tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/white-nose-syndrome-14269/articlesWhite-nose syndrome – The Conversation2022-10-26T16:52:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1904982022-10-26T16:52:30Z2022-10-26T16:52:30ZDeclining bat populations are a cause for human concern<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491514/original/file-20221025-14669-qb0tff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5751%2C3647&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some bat populations have had their numbers reduced by as much as 90 per cent.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/declining-bat-populations-are-a-cause-for-human-concern" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Fewer bats will be flapping through the evening skies in the coming months. It’s the time of year where some species go into hibernation, <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/natural-resource-policy-legislation/legislation-regulation/frpa-pac/wildlife-habitat-features/whf_field_guide_kootenay_boundary_bat_hibernaculum.pdf">cozying up in narrow rock crevices or caves to overwinter</a>. </p>
<p>Fortunately, this disappearance is only seasonal. Bats are critical for the functioning of healthy ecosystems. They <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-394288-3.00007-1">help cycle nutrients in the environment and pollinate plants</a>. They also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1201366">eat agricultural pests</a>, which reduces the need for pesticides.</p>
<p>Bats provide enormous value to our ecosystems, but because they do their work under the cover of darkness, we aren’t always aware of the help they give.</p>
<h2>Threatened habitats</h2>
<p>More worrisome than this seasonal disappearance is the fact that bat populations have been <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/news/highlights/tracking-decline-bats-north-america">declining in North America for decades</a>. Loss of habitat due to forestry, urbanization and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00855-2">conversion of land to agriculture</a> reduces suitable habitats for bats, while pesticide application kills the insects that they feed on. </p>
<p>These impacts are exacerbated by the fungus, <em>Pseudogymnoascus destructans</em>, which causes white-nose syndrome. This fatal fungus is responsible for <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/plants-animals-and-ecosystems/wildlife-wildlife-habitat/wildlife-health/wildlife-health-documents/wns_fact_sheet_bc_bat_researchers_jan_2014.pdf">the deaths of over six million bats in North America</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XDYKSF2VEoM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Protecting bats from white-nose syndrome in British Columbia.</span></figcaption>
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<p>White-nose syndrome has been particularly devastating in Eastern Canada where it’s caused <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.579593/publication.html">an over 90 per cent decline in populations</a> of little brown myotis (<em>Myotis lucifugus</em>) and northern myotis (<em>Myotis septentrionalis</em>).</p>
<p>The fungus is making its way further west, with the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/white-nose-syndrome-detected-saskatchewan-1.6530342">first recorded case in Saskatchewan</a> in July. White-nose syndrome hasn’t been detected yet in British Columbia, but the deadly threat is looming. </p>
<p>Our research team at the B.C. node of the <a href="https://www.cwhcbc.com/">Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative</a> has been working to support wildlife health for over a decade. To understand the threats currently facing the <a href="https://wcsbats.ca/species">15 species of bats living in British Columbia</a>, we studied 275 bats that had died between 2015 and 2020. We found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2021-0230">the most common causes of death were linked to human activity</a></p>
<p>This information can help us track bat populations over time and in response to urbanization and climate change. In order to help bats live, we need to know why they die.</p>
<h2>Killer cats</h2>
<p>A quarter of the bats in our study were killed by cats. This wasn’t surprising — domestic cats are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/WR19174">well-known predators of wildlife</a>. In Australia, free-roaming pet cats are estimated to kill 390 million animals a year. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-let-them-out-15-ways-to-keep-your-indoor-cat-happy-138716">Don't let them out: 15 ways to keep your indoor cat happy</a>
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<p>Free-roaming cats pose not only a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12240">risk to bats</a>, but also to biodiversity. Some cities in Iceland have <a href="https://hakaimagazine.com/features/its-10-pm-do-you-know-where-your-cat-is/">implemented a cat curfew</a> to save their declining bird populations. </p>
<p>One of our more surprising findings was that most of the bats we found that were killed by cats were female and in relatively good body condition. This greater proportion of dead female bats might be due to <a href="https://bcbats.ca/attachments/Living-with-Bats-FINAL.pdf">cats entering maternity roosts</a> where female bats give birth to and raise their young. </p>
<p>Because bats have relatively <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-012-1010-0">few young each year</a>, the death of female bats in otherwise good condition has outsized implications for their population numbers into the future. </p>
<p>The simplest solution here is to keep pet cats indoors and supervise outdoor cat time. Cats only bring about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2013.01.008">20 per cent of their prey home</a>, so owners likely aren’t aware of the extent of their feline friends’ hunting habits.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491677/original/file-20221025-246-wflr31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a cat holding a dead mouse in its mouth" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491677/original/file-20221025-246-wflr31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491677/original/file-20221025-246-wflr31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491677/original/file-20221025-246-wflr31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491677/original/file-20221025-246-wflr31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491677/original/file-20221025-246-wflr31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491677/original/file-20221025-246-wflr31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491677/original/file-20221025-246-wflr31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cats only bring home a fraction of what they kill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Recent research suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109503">these actions are most important near forested areas</a>. Cats were found to be more likely to prey on wildlife closer than 500 metres to forests rather than further away. Focusing on managing cats who live near forested areas could be one way to minimize risks to wildlife.</p>
<p>Keeping cats inside has benefits for cats too: Indoor cats <a href="https://spca.bc.ca/faqs/indoor-cats-vs-outdoor-cats/">live longer</a> than cats that live outside. </p>
<h2>Worlds collide</h2>
<p>Half of the bats in our study died by human-associated causes. That’s partly because the bats we studied were submitted to our lab by members of the public. Most of the bats in our study (90 per cent) were synanthropic species, those who live alongside people.</p>
<p>Reflecting these close contacts, another 25 per cent of bats in this study died due to blunt force trauma, such as through vehicle or garage door collisions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491676/original/file-20221025-246-8913bd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a green sign on a brick wall reading BAT ROOST KEEP OUT!" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491676/original/file-20221025-246-8913bd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491676/original/file-20221025-246-8913bd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491676/original/file-20221025-246-8913bd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491676/original/file-20221025-246-8913bd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491676/original/file-20221025-246-8913bd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491676/original/file-20221025-246-8913bd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491676/original/file-20221025-246-8913bd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bat conservation programs in the United Kingdom include wildlife laws that protect ecosystem balance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Interestingly, bats that died in this way were more likely to be male. It’s not entirely clear why this is, but research suggests that males may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12072">fly further than females</a>, increasing their likelihood of collisions with cars or buildings.</p>
<p>Understanding differences in death by sex is helpful because it can inform conservation and management. For example, identifying where bats fly and how far could determine where to construct new roadways. The creation of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2021.106466">wildlife crossings</a> in busy bat areas could also help reduce fatalities. </p>
