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White-nose Syndrome (WNS): An Emergent Threat to Bats in North America

White-nose Syndrome (WNS): An Emergent Threat to Bats in North America. Jeremy T. H. Coleman, PhD, Robyn A. Niver, and Susanna L. von Oettingen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Scott R. Darling, Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department May 1, 2009. Wildlife Health Crisis.

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White-nose Syndrome (WNS): An Emergent Threat to Bats in North America

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  1. White-nose Syndrome (WNS): An Emergent Threat to Bats in North America Jeremy T. H. Coleman, PhD, Robyn A. Niver, and Susanna L. von Oettingen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Scott R. Darling, Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department May 1, 2009

  2. Wildlife Health Crisis • Over 90% mortality at affected sites • Spreading rapidly • All 6 northeastern cave bat species affected • 1 Federally listed species

  3. What is WNS? • Clinical signs: • A white fungus evident on the nose, ears, or wings of most affected animals • Wing damage • Depleted body fat Jonathan Reichard

  4. Behavioral signs • Abnormal behavior: • Bats flying outside in daylight • Dead bats near cave entrances or on landscape

  5. 2007 - 1 state, 4 sites

  6. 2008 - 4 states, 38 sites

  7. 2009 – 9 States, 65+ Sites

  8. Why are bats vulnerable? • Cave hibernators: • Clustering behavior promotes pathogen transmission • Limited energy resources during hibernation

  9. Geographic Spread Transmission:Bat-to-batLittle brown bat movement to summer colonies from Mt. Aeolus, VT hibernaculum Anthropogenic

  10. Geographic Spread • Transmission: • Anthropogenic • May be spread by human activity • FWS has requested voluntary ban on caving

  11. Williams Preserve, Rosendale, NY

  12. Greeley MineStockbridge, VT

  13. Old MineChester, MA

  14. Aeolus CaveDorset, VTMortality too great to survey 2008-09 Alan Hicks Jonathan Reichard

  15. Why care about bats? Bats comprise 1/5 of the world’s mammal species Bats are the primary night-time predators of insects

  16. Biological Consequences Bats have extremely low reproductive rates (live for over 20 years and have only one pup per year)

  17. Citizen Concerns • Reports of bats observed: • Flying during winter days • Landing on buildings, roofs, windows • Struggling to fly • Dying on the ground

  18. Lots of Media Interest The New York Times The Boston Globe Los Angeles Times Washington Post BBC CBC Vermont Public Radio The New Yorker National Geographic USA Today CBS Evening News Voice of America Canadian Public Radio National Public Radio Der Spiegel Brattleboro Reformer Yankee Magazine FOX Bennington Banner Rutland Herald Burlington Free Press

  19. 50+ partners from Federal and State agencies, NGOs, and academia working on: • Monitoring/Management • Research • Outreach

  20. Outreach • www.fws.gov/northeast/white_nose.html • Media response and public inquiry response • Video production • Briefings • Presentations • Stakeholder engagement • WNS display and materials Radio-Canada-Television. documentary, VT

  21. Funded Projects Research support • Immune response • Investigation of Geomyces fungus • Hibernation studies • Population (local and rangewide) level impacts • Pre-WNS baseline monitoring • Demographic modeling • Impacts to bats on summer range • Contaminants Planning efforts

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