First the bees, now bats dying in masses

[waltky]

Bat fungus came from Europe...

Study: Fungus behind bat die-off came from Europe
9 Apr.`12 — The mysterious deaths of millions of bats in the United States and Canada over the past several years were caused by a fungus that hitchhiked from Europe, scientists reported Monday.

Experts had suspected that an invasive species was to blame for the die-off from "white nose syndrome." Now there's direct evidence the culprit was not native to North America. The fungal illness has not caused widespread deaths among European bats unlike in the U.S. and Canada. In North America more than 5.7 million bats have died since 2006 when white nose syndrome was first detected in a cave in upstate New York. The disease does not pose a threat to humans, but people can carry fungal spores. It's unclear exactly how the fungus crossed the Atlantic, but one possibility is that it was accidentally introduced by tourists. Spores are known to stick to people's clothes, boots and caving gear.

White nose syndrome has killed bats in four Canadian provinces and 19 U.S. states, mostly in the Northeast and South. Last week, the illness marched west of the Mississippi River, infecting bats in Missouri. Now that scientists have pinpointed the apparent origin of the epidemic, what can be done to protect bats? They play a crucial role in the ecological food chain by devouring insects. "There is still not much we can do beyond making absolutely sure we don't make things worse by accidentally spreading the fungus," said biologist Craig Willis of the University of Winnipeg in Canada.

Willis and a team of U.S.-Canadian scientists set out to determine whether the fungus behind white nose syndrome was native to this continent or invaded from abroad. To do this, they collected 54 little brown bats from an uninfected cave in Manitoba. The bats were divided into three groups: One group was infected with spores collected from Europe; another group was sickened with spores from North America. A third group was not infected. Researchers used infrared cameras to monitor the bats' behavior and disease progression over several months. Both infected groups developed symptoms, including the telltale trace of white powder on the nose that gives the disease its name and scarring on the wings. Compared with uninfected bats, infected bats were roused more often from hibernation. This depletes their fat reserves and ultimately leads to death. The findings were reported online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Since the infected groups showed similarly severe symptoms, scientists concluded the fungus originated in Europe. Had the pathogen been native to North America but with a mutation that made it more deadly, scientists would have expected to see milder symptoms in the group infected with the European fungus. The team planned to repeat the experiment next year with European bats and compare results. Why European bats have not died off en masse is unknown. It's possible they developed immunity to the fungus or learned to avoid places that favor the spread of the disease. North American bats have shown little protection against white nose syndrome and there's active research into whether populations can rebound. "We are still working to understand if it is possible for bats to develop resilience or resistance to the fungus," said Jeremy Coleman of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who had no role in the latest work.

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[skookerasbil]

species populate and reduce in number. Been happening forever.

 

[waltky]

Bat fungus spread not abating...

White-nose syndrome in bats continues to spread
10 April 2012 : Despite efforts to control white-nose syndrome, the disease is continuing to spread across the US

A fungal disease that has killed more than 5.5 million bats is continuing to spread across North America. White-nose syndrome, first recorded in New York in 2006, is now present in 20 states and four Canadian provinces. Research just published provides further evidence that the disease is caused by the fungus, and that it originated in Europe.

Last year, researchers and policymakers agreed on a national action plan in order to limit the disease's impact. "We now have 19 states that have confirmed the disease, and one additional state that has detected the fungus that causes the disease," explained Ann Froschauer from the US white-nose syndrome (WNS) co-ordination team at the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). "In addition, we have four Canadian provinces that have also confirmed the disease." WNS is named after a white fungus that appears on the muzzle and/or wings of infected animals, and has been described by some biologists as the worst US wildlife health crisis in living memory.

Here to stay

"We recognise that bats are moving the disease pretty efficiently themselves," Ms Froschauer told BBC News. "What we are doing in terms of a containment strategy is to basically buy ourselves some time and prevent a big long-distance jump, such as an accidental introduction of the fungus in an area much further than the bats could naturally move it. "We don't want someone to hop on a plane in New York and then get off in Seattle and create a new epicentre, so our containment strategy focuses on decontamination protocol and restricting access to sites. "I don't think we will ever expect to stop this disease in its tracks, but there may be ways to reduce the effects of the disease on the bat populations."

The fungus associated with the disease, Geomyces destructans (Gd), thrives in dark, damp places such as caves and mines. Recent studies have painted a bleak picture for at least half of US bat species, which rely on hibernation for winter survival and are therefore potentially susceptible to the disease. Writing in the journal Science in August 2010, a team of researchers warned that some species' populations could become locally extinct within two decades. And in April, another team estimated the loss of bat species, which help control pest populations, would cost US agriculture more than $3.7bn a year.