<h2>An incomplete picture</h2>
<p>Studying wildlife isn’t easy. Bats roost in lots of different places, from caves to barns to attics, and scientists can’t monitor bats in all places at all times. </p>
<p>Reports from communities contribute to the information gathered about bats, and help us to understand the health of local bat populations. </p>
<p>To study bat mortality, we use an approach called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s43170-020-00016-5">passive surveillance</a>,” where the public is an essential research partner. Those who find sick or dead wildlife can report it online to the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative <a href="http://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/report_and_submit.php">using this tool</a>. In B.C. you can report bats specifically through the <a href="https://bcbats.ca/got-bats/report-your-bats/">Community Bat Program of B.C.</a>. You can also learn more about creating bat friendly spaces in the <a href="https://bcbats.ca/attachments/BC-Bat-friendly-Communities-Guide-2018.pdf">Bat Friendly Communities Guide</a>.</p>
<p><em>This article is based on research led by Western College of Veterinary Medicine student Imara Beattie with the British Columbia node of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kaylee Byers is the Deputy Director for the British Columbia node of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative. </span></em></p>Bats have important roles to play in ecosystems, but their populations have been declining due to disease and habitat change.Kaylee Byers, Regional Deputy Director, British Columbia Node of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative; University Research Associate, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1643862021-07-25T14:11:28Z2021-07-25T14:11:28Z‘Bat boxes’ could help revive Canada’s depleting bat population<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412552/original/file-20210721-15-2gxnio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A big brown bat and a little brown bat hibernating in an abandoned mine in Ontario.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Karen Vanderwolf)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From habitat loss to disease, bat species across Canada are facing multiple threats. As cities expand, the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12945">large old trees</a> that bats call home are being cleared and bats are losing their roosts. </p>
<p>White-nose syndrome, a fungal disease, has devastated bat populations from <a href="http://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/white_nose_syndrome_reports_and_maps.php">Newfoundland to Manitoba</a>. In some parts of eastern Canada, bat populations have declined by over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7195">90 per cent</a>. In fact, <a href="https://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=073DC653-">three of the 19 bat species in Canada are now listed as endangered</a> because of white-nose syndrome. </p>
<p>In winter, hibernating bats affected by white-nose syndrome burn off their fat reserves too quickly and die from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-8-135">starvation and dehydration</a>. The surviving <a href="https://doi.org/10.1644/05-MAMM-A-127R1.1">bats need a warm</a> and secure place to roost during the day in summer. A bat box is a simple and effective way to provide such roosts. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.3161/15081109ACC2016.18.1.017">bat boxes have varied designs</a>, and little is known about which designs will most benefit bat species across Canada.</p>
<p>In response, the <a href="https://wcsbats.ca/Our-work-to-save-bats/Batbox-Project/BatBox-Project-Canada-wide">Wildlife Conservation Society Canada</a> and the <a href="https://cwf-fcf.org/en/explore/bats/?src=menu">Canadian Wildlife Federation</a>, with support from Environment and Climate Change Canada, launched the <a href="https://cwf-fcf.org/en/explore/bats/bat-survey-1.html">Canadian Bat Box Project</a> this year to help bat populations recover with the assistance of community scientists across Canada. I am the lead researcher on this project as part of my postdoctoral research. </p>
<h2>Designing bat boxes</h2>
<p><a href="https://batwatch.ca/">Little brown bats</a> are North America’s most common bats, living from coast to coast and from Alaska to Mexico. They are known to use bat boxes throughout Canada. Meanwhile <a href="http://www.crossconservation.org/sites/default/files/Erin%20Miller-%20BatBoxes-Final%20530%20Paper2017.pdf">big brown bats</a>, which are about double the size of little brown bats and are found across southern Canada, use boxes in some parts of Canada. <a href="http://www.batresearchproject.org/media/1045/nogorsen-2009-bat-house-mitigations.pdf">Yuma bats use boxes</a> in British Columbia, the only province this species is found in.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bats roosting inside a bat box." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412546/original/file-20210721-15-1ls81fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412546/original/file-20210721-15-1ls81fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412546/original/file-20210721-15-1ls81fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412546/original/file-20210721-15-1ls81fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412546/original/file-20210721-15-1ls81fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412546/original/file-20210721-15-1ls81fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412546/original/file-20210721-15-1ls81fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bat box with little brown bats inside.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jordi Segers)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Scientists have documented only these three species using bat boxes out of the 19 species found in Canada compared to the United States, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3161/15081109ACC2016.18.1.017">where 13 of those species use them</a>. This difference may simply be due to lack of study in Canada, or potentially because of our colder climate.</p>
<p>We <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/bat-box-study-1.5956703">launched the Canadian Bat Box Project in 2021</a> to study bat box use so that scientists can develop regional and species-specific recommendations for bat box design and placement to increase box success rates. </p>
<p>More than 900 people across Canada have signed up to participate in the project this summer, the first field season in the three-year project. We provide willing participants with a temperature logger to install in their bat box, as well as supplies to collect guano (bat poop) to identify the bat species. Bat box owners that have bats swab the interior of their boxes for <em>Pseudogymnoascus destructans</em>, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome. </p>
<p>This fungus grows into the bat’s wings and replaces muscles, blood vessels and other parts of the skin. It disrupts their hibernation and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-8-135">depletes their energy</a>, causing fatalities.</p>
<p>While this fungus is widespread on walls and the floor in caves and has also been <a href="https://doi.org/10.7589/2016-09-206">found on bats in the summer</a>, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3996/102017-JFWM-080">study of bat boxes in New York</a> found that some boxes contained the fungus year-round. </p>
<p>The swabs we receive from the participants of the Canadian Bat Box Project will tell us if bat boxes can contribute to disease spread. Monitoring results may tell us whether the bats are using these roosts for themselves or to produce pups.</p>
<h2>Alternative roosts</h2>
<p>Installing a bat box gives bats an alternative to roosting in your house, and since all bats in Canada eat only insects, you may even notice a decrease in the insect population around your house! </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Two bat boxes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411562/original/file-20210715-13-124sgl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411562/original/file-20210715-13-124sgl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411562/original/file-20210715-13-124sgl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411562/original/file-20210715-13-124sgl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411562/original/file-20210715-13-124sgl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411562/original/file-20210715-13-124sgl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411562/original/file-20210715-13-124sgl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bat boxes provide alternative roosts for the declining bat population.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Stephen Cluff)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bat boxes need to mimic tree hollows by having hot temperatures of 27—38 C. But some bat boxes get too hot during the summer, which can increase mortality. Temperatures above 40 C in bat boxes are too hot. Some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/24/race-to-save-bats-flying-foxes-from-overheating-as-temperatures-rise-aoe">bat boxes in Canada</a> and even in the Yukon have recorded temperatures over 50 C! </p>
<p>Installing multiple bat boxes, for example one in the sun and one in the shade, gives bats a choice. These different roosts will have different temperatures depending on the weather. Bats often change roosts from one night to the next and participants have observed bats using different bat boxes on different days.</p>
