Fungus serious threat to North American bats

[Phil Winkler]

The Morgue Sink area of Fern Cave also has piles of bones several feet high. The thinking is that this cave has been a hibernaculum/nursery for so long that the bones are simply those of old bats. No one, to my knowledge, has even opined they were the result of large bat die-off.

[graveleye]

One obvious question I would have is whether or not the large bone accumulation occurred as the result of a catastrophic event, whether natural or pathogenic, or whether it is simply the accumulation within a major colony roost over a long period of time.

That's precisely what I would like to find out. Any information is useful. If it's just an accumulation of years as a colony roost, then we'll know that. I just find it interesting that it was under a large amount of sediment, capped with thick flowstone. This tells me that many bats died, got covered up, then covered even more by flowstone. For whatever reason, they never came back or one would think there would be more bones on top of the flowstone, or even in it. Perhaps the bones in Fern should be observed as well. I believe that sometimes answers to present questions are often found in the past. At least if nothing else, it will not hurt to study it.

Peter, thanks for your help. I have contact information in my profile, as well as the email correspondence I have on my home PC. I'm available for the soil sample or anything else at request. If researchers would like to visit the bat graveyard at the KSC they are more than welcome to. It is an NSS preserve after all. Just contact me or one of the other committee members. (probably best to contact me since I'm the only one who knows where to find it!! haha)

On another note, I would like to see a internet digest that would convey all of the activity going on in WNS research. I've perused the one on caves.org and that's fine, but I want to see more detail. I would like to know who is working on what and to what end. Certainly this information is being documented somewhere, but we only seem to get bits and snippets of copy-pasta from the East Bumble Daily Rag. I want to know more about what is going on in the field, not just what is being told the newspapers, who then whittle it down to make it palatable for a Sunday reader. Especially now, since the hat is being passed around for donations for the WNS Rapid Response Fund. Maybe it's just me, but it's not enough to make a donation, I want to know what is going on as quickly as possible too. Would it be possible to request researchers to make their data and findings available to us, in an undiluted form? I've just back-read 33 pages of this behemoth thread and most of what I see is news stories about this and that.

One last thing I would like to know. Has anyone actually put caver clothes and equipment under a microscope to see what sort of icky fungus might be amongst us? We're being told to decon our gear and that's fine, but are we really, truly walking out of caves covered in spores?

[PYoungbaer]

graveleye,

A very timely post. Lots of people have been craving more, but there hasn't been anything available. Over the weekend I completed a 12 page detailed summary of all the ongoing research (such as there is) that will be posted on the WNS webpage. I've sent it along with a late winter update to the technical wizards who do the actual posting. I'm told they are working on it tonight, so it may be posted as early as tomorrow. There will also be a link to the report I've made to the NSS President, under whose auspices the Liaison exists within the NSS structure. Some of the other links have also been updated, so there is a lot of new information about to be posted.

The fact of the matter is that there has been only one published research project - the identification of the Geomyces fungus, which we've had posted on the WNS site since October. Just this month, there was a second publication about the thermal refugia project (heaters). However, the publication was only of the simulation, not the actual field project, which is still ongoing. Other than some papers that were presented last June in Albany, there really has been nothing.

Anyway, on February 20, I participated in a six and a half hour national Webinar on all the research. My report covers all of that and a little more. I think it will be exactly what folks have been asking for but wasn't available to anyone until now.

[graveleye]

That's great news Peter!! I'm looking forward to seeing some more information.

Thanks for what you are doing!

Kevin

[PYoungbaer]

Today's news out of Vermont, from Scott Darling, VTF&W biologist:

"Reality has struck at Greeley Mine in Vermont.... The total count of bats was 615 on November 6, 2008. Today, it was 33. (95% reduction)..... This is a stark contrast from a site that carried over 1000 bats in it just a few years ago."

Note: This is a gated site that has not seen caver visits for years.

[karstmd]

We are seriously straying from the original header "Fungus serious threat to NE bats". That said, the bat graveyard topic needs to be split out on its own.
I too have observed several such 'old' graveyards which, being *far* from any entrance, I attributed to entrapment when previous access through another entrance got blocked. Well, maybe it is a die-off followed by collapse. Probably each represents 100,000-1,000,000 bats; in that one cubic foot of loosely packed arm and leg bones might equal ~3450 bats ( 2 bats/cubic inch x 12" x 12" x 12" ).
There might be a way of looking at the stacking to see if the bats all died over a short period or gradually built up the layer.
One might consider these caves as future habitats if one could recreate the original entry and conditions.

[Billy]

the same story I saw. But no mention on any official IL site

Illinois is incredibly p!ss poor at disseminating information to people who should know it. I still see no mention of it on any IDNR web site I've seen.

To compound on this, the Shawnee National Forest management signed Emergency Order 09-01 March 13 closing all Shawnee National Forest Caves having a bat population for 1 year. I can email anybody who wants to see the official document (pdf). I believe John Lovaas may be able to add to this? The information I have is:

"Dear ISS membership:
Attached is a copy of a recent closure order closing all caves and mines on the Forest with known or historical bat populations to human use for one year. . On March 13, 2009, Shawnee National Forest Supervisor Allen Nicholas signed an emergency closure order prohibiting public use of all Forest caves and mines that support bat populations. This was done as a preventative measure to help prevent the spread of white-nose syndrome by humans to bat populations on the Forest. This emergency closure order will be in effect for one year. We have discussed the closure with IDNR and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. We will be signing the entrances of affected caves and mines. The dramatic spread of the disease in bat populations south and west into West Virginia and Virginia in 2009 precipitated this order. Caves that are being planned for closure are those with known and/or historical bat populations. These include Equality, Brasher, Ava, Rich’s, Dutchman, Brown’s Hole, Black’s, Cave Springs (Union County) and Ellis #2 Caves. We may add additional caves on the Forest if bat populations are identified in them. The order identifies that use may be allowed by permit; however we will be very cautious on the issuance of any permits at this time. If you have any questions, please contact the Forest Planning and Resource Staff Officer Richard Blume-Weaver or Wildlife Biologist Steve Widowski. "

[PYoungbaer]

Billy,

Thank you. I agree that their communication is less than great. I've searched all their sites and there is nothing I can find.

Please e-mail me the pdf at wnsliaison@caves.org

Thank you,

[Billy]

Please e-mail me the pdf

You (and Eliah) should have it now...

[wyandottecaver]

An interesting tidbit from the data Peter shared in his midwinter report seems to suggest Big Browns might be upping their occupancy of caves formerly dominated by other species but now decimated by WNS. WNS has yet to be confirmed in this species and they showed small population increases in some WNS caves. parallels exists in other cases where an increase or decrease in 1 species in a cave affects the population of another. It would be interesting to see if Big Browns, with a much higher body mass, are simply not affected as much by WNS and can thus shrug it off more easily or if they don't host it at all.

[PYoungbaer]

Just to let everyone know, we have just posted a completely new update on the WNS website. A special report on the ongoing WNS research highlights this edition, which I think many will find informative. We've also posted our report to NSS President, Gordon Birkhimier and the NSS Board of Governors, who have their spring meeting coming up in a couple of weeks.

[graveleye]

Peter, just to let you know that I finally did get the sample kits!! How timely that I got a call two days after I was complaining about it here... I hope you didn't read anyone the riot act!!
Anyway, I sampled collected soil samples from two caves today and will be sending them in Monday or Tuesday.

I was pretty impressed with the number of health bats I saw today. I saw more in the Kingston Cave than I have ever seen in there. The White River Cave is a well known party cave and you wouldn't expect to see any inside there, but they were in the hundreds. I hope and pray that they remain healthy.

