Community | April 03, 2011 | 45 comments

Fungus Sweeps Across The U.S., Killing Bats

source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-bat-plague-20110403,0,5891416.story

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PART ONE...

Fungus sweeps across the country, killing bats

Biologists believe the long-range consequences could be dire, but the remedies could be just as dangerous.

By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

April 3, 2011



Reporting from Ruidoso, N.M.—




More than 100 hibernating bats hang from the vaulted ceiling of a chilly gallery in central New Mexico's Fort Stanton Cave, seemingly unaware of the lights from helmet lanterns sweeping over their gargoyle-like faces.

The mood is heavy with anxiety as biologists Marikay Ramsey and Debbie Buecher search for signs of white-nose syndrome, a novel, infectious and lethal cold-loving fungus that digests the skin and wings of hibernating bats and smudges their muzzles with a powdery white growth.

"These bats look fine, which is a relief," U.S. Bureau of Land Management endangered animal specialist Ramsey said as she prepared to log the humidity and temperature of the cave in a hand-held computer. "But we still worry that the disease could hit New Mexico this winter or the next. If that happens, we may have to close every cave and abandoned mine in the state."

Biologists across the nation are facing a similarly grim scenario. Since it was discovered in New York four years ago, the fungus has swept across 17 states as far west as Oklahoma, killing a million bats. A majority of the dead were little brown bats, which have lost an estimated 20% of their population in the northeastern United States over the last four years. The fungus seems to prefer the 25 species of hibernating bats, but each of the 45 species of bats in the United States and Canada may be susceptible to white-nose syndrome.

Geomyces destructans was first documented in 2007 in New York's Howe Caverns, commercial attraction visited by thousands of tourists from around the world each year. As the disease began to spread, researchers learned that a similar fungal growth had long been seen on the faces and wings of hibernating bats in Europe.

Now scientists are scrambling to figure out whether the fungus was introduced by a bat or a caver from Europe. If it is from Europe, they wonder, has the fungus killed bats there or have they adapted to living with the pathogen? Or did the fungus already live in North America but recently mutate to become the virulent wildlife disease?

"It is unbelievably sad and disheartening, and we can't seem to move fast enough to get ahead of it," said U.S. Geological Survey wildlife biologist LeAnn White. "We may be looking at phenomenal losses across the country with unknown ecological consequences."

Bats have always existed at close to the numbers seen prior to the arrival of white-nose syndrome, feasting on such night-flying insects as mosquitoes, which transmit West Nile virus, and agricultural pests damaging to cotton and corn crops. They also pollinate plants, including the saguaro cactus. "We don't know what will happen if they disappear," said USGS biologist Paul Cryan. A recent study published in Science estimates that the value of pest control provided by bats each year is at least $3.7 billion nationwide.

As the syndrome continues to spread westward along migratory flyways, Thomas Kunz and Jonathan Reichard of Boston University's Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology have urged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the little brown bat, one of the most common mammals in the United States, as endangered.

The listing would provide the greatest legal protections — on both public and private lands — for the chocolate-colored, mouse-sized insectivore which, the biologists are virtually certain, is facing regional extirpation in the northeastern United States within 15 years.

Greg Turner, an endangered animal specialist for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, knows the sickening feeling of discovering hundreds of carcasses of these nocturnal animals in caves he has monitored for decades. "There are a million bats in Pennsylvania alone, and half of them are dead," he said. "I'd be surprised if the disease hasn't taken up half the nation by the end of this winter."

Hibernation, Turner pointed out, is essential for the survival of individual bats during a portion of the year when there are no insects to eat. It is also why the disease has been so successful. During hibernation, a bat's body temperature drops to the ideal range for growth of the fungus.

"A mammalian fungus would be expected to have a restriction for cold growth because mammals require warmth, but that's where the novelty of this fungus comes in," said Carol Meteyer, a pathologist with the geological survey's National Wildlife Health Center. "It occurs in caves and requires cold temperatures, and when a bat hibernates, it becomes the temperature of its environment."

And because a bat's immune system is suppressed during hibernation, its body does not fight off the fungus.

"So when I look at bat tissue under the microscope," said Meteyer, "there are no signs of inflammatory response to defend the body from the infection. The body is not recognizing it as foreign."


CONTINUED...

__________



IMPORTANT NOTE FROM EthicalVegan: I see that comments and replies have "cut apart" Parts One and Two. So -- and because this is that important -- please scroll down to see Part Two of this article.
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45 comments // Fungus Sweeps Across The U.S., Killing Bats

  • jubal
    • +1
      jubal  

    • This is absolutely terrible, first it was the bees and now the bats. We will have no animals left to polinate and help germinate the foods that we rely on. Even GMO's can't save us from this plague. Something needs to be done and fast.

