White-nose Syndrome: An Environmentally Constrained Disease?

[cavergirl]

The Panzootic White-nose Syndrome: An Environmentally Constrained Disease? T. G. Hallam, P. Federico
Article first published online: 1 NOV 2011 In “Transboundary and Emerging Diseases”

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 268.x/full

I realize some of you not in universities may not be able to read this on line. Here is the summary:

“White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging disease of hibernating bats probably caused by a pathogenic fungus, Geomyces destructans. The fungus has dispersed rapidly in the Northeastern United States and Canada and is presently a serious risk to hibernating bats of the mid-southern United States. Our objectives were to investigate how the environmental factors of temperature and resources impact the physiology of bats and apply this to explore possible effects of the fungus G. destructans on bats. Using a dynamic, physiologically based model parameterized for little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), we found that the survival region defined in terms of minimal and maximal cave temperatures and bat lipid reserve levels exhibits plasticity as a function of cave temperature. During the pre-hibernation period, constellations of increased availability of fall and winter prey, reduced energy expenditure and lipogenic factors provide fat deposition in hibernator species that engender survival throughout the hibernation period. The model-derived survival region is used to demonstrate that small increases in lipid reserves allow survival under increasing maximum temperatures, which provides flexibility of bat persistence at the higher cave temperature ranges that may occur in the Southern United States. Antipodally, the lower-temperature survival range is bounded with minimum temperatures. Our results suggest that there is an environmental distinction between survival of bats in Southern and Northern US states, a relationship that could prove very important in managing WNS and its dispersal.”

In other words, warmer cave temperatures, shorter hibernation periods and availability of fall and winter food sources may mean better suvvival in the south.

[DeanWiseman]

If anyone needs a copy of the PDF and can't get it, PM me with your email, and I will send.

-Dean

[BrianC]

Thanks Chrys, But I thought that this was already well understood. I surely hope that no grant money has been used for his study.

[DeanWiseman]

Thanks Chrys, But I thought that this was already well understood. I surely hope that no grant money has been used for his study.

Now, now, Brian... go easy on the people. This is good stuff, and we shouldn't take certain knowledge for granted, especially when it comes to the Literature.

Also, the article from which the "knowledge" I think you're talking about is from a European study, and not a North American one.


-Dean

[BrianC]

[PYoungbaer]

But I thought that this was already well understood.

"Well understood" would be an overstatement. It would be fairer to say that many hoped this might be true. While I include myself among those who believe this may prove to be true, we certainly don't know it for fact at this point.

Tom Hallam and Paula Federico's study basically shares a mathematical model with input from certain assumptions and knowledge points. Tom heads the National Institute on Mathematical and Biological Synthesis at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His model is the first that quantifies in some rationale way the likelihood that our collective belief that there may be a geographic boundary due to warmer southern temperatures, shorter winters, and some of the traits of the bats themselves. Like other models, they can be refined with harder input data moving forward, but are good starting points.

This paper is also buttressed by a presentation made at NASBR in Toronto a couple weeks ago by the European researcher, Sebastian Puechemaille, which showed European data where the prevalence of their version of WNS (that is, widespread presence of the Geomyces destructans fungus, but no mortalities) does not extend to Southern Europe.

Hallam and Federico's model show that likelihood for Southern U.S.; Puechemaille's data showed it in actuality in Europe. Now that's good news, and combined with Hallam's paper,would indicate things may turn out to be as hoped in the Southern U.S. This research is not yet published, but is now well-known within the bat research community, and Sebastian has been one of the leading European researchers on WNS.