Fast(er) WNS Test

Posted on September 24, 2012 by MadelineBodin

Geomyces destructans, the fungus that causes white nose syndrome in bats, is difficult to identify. The parts that are external to an infected bat, brush off easily, and DNA tests have a hard time discerning G. destructans from other fungi in the genus, which are soil-dwelling organisms that are very common in caves.

The journal Mycologia has published an on-line before print article describing a TaqMan polymerase chain reaction test to identify the fungus’s DNA. The key to not picking up any of the 43 other fungi in the genus (or other closely-related fungi) appears to be focusing on the multicopy intergenic spacer region of the rRNA gene complex.

This innovation should allow diagnostic laboratories to identify G. destructans more quickly.

Read the Mycologia article (requires subscription or fee).

Photo: Little brown bat with white nose syndrome, courtesy of Missouri Dept. of Conservation

Man-Made Bat Cave Aims to Aid WNS Bats

Posted on September 17, 2012 by MadelineBodin

The bat cave created by The Nature Conservancy chapter in Tennessee can be disinfected after each hibernation season, which may offer some bats a refuge from white nose syndrome (WNS). According to the Leaf Chronicle, the cave cost $300,000, which was raised entirely from private funds.

The article also notes that the cave was built near an existing bat hibernation site.

Lots of details in the Leaf Chronicle article. Read it here.
Read a shorter article in Popular Science, here.
The Nature Conservancy press release is here.
A Nature Conservancy interview with project leader Cory Holliday, here.

What the two reported articles don’t say is that the cave is an answer to a common question about possible solutions for white nose syndrome: Why don’t you just disinfect the cave with an anti-fungal? (Any doubts that this is common? See the comments after the articles.) The short answer is that a cave is a complex ecosystem and fungi play an important role. So far there isn’t a way to kill just the WNS fungus without killing other fungi in the cave.

The artificial cave doesn’t have an ecosystem, so it can be sterilized when the bats leave in the spring. This should prevent healthy bats from be infected from fungi in the cave the following winter, perhaps lessening the virulence in that cave.

It’s pricey, time-consuming and takes some of the wildness away from the bats, but compared to having wildlife rehabilitators raise a “Noah’s ark” population (which has been discussed at times with some seriousness, and even tried with Virginia big-eared bats), it’s likely cheaper, easier and less disruptive.

…And, this just in: An Associated Press story (here in the San Francisco Chronicle) does get into some of these details. Read it here.

Photo: View of the artificial bat cave, with the human entrance below and the bat entrance above. Photo credit: © Cory Holliday, The Nature Conservancy

New Bat Rule In NH

Posted on July 10, 2012 by MadelineBodin

Bats in the barn? A new rule in New Hampshire says that they can’t be removed between May 15 and August 15, when bats are typically raising their young. If a bat has tested positive for rabies, then special permission to exclude the bats will be given.

The rule only applies to unoccupied structures.

“This rule helps protect our remaining bat populations during the time when they are raising young,” said New Hampshire Fish and Game Department Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program biologist Emily Brunkhurst in a department press release. “While this measure is certainly helpful, we strongly urge people to avoid evicting bats from any structure, occupied or otherwise, during the summer months. Our bats are in big trouble, and, this is something concrete you can do to help them survive.”

The problem, of course, is white nose syndrome, which has reduced the populations of five out of New Hampshire’s eight bat species. Little brown bat populations have declined 99 percent, the release says.

The press release also notes that white nose syndrome has been detected in Rockingham County, in the southeastern corner of the state, near Boston, Mass.

The press release includes many interesting details about white nose syndrome in NH, and is worth reading just for that. Read it here.

Photo: Long-eared bats have been hit hard by WNS in New Hampshire. Courtesy New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.

Fungus, But No WNS Symptoms in Iowa Cave

Posted on June 15, 2012 by MadelineBodin

On Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources announced that a low level of the fungus that causes white nose syndrome was found on one of the 15 bats swabbed this winter at a tourist cave run by the state. None of the bats seen in the cave appeared to have symptoms of white nose syndrome.

According to the Iowa DNR release, to prevent the fungus from spreading to other caves, “the DNR will be adding mats with disinfection solution that people will walk across after leaving the caves….”

Read the Iowa DNR press release here.
Read an article in the Kansas City InfoZone, here.

The InfoZone story includes a criticism of Iowa DNR by the Center for BioDiversity for keeping the cave open to the public after the fungus was discovered.

You can also read the Center for BioDiversity press release, here.

