by Eyal Frank
Biodiversity loss is accelerating, yet we know little about how these ecosystem disruptions impact human well-being. Ecologists have documented the importance of bats as natural predators of insects, as well as their population declines following the emergence of a wildlife disease—resulting in a potential decline in biological pest control. Here I study how species interactions can extend beyond an ecosystem and affect agriculture and human health. I find that farmers compensated for bat decline by increasing their insecticide use by 31.1%. The compensatory increase in insecticide use by farmers adversely affected health, as human infant mortality increased by 7.9% in the counties that experienced bat die-offs. These findings provide empirical validation to previous theoretical predictions on how ecosystem disruptions can have meaningful social costs.