[Pollinator] USGS Feature -- Trick or Treat? The Frightening Threat to Bats

[Puckett, Catherine]

Please Read:
http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/trick-or-treat-the-frightening-threats-to-bats/

Trick or Treat? The Frightening Threats to Bats

CATEGORIES: ECOSYSTEMS<http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/science_feature/ecosystems/>
, FEATURED<http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/science_feature/featured_features/>

POSTED ON OCTOBER 28, 2013 AT 8:00 AM
LAST UPDATE 9:49 AM *BY: ETHAN ALPERN, EALPERN at USGS.GOV 703-648-4406 &
MARISA LUBECK, MLUBECK at USGS.GOV 303-202-4765*
 [image: This hibernating little brown bat shows the white muzzle that is
typical of white-nose
syndrome.]<http://gallery.usgs.gov/photos/12_15_2010_iMDp26Rff0_12_15_2010_0>

This hibernating little brown bat shows the white muzzle that is typical of
white-nose syndrome.

Each year on Halloween, as children dress up and go door to door looking
for treats and excitement, bats—the very animal we associate with the
celebration—are in serious trouble and we need to “treat” them with the
respect they deserve.

Iconic Halloween animals that reinforce the spookiness of the holiday, bats
have long suffered a bad reputation. They’ve been accused of harboring
unkind spirits, making nests in piles of ratty hair, and are, of course,
often associated with witches, warlocks, and Halloween. Few other mammals
seem to “spook” us with so many misunderstandings. .    But bats, because
of their incredible echolocation abilities, rarely fly into or touch
people.  Far from being merely an unsavory nuisance, they serve amazing and
essential ecological roles in our country.

Unfortunately for insect-eating bats, white-nose
syndrome<http://whitenosesyndrome.org/about-white-nose-syndrome>
(WNS),
a fatal fungal growth in the wings and muzzles of hibernating bats, has
killed over 5 million bats since 2006, and may well lead to the extinction
of certain bat species. In addition, bats are susceptible to being killed
or injured by wind turbines.

According to Paul Cryan, a bat ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey,
“People often ask why we should care about bats, and our research analysis
strongly suggests that bats are saving us big bucks by gobbling up insects
that eat or damage our crops. It is obviously beneficial that insectivorous
bats are patrolling the skies at night above our fields and forests—and
that these bats deserve help.”

Unlike the dreaded vampire bat typically associated with Halloween,
insect-eating bats perform services valuable to humans.  Research by Cryan
and his colleagues shows that insect-eating bats—through their free
pest-control services—save the agricultural industry at least $3
billion each year. A single little brown bat, which has a body no bigger
than an adult human’s thumb, can eat four to eight grams (the weight of
about a grape or two) of insects each night. The loss of millions of bats
in the Northeast has probably resulted in between 1.4 and 2.9 million
pounds (equivalent to about two to three full Boeing 747-8F airliners) of
insects no longer being eaten each year by bats in the region.

With these facts in mind, perhaps we can feel friendlier towards bats this
Halloween.

*An Invasive, Emerging Disease: White-Nose Syndrome*

U.S. bat populations have been declining at an alarming rate since the 2006
discovery of WNS in New York State. To date, the disease has been found in 23
states and five Canadian
provinces<http://batcon.org/images/stories/WNS_Status_Large20130917.jpg>
and
has killed more than 5 million bats. The Northeast, where bat population
declines have exceeded 80 percent, is the most severely affected region in
the country. There is no known cure for WNS, and diseases among
free-ranging wildlife are difficult to stop once they’ve become established
in wildlife populations.

WNS is caused by a deadly fungus called *Pseudogymnoascus destructans*
(formerly
known as *Geomyces destructans*), according to research by USGS scientists
and partners<http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3015&from=rss_home>.
True to its ominous name, *P. destructans* causes a powdery white growth on
the muzzles and wings of most infected bats (the telltale sign of a
life-threatening WNS infection), compromised immune systems, wing
damage<http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2664&from=rss_home>,
and abnormal bat behavior.
[image: USGS pathologist Nancy Thomas and technician Dottie Johnson
necropsy a little brown bat at the USGS National Wildlife Health
Center.]<http://gallery.usgs.gov/photos/qvm8PCb54I_9>

USGS pathologist Nancy Thomas and technician Dottie Johnson necropsy a
little brown bat at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center.

The disease is spread by bat-to-bat contact during hibernation, and
possibly by humans carrying the fungus from infected caves to uninfected
sites. (WNS is not known to affect people.) For this reason, many caves in
affected states have been closed to recreational use, and people visiting
open sites are urged to follow specific decontamination
procedures<http://whitenosesyndrome.org/topics/decontamination>
.