    • 1 year ago
  • skybluskyblue
    • +2
      skybluskyblue  
    • Image

    • The only treatment I have seen online for bats so far is athlete foot cream etc. Read about it here: http://www.watershedpost.com/2010/anti-fungal-medication-might-save-bats However, it seems it is not practical to cover caves in that drug because it may cause environmental harm. It seems to me that bats should naturally be resistant to fungus because of their natural habitat. So, it may be that the bats have an immune system problem IDK Frogs and other amphibians are having trouble with a fungus too.They eat bugs too; so humans may be the cause of insect and pest overpopulations with their reckless handling of the environment.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • skybluskyblue
    • +1
      skybluskyblue  
    • EthicalVegan:

      Glad to be of service! Education is part of the key to restoring this planet's rich environment (definitely, including the less popular species). Frogs and toads are cute too in their own way lol. However, most money-grubbers will not change unless they see the direct $$ benefit. Luckily, bats do provide a direct benefit of eating up pest insects. Someday, in the possible unhappy future money grubbers will comment, "Wow, it seems there are more bugs then their used to be back in the 2010s". I hope not.

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
    • +1
      coolplanet  

    • Right after reading this article I was eating some "cave-aged" cheese which has become suddenly popular at local supermarkets in Pennsylvania -- epicenter of white nose syndrome. It has a powdery white rind which tastes like fundus.
      I couldn't help but wonder if there is any connection between cave-aged cheese and white nose syndrome since they both appeared in my area at the same time.

    • 1 year ago
  • madammarsh
  • skybluskyblue
  • EthicalVegan
  • skybluskyblue
  • Wetdog
    • +3
      Wetdog  

    • Some years ago, I worked in a hospital in St. Louis. It was located in a densely populated area fairly near downtown. One morning I came into work at about 5:30 AM---it was still dark out. As I came in, there were a lot more people than usual running around all over the place. They were all in a panic, scurrying around and acting like they were at Pearl Harbor with Japanese bombers swooping down on them.

      I got my morning cup of coffee and went out to see what all the commotion was about. When I finally found someone who was calm enough to tell me what was going on, he told me that a bat had flown into the building through the loading dock and was loose in the building somewhere. Right then, two security personell ran by us with .357 Magnum revolvers drawn----they were going to shoot it???? Shooting off .357 Magnum revolvers inside a hospital because of a little bat?

      They located the bat in a dark corner of the loading docks. I told them to put up their guns---finished my coffee, and went over and pushed little bat into my coffee cup with the stirring sticks. Then I took it outside and put it in the grass---and in a few seconds it flew away.

      You'd have thought Godzilla was attacking the place the way all the people were carrying on.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • madammarsh
    • 0
      madammarsh  
    • Wetdog:

      Well done! It's all the rabies stuff (yeah, it occurs in bats, but not in the astronomical numbers some people think) plus all that hooey about flying into your hair and stuff. Jeeeeeez!

    • 1 year ago
  • Wetdog
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • sffsmessiah
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • tlbuffin
  • EthicalVegan
  • KB723
    • 0
      KB723  
    • tlbuffin:

      Bats can be very freightening if you are not used to them.... Many bad thoughts from younger days... Much Like a Boogeyman or the Easter Bunny....

    • 1 year ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • Wetdog
  • Milieu
    • +3
      Milieu  

    • Re: xhuffpo

      I have believed this for a number of years now. My hope is that there are just many species adjusting and adapting to what's being done to the planet, but each time I read another story, I'm afraid that we will be paying for our arrogance and stupidity.

    • 1 year ago
  • PzLuvHappeniz
    • +2
      PzLuvHappeniz  

    • "digests the skin and wings of bats", a fungus. A flesh eating fungus thats killing these precious creatures. This is upsetting on so many levels.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • xhuffpo
    • +10
      xhuffpo  

    • I believe we are in the midst of a great extinction event, as sad as this is we may not be able to do anything about this. Plants and animals are disappearing at tremendous rates. I believe the earth is beginning to adapt to a warming period.

      And it makes no difference if the republican right denies it, it is happening.

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
  • EthicalVegan
  • therealpixie
    • +5
      therealpixie  

    • Please consider putting up a bat house. They are available from many different sources. I don't even have screens on my windows because my bats kill the mosquitoes. And, if you're a gardener, their guano is great fertilizer.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • madammarsh
    • +3
      madammarsh  

    • I love bats! Many years ago we visited Carlsbad Caverns in NM and the evening emergence of millions of bats from the mouth of the cave, swirling higher and higher and then flowing away into the dusk like smoke--it was one of the great moments of my life.
      In my own back yard each summer I watch one or two bats just before dark, swooping and diving after mosquitos .
      The thought of what is happening to these amazing animals is devastating. If you are interested, go to Bat Conservation International's website for all kinds of information on bats, including latest WNS updates. (It has now been found in Ohio where I am, in an abandoned mine in Wayne National Forest, in Lawrence Co.)
      They list things you can do to help bats:
      Encourage state/federal legislators to allocate funding toward the study of WNS.
      Report unusual late-winter bat behavior, like flying in the daytime, or unexplained bat deaths to state wildlife agency.
      Adhere to fed, state and local cave advisories and closures to help prevent the spread of WNS.
      Educate people about WNS and the benefits of bats.
      Donate to BCI's WNS emergency fund.

