Cavechat.org

Be sure to check out the maps in the following link. I was amazed when I saw the maps shown on this government website because they clearly show that bat
territories overlap the entire United States and much of Canada. If there was ever an explanation for the so called "jump" by WNS, this is it. If these maps
are accurate, WNS will eventually cover the entire US and most of Canada, barring a halt due to climate or some as yet unknown factor. No bat friendly cave gates could ever "protect" bats from WNS. Another map at the bottom of the page clearly shows the progression of WNS over the past few years. The lower map is a testament to the constant, steady progress of the disease that follows bat migration paths. The evidence presented is a testament to the fact that bats
spread WNS.

http://www.fort.usgs.gov/wns/

tncaver wrote:Be sure to check out the maps in the following link. I was amazed when I saw the maps shown on this government website because they clearly show that bat
territories overlap the entire United States and much of Canada.

http://www.fort.usgs.gov/wns/

The maps also are inaccurate with regards to Missouri. No cases of either G. destructans or WNS were found despite intense sampling in Missouri winter 2010-2011. The animation seems to indicate otherwise.

Teresa

Teresa wrote:

tncaver wrote:Be sure to check out the maps in the following link. I was amazed when I saw the maps shown on this government website because they clearly show that bat
territories overlap the entire United States and much of Canada.

http://www.fort.usgs.gov/wns/

The maps also are inaccurate with regards to Missouri. No cases of either G. destructans or WNS were found despite intense sampling in Missouri winter 2010-2011. The animation seems to indicate otherwise.

Teresa

I hope you are correct. Seems like I heard there was WNS found in Missouri but no G. Destructans this year. But I could be mistaken. Regardless, the maps are a good example showing WNS spread by bats not cavers. If cavers were the vector, they would have spread WNS all over the entire nation long ago. The map showing WNS infections would look the same as the maps showing the overlapping bat species. Cavers can travel across the country in one day. Bats take years to move across the country, just as the map at the bottom indicates. IMHO the USFWS is def, dumb and blind.

I like that it states the facts (although I don't remember anything about wns in MO either) and stays away from speculations. Seems like a pretty good overview of WNS to me.

Maybe I confused Ohio with Missouri. Maybe the map did too.

I looked at the animation several times to be sure: it shows MO appearing in the winter of 2009-2010. That's when G.d. was detected on several bats, but no histology for WNS. Those sites just remain on there for 2010-2011. Others have asked on other threads when a site becomes "clean," and would call for removing suspect sites from the map, but that discussion hasn't evolved yet at the agency levels. I think the fact sheet and information presented is pretty good and definitely very concise.

PYoungbaer wrote:I think the fact sheet and information presented is pretty good and definitely very concise.

Given that it's a heat map... in a way designed to counter presumed under-sampling, I would agree.


-Dean