Bats and cattle raising: possibilities in the Colombian Orinoco and Amazon regions

Cattle raising is important for the Colombian economy and fundamental for the nutrition of its population, and this is also true for its Orinoco and Amazon regions. Unfortunately, livestock has had negative environmental consequences, including loss of biodiversity. These negative impacts have the potential to compromise livestock production itself. Consequently, there is a need to incorporate biodiversity into this activity in those biodiversity-rich natural regions. In light of the above, the information about the benefits provided by bats to different agricultural systems and about the cattle raising-bat interaction was reviewed. The available information indicates that bats are valuable controllers of insect pests in multiple agricultural systems. Furthermore, there are examples that suggest bats may have a positive impact on cattle raising systems. Since the Orinoco and Amazon regions are rich in insectivorous bats, there is a high potential for them to become allies of cattle raising in these areas. To achieve this, the following measures are recommended: 1) development of educational campaigns to improve the attitude of farmers towards bats, 2) maintaining or establishing specific controls for vampire bats, 3) analysis of the diet of bats that may consume pest insects, 4) development of studies to identify how different production systems and landscape management affect the activity and habitat quality for bats, and 5) determine the value of bats for cattle raising by developing experiments to evaluate the addition of artificial roosts for bats and exclusion experiments.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Sánchez, Francisco
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	spa
Published:	Universidad de la Amazonia 2021
Online Access:	https://editorial.uniamazonia.edu.co/index.php/fagropec/article/view/133
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