<p>Once these boxes are set up, bat box owners can <a href="https://trentu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_86og8C3MIgO2ff7">participate in the study</a> and share information about their human-made roosts. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Big brown bat flying out of a bat box." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411558/original/file-20210715-13-1nbgux3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411558/original/file-20210715-13-1nbgux3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411558/original/file-20210715-13-1nbgux3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411558/original/file-20210715-13-1nbgux3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411558/original/file-20210715-13-1nbgux3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411558/original/file-20210715-13-1nbgux3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411558/original/file-20210715-13-1nbgux3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Big brown bat exits a bat box in British Columbia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(John Saremba)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You can tell whether bats are using your box by searching for guano underneath your box. At dusk in the summer, you may see <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqZbyjhC0XI">bats swooping around and catching insects</a> in midair. Dusk is a good time to count bats as they emerge from your box.</p>
<p>You can also shine a light up into the box during the day to see if there are bats inside from May to October in Canada. The boxes will be too cold for bats during the winter. If a box gets too hot, you may observe bats crowding at the entrance of your box or even outside the box. This is a sign of heat stress. Be sure to avoid any physical contact with bats for both your safety and the bats’ safety.</p>
<h2>Project progress… what lies ahead</h2>
<p>Bats are integral to our ecosystems. They eat a variety of insects, including agricultural and forestry pests. These pest-control services are valued at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1201366">US$3.7-53 billion dollars</a> per year in the United States alone. In the tropics, bats also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06004.x">pollinate a variety of fruits</a> including bananas, breadfruits, durians and mangoes.</p>
<p>Seven months into the project, participants of our Canadian Bat Box Project note they are not seeing as many bats as they used to before white-nose syndrome arrived. Overall, about 20 per cent of participants reported success with bats roosting or even producing pups in their bat boxes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Map of the locations of the bat boxes monitored across Canada." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411715/original/file-20210716-27-vkjr2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411715/original/file-20210716-27-vkjr2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411715/original/file-20210716-27-vkjr2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411715/original/file-20210716-27-vkjr2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411715/original/file-20210716-27-vkjr2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411715/original/file-20210716-27-vkjr2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411715/original/file-20210716-27-vkjr2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Almost 1,000 Canadians signed up to participate in the Canadian Bat Box Project. So far, 20 per cent of their bat boxes have been successful bat roosts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Karen Vanderwolf)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We believe that better bat boxes will help the population recover from the effects of white-nose syndrome by increasing reproductive success.</p>
<p>The results of three summers of fieldwork for this project will provide much-needed information about both successful and unsuccessful boxes. Preliminary data analysis will begin this fall and <a href="https://wcsbats.ca/Portals/211/Canadian%20Bat%20Box%20Project%20Newsletter%20Spring%202021%20(3).pdf?ver=2021-04-20-182356-903">results will be released</a> to the public soon after. </p>
<p>Public education is also an important part of this project. Bats are sometimes viewed negatively but the more you learn, the more amazing bats seem. Bats now face additional persecution due to worries about COVID-19, but bats in North America do not have the virus that <a href="https://cwf-fcf.org/en/about-cwf/faq/faqs/should-i-be-worried-bats.html?src=blog">causes COVID-19</a>.</p>
<p>With your help and improved recommendations, we hope to increase the success of bat boxes across Canada.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Vanderwolf does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>White-nose syndrome has wiped out millions of bats in North America, pushing researchers to look at alternative roosts like bat boxes. But the U.S. bat box designs may not suit Canadian bats.Karen Vanderwolf, PhD Candidate, Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263982020-01-27T12:19:14Z2020-01-27T12:19:14ZWhat is white-nose syndrome in bats?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310004/original/file-20200114-151876-zaicwr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C1266%2C846&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dr. Winifred Frick examines a bat for white-nose syndrome.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Hicks</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>What is white-nose syndrome in bats? – Minti F., age 13, Boston, Massachusetts</p>
<hr>
<p>Scientists count bats in the winter to make sure their populations are doing okay. They look in caves and abandoned mines where bats hibernate when it is too cold to hunt for insects to eat.</p>
<p>About 10 years ago, during their annual winter bat counts, scientists noticed that bats in caves in New York state were dying. The bats that were still alive had a white fuzzy growth on their muzzles and wings. Scientists didn’t know what it was and named it <a href="https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/static-page/what-is-white-nose-syndrome">white-nose syndrome</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310016/original/file-20200114-151876-ezxm9e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310016/original/file-20200114-151876-ezxm9e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310016/original/file-20200114-151876-ezxm9e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310016/original/file-20200114-151876-ezxm9e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310016/original/file-20200114-151876-ezxm9e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310016/original/file-20200114-151876-ezxm9e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310016/original/file-20200114-151876-ezxm9e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310016/original/file-20200114-151876-ezxm9e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Little brown bats with white-nose syndrome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Hicks</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now we know a lot more about white-nose syndrome, a disease that kills bats when they hibernate. I am <a href="http://frick.eeb.ucsc.edu/">a scientist who studies bats</a> to learn more about how to protect them. </p>
<h2>A fungus that infects hibernating bats</h2>
<p>The white-nose syndrome disease is caused by a fungus that grows on bats’ skin when they are trying to survive winter by hibernating in cold, dark subterranean habitats like mines and caves. <a href="http://www.batcon.org/why-bats/bats-are/bats-are-important">Bats are mammals</a> like you. But unlike people, they have a special ability to “go cold” to save energy when there isn’t anything to eat. This is called torpor.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310003/original/file-20200114-151825-14pvdwj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310003/original/file-20200114-151825-14pvdwj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310003/original/file-20200114-151825-14pvdwj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310003/original/file-20200114-151825-14pvdwj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310003/original/file-20200114-151825-14pvdwj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310003/original/file-20200114-151825-14pvdwj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310003/original/file-20200114-151825-14pvdwj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310003/original/file-20200114-151825-14pvdwj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hibernating tri-colored bat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Winifred Frick</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fungus that causes this disease can live on the walls of caves and mines. It grows best in cold temperatures and infects bats when their immune system, which fights infection, isn’t as active. </p>
<p>Bats have skin on their wings, muzzles and a membrane that connects between their tail and hind legs. The fungus eats into those skin tissues, causing lesions. The infection causes the bats to wake up from their energy-saving torpor. Bats can’t survive for long in the middle of winter without food, and they starve to death.</p>
<p>Bats started dying by the thousands in the winter of 2006-2007, sounding the alarm that something was seriously wrong. Some bat species are more vulnerable to the disease, like the northern long-eared bat, the little brown bat and the tri-colored bat. </p>
