Swooping through the crisp night air, and scooping up small insects. The Pennsylvania’s hibernating bat species may have entered caves, attics, and abandoned mines to hibernate for the last time.
A pandemic has broken out and by the end of the next year, nearly 95 percent of Pennsylvania’s hibernating bat species are expected to die, according to Wildlife Biologist Greg Turner with the Wildlife Diversity Section of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Turner, who spoke for MU’s Biological Colloquium Series on Wednesday about the emergent White Nose Syndrome in bats, received his B.S. in Biology at Wilkes University and his M.S. degree in 2001 from Frostburg State University.
The White Nose Syndrome, which is linked to the spread of the fungus belonging to the Geomyces genus, has been rapidly transmitted in the past three years causing the mass mortality of hibernating bat colonies in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
“Even to date we do not know what is causing the White Nose Syndrome,” Turner said. The deaths may be attributed to an opportunistic infection that does not normally cause disease in a healthy bat, but rather in the compromised immune system of bats that are affected by the fungus, and is catastrophic.
However, scientists question if the cold-loving fungus alone is the cause for the population decline, because bats harbor other diseases such as West Nile, Ebola, and rabies virus, and still have a lifespan of up to 30-40 years.
First photographed west of Albany, New York by a spelunker in February 2006, the strange white fungus was later identified by scientists and linked to a fungus in Europe, and was found around bats’ muzzles and wing membranes.
This fungus has been in Europe for decades, but there the cave bats are not the majority. “We don’t know if there was a crash there,” Turner said.
If this fungus came from Europe and they once had a crash when no one was monitoring the population, it is “Scary why they have sites with 200-300 bats,” because the population shows no natural resistance to the fungus, “It is stable, but not growing,” he said.
All Pennsylvania bats belong to family Vespertilionidae, and of the nine species, six are hibernating, including the most common species the Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus).
Bats like to go to cold air traps with stable air temperatures, however, affected bats are exhibiting strange behaviors, exiting hibernation early, and clinging to sides of houses and near entrances to caves or mines where the temperatures are not stable and they awaken more often.
Another trait found is they are emaciated, and have used up their fat stores for hibernation, either because their immune system has started up, or they are being aroused by irritation.
Scientists glued temperature sensitive data loggers to the back of bats necks, which are equipped with radio frequency transmitters that pulse at a certain temperature to calculate the peaks of body temperature that indicate disturbance from hibernation.
The bats that have survived since the first discovery of the syndrome in Albany have two times the normal amount of arousals than normal bats, and bats which are in the first year of the syndrome have double that amount.
In all six hibernating species, there are extremely high mortality rates, and the fast spread of the syndrome is linked to multiple modes of transmission. Bats are naturally social, so both hibernating and non-hibernating species are suspected to spread the fungal spores.
Scientists also believe spelunkers exacerbated the spread of the fungus. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a moratorium, in hopes of thwarting the spread of the fungal spores. Decontamination protocols include washing all mud and gear in Woollite, and decontaminating it with a 10 minute bleach soak.
“It is not foolproof, but it does work if done properly,” Turner said.
At Alexander Caverns, a popular caving site, cavers who did not clean or decontaminate their clothes, in 2007, could have carried the spores from New York, according to Turner, who cited a caver tracking study.
Ten sites in Pennsylvania have already been identified, but the problem is “a lot more widespread than we were able to diagnose,” Turner said, “It is looking pretty grim.”
This pandemic will have a startling affect on Pennsylvania’s ecosystems by reducing the number of natural insect predators. Each bat eats two pounds of insects per year, and with the expected extinction, hundreds of tons of bugs may go uneaten, resulting in higher need for pesticides.
As bats wrap themselves upside down to hibernate after mating in the late summer, it is up to the Pennsylvania Gaming Commission and other wildlife organizations to defend them from what is killing them in their sleep.
Funding has been allocated from the Department of the Interior Appropriations, including $1.9 million for further research of White Nose Syndrome.
This season, members of Pennsylvania’s Game Commission are hoping to treat colonies, and test the effectiveness of eradicating the fungus, with vapors of an inorganic compound known to kill the spores. They have seven rehabilitation centers for treating bats with other maladies, but they are unsure if the rehabilitation of bats with will be effective or will spread the disease by introducing spores to migratory species.
Residents can report erratic bat behavior and mortality online at the Game Commission’s “Report Sick Bats” form that can be accessed in the left-hand column of the agency’s homepage (www.pgc.state.pa.us).
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