biostudies-literatureHerrera JM“la Caixa” FoundationPortuguese National Public Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation23662https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8654945biostudies-literatureUnknown11(1)Pest control services provided by naturally occurring species (the so-called biocontrol services) are widely recognized to provide key incentives for biodiversity conservation. This is particularly relevant for vertebrate-mediated biocontrol services as many vertebrate species are of conservation concern, with most of their decline associated to landscape modification for agricultural purposes. Yet, we still lack rigorous approaches evaluating landscape-level correlates of biocontrol potential by vertebrates over broad spatial extents to better inform land-use and management decisions. We performed a spatially-explicit interaction-based assessment of potential biocontrol services in Portugal, using 1853 pairwise trophic interactions between 78 flying vertebrate species (birds and bats) andScientific reportsA food web approach reveals the vulnerability of biocontrol services by birds and bats to landscape modification at regional scale.PMC8654945PTDC/AAG-REC/6480/2014LCF/PR/PR13/51080004SFRH/BD/137803/2018SFRH/BD/99746/2014SFRH/BD/121388/2016SFRH/BD/133017/2017Morgado RBarreiro SJimenez-Navarro GSilva BVasconcelos SHerrera JMRodriguez-Perez JMoreira FMelguizo-Ruiz NfalseA food web approach reveals the vulnerability of biocontrol services by birds and bats to landscape modification at regional scale.Pest control services provided by naturally occurring species (the so-called biocontrol services) are widely recognized to provide key incentives for biodiversity conservation. This is particularly relevant for vertebrate-mediated biocontrol services as many vertebrate species are of conservation concern, with most of their decline associated to landscape modification for agricultural purposes. Yet, we still lack rigorous approaches evaluating landscape-level correlates of biocontrol potential by vertebrates over broad spatial extents to better inform land-use and management decisions. We performed a spatially-explicit interaction-based assessment of potential biocontrol services in Portugal, using 1853 pairwise trophic interactions between 78 flying vertebrate species (birds and bats) and2021-01-01T00:00:00Z2021 Dec2025-04-05T13:59:05.194Z2022-02-11T15:21:26.97ZS-EPMC86549453488028010.1038/s41598-021-02768-0