<p>We estimate that millions of bats across North America have died as the fungus has spread. Bats need our help. In the past 10 years, many wildlife biologists have worked hard to help bats survive. There are no easy solutions, but a lot of scientific research is underway to discover how we can protect bats.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em>
<em>Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126398/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Winifred Frick works for Bat Conservation International, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting bat populations around the world.</span></em></p>Researchers are puzzled by a fungus that is killing millions of bats.Winifred Frick, Associate Research Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa CruzLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1291862020-01-20T04:34:02Z2020-01-20T04:34:02ZAustralia’s threatened bats need protection from a silent killer: white-nose syndrome<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308196/original/file-20191223-11891-zcp8mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Three North American little brown bats with signs of white-nose syndrome, which is virtually certain to hit Australian bats without further action.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq/5614360878">KDFWR/Terry Derting</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We already know how deadly this summer’s fires have been for <a href="https://theconversation.com/six-million-hectares-of-threatened-species-habitat-up-in-smoke-129438">mammals, birds, and reptiles</a> across Australia. But beyond this bushfire season, many of those same species – including our <a href="http://ausbats.org.au/about-bats/4551313477">bats</a>, which make up around a quarter of all Australian mammal species – are facing another devastating threat to their survival.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/">White‐nose syndrome</a> has recently decimated bat populations across North America. While the fungal pathogen responsible for this disease, <em>Pseudogymnoascus destructans</em>, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0204282">currently doesn’t occur</a> in Australia, the fungus is <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/WR/justaccepted/WR18194">virtually certain</a> to jump continents in the next decade.</p>
<p>Our recent research, published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aec.12832?af=R">Austral Ecology</a>, attempted to quantify this risk – and the results are not encouraging. Up to eight bat species occupy caves in south-eastern Australia that provide conditions suitable for the fungus to grow. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309171/original/file-20200108-138649-1c2pb1q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309171/original/file-20200108-138649-1c2pb1q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309171/original/file-20200108-138649-1c2pb1q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309171/original/file-20200108-138649-1c2pb1q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309171/original/file-20200108-138649-1c2pb1q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309171/original/file-20200108-138649-1c2pb1q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309171/original/file-20200108-138649-1c2pb1q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Large parts of southern Australia provides cave habitat suitable for growth by the cold-loving fungus responsible for white-nose syndrome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Turbill & Welbergen 2019</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even before this summer’s fires, seven of those types of bats were listed on state or federal legislation as threatened with extinction. This includes the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=87645">critically endangered</a> southern bent-winged bat (<em>Miniopterus orianae bassanii</em>), a species whose caves would all provide optimal conditions for growth of the fungus.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308066/original/file-20191220-11919-1txtlq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308066/original/file-20191220-11919-1txtlq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308066/original/file-20191220-11919-1txtlq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308066/original/file-20191220-11919-1txtlq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308066/original/file-20191220-11919-1txtlq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308066/original/file-20191220-11919-1txtlq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308066/original/file-20191220-11919-1txtlq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All caves occupied by the critically endangered southern bent-winged bat provide ideal thermal conditions for white-nose syndrome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr Lindy Lumsden</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Millions of bats wiped out in North America</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/">White-nose syndrome</a> was first detected in the United States in 2006 at a popular tourist cave in the state of New York. Since then, the disease has <a href="https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/spreadmap">spread</a> across North America, killing millions of bats in its wake, with many local populations experiencing 90 to 100% mortality.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/109/18/6999">novel pathogen hypothesis</a> explains why <em>P. destructans</em> has such catastrophic impacts on North American bats: the immune system of these species is evolutionarily naive to this fungal attack. Accordingly, in Europe and Asia, where <em>P. destructans</em> is endemic and widespread, few bats exhibit white‐nose syndrome and mortalities are rare. </p>
<p>Australia’s unique wildlife is inherently at risk from invasive novel pathogens because of its long‐term biogeographical isolation. Thus Australian bats, like their distant North American relatives, probably lack an effective immune response to <em>P. destructans</em> and would be susceptible to developing white-nose syndrome.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308073/original/file-20191220-11946-1ju7j66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308073/original/file-20191220-11946-1ju7j66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308073/original/file-20191220-11946-1ju7j66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308073/original/file-20191220-11946-1ju7j66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308073/original/file-20191220-11946-1ju7j66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308073/original/file-20191220-11946-1ju7j66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308073/original/file-20191220-11946-1ju7j66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308073/original/file-20191220-11946-1ju7j66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Since its detection in the United States in 2006, white-nose syndrome has received extensive media attention globally.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hibernation is the key risk period</h2>
<p>Most fungal pathogens grow best at cool temperatures, and a high body temperature in mammals and birds provides an <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/200/10/1623/881601">effective barrier</a> against fungal diseases. The fungus causing white-nose syndrome is also cold-loving, ceasing to grow at temperatures above 20°C. The only time it can infect and kill bats is when they hibernate. </p>
<p>Bats go cold (use <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12137">torpor</a>) during hibernation to prevent starvation over winter in temperate climates. Hibernating bats that are infected by <em>P. destructans</em> rewarm more frequently than normal. These unscheduled bursts of metabolic heat production prematurely burn up the body fat of overwintering bats. Hence, despite the damage caused by white-nose syndrome to the bat’s skin tissue, they apparently die due to starvation or dehydration.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308068/original/file-20191220-11929-10yg6bx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308068/original/file-20191220-11929-10yg6bx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308068/original/file-20191220-11929-10yg6bx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308068/original/file-20191220-11929-10yg6bx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308068/original/file-20191220-11929-10yg6bx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308068/original/file-20191220-11929-10yg6bx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308068/original/file-20191220-11929-10yg6bx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The infection is easily visible under UV light.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Turner et al. 2014</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hibernation is key to predicting the susceptibility of bat populations to mortality from white-nose syndrome: those with less energy to spare over winter are more at risk. Consequently, white-nose syndrome has fuelled a large research program on the winter ecology and hibernation physiology of North American bats.</p>
