Abstract:

As efficient nocturnal predators, the quantitative assessment of pest control services of insectivorous bats has become a research focus. Accurately analyzing the proportion of agricultural pests in bat diets, particularly comparing dietary differences among different bat guilds with distinct foraging habitat preferences in heterogeneous agricultural landscapes, is crucial for evaluating their pest control services. We used insectivorous bats in the heterogeneous agricultural landscapes of Pu’er City, Yunnan Province as research subjects. Using DNA metabarcoding technology, we systematically analyzed the dietary composition and pest proportion in three bat foraging guilds: open-space foragers, narrow-space foragers and edge-space foragers. The correlation between the insect composition in bat diets and the availability of food resources in their environments was examined. The results showed that the most common insect order among the 10 species of insectivorous bats was Lepidoptera, accounting for 73.1% of the total insects. The proportion of pests in the dietary composition of insectivorous bats was more than 88.7%. There was a significant correlation between insect order composition in bat diets and environmental resources for all three guilds. The proportion of pests in the dietary composition of open space foraging guild was more than 85.0%. The highest diversity was found at the order level in the dietary composition of narrow-space foraging guild. The edge-space foraging guild exhibited a specialized predation pattern on agricultural pests, dominated overwhelmingly by Lepidoptera (99.13%). This study provides a detailed analysis of dietary composition and pest proportions among three foraging guilds in heterogeneous landscapes, confirming the effectiveness of insectivorous bats in pest control. The findings not only offer direct evidence for bats’ pest control functions in the ecosystem but also provide scientific basis for bat biodiversity conservation.

Key words: Dietary composition, DNA Metabarcoding, Foraging guilds, Insectivorous bats, Pest control

摘要：

食虫蝙蝠作为高效的夜间捕食者，其害虫控制生态服务功能的量化评估已成为当前研究热点。准确精细分析食虫蝙蝠食性中害虫的比例，尤其是针对异质农业景观中不同觅食生境偏好的食虫蝙蝠，分析比较其食性差异对于客观评估其提供的害虫控制服务功能至关重要。本研究以云南省普洱市异质性农业景观中的食虫蝙蝠作为研究对象，通过DNA宏条形码技术，系统解析了开阔空间、狭窄空间以及边缘空间3个觅食类群食虫蝙蝠的食物组成及其食性中有害昆虫占比，并分析各类群蝙蝠食性中昆虫的占比与环境中食物资源占比的相关性。结果表明，10种食虫蝙蝠食性中最常见的昆虫类型为鳞翅目，占总昆虫量的73.1%。食虫蝙蝠食物组成中害虫比例超过88.7%。3个觅食类群食虫蝙蝠食性中昆虫目水平的组成与环境中食物资源的组成均呈现显著相关。开阔空间觅食类群食性中害虫比例超过85.0%，狭窄空间觅食类群食性中昆虫目水平的多样性最高，边缘空间觅食类群所捕食的农业害虫中鳞翅目（99.13%）昆虫占绝对优势。本研究精细分析异质景观中3个觅食类群食虫蝙蝠食物组成及其食性中的害虫比例，证实食虫蝙蝠控制害虫的有效性。研究结果不仅为蝙蝠在生态系统中的害虫控制功能提供了直接的证据，也为蝙蝠物种多样性保护提供了科学依据。

关键词: 食物组成, DNA宏条形码, 觅食类群, 食虫蝙蝠, 害虫控制