A white fungus is devastating the bats of Connecticut and other Northeastern states.
Lab analysis indicated the fungus is of the type Geomyces. It is found in cold climates like the Arctic and more recently in caves in the Northeast. Bats hibernate in these caves and huddle together in masses to keep warm, which could be spreading the fungus quickly. Apparently most of the decimation of the Connecticut bats has taken place this winter alone. Bats with white nose syndrome were identifed several years ago, but the extent of the problem was not known. That, or the fungus has been rapidly spreading over a short period of time. Scientists now estimate one million bats in the Northeast may have been killed by the fungus.
Some biologists are very concerned that when the Northeastern bats migrate they could carry the fungus to other areas of the country such as the South. If the fungus spreads to the largest bat hibernation area which spans Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama many millions of bats could die.
Merlin Tuttle who is a scientist studying bat ecology said this of the situation,
“Mortality rates like those we are seeing in the states already hit by [white-nose syndrome] would be devastating for the national bat population.”
Bats consume enormous quantities of insects which can spread diseases, and
do great damage to agricultural crops. Bat research recently produced an astonishing finding:
“…that the free-tail bats — there are at least 100 million of them in central Texas — consume more than 2 million pounds of insects every night.” The consumption of insects by bats protects vast stretches of human crop lands from annihilation. Without the bats farmers may be forced to dump more pesticides into the environment and they can wind up back in our water tables and in our foods.
An interview with Eric Britzke, Ph.D., Research Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, provided a view on the future for the Northeast’s bats: “You’re right – we don’t know that we can stop it, even if we know what it is. So, there might be nothing we can do. Most bat researchers are very pessimistic that we’re going to be able to contain this in the short term. “
The fungus so far has not been shown to harm humans. The loss of bats could impact humans who live in the same area in health terms if there are more mosquitoes spreading diseases such as West Nile Virus. If there are more cases of West Nile virus, of course more birds will die also.
Image Credit, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain
