image: Specimens of the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) hanging in their attic roost during a sampling period. Studying these colonies allows us to collect guano samples and analyse how many agricultural pests the bats consume across different landscapes.
Credit: Miren Aldasoro, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Insect-eating bats may be helpful consumers of pests of crops including grapevines, orchard fruits, and vegetables, per study following six horseshoe bat colonies in northern Spain
Article URL: https://plos.io/3SfGVgV
Article title: Pest consumption by common bats in diverse landscapes
Author countries: The Basque Country.
Funding: This research was funded by grant PID2019-108123GB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union, and by the Basque Government (Research grant IT1571-22) and its Biodiversity Directorate (Expedient No 049‐2022‐42). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Journal
PLOS One
Article Title
Pest consumption by common bats in diverse landscapes
Article Publication Date
17-Jun-2026
COI Statement
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.