The Pathogenic Effects of White Nose Bat Syndrome, Essay Example

Ecological change appears to be a key factor to pathogen presence and the route of transmission to bats. A mysterious disease has been affecting bats for the past three years hence puzzling ecologists and biologists. Thomas Kuntz, Professor at Boston University sits and counts bats at a barn in New England and notices that last year at this time there were approximately 600 bats in this area which are now down to 350. The bats he is counting are little brown bats which are the most common in this region of the United States. The bat syndrome was first spotted in Albany, NY and has killed over one million bats in several species. “The U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Centre is now analyzing the DNA of the fungus to see if what is killing bats in Europe is the same as what is killing the bats in the United States.” (Berdik & Brown). Dave Blehart, a researcher at the National Wildlife Health Centre in Madison states “Affected bats are often present with visually striking white fungal growth on their muzzles, ears, and/or wing membranes. Direct microscopy and culture analyses demonstrated that the skin of WNS-affected bats is colonized by a psychro-philic fungus that is phylogenetically related to Geomyces spp. but with a conidial morphology distinct from characterized members of this genus.” (Blehart). After a two year survey of bats since 2006 it has been formally documented that a 75% decline in the bat population has transpired attributed to bat white-nose syndrome (WNS). This condition is the apparent white fungal growth on the muzzles, ears and wing membranes of affected bats. Cutaneous fungal infection was observed in 105 of 117 examined bats in the histological sections Fungal hyphae invaded invaded the sweat glands, membranes and tissue areas of the bats. (Blehert 227). Temperatures of 2-14 Centigrade were prime for the growth of the fungi. “There has also been parallel threat by chytridiomycosis, a lethal fungal skin infection that has recently caused precipitous global amphibian population declines.” (Blehart 227).

Geomyces sp. is the fungus associated with the white-nose bat syndrome. Ninety percent of necropsied bats (n=117) submitted from WNS-suspect sites exhibited a cutaneous fungal infection. The bats begin to show signs of acute skin infection. This fungus is found in association with soil and is capable of growing in similar conditions of around 40F which is about the temperature of a refrigerator. This is very near the temperature bats hibernate in the winter months. The disease produces ulcers and promotes emaciation in the bats.

Research is being conducted to determine if the presence of Geomyces species was already in the caves or was introduced into the caves by other means but which ever the contributing source, the species is going to spread to the bats which are in hibernation in the caves.

“Acronym required states bats are increasingly found to be the reservoir for viruses that are fatal to humans. While “zoonotic” is strictly a biological term indicating the source of a pathogen, to anthrocentric thinking the term has the rhetorical effect of indicting the reservoir animal (2005).”

Cave bats in the Northeast are at risk to this disease especially. Some bats actually survive the white-nose but when they go back into hibernation they catch the disease again. There are 45 species of bats throughout the United States and 23 are susceptible to the white-nose disease thus far. The Indiana bats first were privy to the disease three winters ago in New York. This winter the disease in nine states and ecologists feel the syndrome will spread throughout the southeast regions. Researchers are attempting to keep the disease out of the southeast regions through cooperation with federal and state agencies and caving communities. The USGS National Wildlife Health Laboratory in Madison is looking into the fungus especially close. The bats drop their body temperature by 1 degree and that is when the fungus takes over. The bat skin begins to become mouldy on site. Researchers believe the fungus has recently been introduced into caves and is now affecting the bats. The key to killing a pathogenic fungus in caves is unknown because containment is the safest means. The fungi are described as an ecological disaster by researchers today. To date over 400,000 bats have been lost to the fungus.

There are whole lots of animals that depend on bats to survive. These critters that are dependent on bats to survive are prevalent in one or two caves and can easily become extinct without thought. The ecosystem is obviously not set to deal with this fungi and the balance is off-set.  In Chester, Massachusetts many neighbours were reporting deaths of bats on sunny days below freezing temperatures which is very odd because bats are normally in hibernation during this time of year and under these conditions. The bats reported were extremely de-hydrated and appeared to have the syndrome. There were symptoms of underweight but no deaths reported. Central and Western Massachusetts have confirmed deaths as well as Vermont and New York. Bats normally do not emerge from hibernation until the end of March or beginning of April. The bats are leaving hibernation due to starvation.

