Crop pests eaten by bats in organic pecan orchards

Abstract

Bats are generalist predators of night flying insects, including many crop pests. Attracting bats to agricultural areas using bat houses may reduce the numbers of these pests and, consequently, their economic impact. We use real time polymerase chain reaction of mitochondrial DNA found in the guano of bats living in bat houses on organic pecan orchards to document the consumption of pest moth species: pecan nut casebearer, Acrobasis nuxvorella Neunzig (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), hickory shuckworm, Cydia caryana Fitch (Lepidoptera: Torticidae), and corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea Boddie (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). We also use direct sequencing of insect remains in bat fecal pellets to identify stink bugs consumed by bats in bat houses. Evidence that bats prey upon crop pests is the first step in showing that bats are beneficial to pecan farmers and provides incentives for bat conservation.