Plant Growth Aided by Insect-Feeding Animals

Add insect-feeding birds, bats and lizards to the front lines of the battle against global climate change.


Summarizing the results of more than 100 experiments conducted on four continents, UC Irvine ecologist Kailen A. Mooney and colleagues found that these insect-gobbling animals increase plant growth by reducing the abundance of plant-feeding insects and the damage they do to the plant life that helps mitigate global warming.

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An Eastern Bluebird consumes a meal of leaf-eating caterpillar. (Credit: Photo by Mike Onyon)

Our efforts solidify the importance of birds, bats, lizards and other similar animals to ecosystem health, and underscores the importance of conserving these species in the face of global change," said Mooney, an assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology.

The results come at a time when the importance of birds and other insectivores as plant protectors has come into doubt, Mooney added. Studies on bird, bat and lizard diets show they devour both plant-feeding insects and the spiders and other insect predators that eat plant feeders.

Recognizing these complex feeding relationships, Mooney said it had become unclear whether animals like birds reduce plant-feeding insect populations, or whether they might in fact be protecting them from spiders and the like.

"It has long been hypothesized that birds and other insect-feeding animals may protect plants by keeping plant-feeding insects in check in accordance with the adage, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend,' " Mooney said. "Our study provides the most comprehensive support of this hypothesis to date. It shows that despite feeding on predatory insects, birds, bats and lizards still act as plant protectors by having net negative effects on plant-feeding insects."

Study results appear in early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of April 5.

Daniel S. Gruner of the University of Maryland; Nicholas A Barber of the University of Missouri, St. Louis; Sunshine A. Van Bael of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama; Stacy M. Philpott of the University of Toledo; and Russell Greenberg of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in Washington, D.C., contributed to this study.

Pesky flies keep Asian mosquitoes in check

A Florida midge munches down Asian tiger mosquitoes more so than native ones, researchers say, maybe because the foreign larvae wiggles more in the water.


Whatever the reason, the result is fewer of the more aggressive mosquito and the nasty human diseases it harbors.

A midge larva, right, snacks on an Asian tiger mosquito larva. Researchers say this helps keep the foreign mosquito, which carries viral diseases, in check. (University of Florida

"It is positive because this invasive mosquito is much more dangerous from a public health standpoint," said Phil Lounibos, an entomologist with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in Vero Beach.

He and Steven Juliano, an entomologist at Illinois State University, published their findings in the journal Oecologia.

Asian tiger mosquitoes spread dengue, which causes high fever, bladder problems, headaches, eye pain, extreme dizziness and loss of appetite.

They also spread Chikungunya, another viral

disease marked by joint pain that can last weeks, months or even years.

The Asian tiger mosquito gained a stronger foothold in Florida and elsewhere in the 1980s, when the United States began importing large numbers of used tires from Asia. Its eggs and larvae traveled here in the water inside the tires.

Entomologists expected the more aggressive Asian pest to drive the native mosquito to near extinction. That probably wouldn't matter to most Floridians, but it is important to scientists and others committed to importance of biodiversity.

Nature's defense

Given the midge's merits, mosquito controllers should try to spare the fly, the researchers said, lest they lose one of their best defenses against the Asian tiger mosquito.

"What we're observing is how a native, rather obscure midge can provide a natural biocontrol," Lounibos said.

Current mosquito-spraying methods kill some order of midges, the researchers said, but the extent is unknown.

They suggest more study of how predator-prey relationships help control such pests, as a possible alternative to spraying.

"I'm not saying that spraying for the native mosquitoes or other pest control efforts aren't necessary," Juliano said in a media release. "But it's important to understand that there is a balance, and that you can't tweak one aspect of nature without affecting many others.

"We owe it to ourselves to try to understand that balance."

DIY Rat Control? Check your traps often or this happens.....

DIY Rodent Control..Is it for you?

A new customer told me that he checked the rat traps all the time and kept them fresh so he would catch other rat's that entered his attic. The problem is, he still had rat's!

"Looks like its been awhile since he checked his traps, lol"

If your going to Do It Yourself, check your traps or let a professional do it!