What can you do to help?

You personally, can aid in the fight against White nose Syndrome. There are various things you can do to not only to support infected bat communities but also to prevent other communities from getting infected. For one you should never handle bats, dead or alive. Despite the fact that humans and other animals are incapable of catching WNS they can still be primary spreaders. While the major cause of WNS spread is bat to bat contact contamination of healthy bat populations through third party sources such as humans unknowingly transferring it on clothes or gear also have very dire consequences. If you do come in contact with a bat that appears to have WNS you should immediately contact your state wildlife agency and report the occurrence. This will help specialists in isolating and documenting the spread of the disease. You should also be sure to clean and disinfect whatever gear or clothes you were wearing at the time in order to reduce chances of unintentionally spreading it. To further emphasize the importance of not directly interacting with sickly looking bats I would like to point out that it may not even be affected with WNS, it could quite possibly have rabies, which unlike WNS can be very fatal to humans. Overall you should do your best to avoid caves with large populations of hibernating bats as to ensure the disease is not spread. While this may sound drastic it is important to remember that WNS is very quickly decimating entire bat populations in the U.S. and therefore we need to take all the precautions possible in order to avoid infecting healthy bat populations avoid extinction! As for aiding with infected bat populations the best and most effective thing you personally can do is to donate to agencies devoted to researching and stopping the spread of WNS. https://www.facebook.com/BatCon is a link to a nonprofit international bat conservation group whom you can make donations to!

Works Cited:

Blehert, Davis S. "Bat White-Nose Syndrome: An Emerging Fungal Pathogen?" Whitenosesyndrome.org. Science Xpress, n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://whitenosesyndrome.org/sites/default/files/resource/blehert_et_al_2008_wns_fungus_total.pdf>.

Elliott, Tony. "White-Nose Syndrome in Missouri." Missouri's Fish, Forests and Wildlife. Missouri Department of Conservation, Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/outdoor-recreation/caving/white-nose-syndrome-missouri>.

Impacts of White-Nose Syndrome

White-nose syndrome has caused a great deal of impact across North America, not only to the bats themselves but also their environments. The primary and most substantial impact being that it has decimated an estimated 6.7 million North American bats, cases have documented the mortality rate of bat populations inflicted with WNS to be as high as 95%! It does not stop there however. Bats are very productive members of their environment. They play a very large role in maintaining economical balance amongst their community. Bats serve as the primary predators for nocturnal-flying insects, meaning they are the primary consumer of insects like mosquitos, moths, beetles, and various other pests. Bats eat thousands of insects nightly, consuming roughly half their weight in insects each time. By keeping these insect populations in check bats play a large role in forestry, agriculture, as well as human health. The decrease in bat population has led to a vast increase in nocturnal-flying insect population leaving their ecosystems in a state on unbalance. With no consumer to regulate the amount of nocturnal-flying insects their numbers flourish which takes a grave toll on the agricultural industry. These insects are left to freely gorge themselves on agricultural crops leaving less food for other members of the ecosystem as well as cutting a large amount of profit for agricultural workers. According to www.batconservation.org bats save the agricultural industry “at least” $23 billion dollar annually because the farmers do not have to purchase as many pesticides. The decrease in bat population causing the agricultural industry to purchase more pesticides may result in the increase of food costs in order to make up for expenses and lost profit. In tropical environments bats also serve as aids in pollinating plants and dispersing seeds. Bats eat fruit and pick up pollen from plants which they transfer to other plants resulting in pollination. Similarly by eating fruit, seeds become dispersed throughout the environment whether they be deposited to new location through feces or unknowingly attached to the bats fur then randomly discarded. That being said the decline of bats has taken a grave toll on various environments, causing a plethora of issues and inconveniences. Not to mention, they are also really cute, and nobody likes when cute things die… 

 Citations:

 Dzal, Yvonne. "Going, Going, Gone: The Impact of White-nose Syndrome on the Summer Activity of the Little Brown Bat (Myotis Lucifugus)." Going, Going, Gone: The Impact of White-nose Syndrome on the Summer Activity of the Little Brown Bat (Myotis Lucifugus). The Royal Society, 02 Nov. 2010. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/7/3/392.short>.

 Boyles, Justin G. "Could Localized Warm Areas inside Cold Caves Reduce Mortality of Hibernating Bats Affected by White-nose Syndrome?" Http://www.esajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1890/080187. The Ecological Society of America, 5 Mar. 2009. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.

Causes of White-Nose Syndrome

As previously stated White-Nose Syndrome is caused by a cold loving white fungus which is often found in caves and other nesting spots for bat populations. According to very recent scientific research, the so called cold loving white fungus that causes WNS is an invasive strand of a fungus called Geomyces destructans. Geomyces destructans is recognized as being very psychrophilic or only capable of surviving in very cold temperatures. Its optimal growth is said to range from four degrees Celsius to about fifteen degrees Celsius which, unfortunately for native bat species is right about the temperature of their hibernaculum (place of hibernation). Scientists have been able to find caves flourishing with Geomyces destructans in Europe which also house hibernating bats. Intriguingly though, the bats living with the fungus in Europe are not showing any negative effects of WNS or for that matter any symptoms of WNS at all. Therefore, the question arises: Why are European bats able to coexist with Geomyces destructans whereas North American bat populations are being decimated by it. Unfortunately, a validated conclusion has yet to be drawn. However, scientific researchers are working to find an answer! The most commonly accepted hypothesis thus far is that European bats have been exposed to Geomyces destructans for a long period of time and have been able to adapt and develop a resistance to it. Therefore, scientists are able to conclude that if the strain of Geomyces destructans found in Europe is in fact the same as the strain of the fungus found in North America the fungus must have been recently introduced to North American bats, explaining why European bats are able to coexist with it. A study published on April 9, 2012 described a team of scientists’, led by Lisa Warnecke, attempts at finding an answer to why North American bat populations are being eradicated by WNS while European bats are able to peacefully coexist with the fungus that causes it. The scientists gathered samples of Geomyces destructans from European and North American caves and exposed brown bats to them. The bats contracted WNS despite the place of origin of the fungus, the research team concluded that according to their research Geomyces destructans was very recently brought to North America from Europe. Although it may seem like a minor finding, this study marks a huge leap forward in the quest for finding a cure for WNS!

One of many victims of White-Nose Syndrome.

Citations:

Gargas, A.; Trest, M.T.; Christensen, M.; Volk, T.J.; Blehert, D.S. "Geomyces Destructans Sp. Nov. Associated with Bat White-nose Syndrome." N.p., 1 Apr. 2009. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. <http://http://vdi.sagepub.com/content/21/4/411.full.pdf+html>.

Meteyer, Carol U. "Wing Pathology of White-nose Syndrome in Bats Suggests Life-threatening Disruption of Physiology." BMC Biology. United States Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 11 Nov. 2010. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. <http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/135/>.