<p>Bats in south-eastern Australia do enter a period of winter hibernation, but that is about the extent of what we know. This knowledge gap makes it impossible to predict how they will respond if exposed to <em>P. destructans</em>. Even non-lethal impacts, however, will worsen the extinction-bound trajectory of several cave-roosting species, most notably the eastern and southern bent-winged bats.</p>
<h2>What can Australia do?</h2>
<p>Given the impending arrival of <em>P. destructans</em> in Australia, and our study’s findings of widespread thermal cave suitability in south-eastern Australia, we urge immediate action. This includes tightening biosecurity measures and gaining missing information on bat biology so we are better prepared for a possible white-nose syndrome epidemic.</p>
<p>The importance of this threat has not been missed by Wildlife Health Australia, which has produced <a href="https://www.wildlifehealthaustralia.com.au/ProgramsProjects/BatHealthFocusGroup.aspx#WNS">guidelines</a> for reporting and response to incursion. Advice is also available from the <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/pests-diseases-weeds/animal/white-nose-syndrome">Commonwealth</a>. Just recently, white-nose syndrome was listed in the <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity/environmental/priority-list">national priority list</a> for exotic environmental pests and diseases, ranking in the top five of native animal diseases and their pathogens.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.caves.org.au/conservation">Cave enthusiasts</a> have also been proactive in alerting members to white-nose syndrome and the risk of accidentally introducing <em>P. destructans</em>, especially when returning from overseas caving adventures. And the <a href="http://ausbats.org.au/white-nose-syndrome/4593892491">Australasian Bat Society</a> – a strong advocate for bat conservation – has alerted the public and government agencies to this potential new threat.</p>
<h2>Action now is critical</h2>
<p>At present, there is little that would prevent <em>P. destructans</em> from making it its way to Australian caves, despite two years passing since experts assessed the risk of incursion as almost certain.</p>
<p>We need effective measures at all levels, from requiring incoming visitors to identify contact with cave environments, to decontamination procedures at caves popular with international tourists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308078/original/file-20191220-11900-mrhalt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308078/original/file-20191220-11900-mrhalt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308078/original/file-20191220-11900-mrhalt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308078/original/file-20191220-11900-mrhalt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308078/original/file-20191220-11900-mrhalt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308078/original/file-20191220-11900-mrhalt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308078/original/file-20191220-11900-mrhalt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308078/original/file-20191220-11900-mrhalt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The US Fish and Wildlife Service’s White-nose Syndrome Response Team produced this infographic, including what you can do to help bats.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Predicting the impact of white-nose syndrome on Australian bats is currently not possible because we know so little about their winter biology. We urge the Australian government to fund specific research to gain this information.</p>
<p>The US Fish and Wildlife Service has injected more than US$46 million since 2008 into <a href="https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/funding-projects">research</a> and fieldwork to address the threat. Australian researchers can use this work to focus on the critical data needed to inform <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/1/e1500831">models</a> that predict the vulnerability of local bat populations.</p>
<h2>Why we need bats to survive</h2>
<p>Bats are incredibly <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-shouldnt-be-so-quick-to-demonise-bats-87693">valuable</a> in their own right. But the world needs healthy bat populations: a single insectivorous bat can eat up to half its body mass in insects each night, and together colonies of bats provide a service with an <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/332/6025/41">estimated value</a> to the agricultural industry alone in the billions of dollars per year. </p>
<p>We hope this terrible disease will not threaten Australian bats. But the precautionary principle dictates we should plan and act now, assuming the worst-case scenario. Alarm bells are ringing.</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-shouldnt-be-so-quick-to-demonise-bats-87693">Read more: The importance of Australia’s weird and wonderful bats</a></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308072/original/file-20191220-11939-b98v4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308072/original/file-20191220-11939-b98v4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308072/original/file-20191220-11939-b98v4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308072/original/file-20191220-11939-b98v4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308072/original/file-20191220-11939-b98v4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308072/original/file-20191220-11939-b98v4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308072/original/file-20191220-11939-b98v4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A selection of Australia’s bat diversity. Top row from left: grey-headed flying-fox; orange leaf-nosed bat; common blossom bat; large-footed myotis. Bottom row: golden-tipped bat; eastern horseshoe bat; common sheath-tailed bat; ghost bat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Justin Welbergen (grey-headed flying-fox, eastern horseshoe bat); Nicola Hanrahan (ghost bat); Bruce Thomson (golden-tipped bat); Steve Parish & Les Hall for remainder of species</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129186/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Turbill receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Welbergen receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC)</span></em></p>It’s been a deadly summer for Australia’s wildlife. But beyond the fires, we need to act now to protect bats – which make up a quarter of Australian mammal species – from a silent overseas killer.Christopher Turbill, Senior Lecturer in Animal Ecology, Western Sydney UniversityJustin A. Welbergen, President of the Australasian Bat Society | Associate Professor of Animal Ecology, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/606032016-06-08T05:35:01Z2016-06-08T05:35:01ZHow to stop vampire bats wreaking havoc (no stakes or garlic required)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125571/original/image-20160607-15049-6lhmjk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Streicker/Julio Benavides</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the darkest hours of the night, they fly and hunt for prey. They live in caves and ruined buildings and have to drink blood every night to survive. They can bite with their fangs without you even noticing. No wonder these bats are called vampires. Yet when it comes to coping with these bloodthirsty creatures, the good news is that a breakthrough could finally be in sight. </p>
<p>Vampire bats only live in one part of the world – which is a relief, unless you happen to be in Latin America. They exist between northern Mexico and northern Chile, and they are a major problem. They are now the <a href="http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49892009000300010">main cause</a> of human deaths from rabies in the region. </p>
<p>Between 2009 and 2013, vampire bats bit 20,000 people in Peru alone, according to the country’s health minister; and in communities across the Amazon, where bites are commonplace, the rate of rabies infection <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9025698">could be</a> almost as high as 1% per year. At least 12 children were killed by rabies earlier <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3440814/Rabies-spread-bats-kills-12-Peruvian-Amazon.html">this year</a> in a single outbreak. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168170205000705">farmers lose</a> a few thousand livestock every year – or perhaps many more, since the worst-hit remote communities almost certainly under-report infection rates. We found that about 70% of farms in the Andes have at least one animal bitten regularly. </p>
<p>The virus is also steadily expanding into areas that were historically free of the disease, as we discovered through our <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1832/20160328">recent work</a> in Peru. As many as 12 new governmental districts become infected per year on average, which has doubled the number of outbreaks at national level. We found that the virus invades new areas in waves that advance at between 10km and 20km per year. The advance is stalled only by tall mountains that rise above the altitudes where bats thrive. </p>
