Ecosystem services are the benefits obtained from the environment that increase human well-being. Economic valuation is conducted by measuring the human welfare gains or losses that result from changes in the provision of ecosystem services. Bats have long been postulated to play important roles in arthropod suppression, seed dispersal, and pollination; however, only recently have these ecosystem services begun to be thoroughly evaluated. Here, we review the available literature on the ecological and economic impact of ecosystem services provided by bats. We describe dietary preferences, foraging behaviors, adaptations, and phylogenetic histories of insectivorous, frugivorous, and nectarivorous bats worldwide in the context of their respective ecosystem services. For each trophic ensemble, we discuss the consequences of these ecological interactions on both natural and agricultural systems. Throughout this review, we highlight the research needed to fully determine the ecosystem services in question. Finally, we provide a comprehensive overview of economic valuation of ecosystem services. Unfortunately, few studies estimating the economic value of ecosystem services provided by bats have been conducted to date; however, we outline a framework that could be used in future studies to more fully address this question. Consumptive goods provided by bats, such as food and guano, are often exchanged in markets where the market price indicates an economic value. Nonmarket valuation methods can be used to estimate the economic value of nonconsumptive services, including inputs to agricultural production and recreational activities. Information on the ecological and economic value of ecosystem services provided by bats can be used to inform decisions regarding where and when to protect or restore bat populations and associated habitats, as well as to improve public perception of bats.

/pdf/ecosystem-services-provided-by-bats-2clwslocl0.pdf

Ecosystem services provided by bats

Ecosystem services are natural processes that benefit humans. Birds contribute the four types of services recognized by the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment-provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. In this review, we concentrate primarily on supporting services, and to a lesser extent, provisioning and regulating services. As members of ecosystems, birds play many roles, including as predators, pollinators, scavengers, seed dispersers, seed predators, and ecosystem engineers. These ecosystem services fall into two subcategories: those that arise via behavior (like consumption of agricultural pests) and those that arise via bird products (like nests and guano). Characteristics of most birds make them quite special from the perspective of ecosystem services. Because most birds fly, they can respond to irruptive or pulsed resources in ways generally not possible for other vertebrates. Migratory species link ecosystem processes and fluxes that are separated by great distances and times. Although the economic value to humans contributed by most, if not all, of the supporting services has yet to be quantified, we believe they are important to humans. Our goals for this review are 1) to lay the groundwork on these services to facilitate future efforts to estimate their economic value, 2) to highlight gaps in our knowledge, and 3) to point to future directions for additional research.

Ecosystem Services Provided by Birds

The 7 billion global population is projected to grow by 70 million per annum, increasing by 30 % to 9.2 billion by 2050. This increased population density is projected to increase demand for food production by 70 % notably due to changes in dietary habits in developing countries towards high quality food, e.g. greater consumption of meat and milk products and to the increasing use of grains for livestock feed. The availability of additional agricultural land is limited. Any expansion will happen mostly at the expense of forests and the natural habitats containing wildlife, wild relatives of crops and natural enemies of crop pests. Furthermore, more agricultural land will be used to produce bio-based commodities such as biofuel or fibre instead of food. Thus, we need to grow food on even less land, with less water, using less energy, fertiliser and pesticide than we use today. Given these limitations, sustainable production at elevated levels is urgently needed. The reduction of current yield losses caused by pests is a major challenge to agricultural production. This review presents (1) worldwide crop losses due to pests, (2) estimates of pesticide-related productivity, and costs and benefits of pesticide use, (3) approaches to reduce yield losses by chemical, as well as biological and recombinant methods of pest control and (4) the challenges of the crop-protection industry. The general public has a critical function in determining the future role of pesticides in agriculture. However, as long as there is a demand for pesticide-based solutions to pest control problems and food security concerns, the externality problems associated with the human and environmental health effects of pesticides need also to be addressed.

