[Pollinator] Studies indicate bats help plants, farmers

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Thanks to Hilda Diaz Soltero for forwarding this.

                                                                   
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SPECIES: Studies indicate bats help plants, farmers  (Friday,     
April 4, 2008)                                                    
Scientists are investigating the ecological and agricultural role 
of bats in tropical ecosystems -- and finding good news for plants
and farmers alike. According to two studies in the journal Science
, bat predation reduces insect damage to plants, good news for    
farmers looking to decrease their use of expensive pesticides.    
Using their sonar-like abilities, bats snatch insects out of the  
air in pitch blackness, and sometimes directly off plants by      
hearing them land on leaves -- "or even the sound of a caterpillar
chewing on a leaf," said Kimberly Williams-Guillen, a researcher  
at the University of Michigan.                                    
But few scientists have investigated whether bats have a          
discernible influence on insect populations and crops. In earlier 
experiments, scientists covered some plants with netting and      
cages, protecting insects from being eaten, and then months and   
years later compared the number of insects on the caged plants to 
those on plants in open air. Fewer insects crawled on uncaged     
plants, the scientists concluded, because birds ate many of the   
bugs during the day.                                              
Williams-Guillen wondered if nocturnal bats weren't contributing  
to the difference. At an organic coffee plantation in Mexico, she 
repeated the study of uncaged and caged plants, but added a third 
group of plants that were caged during the day and exposed at     
night, and a fourth group that was caged at night and exposed     
during the day.                                                   
The study found that bats accounted for a large part of the insect
consumption -- especially during the wet season in summer, when   
bats reproduce and mother bats have to eat copiously to nurse     
offspring. In the winter months, an influx of migrating songbirds 
arrive from the U.S. and Canada, increasing their share of        
consumption relative to bats.                                     
The findings could influence farmers' decision to grow coffee     
under shade trees, the preference of many environmentalists, or in
direct sunlight, which is thought to produce higher yields. But   
the trees increase bat predation of insects, a factor that may tip
the scales toward shade-grown coffee.                             
"Bats are as important as birds in limiting insects in these      
coffee plants," Williams-Guillen said. "No conservation or        
land-management planner would overlook a group as important as    
bird. Our work shows that bats, too, should be included."         
The number of bats is believed to be declining in many parts of   
the world (Kenneth Change, New York Times, April 4). -- PR        
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Laurie Davies Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator Partnership
425 Washington Street, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
415 362 1137 (p)
415 362 3070 (f)
LDA at pollinator.org
www.pollinator.org
www.nappc.org

National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2008. Create or attend an event in 
your state. Visit www.pollinator.org National Pollinator Week for complete 
details.

Join the Pollinator Partnership working to protect agriculture and ecosystems 
- visit www.pollinator.org



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