New Study

[Tlaloc]

Social Bats Pay a Price With New Fungal Disease: Study Determines Which Bats Are Headed for Extinction

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 134057.htm

[PYoungbaer]

Here's a link to the full published paper:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01829.x/pdf

Very interesting analysis of multiple factors affecting WNS spread in several bat species. Among other discussion items, suggests that projections of Little Brown regional extinction in the Northeast may need to be revised. That's a hopeful prospect.

On the downside, the paper suggests that the Indiana bat may be more susceptible in areas where it hasn't been as affected to date - such as West Virginia and Indiana - due to its gregariousness and dense clustering habits. Next winter is the normal biennial I-bat survey year, so these numbers will be telling.

However, as the paper suggests that multiple factors are affecting population numbers (e.g. social behavior, temperature, humidity), it's still unclear which may be the most important factor for any particular species. In addition, the paper doesn't discuss potential genetic differences, such as with the Virginia Big-eared bat, which has shown no susceptibility at all to WNS to date.