Conservation Genetics Laboratory, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
Département Etudes-Plecotus, Natagora, Namur, Belgium.
PLoS One. 2024 May 8;19(5):e0302028. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302028. eCollection 2024.
Determining the dietary spectrum of European insectivorous bats over time is the cornerstone of their conservation, as it will aid our understanding of foraging behavior plasticity in response to plummeting insect populations. Despite the global decline in insects, a restricted number of arthropod pest species thrive. Yet past research has overlooked the potential of European bats to suppress pests harmful to woodlands or livestock, in spite of their economic relevance. Here we investigated the diet composition, its breeding season variations and pest consumption of an insectivorous bat species (Myotis emarginatus), at the northern edge of its range (Wallonia, Belgium). We also explored the prey ecology to gain insight into the hunting strategies and foraging habitats of this bat species. We used DNA metabarcoding to amplify two COI markers within 195 bat droppings collected in June, July and August, thereby identifying 512 prey taxa predominated by Diptera, Araneae and Lepidoptera. Overall, in 97% of the samples we detected at least one of the 58 potential pest taxa, 41 of which targeting trees. The June samples were marked by a diet rich in orb-weaver spiders, in accordance with the archetypal diet of M. emarginatus bats. However, during the highly energy demanding July-August parturition and lactation period, roughly 55% of the dropping samples contained two cattle fly pests (Stomoxys calcitrans and Musca domestica). Moreover, among the 88 Diptera species preyed upon by M. emarginatus in July and August, these flies accounted for around 50% of the taxa occurrences. This plasticity-the switch from a spider-rich to a fly-rich diet-seems providential considering the dramatic ongoing drop in insect populations but this involves ensuring bat-friendly cattle farming. Our results revealed that bats widely consume pest entomofauna, thereby highlighting their potential role as allies of forest managers and farmers.
确定欧洲食虫蝙蝠随时间推移的饮食范围是保护它们的基石，因为这将有助于我们了解其觅食行为对昆虫数量骤降的适应性。尽管昆虫在全球范围内减少，但仍有少数节肢动物害虫物种在茁壮成长。然而，过去的研究忽视了欧洲蝙蝠控制对林地或牲畜有害的害虫的潜力，尽管它们具有经济相关性。在这里，我们在其分布范围的北部（比利时瓦隆大区）调查了一种食虫蝙蝠（Myotis emarginatus）的饮食组成、繁殖季节变化和害虫消耗情况。我们还探索了猎物生态学，以深入了解该蝙蝠物种的狩猎策略和觅食栖息地。我们使用 DNA 代谢组学方法对 195 个蝙蝠粪便样本中的两个 COI 标记进行扩增，共鉴定出 512 种猎物，主要以双翅目、蜘蛛目和鳞翅目为主。总体而言，在 97%的样本中，我们至少检测到了 58 种潜在害虫中的 1 种，其中 41 种以树木为目标。6 月的样本以圆蛛为主，符合 M. emarginatus 蝙蝠的典型饮食。然而，在 7 月至 8 月能量需求极高的分娩和哺乳期，大约 55%的粪便样本中含有两种牛蝇害虫（Stomoxys calcitrans 和 Musca domestica）。此外，在 7 月和 8 月 M. emarginatus 捕食的 88 种双翅目物种中，这些苍蝇占了约 50%的出现率。这种从富含蜘蛛到富含苍蝇的饮食的变化——这种变化似乎是由于昆虫数量的急剧下降而产生的，而这涉及到确保对蝙蝠友好的牛养殖。我们的研究结果表明，蝙蝠广泛捕食害虫昆虫，从而突出了它们作为森林管理者和农民盟友的潜力。