Now, I'm beat. I figured just collecting samples would be a cakewalk... not! The collection protocol is very stringent. Decontamination between every collection in a nutshell means you have to wash up with a 10% clorox solution after each sample. No problem there, but you have to bring the solution in the cave with you. Well, you can't just pour clorox on the cave floor, so now you have to have a bucket. Then you need a jug of purified water to wash the clorox off. Lugging around jugs of clorox solution, pure water and buckets through a cave, along with carefully handling your samples is not easy. My hat is off to all the many researchers out there who do this day in day out. Although I'm not a scientist, I feel happy to have been able to help out.

[Ernie Coffman]

http://www.examiner.com/x-4592-Birmingh ... on-be-dead

Another article on the bats being killed off by this horrible disease, with Tuttle indicating that many millions may be dead in TAG country, along with Texas, so...time will tell what's going to happen. On top of that, the inference that other diseases could effect mankind, so....not good news!

[Carl Amundson]

It looks like the NCC is planning on closing all caves in the North East
Is this a permanent closure or is there a time frame built around it?

Subject: Fw: NCC Board Meeting - VERY IMPORTANT MOTION on the AGENDA - PLEASE READ

Hi Members : The NCC Board meeting will be held Sunday March 29 at 10:00 am at the Gallupville House in Gallupville, NY. All are welcome to attend and discuss issues/concerns during the Committee of the Whole. Please read the motion below. Peter Youngbaer will have more information at the meeting on the motion.

For those of you that have not been to the Gallupville House before it can be pretty cold inside.

I will forward to more folks but have to send thru my other email account but feel free to forward as well.

Christa Hay
NCC Secretary


Youngbaer moves: That the NCC immediately close all its caves to any visitation, and that they remain closed until the threat of the spread of White Nose Syndrome has passed. Implicit in this motion is that the NCC immediately notify all known groups and organizations that typically visit its caves about the closure, and issue a press release informing the media and public, taking the opportunity to educate about why this measure is being taken, and that we encourage all cavers, recreational or otherwise, to adhere to a moratorium on all caving activity within the northeast during this period. Also implicit in this motion is that the NCC caves may be visited for the purpose of White Nose Syndrome research under conditions to be determined by the
Executive Committee, which may include consultation with the NCC Science Chair, the NCC Conservation Chair, and the appropriate NCC Cave Managers.


For more background, please go to the NSS WNS Liaison website, where the technical support folks have just yesterday completed posting all my new reports. I direct you specifically to: the Update itself (dated March 15), my report to NSS President, Gordon Birkhimer and the Board (it's linked on the page), the special research report, and the media digest which carries news from around the country on WNS.

The website again
is:http://www.caves.org/WNS/WNS%20Info.htm

[PYoungbaer]

Junkman, et al,

Here is the entire message I have put out to the NCC membership, which I believe puts the proposed motion in context. Please note that this is coming from me to the NCC from my role as NCC Vice President. For those outside the northeast, the NCC held an emergency meeting last February as WNS began rolling through our region. We closed all our caves - whether they contained bats or not. We also urged cavers to honor a voluntary moratorium on caving throughout the northeast. The NSS also closed its northeastern caves. All reopened in May. Some closed again for the winter, including the NSS Schoharie and Barton Hill Preserves (Gage's Cave), which had been previously open in the winter. I hope the full message below puts the motion in the proper context.

Peter

Dear NCC Members and Interested Others,

This past week, I asked to have an item put on the agenda next Sunday's regular quarterly meeting of the Northeastern Cave Conservancy (March 29, Gallupville House, Gallupville, NY, 10:00 AM) proposing that the NCC keep its caves closed. I'd like to explain why it reads the way it does, and why I am proposing it now. It reads as follows:

Youngbaer moves: That the NCC immediately close all its caves to any visitation, and that they remain closed until the threat of the spread of White Nose Syndrome has passed. Implicit in this motion is that the NCC immediately notify all known groups and organizations that typically visit its caves about the closure, and issue a press release informing the media and public, taking the opportunity to educate about why this measure is being taken, and that we encourage all cavers, recreational or otherwise, to adhere to a moratorium on all caving activity within the northeast during this period. Also implicit in this motion is that the NCC caves may be visited for the purpose of White Nose Syndrome research under conditions to be determined by the Executive Committee, which may include consultation with the NCC Science Chair, the NCC Conservation Chair, and the appropriate NCC Cave Managers.

