关键词: 蝙蝠, 生态系统服务, 害虫控制, 植物授粉, 种子传播, 生物多样性保护

Abstract: Bats play multifaceted roles in ecosystems, profoundly impacting both the environment and human societies through their diverse ecosystem services. This review aims to summarize the current status and future prospects of studies concerning bat ecosystem services, with particular emphasis on their roles in provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. In terms of provisioning services, bats provide valuable resources for agriculture and medicine, particularly bat guano (known as‘Ye Mingsha’), which is an important component in traditional Chinese medicine and can also serve as an efficient organic fertilizer that significantly improves soil quality and crop yields. Additionally, some biological characteristics of bats, such as anticoagulant proteins and antiviral compounds in their saliva, provide an essential basis for new drug development, driving innovation in biotechnology and medicine. In regulating services, insectivorous bats not only reduce agricultural pest populations and pesticide use but also create a‘landscape of fear’through predation risks, altering prey behavior and physiology, thereby further reducing their fitness. Frugivorous bats contribute to plant pollination and seed dispersal, improving crop production sustainability and enhancing ecosystem health. In cultural services, the image of bats holds significant symbolic meaning in both Eastern and Western cultures and contributes to local economies through eco-tourism. In supporting services, bats maintain ecosystem health and stability through seed dispersal, plant pollination, and nutrient cycling. The review also anticipates future research directions, underscoring the importance of protecting bats and their ecosystem services to address challenges posed by global environmental changes and to promote sustainable development in human societies.

Key words: Bats, Ecosystem services, Pest control, Pollination, Seed dispersal, Biodiversity conservation