Scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and the Prince of Songkla University in Thailand have demonstrated that Wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats not only travels great distances, but also hunt at impressive altitudes of up to 1,600 metres above ground – the altitude at which many planthoppers fly, which are dreaded insect pests of rice plants.
Scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and the Prince of Songkla University in Thailand have demonstrated that Wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats not only travels great distances, but also hunt at impressive altitudes of up to 1,600 metres above ground – the altitude at which many planthoppers fly, which are dreaded insect pests of rice plants. Conventional methods of pest control such as insecticides do not work at these altitudes. By restricting the spread of high-flying planthoppers, Wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats make an important contribution to pest control and thus also to food security in South and East Asia. The article published in the scientific journal "Oecologia" therefore emphasises how important and valuable it is to protect this bat species.
Rice is the staple food for more than half of the world's population and Southeast Asia, South and East Asia together are the most important regions for its production. Planthoppers cause massive damage to the rice fields there, leading to crop losses and thus considerable financial losses for farmers and even entire economies. The insects are very mobile during their dispersal phase and use winds at altitudes between 300 and 1,000 metres to travel long distances.
A scientific team led by Prof Dr Christian Voigt, Head of the Department of Evolutionary Ecology at the Leibniz-IZW, has now shown that the Wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bat (Mops plicatus) is able to use these heights as hunting grounds. The results are an outcome of a multi-year research project on the flight and hunting behaviour of this bat. “Mops plicatus bat is a skilful hunter that specialises in catching insects in the open air, i.e. above the vegetation”, says Voigt. “Until now, their hunting behaviour during peak planthopper activity was still largely unexplored. We therefore investigated the hunting behaviour of Wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats in the entire airspace using miniaturised GPS loggers during this time.”
Read more at Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW)
Image: Bats leaving a cave in rural Thailand in the evening to forage for insects in the nearby rice fields (Credit: Photo by Christian Voigt/Leibniz-IZW)
