IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoser/v49y2021ics2212041621000383.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Insectivorous bats provide significant economic value to the Australian cotton industry

Author

Listed:
  • Kolkert, Heidi
  • Smith, Rhiannon
  • Rader, Romina
  • Reid, Nick

Abstract

Insectivorous bats exert top-down pressure on pest insect populations in agricultural systems globally. However, few economic estimates exist of their value as pest control agents in many high value crops. We calculated the economic benefit of direct predation of insect pests by bats and the damage averted to cotton yield, a high value commodity crop in Australia. Using a combination of bat dietary studies, average daily energy requirements (estimated by field metabolic rate), prey energy content and acoustic data of bat feeding attempts in cotton crops, we show the direct value of insectivorous bats to the Australian cotton industry is likely between $99–126 ha−1 in dryland Bt-cotton and $286–361 ha−1 in irrigated Bt-cotton through the consumption of pest moth Helicoverpa armigera, amounting to $63.6 million annually. We estimate that a population of bats can remove between 77–119 t of moths from Australian cotton crops in an average year across the growing season. However, different bat species consume different insect pests, highlighting the need to conserve bat diversity in agroecosystems. These results provide further incentive for growers to manage non-crop bat roosting habitat to benefit from natural pest control in crops.

Suggested Citation

  • Kolkert, Heidi & Smith, Rhiannon & Rader, Romina & Reid, Nick, 2021. "Insectivorous bats provide significant economic value to the Australian cotton industry," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:49:y:2021:i:c:s2212041621000383
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2021.101280
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041621000383
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecoser.2021.101280?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Taylor, Peter John & Grass, Ingo & Alberts, Andries J. & Joubert, Elsje & Tscharntke, Teja, 2018. "Economic value of bat predation services – A review and new estimates from macadamia orchards," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(PC), pages 372-381.
    2. David S. Jacobs & John M. Ratcliffe & James H. Fullard, 2008. "Beware of bats, beware of birds: the auditory responses of eared moths to bat and bird predation," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 19(6), pages 1333-1342.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ma, Binfeng & Wang, Xiaofang, 2023. "How does green floating bond and financial sector readiness promote green economic growth evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    2. Carmi Korine & Yuval Cohen & Idan Kahnonitch, 2022. "Insect Pest Pheromone Lures May Enhance the Activity of Insectivorous Bats in Mediterranean Vineyards and Apple Orchards," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-12, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tremlett, Constance J. & Peh, Kelvin S.-H. & Zamora-Gutierrez, Veronica & Schaafsma, Marije, 2021. "Value and benefit distribution of pollination services provided by bats in the production of cactus fruits in central Mexico," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    2. Wisely, Samantha M. & Alexander, Kathleen & Mahlaba, Themb'a & Cassidy, Lin, 2018. "Linking ecosystem services to livelihoods in southern Africa," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(PC), pages 339-341.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:49:y:2021:i:c:s2212041621000383. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecosystem-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.