Bat Activity in Organic Rice Fields Is Higher Than in Conventional Fields in Landscapes of Intermediate Complexity

Abstract

The extent to which organic farming can support biodiversity has been extensively studied. However, most of the research has been conducted on organic farms in temperate regions, with the focus mainly being on birds, insects, and plants and rarely on insectivorous bats, especially in Southeast Asia. We studied pairs of matched organic and conventional rice fields along a gradient of landscape complexity in the Songkhla Lake Basin and conducted acoustic surveys using bat detectors to analyze the influence of farming system and landscape characteristics on bat activity and prey availability. We also tested the “intermediate landscape complexity” hypothesis, which states that local conservation efforts are most effective in landscapes of intermediate complexity compared to extremely simple or extremely complex landscapes. We detected no difference in bat species richness, total bat activity, feeding activity, and insect prey abundance between organic fields and conventional fields. Even though organic farming did not increase bat activity on its own, it was most beneficial to bat activity in landscapes of intermediate complexity. Our findings suggest that landscape traits contribute more to bat activity than farm management and that insectivorous bats have species- and guild-specific responses to various landscape contexts. We also found that disturbance caused by tropical storms negatively impacts the activity of insectivorous bat.