Abstract
Herbivorous arthropods cause immense damage in crop production annually. Consumption of these pests by insectivorous animals is of significant importance to counteract their adverse effects. Insectivorous bats are considered amongst the most voracious predators of arthropods, some of which are known crop pests. In vineyard-dominated Mediterranean agroecosystems, several crops are damaged by the attack of insect pests. In this study we aimed 1) to explore the diet and pest consumption of the lesser horseshoe bat Rhinolophus hipposideros and 2) analyse whether the composition of pest species in its diet changes throughout the season. We employed a dual-primer DNA metabarcoding analysis of DNA extracted from faeces collected in three bat colonies of a wine region in Southwestern Europe during the whole active period of most pest species. Overall, 395 arthropod prey species belonging to 11 orders were detected; lepidopterans and dipterans were the most diverse orders in terms of species. Altogether, 55 pest species were identified, 25 of which are known to cause significant agricultural damage and 8 are regarded as pests affecting grapevines. The composition of pest species in faeces changed significantly with the season, thus suggesting several periods should be sampled to assess the pest consumption by bats. As a whole, the results imply that R. hipposideros acts as a suppressor of a wide array of agricultural pests in Mediterranean agroecosystems. Therefore, management measures favouring the growth of R. hipposideros populations should be considered.
Highlights
The increasingly tight regulation of chemical pesticide use in agriculture, the rapidly developed resistance by pests and the rising consumer awareness for sustainably produced crops [1] have stimulated growing attention on the importance of biological suppression as a pest management tool [2,3]
We aimed to study the diet and pest consumption of R. hipposideros dwelling within a vineyard-dominated Mediterranean agroecosystem during the active period of most pest species by means of metabarcoding of DNA extracted from the faeces of three bat colonies
DNA sequences retrieved with both primer sets from the faeces of R. hipposideros were assigned to 393 arthropod species: among them, 25 are considered major pests and 29 minor pests (Table 1)
Summary
The increasingly tight regulation of chemical pesticide use in agriculture, the rapidly developed resistance by pests and the rising consumer awareness for sustainably produced crops [1] have stimulated growing attention on the importance of biological suppression as a pest management tool [2,3]. The annual crop damaged by herbivorous arthropods (mainly lepidopteran larvae) is estimated between 10–26% globally [4,5]. Rising temperatures due to climate change may benefit insect pests, resulting in higher yield losses [6,7]. Pest consumption in a vineyard system by the lesser horseshoe bat Government granted UB (PRE_2016_1_0139). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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