Bat aggregational response to pest caterpillar emergence

Abstract Moths (Lepidoptera) are major agricultural and forest pests in many parts of the world, including Europe, with many causing great economic damage to crops, horticultural plants, stored items, and wool products. Here, we focus on two ecologically similar inchworms, Operophtera brumata and Er...

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Autores principales:	Ján Blažek, Adam Konečný, Tomáš Bartonička
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/da7522d1154d4e70a1c4596e084b1a86
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:da7522d1154d4e70a1c4596e084b1a862021-12-02T14:33:57ZBat aggregational response to pest caterpillar emergence10.1038/s41598-021-93104-z2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/da7522d1154d4e70a1c4596e084b1a862021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93104-zhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Moths (Lepidoptera) are major agricultural and forest pests in many parts of the world, including Europe, with many causing great economic damage to crops, horticultural plants, stored items, and wool products. Here, we focus on two ecologically similar inchworms, Operophtera brumata and Erannis defoliaria, known for their high foliage consumption during the spring emergence of caterpillars. We hypothesise that bats could play a role in reducing pests such as caterpillars by switching to this abundant emerging prey. At two infested and one control forest sites, caterpillars were sampled during spring to determine levels of infestation. At the same time, bat flight activity was monitored during the peak in caterpillar abundance. During the spring caterpillar outbreak, we collected faecal samples of forest-dwelling bats capable of using gleaning. The majority of samples were positive for our focus species, being 51.85% for O. brumata and 29.63% for E. defoliaria faecal samples. The foraging activity of two gleaning bats, Myotis nattereri and Myotis bechsteinii, increased at both infested sites, but not at the control site, during caterpillar emergence, as did foraging of Plecotus auritus/austriacus, which used both gleaning and aerial hawking. We conclude that both specialists and occasional gleaners, which prefer different prey but are able to switch their foraging strategies, aggregate at sites during pest emergence and, as such, our results confirm the high potential of bats to reduce numbers of pest species such as caterpillars.Ján BlažekAdam KonečnýTomáš BartoničkaNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Ján Blažek Adam Konečný Tomáš Bartonička Bat aggregational response to pest caterpillar emergence
description	Abstract Moths (Lepidoptera) are major agricultural and forest pests in many parts of the world, including Europe, with many causing great economic damage to crops, horticultural plants, stored items, and wool products. Here, we focus on two ecologically similar inchworms, Operophtera brumata and Erannis defoliaria, known for their high foliage consumption during the spring emergence of caterpillars. We hypothesise that bats could play a role in reducing pests such as caterpillars by switching to this abundant emerging prey. At two infested and one control forest sites, caterpillars were sampled during spring to determine levels of infestation. At the same time, bat flight activity was monitored during the peak in caterpillar abundance. During the spring caterpillar outbreak, we collected faecal samples of forest-dwelling bats capable of using gleaning. The majority of samples were positive for our focus species, being 51.85% for O. brumata and 29.63% for E. defoliaria faecal samples. The foraging activity of two gleaning bats, Myotis nattereri and Myotis bechsteinii, increased at both infested sites, but not at the control site, during caterpillar emergence, as did foraging of Plecotus auritus/austriacus, which used both gleaning and aerial hawking. We conclude that both specialists and occasional gleaners, which prefer different prey but are able to switch their foraging strategies, aggregate at sites during pest emergence and, as such, our results confirm the high potential of bats to reduce numbers of pest species such as caterpillars.
format	article
author	Ján Blažek Adam Konečný Tomáš Bartonička
author_facet	Ján Blažek Adam Konečný Tomáš Bartonička
author_sort	Ján Blažek
title	Bat aggregational response to pest caterpillar emergence
title_short	Bat aggregational response to pest caterpillar emergence
title_full	Bat aggregational response to pest caterpillar emergence
title_fullStr	Bat aggregational response to pest caterpillar emergence
title_full_unstemmed	Bat aggregational response to pest caterpillar emergence
title_sort	bat aggregational response to pest caterpillar emergence
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/da7522d1154d4e70a1c4596e084b1a86
work_keys_str_mv	AT janblazek bataggregationalresponsetopestcaterpillaremergence AT adamkonecny bataggregationalresponsetopestcaterpillaremergence AT tomasbartonicka bataggregationalresponsetopestcaterpillaremergence
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Bat aggregational response to pest caterpillar emergence

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