More BBC News - White-nose syndrome in bats continues to spread

 

[waltky]

Bats, reptiles, amphibians under assault by diseases...

Deadly Bat Plague Spreads to Midwestern US
April 11, 2012 - 'White-nose syndrome' has killed millions of bats

A fungal disease that has killed more than 5.5 million bats in the eastern United States and Canada is making its way west. What's known as "white-nose syndrome" has now been diagnosed in three Missouri bats - the first confirmed cases west of the Mississippi, and St. Louis scientists say it won’t stop there. Since white-nose syndrome was first discovered in bats near Albany, New York, in early 2007, it has devastated bat populations in the eastern U.S. “Unfortunately, there’s not a lot we can do to stop it,” says Tony Elliott, a scientist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, who says he knew it was only a matter of time before the disease crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri.

That’s because white-nose syndrome is caused by a fungus that easily passes from bat to bat. The disease is named for the powdery white growth that can sometimes coat an infected bat’s muzzle and wings. The fungus penetrates the bat’s skin, eating away at the thin, semi-translucent membranes of its wings, tail, and ears.

But, there’s still plenty scientiests don’t know about the disease. “It is still a bit of a mystery exactly what the ultimate cause of death is,” Elliott says. What is clear is that the fungus is changing the bats’ behavior. “In heavily infected sites, the bats roost in odd locations," Elliott says, "often near the entrance of the site, and will be seen flying out of the site in the middle of the day, in the middle of the winter sometimes, when there’s obviously no good reason for them to be flying out and around.” Scientists have a number of theories about why the bats are dying. They may be using up their winter fat reserves too soon and starving to death. Bats that go out in the daytime make easy pickings for predators. They might be dying from the cold. And since bats regulate water loss through their wings, the flesh-eating fungus could cause deadly dehydration.

Some species have been hit harder than others. The once-common little brown bat has seen its northeastern populations plummet. Five other species have also been affected. “We are basically monitoring and watching one of the greatest population declines through disease that’s ever been recorded for a mammal species, and that is certainly of concern, to put it mildly,” says Jeremy Coleman, national white-nose syndrome coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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See also:

Reptiles, Amphibians in US Succumbing to Deadly Ranavirus
April 13, 2012 - Since the mid 1990s, a type of virus known as a ranavirus has been taking a devastating toll on reptiles and amphibians -- especially turtles, frogs, toads and salamanders -- in more than 20 states across the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of these animals have died from the lethal virus and the disease continues to spread. Scientists are stepping up their efforts to better understand and combat the pathogen.

Tracking the virus

A few years ago, Scott Farnsworth, a graduate student at Towson University in Maryland, was sent to a wooded park in Maryland to relocate box turtles safely away from a new highway. Farnsworth and his team tagged 100 turtles with radio transmitters. But then the reptiles started turning up dead. And not just turtles. They began seeing massive die-offs of toads, young frogs called tadpoles and salamanders. Lab analyses showed the culprit was the ranavirus, a class of viruses that mostly infect cold blooded animals. “It’s pretty quick. We can go from seeing no outer signs," he explained. "To having complete mortality for all of the ones in the pond within a few days.”

While amphibians die within hours of infection, box turtles can survive as long as a month. A lab test showed the animal died struggling to breathe. Ranavirus often infects amphibians during their egg and juvenile stages, leaving them unable to swim. But it affects only adult turtles. “It could send them on a glide path towards extinction,” said Farnsworth. Farnsworth carefully checks for signs of life at a pond where all the animals died last year. A device records water temperature in the pond every hour so scientists can correlate the temperature to evidence of the virus. Nearby, Farnsworth finds salamanders developing their legs.

For now, they look fine, but in a few weeks the virus could show up again. Scientists don’t know much about ranavirus, or how to eliminate it. “If this continues the way we’ve seen it, this could be devastating to several species,” Farnsworth noted. When a group of animals dies in large numbers, the animals that feed on them also decline. And the species that were food for them - such as mosquitoes and insects - flourish.

Ranavirus spreading

"Ranavirus infection in wild and captive amphibians is a very serious disease," said David Green is an animal disease specialist at the National Wildlife Health Center of the U.S. Geological Survey. "When the infection shows up in a wetland, we expect nearly 100 percent of the animals to be killed in that wetland." Green says scientists have reported ranavirus in 25 US states and in several other countries. He predicts it will take years before scientists are able to control it. Meanwhile, after a long day of study, Scott Farnsworth heads home. On his way, he checks on the red back salamanders. For now, they look okay.

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[rdean]

Wanna bet Republicans are either saying, "So what?" or "good, bees sting and bats scare me. Let them die"?