Agricultural pests consumed by common bat species in the United States corn belt: The importance of DNA primer choice

Abstract

To meet growing global food demand, producers are actively searching for ways tocrop yield. One way to boost yield is to reduce arthropod damage. However, insecticides are becoming less effective and can have detrimental effects on human health and the environment. Learning how to harness natural pest control is one way to reduce arthropod damage to crops and avoid adverse effects of insecticide use. Therefore, we examined the diets of two bat species that are likely to provide pest control services across the United States corn belt: the eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) and the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). We also show that primer choice can impact the diversity of taxa detected and resecent adavances in primer design can improve diet detection studies. Using new ANML primers to isolate prey DNA in fecal material, we found a more diverse diet than previously reported for both bat species. Big brown bats consumed an average of 16.2 species from 8.5 genera. Red bats consumed an average of 28.6 species from 15.8 genera. We found pest genera in 92 % of big brown bat samples and 94 % of red bat samples. For both bat species, approximately two pest genera were detected in each sample. Corn rootworms (Diabrotica), Cloverworms (Hypena), plant bugs (Lygus), wireworms (Melanotus), seed corn beetles (Stenolophus), and armyworms (Spodoptera) were the most frequently consumed agricultural pests. We confirm earlier studies that document beetles (Coleoptera) and moths (Lepidoptera) as the most common prey items of big brown and red bats, respectively. However, we also document a diverse diet for both bat species that includes many true bugs (Hemiptera). Because pest control services of big brown and red bats are not completely overlapped, we conclude that a diverse bat community is essential to maximize pest control services by bats.