The economic impacts of ecosystem disruptions: Costs from substituting biological pest control

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Frank, Eyal G.
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-12841
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adg0344
• 发表日期: 2024-09-06
• 关键词: white-nose syndrome; infant-mortality; air-pollution; environmental-regulations; pesticide use; HEALTH; bats; sex; biodiversity; volatilization

摘要

Biodiversity loss is accelerating, yet we know little about how these ecosystem disruptions affect human well-being. Ecologists have documented both the importance of bats as natural predators of insects as well as their population declines after the emergence of a wildlife disease, resulting in a potential decline in biological pest control. In this work, 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-human infant mortality increased by 7.9% in the counties that experienced bat die-offs. These findings provide empirical validation to previous theoretical predictions about how ecosystem disruptions can have meaningful social costs.