Some scientist’s worry that bats will go into extinction. Bats eat their body weight in insects every night; hence the extinction of bats would mean a tremendous rise in insects for the humans next summer. The disease does not directly kill the bats, but it irritates the bats enough to make them end their hibernation early and they are forced to starve to death.

In Brandon, Vermont there is a mine of over 200 hibernating bats that have been affected by the white-nose syndrome. All the major caves and mines in New England are showing signs of the fungus. Scientists are very baffled because they cannot fully understand and explain why the bats come out of hibernation early and starve to death. It is not limited to one species of bats, non-discriminatory. This is way beyond bats but an issue of ecosystems.

Tiny bats have been tagged with transmitters and their blood is being tested with hopes to understand the fungus that has killed them over the past three winters. They continue to burn up their fat reserves and starve by leaving their hibernation. What stared in the northeast is becoming an epidemic. Bats are nature’s pesticides with a capability of eating over 1,000 insects a night. These insects can do damage to forests and agriculture. A vaccine might help these bats but that research is years away. If the fungus continues the bats may face extinction within a decade.

Researchers have sampled over 30 bats at Aeolus Bat Cave with hopes to reach insight into this fungus that is causing deaths in the bats. They have found dead bats as well as live bats in the cave. Samples were taken from both male and female bats in the cave.

In Great Peril scientists and conservationists are examining further insight into the deadly fungi which appears to be catastrophic. The fungus appeared initially to the face of the bats similar to a white powdery substance splashed on the bats facial area. The bats would leave the cave at temperatures below zero. The bats would not return to the cave and starve to death. Caves that had 10,000 bats have decreased to zero.

The organism is described as a new species of fungi originated in Europe is believed to have been transported by a caver. The fungus is as low north as Virginia at present. Even downtown Boston has the presence of bats. Hundreds of thousands of bats have died alone this year across the north-eastern United States. Al Hicks scientist for the New York Environmental Health Department states that there are limited resources for the bats that come up early to the snow. They have already used up all of their stored resources and are surely to die. The brown bat and the endangered Indiana bat are dying in these north-eastern areas. It will only take two years for this fungus to wipe out an entire population at the rate they are dying. The bats move to colder area to slow down their metabolism but they simply just die off. The sick bats do not all have the fungi and it is not present in all of the vital organs thus researchers do not think the fungi has a direct effect on the death of the bats, hence an indirect effect due to starvation.

Cornell University scientists are also looking for clues of what is happening to these bats. “To date, the Eastern pipistrelle, little brown, northern long-earred, small-footed and Indiana bats have been affected by the syndrome in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut.” (Overall).  Bats are expected to mingle with Quebec bats as soon as the summer; hence the transfer could be in Canada by early next year. After all a spread to Canada would only require a 200-300 mile transfer from New York. The most prominent symptom of the fungi is the white powdery substance present in the face of the bat, however mild to severe wing scarring has been present in some bats.

“Science Publication Magazine states live, dead and dying bats were documented in and outside of their hibernacula in affected caves and mines in Vermont, New York and Massachusetts.”  (“Science Publication Magazine”). Most of the species were little brown eared bats in poor body condition. There were some lung change but reports state the changes were difficult to describe (2009).

The subcutaneous loss of fat, abnormal hibernatory behaviours and white fungal growth on the face and ears of the bats is killing hibernating bats in the northeast territories. Research has shown that bacteria rather than fungus may be the “interest as a causative agent.” (Golas 5).

There is a current plan under review by the Association of Wildlife and Fisheries to assist the National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey with their efforts to curtail this white nose bat syndrome by this winter.” Recommendations will come in the form of a structured process outlining management measures to control the spread of the disease and minimise the effects of WNS on the bats. The documents will be finalized by the end of October.” (“White nose Syndrome: Something is killing our bats”). Of the $5 million in grant proposals only $800,000 is currently available for use at present for research. That is not a whole lot of money reports researchers to conduct this amount of work needed to research this epidemic that is affecting the bat population. Hopefully strategies to get these grants passed will also be discussed at these meetings this month because numbers are up to as high as 90-100 percent of morbidity in some areas of Vermont.