My motion is a placeholder and a discussion prompter, as I've described it to the NCC Board. Given that the NCC meets only quarterly, unless a special meeting is called (which can take some time to organize), I wanted to make sure that we had a thorough discussion of what the NCC should do with its caves given all that is happening and may occur, and to have this discussion before the beginning of the summer caving season.

I am not aware of any move to keep the NSS caves closed in the area at this time, but there is national talk about what the NSS should do about WNS in general on many levels, and it wouldn't surprise me if there is action that affects them at some point. The NSS Board of Governors is meeting in Colorado April 3-5. There is a lot of discussion going on regarding the field camps connected with the International Congress of Speleology/NSS Convention this summer, particularly for those planned in WNS-affected areas.

I do know that Dave West plans to keep Guilday Preserve in West Virginia closed for the time being, and Virginia caving organizations, cave conservancies, and the state have issued a statewide moratorium through April 15, which is likely to be extended. West Virginia has done it a little differently, dividing the state into regions, with essentially a moratorium, except if you stayed in a particular area and not enter any clean caves. Of course, they are experiencing down there this year what we went through a year ago.

There is very serious discussion ongoing about how to contain or slow down WNS on a national basis, and what is appropriate for various states or caves, including outreach to scout and youth groups and show caves. Moratoria in different states are under discussion, and I want to ensure that we have a deliberative discussion about our role in all this as the cave conservancy at the epicenter of WNS, and how our actions may be viewed by others outside our region.

While most of the scientists working on WNS believe the primary movement of WNS is bat to bat, or environment to bat, there is mounting evidence of a human vector. The jumps to WVA and VA are beyond the range of summer bat movement, and coincide with high caver visitation and documented visits from people who have caved in the northeast. Yes, all are aware that there are other places with the same visitation, yet no appearance of WNS yet. That is one of the WNS mysteries that remain under investigation, but it does not mitigate the evidence of a human vector in those cases above.

The issue of cleaning and decontamination between our caves, or perhaps more importantly, between our caves and other non-affected caves is part of the equation.

Another thing I am very concerned about is being able to give enough lead time to all the groups that generally use the NCC (and local NSS) caves, if we are going to do something other than simply open the caves again as scheduled April 15 (or ice out). Many of these groups - such as camps - are already making plans. The sooner we can let them know about our caves, the better - through our groups use liaison, who maintains an excellent mailing list.

The wording of the motion is broad and restrictive. That is intentional. It is done for the highest impact, as was the action we took last winter. I am looking for people to think and talk about the most serious ramifications for dealing with WNS. That said, please remember that the NCC controls only its own caves. To the extent we have influence beyond that is up to you, the media, and the public. The NCC was well-served by its actions last year, and we may be in a similar leadership position this year.

It may be helpful to understand the NCC meeting procedures: The NCC agenda for Sunday's meeting has the issue of cave closures coming up under the Committee of the Whole - which is that portion of the meeting where the audience can participate. The NCC meetings are always open, and people are always welcome to attend. I hope many of you do attend, to hear what is going on, share your thoughts, and influence the Board action. Motions do not take place in the COTW, but are offered afterward. That's where you will see the motion I have proposed.

The motion can die for lack of a second, be amended, substitutes offered, postponed to a special meeting, defeated or adopted. All options are on the table, as with any motion.

As the NSS Liaison on WNS, I can tell you that things are happening very quickly. More is likely to occur. I really believe this is the appropriate time for us to have a thorough discussion with the broadest input. My intent is to take advantage of the attention on recent developments, and also the fact we had a regularly scheduled meeting prior to the summer caving season.

For more information about WNS, please see the NSS WNS page, where we have just completed a total update - including a special report on the scientific research, a report to the NSS President and BOG, and the latest news in the Media Digest links. The Virginia moratorium press release is also linked.

I hope this helps explain why this, and why now.

Peter Youngbaer
NCC VP