      Keep in mind--bats are in trouble. They are pollinators. Honeybees are in trouble, from a parasite. They are pollinators. If people can't get worked up over the loss of these creatures simply because they are integral parts of the great and elegant web of nature, perhaps they could if they knew that crops as a general thing require pollination to produce food.

      I hope my little swooping friends come back this summer.

      Thanks, Ethical Vegan.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • madammarsh
  • lblm26
  • bambuu
  • therealpixie
    • +2
      therealpixie  
    • lblm26:

      What the fuck is wrong with you? If you are going to advertise (against the rules), at least have the decency to pick on a post that is a bit more frivolous than this. Or did you even bother to read it? Take this down now, you ghoul.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • 0
      EthicalVegan  
    • bambuu:

      Hi, bambuu. Here's a little easy way to help get rid of SPAM:

      Underneath the person's contribution, on the far right, is a FLAG icon. Simply click on that icon, and then write the word "SPAM" in the field and hit submit. The gods of current will see that and take care of such problems. Hope that helps a bit.

    • 1 year ago
  • madammarsh
    • 0
      madammarsh  
    • therealpixie:

      I found a bunch of these spams on different threads early this morning and flagged all. From youshoppinnow or some such--all shoes and purses, as if people reading about mass extinction, floods,earthquakes, radiation spreading, corporate kleptos and such are going to stop and say, ooooh, those shoes are really cute! I'll just order some before I comment on Scott Walker declaring himself bigger than the WI judiciary....Keep your crap to yourselves, spamming scum! Go peddle it on the shoppergirlie sites where it belongs!

    • 1 year ago
  • figgdimension
    • +2
      figgdimension  

    • Theres a huge old foundry across a small green space where I live and the bats are living in the towers and fly out in groups at night they are very pretty and keep the bugs non existent I think they're kinda cute and i love the pic above I hope they survive this .. thanks for posting

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • Emucratic
  • EthicalVegan
  • artemis6
  • EthicalVegan
  • EthicalVegan
    • +1
      EthicalVegan  
    • Image

    • http://framework.latimes.com/2011/04/02/bats-journal/

      Los Angeles Times...

      Photographer’s journal: Bat cave assignment

      Posted By: Mark Boster
      Posted On: 5:01 a.m. | April 2, 2011

      I jumped at the chance when photo editor Rob St. John asked me if I was interested in going to the caves of New Mexico in search of bats infected with white-nose syndrome.

      The story has so many layers and levels and certainly has the creep factor going for it.

      White-nose syndrome is spreading like wildfire through the bat communities in the East, through 16 states, leaving more than 1 million bats dead or dying. What self-respecting news photographer wouldn’t want to jump on the opportunity to crawl on his belly through a dark, musty cave, through guano in search of bats possibly infected with a mysterious, incurable disease?

      In preparation for the trip I was told that I would have to throw away all of my clothing, shoes, and try to disinfect my camera gear with baby wipes. So I figured, what’s the worst thing that could happen, maybe I could get stuck down there or maybe get bit by a hibernating rattlesnake (known to frequent the caves).

      Los Angeles Times staff writer Louis Sahagun and I met up with cave experts and biologists from the Bureau of Land Management and we began our journey into the caverns of the Fort Stanton Cave near Ruidoso, N.M. Equipped with full jump suits, heavy-duty kneepads, gloves, helmets with headlamps and extra flashlights, we made our descent into the cave.

      It wasn’t like something at Knott’s Berry Farm. It was dark, dusty and a little strange. We were able to walk upright for a while, and then we had to crawl on our hands and knees in a tight passageway that led to a cavern aptly named “The Bat Cave.”

      Inside the bat cave a giant room opened up before us. Clusters of tiny bats were clinging to the 30-foot ceiling. Our entire group stood in complete silence as we studied the scene before us. Luckily, there were no dead bats and no signs of the white-nose syndrome. I was not permitted to use any flash equipment so that the hundred or so bats that call this place home would not be scared and have a panic attack with the strobes going off. I also turned off the auto focusing on the lenses, in case there were any noises interfering with the bat’s hibernation.

      I made a series of photos, illuminated only by flashlight and stopped for a moment to take all of this in. After about 10 minutes we were given the sign to leave, and we exited through the narrow passages and back to daylight. Once on the surface we discarded the clothing and shoes underneath our jumpsuits, wiped our exposed skin and equipment with disinfectant wipes and like all “cavers” we bronzed the memory of this bizarre experience in our memories.

