Bat death syndrome

[Bill Dickerson]

I found a story about Bat death syndrome.

Apparently they are dying of a fungus. It's possible the bats have not been able to fatten up for hibernation and their systems are weakened.

Bees and bats don't have much of an overlap in active periods but I wonder if the CCD has affected other insects thus starving the bats.

Maybe the insects have an issue that carries over to the bats in the food supply.

Bats eat 200 bugs an hour so I would imagine it would concentrate in a bat.

These are just WAGs. Any thoughts?

http://www.livescience.com/animals/081030-bat-fungus.html

[Hobie]

I read about this last year, and it is alarming. I had not really thought about the connection to insects, but it seems logical. Maybe not CCD, per se, since not all insects live in colonies, but I get your drift. Seemingly little things seem to often ripple into larger effects in nature.

However, in summer, on my swampy land, I have not noticed any reduction in the mosquito/ biting insect population at all.

[Ravenseye]

I know that biologists in MA are working on this. The fungus is typically found in the caves where the bats live and it's unclear as to why the fungus has suddenly found the bat to be a good host. Possibly a deficiency in the immune system....who knows at this point. It'll be good to follow the findings on this one.

[slickbrightspear]

I wonder if all the insecticides are being transfered from the insects to the bats and weakening their immune system.

[KQ6AR]

If it where lack of insects for their diet. I think the bat population would just balance out to match their available food.

[slickbrightspear]

I do not think it is a lack of insects I think it works like the mercury in fish. small fish eat the plants and gather mercury. bigger fish eat the smaller fish and build up more mercury and then we eat the predatory fish and get it ourselves. the bats eat the insects before they die of the insecticide and ingest enough that it slowly weakens their immune system.

[Sarge]

We started getting calls about bat deaths about 4 years ago. At the time the County Mosquito Control programs were changing from conventional pesticides to the "Greener" bio based agents.
They were driven by things like West Nile and St. Louis Encephalitis, and under pressure to stop using the "old stuff".
Maybe they didn't research enough.

[Nate Ellis]

I heard a local update about this on north country public radio this week. They said one of the caves around the NY/VT border the researchers are investigating is significantly worse this year than last. You need a biohazard suit and respirator down there its so full of dead and dying bats-dead bats on the floor, frozen in icicles, dead outside in the snow etc.

[wildbranch2007]

we always have a lot of bats around here in the summer but never have seen them flying in the winter, we had one day into the 40's a week ago and they were out looking for insects so my guess is they are probably short of body stores. not a good sighn

mike

[walking bird]

Just finished an article on this the other day. "White Nose Fungus" is the culprit, and it's primarily being studied in that big Vermont cave referred to above (can't recall the name). The fungus crosses species lines, infecting every kind of bat that ordinarily hibernates in this cave (and others across the country).