<p>We don’t know what has sparked the spread of rabies into new territories, but one possibility is that bats nowadays have access to more livestock and man-made structures for roosting. This could be making it possible to allow the disease to spread by connecting previously isolated populations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125515/original/image-20160607-15031-1d2fdds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125515/original/image-20160607-15031-1d2fdds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125515/original/image-20160607-15031-1d2fdds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125515/original/image-20160607-15031-1d2fdds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125515/original/image-20160607-15031-1d2fdds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125515/original/image-20160607-15031-1d2fdds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125515/original/image-20160607-15031-1d2fdds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125515/original/image-20160607-15031-1d2fdds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vampire bats have sharp teeth for feeding on blood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&searchterm=vampire%20bats&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=376769797">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Breaking the waves</h2>
<p>We are pleased to report that the waves of rabies in bats move quite predictably. This makes it possible to forecast in some areas when and where the virus is likely to strike next. With this information, which has not been known until now, the authorities in Peru will have the option of anticipating their arrival, allowing them to vaccinate the animals and people before deaths begin. </p>
<p>This would be a big shift from the norm, where livestock and people typically get vaccinated only after an outbreak has been declared. Assuming the virus behaves in the same way in other countries, the same approach could be adopted across Latin America. </p>
<p>Having said that, vaccinating animals and people does nothing to prevent the spread of the virus. It only saves the recipients of vaccines from dying. If you want to stop the virus, you have to tackle the source of the transmission – the bats themselves. </p>
<p>Since the 1970s, Latin American governments’ answer has been bat culls. Yet there is no <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1439-0450.2003.00713.x/full">convincing evidence</a> that this has made a substantial difference, and it may even have been counterproductive – by <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2012/06/07/rspb.2012.0538.short">mainly targetting</a> adult bats that are already immune and <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/110/51/20837.abstract">provoking bats</a> to disperse between roosts, it might have hastened the spread of the disease. </p>
<p>Governments across the world have been <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15742629">very successful</a> at using mass-vaccination programmes to curb rabies in dogs and other key carrier species such as foxes and raccoons, but this has never been attempted on a large scale with vampire bats. This is despite the fact that an effective vaccine is now an option. Researchers in <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9682368">Mexico</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18761044">Brazil</a> have shown that you can prevent bats in captivity from catching rabies by giving them an orally transmitted gel that has been impregnated with the vaccine. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125570/original/image-20160607-7438-1g0bp43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125570/original/image-20160607-7438-1g0bp43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125570/original/image-20160607-7438-1g0bp43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125570/original/image-20160607-7438-1g0bp43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125570/original/image-20160607-7438-1g0bp43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125570/original/image-20160607-7438-1g0bp43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125570/original/image-20160607-7438-1g0bp43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125570/original/image-20160607-7438-1g0bp43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rabies spreads among bats by bites.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Streicker</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether this would work with wild bats is another matter, of course. All the biological and ethical challenges inherent in any wildlife vaccination campaign are likely to apply, not to mention the logistical challenge of remote landscapes in the Andes and Amazon. </p>
<p>But our findings on the way that the disease spreads in waves among bats could change the game here, too: rather than seeking to eliminate rabies from all vampire bats in endemically infected areas, we could try to halt the spread into new areas instead. </p>
<p>It is also important to galvanise interest in bat vaccination among public health officials and conservationists for other reasons. As well as rabies, bat populations are thought to spread other diseases such as <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/">Ebola</a> and <a href="http://www.batcon.org/index.php/our-work/regions/usa-canada/address-serious-threats/wns-intro">white-nose syndrome</a> in other parts of the world. </p>
<p>Given that vampire bat rabies has a major impact on human lives and livestock, and we now have both an effective vaccine and a better understanding of how it spreads, we believe this is the right starting point to inspire a new generation of disease control strategies for bats. It is surely something we could all get our teeth into.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julio Benavides receives funding from The UK – Peru CONCYTEC Fund for Science and Innovation. He is the vice-president of the not-for-profit group Apes Incorporated.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Streicker receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, the Royal Society, the Beit Trust, National Geographic, the UK-Peru CONCYTEC Fund for Science and Innovation and the Leverhulme Trust</span></em></p>They kill thousands of animals and people every year by spreading rabies. New research findings could solve the problem.Julio Benavides, Research Associate, University of GlasgowDaniel Streicker, Research Fellow, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/573202016-05-02T10:07:25Z2016-05-02T10:07:25ZBiologists lose hard-fought ground in race to save bats as white-nose syndrome spreads west<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120062/original/image-20160425-22387-11wfone.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Little brown bat found in western Washington in March 2016. The fungus damaged the bat’s wings, making it unable to fly.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/health/wns/">Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey last month delivered a <a href="https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/sites/default/files/files/033116_wns_newsrelease_final_dfw.pdf">sobering update</a> on the white-nose syndrome (WNS) epidemic in North America. WNS has been confirmed in a little brown bat (<em>Myotis lucifugus</em>) near North Bend, Washington, over 1,300 miles west of the previously identified western edge of the disease front, Nebraska. </p>
<p>The news hit the WNS and bat conservation community hard. For the previous 10 years, WNS has spread in a stepwise manner from state to state in a radial pattern from Albany, New York, which is thought to be where the infections started. The consistency of this spread allowed researchers to <a href="http://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/6799/MP_CMI_Final.pdf?sequence=1">model the movement of the pathogen</a>, <em>Pseudogymnoascus destructans</em>, with an anticipated arrival on the Pacific Coast in 2026. </p>
<p>Researchers have been developing strategies to control WNS and prevent the massive bat mortalities that have been the hallmark of WNS since 2007. And yet, the disease has spread faster than predicted. Where does this new point of infection leave researchers developing techniques to stall this devastating disease? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119881/original/image-20160422-17388-121belo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119881/original/image-20160422-17388-121belo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119881/original/image-20160422-17388-121belo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119881/original/image-20160422-17388-121belo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119881/original/image-20160422-17388-121belo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119881/original/image-20160422-17388-121belo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119881/original/image-20160422-17388-121belo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">WNS spread map.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">US Fish and Wildlife Service</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Gateway to the west</h2>
<p>In order to understand why this is such bad news for bats, one needs to understand how wildlife biologists seek to control the spread of devastating pathogens.</p>
<p>Many of the strategies currently being investigated to minimize the impact of WNS on susceptible bat populations are predicated on the idea that “stop-gap” methods could be employed at geographical choke points to delay the spread of the disease to new populations. That would buy time for scientists to develop permanent solutions, such as vaccinations or “<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/probe/docs/applsilencing/">gene silencing</a>” techniques to control the disease.</p>
<p>The arrival of WNS on the West Coast takes this approach off the table in many respects, as it’s already past the geographical bottleneck spots where scientists had hoped to slow it down. But the WNS community has other reasons for concern with this new case. </p>
