimed that bats' ability to manoeuvre through the air was bestowed through evolutionary processes. Due to their effective immune system, bats are asymptomatic carriers of a wide variety of viruses. Viral transmission is facilitated by constant physical contact among bats in the same colony, especially during the mating and migratory seasons. In addition to close contact with other types of secretions like faeces and urine, the laryngeal vibrations that occur during echolocation are the postulated means of viral transmission amongst microbats. Then, bats transmit a variety of newly emerging and remerging infections, including dangerous viruses.

Conclusion

Numerous threats affect bats in the United States (U.S.), including habitat loss, wind energy development, climate change, and white-nose syndrome (WNS), an infectious disease that affects bats that are hibernating and is brought on by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (National Park Service. Bat conservation and management are prioritised in the U.S. due to the severe population losses caused by these factors and the crucial ecosystem services bats perform, such as pollination and regulating agricultural pest populations. Numerous conservation initiatives have been carried out to protect vulnerable bat populations, including research and monitoring programmes, access restrictions to sensitive bat habitat, habitat restoration projects, education and outreach programmes, and the creation and implementation of WNS prevention measures.

Acknowledgement

None.

Conflict of Interest

None.

References

1. Barbeta, Adrià. "An explanation for the isotopic offset between soil and stem water in a temperate tree species." N Phytologist 227 (2020): 766-779.

Google Scholar, Crossref, Indexed at

2. Bengtsson, Janne. "The effects of organic agriculture on biodiversity and abundance: a meta‐analysis." J Appl Ecology 42 (2005): 261-269.    

Google Scholar, Crossref, Indexed at

3. Fung, Sin-Yee. "A tug-of-war between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and host antiviral defence: Lessons from other pathogenic viruses." Emerg Microb Infect 9 (2020): 558-570.

Google Scholar, Crossref, Indexed at

4. Munshi-South, Jason and Gerald S. Wilkinson. "Bats and birds: exceptional longevity despite high metabolic rates." Ageing Res Rev 9 (2010): 12-19.

Google Scholar, Crossref, Indexed at

5. Morimoto, Masahito. "Evaluation of oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity in healthy children." J Chin Med Assoc 82 (2019): 651-654.

Google Scholar, Crossref, Indexed at