DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Modeling Bird and Bat Mediated Pest Control Services Across Costa Rican Countryside

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

Across the world, agricultural production is rapidly expanding. Besides encroaching into forests, industrial agriculture transforms traditional farms of several crops and interspersed trees into vast fields of a single type of crop. Wildlife often persists in the traditional, low-intensity landscapes, but disappears in intensive plantations. Many of these species serve a pivotal role in agricultural ecosystems by consuming damaging insect pests. Coffee is the second most traded commodity after oil, and a small beetle, the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei), is its most damaging pest. This project investigates whether the loss of native trees and small forest patches, traditionally interspersed throughout Costa Rican coffee plantations, affects the control of coffee berry borer by bats and birds. The project utilizes novel molecular methods to detect the coffee berry borer in bat and bird fecal samples collected from Costa Rica coffee plantations. After identifying which bird and bat species eat the berry borer, a pest-control model will be developed to identify the sites and conditions (e.g. amount of nearby tree cover) under which farmers would expect to benefit most from bat- and bird-mediated pest control. How pest control changes with changing agricultural practices remains unclear, and forecasting future pest regulation is not currently possible. This research seeks to address these shortcomings by developing a model that predicts the consequences of agricultural expansion and intensification for pest control. This model will be integrated eventually into a modeling platform: Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST). InVEST will assist conservation organizations, land managers, governments, and corporations in evaluating "ecosystem services" -- the benefits that humans derive from ecosystems, into resource decisions. Thus, results from this project have potential to be incorporated into practical decisions relatively quickly. To build to this point, findings will be communicated broadly, in scientific journals and academic forums, as well as through public media. Additionally, the project will involve undergraduate students and local field assistants, who will become involved in multiple aspects of research, including co-authorship and oral presentations.