[Pollinator] Fwd: FW: Ninety-eight percent of cave-hibernating bats in Pennsylvania have d...

Tue Apr 16 19:37:42 PDT 2013

From: lstritch at fs.fed.us
To: kawinter at fs.fed.us, rdlopez at fs.fed.us,  hli at fs.fed.us, 
dcleland at fs.fed.us, csrichmond at fs.fed.us
CC: fharty at tnc.org,  lda at pollinator.org
Sent: 4/16/2013 9:47:15 A.M. Pacific Daylight  Time
Subj: FW: Ninety-eight percent of cave-hibernating bats in Pennsylvania  
have died, say biologists ; Natural news 4/15/2013

From: Prendusi, Teresa  -FS 
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 4:05 PM
To: FS-pdl r4 ro  nr staff
Cc: Cleveland, Alix -FS; Ikeda, Diane -FS; Popovich, Steve  J -FS; Rankin, 
Duke -FS; Schultz, Jan -FS; Shelly, Steve -FS; Skinner, Mark  -FS; 
Stensvold, Mary -FS; Stritch, Larry -FS; Prendusi, Teresa  -FS
Subject: FW: Ninety-eight percent of cave-hibernating bats in  Pennsylvania 
have died, say biologists ; Natural news  4/15/2013

This  is so tragic. 

Teresa  Prendusi, Regional Botanist 
U.S.  Forest Service, Intermountain Region 
324  25th St., Ogden UT  84401 
Ph.  (801) 625-5522 
Fax  (801) 625-5483 
Email:   _tprendusi at fs.fed.us_ (mailto:tprendusi at fs.fed.us)  

From: Frisbee,  Christine -FS 
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 1:46 PM
To:  Prendusi, Teresa -FS; Madrid, Colleen -FS
Subject: FW: Ninety-eight  percent of cave-hibernating bats in Pennsylvania 
have died, say biologists ;  Natural news 4/15/2013

My  heart is breaking over this.. 

Chris  Frisbee 
Deputy Forest  Supervisor 
Klamath  National Forest 
1711 South Main  Street 
Yreka, CA  96097 
office:  530-841-4501 
cell:  530-598-4139 
Fax:  530-841-4571

From: Terry Seyden [mailto:terryseyden at yahoo.com]  
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 6:46 AM
To:  seyden
Subject: Ninety-eight percent of cave-hibernating bats have  died in 
Pennsylvania, say biologists ; Natural news  4/15/2013

Ninety-eight percent of cave-hibernating bats have died in  Pennsylvania, 
say biologists 

Monday, April 15, 2013 by: Jonathan Benson,  staff writer

_http://www.naturalnews.com/039916_bats_white-nose_syndrome_die-off.html_ 
(http:///) 

(NaturalNews)  They serve a critical role in pollinating crops, killing 
insects, and  fertilizing soil, but their presence throughout the state of 
Pennsylvania is  in a disastrously serious decline. According to a new report by 
 PhillyBurbs.com, 99.99 percent of bats living in Pennsylvania's second  
largest bat habitat were recently discovered to be dead, and a cohort of  
biologists currently studying the issue estimates that a shocking 98 percent  of 
bats living throughout the entire state of Pennsylvania are now dead as  
well.

For many generations, tens of thousands of bats have made their  home at an 
old abandoned iron ore mine in the Upper Bucks area of Central  
Pennsylvania. At least six different bat species resided in the mine, which  has long 
been a key hibernation spot for bats during the cold winter months.  But a 
recent inspection of the mine revealed that a mere handful of the  
approximately 10,000 bats that were believed to have lived there previously  are now 
gone, and most of the few remaining bats are ill with a disease that  will 
likely kill them.

It is known officially as white-nose syndrome,  and experts are not 
entirely sure how or from where it emerged. But it causes  a white fungus to form 
around the noses of infected bats, and eventually  causes them to lose the 
necessary fat they need on their bodies to survive. In  the end, white-nose 
syndrome causes bats to die of starvation, a phenomenon  that has been 
observed all across the Northeast.

"Going to places where  there used to be tens of thousands of _bats_ 
(http://www.naturalnews.com/bats.html)  hibernating, and then  going in and seeing 
only a few bats -- only a few stragglers left -- that's  very difficult," 
said Pennsylvania Game Commission Biologist Greg Turner to  PhillyBurbs.com. 
Turner has been studying the swift decline of bats  throughout 
_Pennsylvania_ (http://www.naturalnews.com/Pennsylvania.html)  for  several years now, 
and is currently working with a team of scientists to  figure out how to 
address it.

During his recent visit to the mine,  which is located in Durham, Turner 
found only three surviving species of bats  among 23 living bats. Eighteen of 
them were determined to be little brown  bats, and half of these were 
observed to have the strange white fungus around  their noses. Many of these same 
bats were also seen to be crowding around the  entrance of the mine, another 
indication that they are also infected with the  disease.

White-nose syndrome has also been observed in a cave in  Alabama, according 
to a recent Reuters report. The Fern Cave National  Wildlife Refuge near 
Huntsville currently houses about 1.6 million protected  gray bats, which are 
an endangered species, but experts worry that because the  fungus has now 
been detected there, the "single most significant hibernating  area in the 
world for the species" may soon become decimated as  well. 
Loss of bats means  influx of insects
Bats  are often referred to as the "farmer's friend" because they spend 
much of  their time during the spring and summer months feeding on insects, 
many of  which harm crops. A single bat, according to PhillyBurbs.com, can  
consume up to 900,000 insects per year, which means bats also help protect  
humans against diseases like West Nile virus by eating the mosquitoes and  
other insects that spread them.

Without bats, in other words, there  will be no predator to keep the insect 
population in check, which means  summers will be extremely buggy, 
especially in wet and wooded areas of the  country like Pennsylvania.

"White-nose syndrome is arguably the most  devastating wildlife disease 
we've faced," says Michael T. Rains, Director of  the U.S. Forest Service's 
Northern Research Station.

Sources for  this article include:

_http://www.phillyburbs.com_ 
(http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/palisades/all-but-of-bats-in-durham-bat-mine-have-died/article_19e44845-452b-5ffe-ba71-
110122304402.html) 

_http://www.huffingtonpost.com_ 
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/09/fern-cave-national-wildlife-refuge-al_n_3040896.html) 

_http://articles.philly.com_ 
(http://articles.philly.com/2013-04-08/news/38376470_1_geomyces-white-nose-syndrome-fungus) 

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