Biologist Study White Nose Syndrome in Bats

Biologist Susi von Oettingen walked into the dark World War II era military bunker and took out her flashlight. Among the wires ,old pipes and machinery parts, she saw some bats hanging from the ceiling and cracks in the cement walls. It was an unusual place for the bats to slumber , different from a cave or mine. Something else was different,  None of them had white-nose syndrome, a fungus that’s killing bats across the country ,which appears to affect bats mostly during winter hibernation.

The group of bats found last winter in the New Hampshire bunker was small, recalled von Oettingen, an endangered species biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But two of the three species discovered there ,the Little Brown Bat  and the Northern Long-eared Bat  have been dying off from the disease. Starting as early as next month, von Oettingen will be part of a group of federal and state biologists monitoring that bunker and a couple of others in the state. They will put up foot holds for the bats, hoping to attract more and figure out if there’s a way to control white nose syndrome and also studying humidity and temperature  levels. Oettingen said,”We may be able to maintain a white-nose-free site for these bats to return to.”Some caves on federal lands were closed to people this year to prevent them from spreading the white-nose syndrome, The disease has killed more than a million in the Northeast and has spread to at least 11 states, as far west as Oklahoma, and parts of Canada.

In October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service came out with a plan to investigate the cause of disease, in which a white fungus develops around bat wing membranes, ears and muzzles and find ways to manage it. Under the plan, state agencies will monitor bat populations  and design disease management programs. The federal government will assist in areas including funding research, testing and education. Goals include developing testing standards setting up a central database and continually reviewing knowledge of the disease to identify gaps and research needs.