Bats actively track and prey on grape pest populations

Abstract There is growing evidence about the role of insectivorous bats against agricultural pests in various crops. Nevertheless, little research addressed aggregational and functional responses bat assemblages to changes pest availability across a spatio-temporal scale. Therefore, we examined activity diet habits different species using DNA metabarcoding by simultaneously monitoring relative abundance two major (the European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana, leaf rolling tortrix, Sparganothis pilleriana) through grape season, vineyard region Iberian Peninsula. During irruptions, found highest levels frequencies bats, although not all contributed equally suppression. Bats foraging guilds positively responded abundances, indicating distinct may synergistically play at suppressing broad scales aerospace. For instance, narrow space foragers exploiting irruptions interior, edge hampering dispersion local scale, open preventing infestations new patches broader scales. Yet, our study exposed current methodological constraints regarding dynamics, acoustic bats’ or unfeasibility reliably quantify prey diet, thus further improvement these issues required order gain insight on agroecological interactions between pests.