Bats and their vital ecosystem services: a global review
| Autor: | Leidy Viviana García-Herrera, Alfonso Sánchez-Hernández, Giovany Guevara, Leidy Azucena Ramírez-Fráncel, Sergio Estrada-Villegas, Sergio Losada-Prado, Burton K. Lim, Gladys Reinoso-Flórez |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Insecta Pollination Ecology Seed dispersal 05 social sciences Insectivore 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Ecosystem services Frugivore Geography Pollinator Chiroptera Guano Animals Biological dispersal 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Animal Science and Zoology 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology Ecosystem |
| Zdroj: | Integrative Zoology. 17:2-23 |
| ISSN: | 1749-4877 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/1749-4877.12552 |
| Popis: | Bats play crucial ecosystem services as seed dispersers, pollinators, controllers of insects, and nutrient recyclers. However, there has not been a thorough global review evaluating these roles in bats across all biogeographical regions of the world. We reviewed the literature published during the last two decades and identified 283 relevant studies: 78 dealt with the control of potential insect pests by bats, 80 related to the suppression of other arthropods, 60 on the dispersal of native or endemic seeds, 11 dealt with the dispersal of seeds of introduced plants, 29 on the pollination of native or endemic plants, 1 study on pollination of introduced plants, and 24 on the use of guano as fertilizer. Our literature search showed that queries combining the terms "seed dispersal," "insectivorous bats," "nectarivorous bats," "use of guano," and "ecosystem services" returned 577 studies, but half were experimental in nature. We found that the evaluation of ecosystem services by bats has been mostly conducted in the Neotropical and Palearctic regions. To detect differences across relevant studies, and to explain trends in the study of ecosystem services provided by bats, we performed generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) fitted with a Poisson distribution to analyze potential differences among sampling methods. We identified 409 bat species that provide ecosystem services, 752 insect species consumed by bats and 549 plant species either dispersed or pollinated by bats. Our review summarizes the importance of conserving bat populations and the ecological services they provide, which is especially important during the current pandemic. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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