It’s the season to be spooky and there are few things spookier than a swarm of bats bursting out of a haunted house for a classic jump scare. Thinking of bats as merely creepy creatures roaming the night makes for good entertainment and spooky Halloween folklore.But bats are one of the most unique and misunderstood animals on our planet. Today, North American bats face an existential threat from a disease called White-nose syndrome.
The devastating invasive fungal disease was brought to North America from Europe when cave explorers and other human activity introduced it to the delicate cave ecosystems where most bats roost. A New York state cave is where the first American cases appeared in 2006, and the disease has been steadily spreading west ever since, reaching Missouri caves in 2011.
“WNS causes bats to wake up during their hibernation in the winter and become active,” said Tyler Clements, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers park ranger at Harry S. Truman Lake. “They’ll then leave their cave to eat, but since bats eat insects and insects die in the winter, the bats will overextend themselves looking for nonexistent food, deplete their fat reserves, and die from exhaustion.”
WNS has proven to be devastating for North American bat populations, with affected caves having a 90-99% mortality rate for the bats who live there. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service White-Nose Syndrome National Plan estimates this rate amounts to approximately 6.7 million bats dying since 2011. Three bat species native to Missouri have been particularly hard-hit, with the little brown bat and northern long-eared bat seeing population losses of 90% in the last decade, gaining the dubious distinction of being the only bats added to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species list as a direct result of WNS .
While there is no cure for WNS , USACE has taken action to protect remaining bat populations throughout the district and slow the spread of the disease.
“We’ve put controls in place to limit access and keep human intrusion to a minimum,” said Kyle Ruona, USACE conservation biologist. “Cave openings are enclosed in physical barriers that keep people out while allowing the bats to slip in and out. To prevent flooding during high-water events, we’ve also built protective levees and installed a pumping system to keep the caves dry.”
Keeping caves dry is critical to slowing the spread of the disease, as Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungus responsible for WNS grows best in cold, damp locations. Other steps taken to protect these bats include population surveys in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a ban on tree-cutting in the warmer months when bats will roost in trees at night rather than their usual caves.
Ruona is quick to point out that conservation efforts cannot begin soon enough.
“Any decline of a species within a specific area has a long-term impact that is difficult to understand,” said Ruona. “We don’t want to know what the impacts will be because by the time we humans notice it, it’s too late to fix.”
The impact of decreasing bat populations due to WNS will be felt sooner rather than later. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service White-Nose Syndrome National Plan, bats save American farmers over $3 billion annually by reducing need for pesticides, and bat species nationwide consume enough destructive pests to add another $1.4 billion in added value to America’s agricultural industry. Grey bats in Missouri alone eat approximately 223 billion pests each year. These positive impacts are at serious risk as bat populations fall.
“Bats disperse seeds, pollinate plants, and consume insects like mosquitos that have a large negative impact on agriculture and human health,” said Ruona. “Without bats we could see more significant impacts of other pests.”
Clements said the best things an individual can do is educate themselves on the benefits of bats, build and install bat boxes, avoid using pesticides, and be aware of how our actions influence the world around us.
“The biggest thing people need to be aware of is that everything humans do has an effect,” said Clements. “We’re part of the circle of life within the ecosystem and we need to be aware of our actions and pay attention. We must be aware of the consequences.”
| Date Taken: | 10.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.22.2024 17:20 |
| Story ID: | 483696 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 60 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fighting the fungus: Protecting ecosystems for endangered species, by Taylor King, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
