Abstract Landscape and biophysical determinants of insectivorous bat activity and community composition in space and time are central to understanding how growers can maximise bat-mediated pest control services in crops. We measured community composition, abundance, richness and foraging attempts of insectivorous bats in the centre of dryland cotton crops using acoustic sampling. We examined how bat activity was related to woody vegetation in the surrounding landscape, prey insect abundance, distance to crop edge, size of field, proximity to waterbodies and moon illumination to better understand insectivorous bat diversity and foraging in crop interiors. We collected a total of 9467 acoustic files including 1198 foraging attempts (feeding buzzes) of at least 21 insectivorous bat species. The bat assemblage in cotton crop interiors (richness and diversity) was positively related to woody vegetation foliage cover within 5–10 km of the crop, as well as Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera abundance, but was negatively related to distance from the field edge into the crop and moon illumination. Increased feeding attempts were linked to increased Lepidoptera and Hemiptera on nights of high moon illumination (> 75 %). Bat activity and foraging was also higher during nights of increased insect abundance, particularly Lepidoptera, indicating that bats track food resources. Our results highlight the importance of managing bat roosting habitat at different landscape scales to enhance bat diversity and foraging in crop interiors and thus insect consumption. Given the high bat feeding activity on nights of high moon illumination and increased Hemiptera abundance, the timing of insecticide sprays to target pests, such as Hemipteran sucking bugs, could be scheduled on nights of low moon illumination. Such information is useful in identifying conservation priorities for the management of bats in intensively farmed agroecosystems and should facilitate habitat management by growers to maximise crop pest protection services in crop interiors.

中文翻译：

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在棉花作物内部觅食的食虫蝙蝠受月亮光照和昆虫丰富的驱动，但多样性受益于木本植被覆盖

摘要 食虫蝙蝠活动的景观和生物物理决定因素以及空间和时间的群落组成对于了解种植者如何最大限度地利用蝙蝠介导的作物害虫防治服务至关重要。我们使用声学采样测量了旱地棉花作物中心食虫蝙蝠的群落组成、丰度、丰富度和觅食尝试。我们研究了蝙蝠活动如何与周围景观中的木本植被、猎物昆虫丰度、与作物边缘的距离、田地大小、与水体的接近程度和月球照明相关，以更好地了解食虫蝙蝠的多样性和在作物内部觅食。我们总共收集了 9467 个声学文件，包括至少 21 种食虫蝙蝠物种的 1198 次觅食尝试（觅食声）。棉花作物内部的蝙蝠组合（丰富度和多样性）与作物 5-10 公里范围内的木本植被覆盖率以及鳞翅目和膜翅目丰度呈正相关，但与从田间边缘到作物的距离呈负相关和月亮照明。在月光充足的夜晚（> 75 %），增加的进食尝试与鳞翅目和半翅目增加有关。在昆虫数量增加的夜晚，尤其是鳞翅目昆虫，蝙蝠的活动和觅食也更高，这表明蝙蝠会追踪食物资源。我们的研究结果强调了在不同景观尺度上管理蝙蝠栖息栖息地的重要性，以增强蝙蝠多样性和在作物内部觅食，从而增加昆虫消耗。鉴于高月光照之夜蝙蝠的高摄食活动和半翅目丰度增加，针对半翅目吸虫等害虫喷洒杀虫剂的时间可以安排在低月光照之夜。这些信息有助于确定集约化农业生态系统中蝙蝠管理的保护优先事项，并应促进种植者的栖息地管理，以最大限度地提高作物内部的作物病虫害保护服务。