<h2>“Come here often?”</h2>
<p>Studies of the fungus from the eastern U.S. have shown the pathogen to be mono-clonal. That is, <em>P. destructans</em> in Georgia is the same genetically as <em>P. destructans</em> in Missouri or New York. This is a good thing for bats because it gives them a better chance to develop resistance. </p>
<p>Subsequent evaluation indicates that <em>P. destructans</em>, like most fungi, is likely capable of participating in sexual reproduction in areas where complementary mating types (think male and female, but with numerous potentially compatible “genders”) exist together. When this is considered along with the recent finding that <em>P. destructans</em> and WNS are <a href="http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/22/1/15-1314_article">widespread in eastern Asia</a>, it presents the possibility that this West Coast case may have been introduced a new way or it represents a different strain of the fungus. Significantly, it could be a complementary mating type to <em>P. destructans</em> in the eastern U.S. </p>
<p>This could be a very bad thing for bats for several reasons. To understand how bad this infection could be to the future of WNS in North America, researchers will need to determine its source and any sexual compatibility with existing isolates. </p>
<h2>Tougher than your average spore</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119722/original/image-20160421-26988-8o6v7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119722/original/image-20160421-26988-8o6v7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119722/original/image-20160421-26988-8o6v7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119722/original/image-20160421-26988-8o6v7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119722/original/image-20160421-26988-8o6v7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119722/original/image-20160421-26988-8o6v7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119722/original/image-20160421-26988-8o6v7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Electron micrograph of <em>P. destructans</em>. Asexual spores (conidia) are rendered blue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Neville, Georgia State University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The spores (reproductive cells produced by fungi) that are produced in asexual reproduction are known as conidia. All the current work being conducted to make spores inactive to control the spread of WNS are predicated on the sensitivity of these conidia to a given control agent. </p>
<p>Yet the phylum of this fungus, known as Ascomycota, can reproduce in another way – sexually, through a type of spore known as ascospores. In numerous examples in other Ascomycota, it has been shown that ascospores are more resistant to control methods than conidia.</p>
<p>If researchers find that the particular <em>P. destructans</em> fungus is capable of producing ascospores – that is reproducing sexually, rather than asexually as with conidia – then current decontamination protocols will need to be revised to address the increased resilience of these sexual spores.</p>
<h2>A Red Queen and brown bats</h2>
<p>The ultimate significance of whether the fungus reproduces sexually involves a long-debated theory of evolutionary biology that <a href="http://www.academia.edu/9320131/Reign_of_the_Red_Queen_The_future_of_bats_hangs_in_the_balance">many have been hopeful will ultimately save susceptible North American bat species</a>: the Red Queen hypothesis. </p>
<p>The idea is that in a system with a host (bat) and parasite (<em>P. destructans</em>), coevolution occurs as the disease recurs through numerous generations. If only the host is reproducing sexually (i.e., WNS in North America) and generating greater variation with each generation, the host will be able to evolve a tolerance to the parasite.</p>
<p>However, in a system where both the host and parasite reproduce sexually, coevolution supports the status quo. So as bats evolve tolerance to one strain of <em>P. destructans</em> another strain resulting from sexual recombination that is capable of causing disease in the new tolerant host will become the dominant strain. </p>
<p>Thus, the analogy of the Red Queen running in place in “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There” by Lewis Carroll. Although evolution is occurring (running), everyone is evolving together so the disease paradigm never changes. </p>
<p>This is the possibility the introduction of a complementary mating type presents to WNS in North America. Bats won’t be able to evolve a significant tolerance as the fungus reproduces sexually and rapidly adapts to any resistance the bats develop. </p>
<h2>Bats everywhere but not a hibernacula to treat</h2>
<p>In addition to the strategic and biological challenges that a Pacific Coast WNS case may introduce, there is also a major logistical challenge that has been looming over the WNS community: where are hibernacula – the shelters where bats hibernate – in the west? </p>
<p>Currently there are no known little brown bat hibernacula in Washington. This doesn’t mean that bat ecologists think little brown bats don’t hibernate in Washington, but rather they have <a href="http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01504/wdfw01504.pdf">never been able to find large hibernacula</a> as is common in the eastern U.S. </p>
<p>Treating bats during the spring, summer and fall when they are widely dispersed on the landscape is impractical. The effort it takes to capture a few individuals is not scalable to an extent that could have a significant impact on WNS-related population declines. That is why most efforts to develop management strategies have been focused on intervention during the winter at known hibernacula where large groups of bats could be treated together with reasonable effort. </p>
<p>If any of the treatments currently under investigation were available today, how could they be used in Washington? Without understanding how these western bat species use the landscape and where they hibernate, there is no way to deliver any future management tool. </p>
<h2>Bad, badder, baddest</h2>
<p>In many ways this new western case changes the paradigm of WNS. </p>
<p>In the worst-case scenario, a complementary strain has been introduced into North America and will eventually find its way to locations where the East Coast strain exists, facilitating a more recalcitrant and adaptable pathogen. </p>
<p>In the best-case scenario, this case represents a loss of containment within North America, reducing the value of efforts to slow the westward spread of WNS while treatments can be developed and western bat hibernacula can be identified. Either way, the news of a WNS-positive bat in Washington state represents another disaster for bats that are already experiencing unprecedented declines.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57320/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Cornelison receives funding from the USDA Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bat Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, FightWNS, Basically Bats, and The Conservation Fund for his white-nose syndrome related research.</span></em></p>More bad news for America’s beleaguered bats as white nose syndrome spreads to the West Coast. A wildlife biologist explains why this change has the bat community so worried.Christopher T. Cornelison, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/344692015-01-12T10:35:18Z2015-01-12T10:35:18ZNew ammunition in the battle to save North American bats from white-nose syndrome<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66246/original/image-20141203-3651-dqy7t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tri colored bat with white-nose syndrome.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq/8540257258">Pete Pattavina</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been roughly eight years since white-nose syndrome (WNS) was first documented decimating bat populations in upstate New York. The disease is caused by the fungus <em>Pseudogymnoascus destructans</em> which colonizes hibernating bats’ muzzles, ears and wings. It’s believed to kill by damaging the wing tissues that normally allow bats to regulate water loss during hibernation. The fungus also repeatedly wakes bats from hibernation, causing them to burn crucial fat reserves, leading to dehydration, emaciation and exposure.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68314/original/image-20150106-18619-k34l5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68314/original/image-20150106-18619-k34l5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68314/original/image-20150106-18619-k34l5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68314/original/image-20150106-18619-k34l5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68314/original/image-20150106-18619-k34l5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68314/original/image-20150106-18619-k34l5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68314/original/image-20150106-18619-k34l5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68314/original/image-20150106-18619-k34l5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fungus on wing membrane of a little brown bat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq/5765048311">Ryan von Linden/New York Department of Environmental Conservation</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since WNS arrived in North America, tens of millions of dollars and countless hours have been dedicated to trying to understand this disease, quantify the impact it’s having on bat populations and develop ways to curtail the devastation. Successfully combating the disease has been difficult, but our group has been exploring some new techniques that control the fungus using naturally occurring soil microbes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68302/original/image-20150106-18613-1khgxgf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68302/original/image-20150106-18613-1khgxgf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68302/original/image-20150106-18613-1khgxgf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68302/original/image-20150106-18613-1khgxgf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68302/original/image-20150106-18613-1khgxgf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68302/original/image-20150106-18613-1khgxgf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68302/original/image-20150106-18613-1khgxgf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68302/original/image-20150106-18613-1khgxgf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scanning electron micrograph of a bat hair colonized by fungus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geomyces_destructans.gif">CDC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A spreading scourge</h2>