The abrupt spread of WNS <http://vimeo.com/76705033> has disrupted
populations of seven bat species so far, and if the current rate continues,
WNS could threaten several of these species—including the federally
endangered Indiana bat—with extinction. Studies by USGS scientists and
collaborators provide critical information about WNS, which may help
decision-makers preserve these ecologically and economically valuable North
American bat populations.

“The high number of bat deaths and range of species being affected far
exceeds the rate and magnitude of any previously known natural or
human-caused mortality event in bats, and possibly in any other mammals,”
said Cryan.

*Bats and Wind Energy*

In addition to WNS, bats have another rapidly growing danger. Wind energy
is one of the fastest-growing sources of renewable energy in the United
States today. Land-based wind turbines can reach more than 425 feet above
ground with a rotor-swept area of 1 sometimes 2.5 acres. Though wind
turbines play an important role in the nation’s energy portfolio, bats and
birds have been injured or died from collisions with turbines or from the
physiological damage caused by the massive turning blades. It is estimated
that nearly 900,000 bats die at wind turbines each year. As our nation’s
energy portfolio continues to grow, it is critical that development be
guided by the best science available so that it happens in the right way
and the right places. USGS researchers are assessing not only how and why a
bat interacts with the blades of a wind turbine at night, but possible
methods to reduce the numbers of bat and bird fatalities.

We are creating new applications of innovative technologies like employing
radar to track flight patterns of bats; using low-light surveillance
cameras to document bat-turbine encounters; developing models to predict
fatalities; and recording flight calls of bats and birds to determine the
distribution of migrants in time and space.  Together, this information can
be used to help reduce the harmful effects of wind energy on bats by
providing information needed for better turbine design, operation, and
placement.
[image: An unexpected number of dead bats began appearing beneath
industrial-scale wind turbines in North America and Europe during the past
decade.] <http://gallery.usgs.gov/photos/10_19_2009_s84Aq11PPk_10_19_2009_0>

An unexpected number of dead bats began appearing beneath industrial-scale
wind turbines in North America and Europe during the past decade.

To learn more, please listen to this
podcast<http://gallery.usgs.gov/audios/315> on
bats and wind energy.

*About Bats*

Bats remarkably similar to the ones we have today first appeared on Earth
more than 50 million years ago. No other mammal has ever achieved the
ability to sustain flight. There are over 1,000 species of bats, some the
size of a human thumb and others with a six-foot wingspan. Some eat
insects, some eat rodents, some eat nectar from plants, and yes, some eat
blood, and other than fruit bats, all are active at night. Bats rely on
echolocation (locating objects by reflected sound) to navigate through the
night and in the caves and tree-roosting sites many kinds of bats inhabit.

During the winter, many species of bats hibernate in dark and moist caves
or mines, playing an important role by bringing important resources into
cave ecosystems. Hibernation is an adaptation for bat survival during the
cold winter months, when there are no insects available for bats to eat.
Bats must store energy, in the form of fat, prior to hibernation. One of
the problems with WNS is that the hibernation of many afflicted bats is
interrupted, often leading them to depart their winter roost and to
eventually starve to death.

Bat reproduction begins with mating in the fall before hibernation. Female
bats store sperm through the winter and become pregnant in the spring soon
after emerging from caves or other winter roosts. In spring, bats migrate
to their summer areas—often wooded locations with lots of trees and
vegetation. Females usually roost together in maternity colonies under the
peeling bark or in cavities of dead and dying trees and in caves in groups
of up to 100 or more. Each female in the colony typically gives birth to
only one pup per year. Young bats are nursed by the mother, who leaves the
roost only to forage for food. While mothers are out foraging, the young
bats huddle together like building blocks to keep warm. The young stay with
the maternity colony throughout most of their first summer.

Links:

   - USGS National Wildlife Health
Center<http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/white-nose_syndrome/>
   - USGS Fort Collins Science Center <http://www.fort.usgs.gov/>
   - National coordinated response to white-nose
syndrome<http://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/>
   - Bat Conservation
International<http://batcon.org/index.php/what-we-do/white-nose-syndrome.html?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=five_icon&utm_campaign=White-nose%2BSyndrome>
   - Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program
Homepage<http://www.lcrmscp.gov/>
   - Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program
Bats<http://www.lcrmscp.gov/species/bats.html>

Please Read:
http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/trick-or-treat-the-frightening-threats-to-bats/
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