Photo: Maquoketa Caves State Park, courtesy of Iowa DNR

Checking for White Nose in Florida

Posted on June 11, 2012 by MadelineBodin

The U.S. Forest Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the University of Florida have teamed up to conduct a five-day “Bat Blitz” in Apalachicola National Forest in northern Florida to test for white nose syndrome and the general health of the area’s bat population.

Read all the details on the USDA Blog.

Photo credit: U.S. Forest Service photo by Porter Libby.

White Nose Syndrome Symposium

Posted on June 6, 2012 by MadelineBodin

The fifth annual symposium on white nose syndrome in bats is taking place in Madison, Wisconsin this week. The sessions have been closed to the public, so this sneak peek comes to you through yesterday’s media conference call and some research on the internet.

The purpose of the conference is to present current white nose syndrome research, particularly epidemiological research, the ecology of Geomyces destructans and insights from Europe, said Ann Froschauer, white nose syndrome communications and outreach coordinator for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and to discuss cave closure policies and other preventive measures.

Today’s the day for state and management issues. There will be presentations on bat hibernacula management by Greg Turner (Pennsylvania Game Commission), Dave Redell (Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources) and Rita Dixon (Idaho Dept. Fish & Game).

This evening there will be breakout sessions for states to discuss bat management issues by region.

No press to link to yet, but we’ll keep an eye out.

Photo of afflicted bat in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

WNS in Gray Bats

Posted on May 30, 2012 by MadelineBodin

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced yesterday that, for the first time, white nose syndrome has been documented in the endangered gray bat.

The USFWS press release says:

“The documented spread of WNS on gray bats is devastating news. This species was well on the road to recovery, and confirmation of the disease is great cause for concern. Because gray bats hibernate together in colonies that number in the hundreds of thousands, WNS could expand exponentially across the range of the species,” said Paul McKenzie, Missouri Endangered Species Coordinator for the Service. “The confirmation of WNS in gray bats is also alarming because guano from the species is an important source of energy for many cave ecosystems and there are numerous cave-adapted species that could be adversely impacted by their loss.”

Also according to the release, the afflicted bats were found in Hawkins and Montgomery counties in Tennessee during two separate winter surveillance trips, conducted by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

Read the USFWS press release here.

Photo: Photos of gray bats with white-nose syndrome from Hawkings and Montgomery counties, Tennessee, courtesy USFWS

Bat Numbers Rise in 1st WNS Caves

Posted on April 20, 2012 by MadelineBodin

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) released today the results of its winter survey of bat hibernacula. The most encouraging results were from the five hibernacula in the Albany area, where the disease was first discovered. The press release says:

Previous reports have suggested that little brown bat counts at these sites seem to be stabilizing in recent years. This year’s surveys saw substantial increases in little brown bats at three out of five of these caves. The largest and best documented of these sites saw an increase from 1,496 little brown bats in 2011 to 2,402 this year.

It goes on to say that it’s too soon to say whether this represents a recovery or just the fact that bats literally like to hang out together, and may moving from other hibernacula to form a larger group.

Read the NYS DEC press release, here.

Quite a few media outlets picked up the story immediately.
Read the Albany Times-Union article, here.
Read the Associated Press article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, here.

White Nose Syndrome in Missouri

Posted on April 3, 2012 by MadelineBodin

White nose syndrome has been confirmed in three bats from two caves in Lincoln County, in northeast Missouri. Both caves are public, but their exact location has not been disclosed to prevent human disturbance of the remaining bats in the cave, the The Missouri Department of Conservation press release says.

The fungus that causes white nose syndrome was found in two locations in Missouri during the winter of 2009-2010, but did not cause bat mortality. The three bats in this most recent report are confirmed to have the disease caused by the fungus.

So far news reports have not added to the information in the press release.

White Nose in Delaware

Posted on April 2, 2012 by MadelineBodin

Fort Delaware

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced on Friday that white nose syndrome has been detected in bats at Fort Delaware State Park.

White nose fungus had been detected at maternity colonies of bats in Delaware in 2010, but this is the first time bats showing symptoms of the disease have been found. Because the bats were discovered in a popular state park with a Civil War fort and prison, the emphasis will be on educating visitors and limiting the spread of the disease when the park opens on May 1.

Read the DNREC press release, here.
Read the article in DelawareOnline.com, here.

Fort Delaware photo courtesy of Delaware State Parks

State Wildlife Research News

Tools for wildlife management in the public interest

Category Archives: white nose syndrome