<p><em>P. destructans</em> is a fungus with a long evolutionary lineage in soil. It can generate tremendous amounts of nearly indestructible spores called conidia. These spores, capable of living in conditions where actively growing fungus couldn’t, ensure that <em>P. destructans</em> can survive, and even potentially <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078300">thrive</a>, in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10393-014-0981-4">host-free environments</a> – including cave soils in the heat of the summer or previously decimated hibernacula, the sites where bats hibernate for the winter.</p>
<p>Every year <em>P. destructans</em> has extended its foothold in North America, killing millions of bats and eliminating the tremendous ecosystem services they provide. For instance, bats consume so many <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/1540-9295(2006)004%5B0238:EVOTPC%5D2.0.CO;2">agricultural pest insects</a> that healthy bat populations allow farmers to use less pesticide on crops.</p>
<p>Numbers for several hibernating bat species have now declined significantly enough to warrant consideration for protected status under the US Federal Endangered Species Act. The potential listings could have big financial consequences for North American industries including mineral extraction, forestry management and infrastructure development since they would need to avoid disturbing the listed species.</p>
<h2>Human role in WNS</h2>
<p>There’s an undercurrent of responsibility in the bat conservation community. Many now <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1608.100002">believe</a> <em>P. destructans</em> was introduced into North America by human activities – in particular, recreational cavers from abroad using gear here that harbored European soil and spores.</p>
<p>This hypothesis is supported by the tremendous genetic diversity of <em>P. destructans</em> samples taken from WNS-positive hibernacula in Europe compared to the very <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1805.111711">low genetic diversity</a> among samples from far-flung regions in the US. The fungus has existed in Europe long enough to develop distinct differences in the versions that live in regions such as Germany versus Spain. Versions isolated in New York, Missouri and Georgia are essentially identical, pointing to a single introduction of the fungus into the US.</p>
<p>Additionally, European bats manifest WNS symptoms, such as fungal growth on their muzzles and wings, but for currently unknown reasons they <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0019167">don’t die</a> from WNS at the high rates their North American counterparts do.</p>
<p>For bat conservationists, this evidence underscores the role of people in facilitating, and now managing, this ecological disaster.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68312/original/image-20150106-18613-hu1b3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68312/original/image-20150106-18613-hu1b3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68312/original/image-20150106-18613-hu1b3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68312/original/image-20150106-18613-hu1b3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68312/original/image-20150106-18613-hu1b3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68312/original/image-20150106-18613-hu1b3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68312/original/image-20150106-18613-hu1b3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68312/original/image-20150106-18613-hu1b3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cluster of little brown bats with white-nose syndrome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq/5751822289">Jonathan Mays, Wildlife Biologist, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How to fight back</h2>
<p>Developing and implementing control strategies for WNS presents unparalleled challenges in the field of microbial control. The very nature of bats and the hibernacula where they over-winter introduce seemingly insurmountable hurdles to traditional disease management strategies. Harsh conditions and challenging access, along with hibernating bats’ sensitivity to disturbance, cause problems. And researchers must constantly consider the potential for collateral damage from control agents on native flora and fauna. </p>
<p><a href="http://sites.gsu.edu/crowlab/">We’re looking</a> to microbes and the naturally-occurring anti-fungal volatile organic compounds (VOCs) they produce as potential biological control agents of WNS. Here’s the idea: these bacteria and fungi co-evolved in their soil habitat, interacting and competing for resources and space. In this evolutionary jostling for supremacy, microorganisms develop traits that increase the fitness of one by exploiting a “weakness” in its competitor. Our goal is to harness these natural antagonisms – interactions in which one community member (bacteria) exerts a negative effect on another (fungus) but may not necessarily kill it – in the fight against WNS.</p>
<p>Researchers know soils exist that have disease-suppressive properties and are fungistatic – that is, they keep pathogenic fungi from growing and causing disease, but don’t kill them outright. We hypothesized that these soils could harbor numerous microbial antagonists of <em>P. destructans</em>. And in fact that’s just what we found. Bacterially-produced VOCs associated with <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2004.07.020">fungistatic soils</a> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11046-013-9716-2">did act as antagonists</a> against <em>P. destructans</em>. We also found that a soil-associated bacterium, <em>Rhodococcus rhodochrous</em>, can be induced to have tremendous contact-independent <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12866-014-0246-y">antagonism</a> towards <em>P. destructans</em> in the lab – it doesn’t need to touch the fungus or the bats in order to prevent or reduce WNS.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68241/original/image-20150105-13836-1wmobvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68241/original/image-20150105-13836-1wmobvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68241/original/image-20150105-13836-1wmobvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68241/original/image-20150105-13836-1wmobvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68241/original/image-20150105-13836-1wmobvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68241/original/image-20150105-13836-1wmobvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68241/original/image-20150105-13836-1wmobvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Rhodococcus rhodochrous</em> strain DAP96253 growing on induction media in the lab.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kyle Gabriel, Georgia State University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now we’re conducting field trials at hibernacula to explore a potential application method for these microbial controls. We’re also investigating the potential of this treatment in areas currently at different points in the disease cycle. One site in Missouri is in its first two years after WNS introduction, others in Kentucky have long-term declines. </p>
<p>WNS is here to stay. It’s a new part of the North American biosphere and a cave resident that bat species here must adapt to. No matter how powerful the tools we develop to combat this disease, they will never be enough. Ultimately it must be the goal of disease management efforts to curtail the tremendous population losses so that enough bats are able to reproduce to stabilize population numbers. We hope across many generations bats can develop the ability to exist, like their European counterparts, in a WNS world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34469/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Cornelison received funding from Bat Conservation International as well as the US Forest Service for his WNS related research.</span></em></p>It’s been roughly eight years since white-nose syndrome (WNS) was first documented decimating bat populations in upstate New York. The disease is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans which…Christopher T. Cornelison, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.