Bats deliver vital services to farms, study shows

If you thought bats were scary creatures of the night, consider a recent study showing they help out US farmers to the tune of US$1.5 billion every year by eating pests.

The paper, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, measured the impact bats had on a major pest species, the corn earworm moth.

By hanging bat-proof netting at night and taking it down at day, they showed the number of pests ballooned by 59 per cent when bats were absent – even when birds and other insectivores were present. The US$1.5 billion benefit to farmers only considered one crop – corn – in the US alone.

The study authors also showed that pest-triggered fungal infections in the crops and the resulting growth of toxins in the food was suppressed by the presence of bats.

New Zealand has two surviving species of native bat – the long-tailed and short-tailed bat – of which only the long-tailed is present around urban areas, and is unlikely to be in large enough numbers to have a significant effect on pests.

However, long-tailed bats are increasingly being found in commercial forestry blocks and on the fringes of urban areas including Hamilton, Auckland and Timaru, where they can be spotted near their roosts in large older trees in the evenings, and foraging for insects over waterways and meadows.

You can read more about New Zealand bats here.