Biodiversity: Bat-killing white-nose syndrome spreads near huge colony of endangered gray bats in Alabama

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
A tri-colored bat with the tell-tale signs of white-nose syndrome on its muzzle in

A tri-colored bat with the tell-tale signs of white-nose syndrome on its muzzle in Fern Cave, Alabama. Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Impacts to gray bats still uncertain

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — The largest known colony of endangered gray bats is  threatened by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has already wiped out millions of bats from New England to the Southeast and into the Midwest.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials announced this week that the disease was confirmed at Fern Cave National Wildlife Refuge in Jackson County, Alabama. The refuge was created to protect gray bats.

White-nose syndrome was discovered in tri-colored bats near the two entrances to the cave. White-nose syndrome is not currently known to cause mortality in gray bats, the detection of infected bats at Fern Cave is cause for concern, federal biologists said. (more…)

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Deadly disease spreads to endangered gray bats

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Gray bat. PHOTO COURTESY USFSW.

No deaths documented so far, but biologists are concerned about the potential for devastation of huge colonies

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — The spread of deadly white-nose syndrome to federally endangered gray bats is a devastating blow, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said after announcing that biologists found the disease in gray bat populations in Hawkins and Montgomery counties in Tennessee.

“Because gray bats hibernate together in colonies that number in the hundreds of thousands, white-nose syndrome could expand exponentially across the range of the species,” said Paul McKenzie, Missouri Endangered Species Coordinator for the Service. “The confirmation of WNS in gray bats is also alarming because guano from the species is an important source of energy for many cave ecosystems and there are numerous cave-adapted species that could be adversely impacted by their loss.” (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, endangered species, Environment | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

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