Activity and diet of bats in apple orchards of southern Michigan

<p>I studied activity and diet of bats in apple orchards in southern Michigan. There was no difference between organic and conventional orchards in number and composition of insects captured with light traps, number of bats captured with mist nets, or number of acoustic files of bat activity that were recorded. The majority of insects captured were Coleptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, and Trichoptera. Only two species of bats were caught: big brown bats (<em>Eptesicus fuscus</em>) and eastern red bats (<em>Lasiurus borealis</em>). Most calls were produced by big brown bats, followed by hoary bats (<em>L. cinereus),</em> red bats, and <em>Myotis</em>. Coleoptera dominated the diet of big brown bats caught in orchards, followed by Diptera, Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, and Hymenoptera. Analysis of the DNA of insects in feces indicated that big brown bats consumed several species that are economically important, including mosquitoes (<em>Aedes</em>), spotted cucumber beetles (<em>Diabrotica undecimpunctata</em>), and pavement ants (<em>Tetramorium caespitum</em>).</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Smith, Brenna Lynn

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Allen Kurta, Committee Chair
• Dr. Daniel Clemans, Committee Member
• Dr. Cara Shillington, Committee Member

• bats
• diet
• apple orchards
• Southern Michigan
• organic orchards
• conventional orchards
• Biology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/386

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-1754