Bird and bat droppings reveal 87 rice pests in their diets: Study

In a study published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, it was found that bird and bat droppings from lowland rice fields in northern Guinea-Bissau contained DNA from 2,276 feeding interactions between 34 predator species, 18 bats and 16 birds. Of the prey identified to genus or species level, 87 were rice pests. Both bats and birds consumed a similar number of pest species, though they mainly ate different ones.

The study examined 502 animals, 345 of which were bats and 157 were birds. Of the 262 prey types identified to genus or species level, 87 were rice pests. Birds and bats consumed these pests in similar numbers, but they mostly ate different ones. The researchers collected droppings from the animals in mist nets set up in the rice fields, analyzing the insect DNA in each sample and comparing it against reference databases.

Of the 345 bird species sampled, 13, or 81%, ate rice pests, with an average of 5.9 pest species per bird. All bat species sampled ate rice pests, with an average of 6.2 pest species per bat. Among birds, the village weaver ate the most pest types, 16 from 64 samples, while among bats, the yellow bat recorded 24 pest types from 103 samples.

The study found that bats and birds consumed similar numbers of pest species, but mostly different ones. The diets of both birds and bats changed with the seasons, with more prey being consumed in the dry season than the rainy season. The most commonly eaten pests were two termites, Macrotermes bellicosus and Microtermes otu9, and a spittlebug, Poophilus costalis.