/pdf/pesticide-productivity-and-food-security-a-review-3wtmff5mrz.pdf

Pesticide productivity and food security. A review

Environment, Power, and Society

A fair evaluation of the net benefits provided by pesticides is essential to feed the current debate on their benefits and adverse consequences. Pesticides provide many benefits by killing agricultural and human pests. However, they also entail several types of costs, including internal costs due to the purchase and application of pesticides, and various other costs due to the impact of treatments on human health and the environment. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of these costs and their evaluation. We define four categories of costs: regulatory costs, human health costs, environmental costs and defensive expenditures. Those costs are either internal to the market, but hidden to the users, or external to the market and most often paid by a third party. We analysed 61 papers published between 1980 and 2014, and 30 independent dataset. Regulatory costs reached very large values, e.g. US$4 billion yearly in the United States in the 2000s. However, if all regulations were respected, these costs would have jumped to US$22 billion in this country. Health costs studies generally did not take into account fatal cases due to chronic exposure such as fatal outcomes of cancers. Doing so would have increased estimates of health costs by up to tenfold, e.g. from US$1.5 billion to US$15 billion in the United States in 2005.

/pdf/the-hidden-and-external-costs-of-pesticide-use-2bo8yr3i2z.pdf

The Hidden and External Costs of Pesticide Use

Two opposing viewpoints have been expressed in recent years concerning the benefits of pesticides in U.S. food production. Many agriculturalists and others have emphasized the benefits due to pesticide use (Borlaug 1972, Butz 1972, Carew 1972, Kraybill 1975, Slife 1973). Borlaug (1972) warned that if the use of pesticides in the United States were completely banned, crop losses would probably soar to 50% of current production and food prices would increase 4to 5-fold. Walker (1970) has estimated that, without adequate pest control, "food production could decrease 25 to 30 percent" and "our food and fiber depend at present and for several years to come on the judicious use of pesticides." Moreover, former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz (1972) stated that without pesticides farmers "could not produce enough food for 206 million Americans." Others have stressed the problems associated with pesticide use. In the early 1960s, the public was warned that continued pesticide use would eventually result in a "silent spring" and exact a high "human price" (Carson 1962). This viewpoint continues to find support today (Merrill 1976, Rudd 1964, Turner 1970, van den Bosch and Messenger 1973). Several previous analyses have weighed the benefits and costs of pesticide use. Dollar returns have been estimated at from $3 to $5 for every $1 invested in pesticidal control of pests (Headley 1968, Pimentel 1973, PSAC 1965). Chemical control in U.S. crop production costs is estimated at $2.2 billion annually, with a gross return we calculated to be $8.7 billion-hence, a $4 to $1 ratio (Pimentel et al. 1978). The $2.2 billion spent on pesticidal control does not include the "external costs" of pesticide use. These costs include human pesticide poisonings and fatalities, reduction of fish and wildlife populations, livestock losses, some destruction of susceptible crops and natural vegetation, honey bee losses, destruction of insect natural enemies, pesticide resistance in pest populations, and secondary pest problems created by the use of pesticides (Oka and Pimentel 1976, Pimentel 1971, Pimentel and Goodman 1974, Pimentel et al.'). The controversy concerning the benefits of pesticides compared with their costs persists to the present. For this reason, we were prompted to seek out and evaluate the available data to esti-

Benefits and Costs of Pesticide Use in U.S. Food Production

Pesticide use in the United States amounts to about 1 billion pounds per year (Berry, 1978). While most (800 million pounds) of these pesticides are used in agricultural production, a significant amount is applied by homeowners, industry, and government agencies (Berry, 1978).

A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Pesticide Use in U.S. Food Production

Procedures are developed and summarized that allow the calculation of the energy required to manufacture and install capital equipment, such as the material needed for a coalfired power plant. Three methods are available, each with certain strengths and weaknessess The first uses both literature value and national manufacturing statistics, the second uses a previously developed technique that disaggregates energy use according to how much each industry buys from all other industries, and the third technique is based on the average national relation between energy use and dollar flow. The most important differences between estimates of energy use by the different techniques relates to the inclusion or exclusion of labor and indirect expenditures rather than to differences in the data bases of the three techniques.

Efficiency of energy delivery systems: II. Estimating energy costs of capital equipment

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Benefits and Costs of Pesticide Use in U.S. Food Production

A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Pesticide Use in U.S. Food Production

Efficiency of energy delivery systems: II. Estimating energy costs of capital equipment