      Still in search of bats with white-nose syndrome, on the following day we drove to the Ladrone Cave, near Socorro, N.M., and this is where I discovered my limitations. We were warned that Ladrone is a known rattlesnake den. It is where rattlers hibernate and propagate and sleep in the rock crevices.

      Ok, I admit, I hate snakes. So, I sent the experts down ahead of me with snake sticks. Luckily, the snakes found it either too warm or too cold, or they had already hit the surrounding desert in search of food. Or they didn’t like the strong, ammonia smell of the mounds of bat guano littering the floor. Either way, the snakes were gone, and there were no signs of bats, except for a few on the ground that did not appear to have met their end from white-nose syndrome.

      We walked down a 30-degree trail carved out of travertine and the cave began to narrow. Gradually, the ceiling got lower and lower until we had to crawl on our hands, then slide through a rock crevice. Carrying expensive camera gear through crevices is not a good idea, and again we had to light everything with our headlamps. My stopping point came in the Ladrone Cave when the other (smaller) people scrambled through yet another crevice by turning their bodies sideways. I took one look at that and said no way! My journey was over, and the assignment was complete.

      Chalk this one up to the memory book. Once back on the surface, we again threw away our clothing and shoes and wiped down the gear.

      Our editors have no idea what we go through. Someday I will probably stop and write all of these memories and experiences down on paper. But, then again the photos are like a diary for me, a visual collection of crazy stories and places that we share with our readers in the paper every day.

      It may sound strange, but I really hope I can return to the bat cave some day.

      To see more of Mark Boster’s work: http://framework.latimes.com/who-we-are/mark-boster/

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • +1
      EthicalVegan  
    • Image

    • CONTINUED...

      PART TWO...

      Scientists have considered using fungicides, but studies have shown they could kill other microbes in caves, perhaps setting off a chain of unintended consequences. Another option, placing heaters in caves, would disrupt bat hibernation, those studies found.

      Killing infected animals would slow the spread of the disease but would not eliminate it because of the complexity of bat life, according to research conducted by Tom Hallam and Gary McCracken of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis at the University of Tennessee.

      "It would be all but impossible to find and kill every infected bat," Hallam said. "Yet, because of the size of bat colonies and the many arenas in which they interact — reproduction, hibernation, swarming, mother and pup activities — it would only take one infected bat to start it all over again."

      State and federal officials have already closed thousands of caves nationwide to prevent humans from spreading spores picked up on clothing and caving gear. But caves and abandoned mines are found on land governed by many agencies. Their response has been criticized as slow and disorganized.

      "We need bold action and coordination at the highest levels of government," said Mollie Matteson, a conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity. "We probably will not have another chance to save these animals."

      In New Mexico, the Bureau of Land Management has closed 28 caves known to have significant bat populations. "We are not embracing the 'close everything' approach," said BLM spokeswoman Donna Hummel, "because in a rural state like ours we need cavers to help us patrol and monitor caves on more than 13 million acres of terrain in our jurisdiction."

      Even though Carlsbad Caverns has no hibernating bats, the National Park Service has asked visitors there not to wear clothing or shoes that may have been in a cave or mine in states known to harbor the fungus.

      Elsewhere, the fish and wildlife service urges cavers to decontaminate clothing and gear before leaving an affected region. The U.S. Forest Service has closed caves in its Northeastern, Midwestern and Rocky Mountain regions and is considering a plan to close caves in New Mexico that have significant bat populations, including in areas near Carlsbad. Federal land managers in California and Arizona have yet to close caves.

      Assessing the health of the bats inside caves entails a harrowing descent through cracks in the bedrock of remote canyons and desert flatlands, through narrow, undulating passages sometimes lined with rat nests, black widow spiders and rattlesnake dens.

      On a wintry weekday, Ramsey and BLM cave specialist Mike Bilbo visited Ladrone Cave, a pitch-dark labyrinth of awkward twists and turns about 70 miles south of Albuquerque.

      They wedged themselves through a crevice and down a slope, their stooped bodies only a few feet from the limestone ceiling. Bat excrement — guano — filled the dank air with the sharp smell of ammonia. Travertine and calcite crystals in crevices sparkled like snowflakes in the lights of their helmet lanterns.

      Ramsey spotted something on the ground. It was the remains of two dead bats.

      Raising one of the carcasses by the tip of its wing for a closer look, Ramsey said, "It seems to be free of white-nose syndrome, but we'll take a closer look in the laboratory to determine exactly why it died."

      As a precautionary measure, Bilbo posted a warning sign near the grotto's entrance: "Cave temporarily closed due to white-nose syndrome."

    • 1 year ago
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