NATURAL PEST CONTROL, THE NOCTURNAL WINGED HELPER: THE PEST, POLLINATORS, AND VECTORS BRIDGE-DWELLING BATS ARE CONSUMING IN THE AGRICULTURAL HUB OF THE SANTA CL

Sarah E Heffelfinger; California Polytechnic State University, Pomona; Heffelfinger@cpp.edu; Dr. Rachel V. Blakey, Joseph Curti, Jaime L. Neill

Pesticides in the environment lead to issues in human health, environmental degradation, and inhibited wildlife function. Natural forms of pest control include carnivores and insectivores that consume agricultural pests. Studying the diet of bats within the agricultural landscape will reveal if they are eating agricultural pests. Documentation of bat quantities and species presence in known roosts, along with diet, will assist in estimating pest suppression impact on local growers. The results of this study will fill essential gaps in western bat knowledge and inform agricultural pest management on the benefits of decreasing their usage of chemical pesticides and increasing the utilization of bats as natural pest management. This may lead to a natural pest management plan that will promote an organic way of growing food for the health of wildlife, the environment and produce consumers. Once a month for a year we will collect guano and estimate colony size and species composition from four known bat bridge roosts across Ventura County’s Santa Clara River Valley (California). We will use metabarcoding, to identify agricultural pests, pollinators, and vectors in the diet of four bat species: the Mexican free-tailed, Pallid bat, Big brown bat, and Myotis spp. Revealing bat diet may determine if grower’s pesticides target the same pests that bats consume. Quantifying bat abundance, species composition, and identifying diet each month can also inform growers in what months is most beneficial to use less pesticides. Lacking knowledge on diet and bat behavior, throughout the seasons will be illuminated through studying a potential facilitative relationship between agriculture and wildlife this will uncover what major agricultural pests are being consumed by bats.

Natural History of Bats   Student Paper