Bat populations may have plunged 95% in New Jersey

[Alferd Packer]

And I was wondering why my bat house was empty.

TRENTON, N.J., June 5 (UPI) -- A New Jersey wildlife group plans to check on the state's bat population, believed to be hit hard by white-nose syndrome.

Volunteers for the Conserve Wildlife Foundation have been counting bats for several years. This year, the count is expected to bring bad news, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported.

"We ask our volunteers each year to go to a known bat roost at least twice between now and early August and count them as the bats fly out in the evening," Maria Grace of Conserve Wildlife said. "This year, we're telling people that not seeing bats in those roosts is just as important to note. We'll know then how significant the die-off is due to white-nose syndrome."

White-nose syndrome, a fungus that grows on bat snouts, was first reported in New York and has spread to at least eight other states. It hit New Jersey in January.

A check on the Hibernia Mine, the state's largest bat hibernating spot, showed a 95 percent drop in numbers.

Scientists are unsure how white-nose syndrome kills. Infected bats become active when they should be hibernating, possibly freezing to death or using up fat reserves they need in the spring.

Bolding mine. I hadn't heard about the white-nose syndrome until I did a little looking on the internet, as I was legitimately curious as to why my bat house was empty this year. This also smacks of the problems affecting honeybees, though it appears to be much more severe. It sucks, because a single bat can gobble up hundreds of insects a night.

I guess it's going to be an especially buggy summer here in New Jersey.

[Broomstick]

Question for thought: Are animal population die-offs becoming more common, are we simply more aware of them, or is it some of both?

[Alferd Packer]

I had read another article that the bat population plunge could actually caused by widespread pesticide spraying in an attempt to combat West Nile. Fewer bugs means fewer bats, and all that. But that leaves the question: what's up with this white-nose syndrome?

And, unfortunately, bats are apparently slow to reproduce, as far as small mammals go, so the population's going to stay depressed for a long time.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Not much is known about white nose syndrome, except that it's a Geomyces fungal growth (a genus of organism generally associated with Arctic permafrost). However, the species of fungus in question is actually morphologically distinct from any other known species of Geomyces. Researchers are not sure yet whether it is directly hurting the bats, or simply a symptom of another cause entirely. I believe the leading theory at the moment (luckily for you guys, my dad is a prominent bat scientist, as are many of my family friends) is that something, either the Geomyces or otherwise, is disrupting the bat's hibernation cycle. There have been reports of them flying around during the day and late at night this past winter, which is highly unusual for the species involved. They either freeze or starve to death as a result. It was first documented in 2006, but it is in the past eighteen months or so that it has really become a huge issue. Besides New Jersey, bat populations from New England and upstate New York down to West Virginia, and out west to Indiana, are being affected. Worse, researchers can only really find out how this condition is affecting the big colony bats (pippistrelles, brown bats (myotis and eptesicus), etc.). They have no idea how various migratory bat species, whose numbers were already in decline, are faring, because they are so damned hard to find. Luckily, since they are usually solitary, it is believed that they are not contracting the fungus.

Here is a map from the Fish and Wildlife Service. It is outdated, it has spread slightly further, with more confirmed mortality at this point (in some parts of upstate New York, individual colonies have declined by as much as 97%). I am linking to it instead of embedding it because it is rather large: Click

However, despite the article in the OP, most signs are pointing to populations in New England "recovering" (in that they aren't being hit as hard as last year, which indicates that it might be running its course. Remember, the bat population of New Jersey DID NOT plunge 95%, that is simply the decline in an individual nesting colony. