Insectivorous bats exert top-down pressure on pest insect populations in agricultural systems globally. However, few economic estimates exist of their value as pest control agents in many high value crops. We calculated the economic benefit of direct predation of insect pests by bats and the damage averted to cotton yield, a high value commodity crop in Australia. Using a combination of bat dietary studies, average daily energy requirements (estimated by field metabolic rate), prey energy content and acoustic data of bat feeding attempts in cotton crops, we show the direct value of insectivorous bats to the Australian cotton industry is likely between $99–126 ha⁻¹ in dryland Bt-cotton and $286–361 ha⁻¹ in irrigated Bt-cotton through the consumption of pest moth Helicoverpa armigera, amounting to $63.6 million annually. We estimate that a population of bats can remove between 77–119 t of moths from Australian cotton crops in an average year across the growing season. However, different bat species consume different insect pests, highlighting the need to conserve bat diversity in agroecosystems. These results provide further incentive for growers to manage non-crop bat roosting habitat to benefit from natural pest control in crops.

食虫蝙蝠对全球农业系统中的有害生物种群施加自上而下的压力。然而，在许多高价值农作物中，几乎没有关于其作为害虫防治剂的价值的经济估算。我们计算了蝙蝠直接捕食害虫的经济利益，以及对棉花产量的损害，棉花产量是澳大利亚的一种高价值商品作物。结合蝙蝠的饮食研究，平均日能量需求（通过田间代谢率估算），猎物的能量含量和棉田蝙蝠饲喂尝试的声学数据，我们证明了食虫蝙蝠对澳大利亚棉花产业的直接价值很可能介于$ 99-126公顷^-1旱地转Bt棉花和$ 286-361公顷^-1通过防虫防蛀的消费灌溉的Bt棉Helicoverpa armigera，每年价值6,360万美元。我们估计，在整个生长季节中，平均每年蝙蝠种群可以从澳大利亚棉花作物中清除77–119吨飞蛾。但是，不同的蝙蝠物种消耗不同的害虫，这突出了在农业生态系统中保护蝙蝠多样性的必要性。这些结果进一步激励了种植者管理非作物蝙蝠栖息环境，从而从作物的自然害虫防治中受益。