DNRE Awarded Grant to Address White Nose Syndrome in BatsContact: Dan O'Brien 517-336-5030 or Bill Scullon 906-353-6651
Agency: Natural Resources and Environment
June 10, 2010The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment recently was awarded an $82,000 grant to address White Nose Syndrome (WNS), an emerging disease in bats.
The money is part of a multiple state $5 million grant award by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) made to six state fish and wildlife agencies. The grants are intended to help conserve and recover species of greatest conservation need through the State Wildlife Grants Competitive Program.
WNS was first noted among dead and hibernating bats found in caves near Albany, New York beginning in February 2006. Affected bats appeared to have a white substance on their heads and wings, a substance that turned out to be a fungus called Geomyces destructans. The cool, wet conditions present in the caves and mines where bats hibernate provide ideal conditions for growth of the fungus.
Since March 2008, biologists and cavers have documented more than a million dead and dying bats at caves and mines in 14 states and two Canadian provinces. The fungus has been documented on bats as far west as Oklahoma, and as close to Michigan as Ontario's Bruce Peninsula, across Lake Huron. Current evidence suggests the fungus is spread from bat to bat by contact, and inadvertently by humans on their boots and clothing. Although WNS has not been documented to date in Michigan, migrating bats could bring the disease to the state as soon as this fall if they fly here to hibernate.
Michigan is home to nine species of bats at some point in the year, including the federally and state endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and the state threatened evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis). Many species of bats which summer in Michigan migrate south to hibernate. However, some species hibernate here in large colonies, primarily Indiana bats, little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), tri-colored or eastern pipestrelle bats (Perimyoitis subflavus), and northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis). Because of its glacial history, Michigan has very few "natural" hibernacula (i.e., caves) for large colonies of bats. Most large colonies are in abandoned mines in the western Upper Peninsula. The largest Lower Peninsula colony is in a hydroelectric dam.
This grant will help the DNRE draft a response plan for WNS, and to work closely with neighboring states and federal officials as they develop a regional and national WNS response. The grant will help defray costs for surveillance, tracking the disease, and public education and communication about WNS and the critical ecological role played by bats.
"The speed with which this disease has spread through the eastern U.S. and the death rates it has caused in infected bat populations is unprecedented," said Dr. Dan O'Brien, DNRE wildlife veterinarian. "Unfortunately, the current scientific evidence doesn't provide much encouragement that Michigan bats will be spared. However, we hope an effective response plan that minimizes human disturbance in the places where bats hibernate will conserve the bat populations that remain once the disease has passed through. Conservation is going to be the key."
Under normal circumstances, many bat species have high survival rates and live for five to 15 years. They often reproduce slowly, having only a single pup per year. Consequently, scientists predict bat populations suffering the high death rates associated with WNS will not recover quickly. Bats have important ecological value, and consume vast numbers of insects, many of which are pests on agricultural crops. If large numbers of bats are killed by WNS, the increase in insect populations may have important negative consequences for agriculture.
"To be effective, Michigan's response to WNS will have to be a truly cooperative effort," said Bill Scullon, DNRE wildlife biologist in Baraga. "Bat conservation groups, university researchers, as well as state and federal government agencies will have to be, and already are, involved in the planning."
The public can help slow the spread of WNS into Michigan by staying out of abandoned mines, and cooperating with disinfection procedures before entering tourist mines, especially if they have visited caves or mines in WNS-affected areas.
More information on White Nose Syndrome can be found on the USFWS website at
www.fws.gov/WhiteNoseSyndrome.
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10371_10402-238364--,00.html
