Abstract Accelerating land use change is associated with the loss of species and their ecosystem services. South Africa is the world's largest producer of macadamias and the industry continues to grow. Insectivorous bat species are important for pest control, but bat populations are declining. Therefore, proactive management of bat communities in agricultural landscapes is essential. We acoustically monitored bats and used light traps to catch arthropods during one annual cycle, sampling five macadamia orchards monthly in Limpopo, South Africa. We used GIS and R to analyse both the general bat and foraging bat activity of the two main foraging guilds (open-air/clutter edge guild) in different land use types and total activity with respect to arthropod abundances. Overall clutter edge guild activity (number of passes) decreased with macadamia and orchard (all other fruit) cover in the high season and increased with bush cover and distance to settlements (potential roosts) in the low season. Open-air guild activity increased with fallow cover in the high season. Foraging activity (feeding buzzes) of the clutter edge guild increased with bush cover over the whole year. Total activity (both guilds) increased with abundance of true bugs, including the main macadamia pests, and bush cover. In conclusion, natural and semi-natural vegetation promote bat activity in macadamia orchards, and potentially bats' provision of the ecosystem service of pest control. In times of accelerating land use change, remnants of natural vegetation are important refuges and need to be maintained or restored. The installation of bathouses might further improve bat activity.

中文翻译：

---

南非澳洲坚果果园的天然植被和昆虫丰富度促进食虫蝙蝠活动

摘要 加速土地利用变化与物种及其生态系统服务的丧失有关。南非是世界上最大的澳洲坚果生产国，而且该行业还在继续增长。食虫蝙蝠物种对害虫控制很重要，但蝙蝠数量正在下降。因此，积极管理农业景观中的蝙蝠群落至关重要。我们对蝙蝠进行声学监测，并在一年一度的周期内使用光阱捕捉节肢动物，每月对南非林波波的五个澳洲坚果果园进行采样。我们使用 GIS 和 R 分析了两个主要觅食行会（露天/杂物边缘行会）在不同土地利用类型下的一般蝙蝠和觅食蝙蝠活动以及与节肢动物丰度相关的总活动。总体杂乱边缘公会活动（通过次数）在旺季随着澳洲坚果和果园（所有其他水果）的覆盖而减少，而在淡季随着灌木覆盖和到定居点（潜在栖息地）的距离而增加。露天公会活动增加，在旺季休耕。杂物边缘公会的觅食活动（觅食嗡嗡声）在全年随着灌木丛的覆盖而增加。总活动（两个公会）随着大量真正的虫子而增加，包括主要的澳洲坚果害虫和灌木丛。总之，天然和半天然植被促进了澳洲坚果果园中的蝙蝠活动，并可能为蝙蝠提供害虫防治的生态系统服务。在土地利用变化加速的时代，自然植被的残余是重要的避难所，需要维护或恢复。