Bats go where the food is

September 18, 2012 by wpeeb

A recent paper in PLOS ONE by dept. head Gary McCracken and colleagues, including former UTK EEB grad students Veronica Brown and Paula Federico, as well as UTK postdoc Melanie Eldridge, analyzed insect DNA in bat feces. Their work suggests that bats change foraging locations to match prey abundance. It also supports previous researchers’ findings that bats contribute substantially to agriculture, providing services that can amount to 12% of the value of a crop.

Abstract: 
The role of bats or any generalist predator in suppressing prey populations depends on the predator’s ability to track and exploit available prey. Using a qPCR fecal DNA assay, we document significant association between numbers of Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) consuming corn earworm (CEW) moths (Helicoverpa zea) and seasonal fluctuations in CEW populations. This result is consistent with earlier research linking the bats’ diet to patterns of migration, abundance, and crop infestation by important insect pests. Here we confirm opportunistic feeding on one of the world’s most destructive insects and support model estimates of the bats’ ecosystem services. Regression analysis of CEW consumption versus the moth’s abundance at four insect trapping sites further indicates that bats track local abundance of CEW within the regional landscape. Estimates of CEW gene copies in the feces of bats are not associated with seasonal or local patterns of CEW abundance, and results of captive feeding experiments indicate that our qPCR assay does not provide a direct measure of numbers or biomass of prey consumed. Our results support growing evidence for the role of generalist predators, and bats specifically, as agents for biological control and speak to the value of conserving indigenous generalist predators.