Perceived and actual ecosystem services by fruit bats, birds, and primates in litchi orchards agroecosystems

Ecosystem services and disservices by key animal groups such as birds, fruit bats, and primates are often understudied. The lack of ecological knowledge results in persecution and culling due to perceived damage to fruit trees. We combined a control-treatment study with questionnaire data to untangle the actual and perceived impact of birds, fruit bats, and primates in South African litchi orchards. Control trees produced significantly higher yields than the caged trees. There was a weak, but non-significant, trend towards higher vertebrate damage on control trees compared to treatment trees. Questionnaire data found that weather and monkeys caused more damage to litchi fruits compared to fruit bats. There was also strong consensus among farmers that damage varied between vertebrate (monkey, fruit bats, birds, and wild pigs) and invertebrate (insects) as well as an abiotic factor (weather) groups. Farm type (commercial versus small-scale) showed a statistically significant difference in..., , # Data from: Perceived and actual ecosystem services by fruit bats, birds, and primates in litchi orchards agroecosystems

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.41ns1rnsz](10.5061/dryad.41ns1rnsz)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset includes experimental exclusion and questionnaire survey data collected to investigate the impacts of vertebrate exclusion on litchi agroecosystems and to assess farmer perceptions of litchi crop damage. An exclusion experiment was conducted over two consecutive harvest seasons (2019–2020) on two litchi farms in South Africa. Six nylon mesh cages (2×3 cm mesh size) were used to exclude flying vertebrates (e.g., bats and birds), monkeys, and large herbivores, while allowing access to arthropods and small animals. Two treatments were applied, a Full exclusion (closed at all times) and Control (open trees with no cage). Each exclusion cage was paired with an open control resulting to three paired treatments per farm. Cages were installed three mo..., All participants gave informed consent and were assured of anonymity and confidentiality throughout the study