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MU fisheries and wildlife
professor Matt Gompper, left, and doctoral candidate Mundy
Hackett attach a small bat box to a 16-foot-tall post
before raising it into place on the Bonne Femme Vegetable
Farm south of Columbia. The researchers are studying the
bats’ potential as alternative pest control. Photo
by Jason L. Jenkins
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Winged
Pest Control
By Jason L. Jenkins
Researchers at the University of Missouri
have launched a pilot study to determine if bats might provide
an effective, chemical-free alternative for controlling insect
pests on farms.
“A local organic producer had inquired
about encouraging bats on her farm as a natural form of pest
control, but we couldn’t find any references in the literature
to support or refute their effectiveness,” said Matt Gompper,
MU assistant professor of fisheries
and wildlife. “That prompted us to design the pilot
project.”
Gompper; Mundy Hackett, a doctoral candidate
in fisheries and wildlife; and Mark Yates, a doctoral candidate
in forestry;
installed a total of 24 bat boxes at eight sites on seven mid-Missouri
farms this spring. The farms, which include both private farms
and MU research farms and centers, are subdivided based on their
crops and use of chemical pesticides.
Gompper and Hackett install
the bat box, which they hope will house a bat colony. Photo
by Jason L. Jenkins
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At each site, the MU researchers placed
three different-sized bat boxes — a small box capable
of housing a colony of 60 to 75 bats, a medium box to house
120 to 150 bats and a large box that could house a colony of
600 to 900 bats. Each box is mounted on 16-foot-tall posts.
The variety of box sizes and locations will help determine what
habitat characteristics might attract various bat species. Species
likely to inhabit the boxes include the big brown bat, little
brown bat, eastern pipistrelle, and perhaps even the endangered
gray bat and Indiana bat.
Once bats begin to colonize the boxes,
Gompper and Hackett will install traps under each box to collect
both guano and insect wings that are not eaten.
“We’ll be looking to see what
the bats are eating and if they’re eating some of the
pests we want to control,” Gompper said. “We’ll
also try to determine if the number of insects being eaten is
significant enough to dent the pest populations.”
Results from the pilot study, which is
funded through grants from the MU
Alumni Association and the MU
Plant Protection Programs, will determine whether a broader
study is feasible. Gompper said the bat boxes from the pilot
study would remain in place for 2 to 3 years.
“Half of all bat species are listed
as endangered, proposed for listing (as endangered) or are declining
in numbers,” Gompper said. “Installing the bat boxes
is relatively inexpensive. We hope to find that we can provide
benefits to bats by increasing possible habitat and benefits
to farmers by controlling pest populations.”
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Last Update:
July 2, 2009
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