Madison’s National Wildlife Health Centre has been conducting several research studies on this white bat syndrome that has taken over the bat population in the past three years especially studying the disease over microscopes in the laboratory Bat research Dave Redell has been studying bats from Wisconsin in the field by trapping bats in his mist nets in hopes of testing them to see what is the cause of the fungus and hoping to determine the source of the fungus. Redell has trapped bats in this area of Governor Dodge State Park before for 12 years hence this is not a new job for him. Redell states that “Several Western species serve crucial roles as pollinators for desert plants such as agave and as seed dispersers for dozens of species of cacti.” (Seely).  “The fungus which is involved in an organic decomposition process in soil appears on the nose of the bats as a fuzzy white substance”. (Seely). It is crucial that the bats are able to fly to find food for them. The decay of the fungus demotes their ability to fly because the fungus is every so present on their wings. Blehrart pinpoints the origin of the fungus from Europe. Indiana bat (M. sodalis), Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), Little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), Northern long-eared bat (M. septentrionalis), Silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), Red bat (Lasiurus borealis), Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) have all been affected by the fungi disease. Some of these species hibernate alone and some hibernate in colonies. Some are prevalent in the north and some are common in the south such as the big brown bats.

Scientists anticipate that the fungus will show up in caves in mines in the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, other Midwestern and Southern states and may reach California and other West coast states as well. “White-nose syndrome is like a house on fire,” said Mollie Matteson, a wildlife biologist and conservation advocate in the Centre for Biological Diversity’s Northeast office. “People have been throwing buckets of water on it, and calling 911, but it’s taken a long time for the fire trucks to get there. We’re grateful, but we hope it’s not too late. Common myths and prejudices about bats have also posed a challenge for those advocating for faster action.” (“Governor Announces Plan to Respond to White-Nose Syndrome, Try to Stave off Bat Catastrophe”). Additional funding is needed by Congress to make substantial efforts for research and management of this epidemic.

Conclusion

This striking fungus is anticipated to have originated from Europe though the true origin has not been validated by scientists. The effects of the fungus are that it irritates the bats to the point they decide to end their hibernation early hence starve to death in the extreme cold winter months due to loss of body fat storage. No toxicology reports have found presence of the fungus inside of the vital organs of the bats to date. The fungus presents itself as a white looking powdery substance on the face, ears, nose and wings of the bats. The fear is that the bats are no longer consuming their weight in insect population and will die off and our agriculture will be affected as well as the population being affected by insect bites.  Funding has been provided to research this epidemic but not enough has been approved. Grant proposals have been made but are still pending approval. Management plans are being put into effect to curtail this epidemic by late October. Hopes are that these precise management plans will aid in the curtail of the fungus spread to other states as well as Canada.

Works Cited

Berdick, Chris & Brown, Edward A. Bat Man v White Nose 10 Sept. 2009 1 Oct. 2009 < http://www.bu.edu/today/2009/09/03/bat-man-vs-white-nose>.

Blehart, David S. Bat-Nose Syndrome: An Emerging Fungal Pattern? 16 January 2009 1 October 2009 < http://www.life.umd.edu/faculty/wilkinson/SFT/Blehert09Science.pdf>

Blehart, David S. Bat White-Nose Syndrome: An Emerging Fungal Pathogen? 9 January 2009 1 October 2009 < http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/323/5911/227>

Acronym Bats, Viruses and Us—Riddles to Solve 4 December 2005 1 October 2009 < http://acronymrequired.com/2005/12/bats-viruses-an.html>.

Overall, April White Nose Bat Syndrome-Coming to Canada 8 October 2009 2 October 2009 < http://www.cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/online-articles/news/wildlife/white-nose-bat-syndrome.html>

Schuller, K. & Ballman, A. White Nose Syndrome (WNS) 9 January 2009 2 October 2009 < http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/white-nose_syndrome/>

Golas, B. & Buckles, E. Dermatological Analysis of Wings from Bats with White Nose Syndrome 2 March 2009 1 October 2009 <http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/13078/1/Golas,%20Benjamin%20-%20Research%20Honors%20Thesis.pdf>

“White Nose Syndrome: Something is Killing our Bats” 2 October 2009 2 October 2009 < http://www.fws.gov/northeast/white_nose.html>.

Seely, R. Racing Deadly Fungus to Save Nations Bats 6 September 2009 2 October 2009 < http://www.allbusiness.com/medicine-health/diseases-disorders/12855022-1.html>

“Governor Announces Plan to Respond to White-Nose Syndrome, Try to Stave off Bat Catastrophe” 24 September 2009 2 October 2009 http://yubanet.com/usa/Government-Announces-Plan-to-Respond-to-White-nose-Syndrome-Try-to-Stave-Off-Bat-Catastrophe.php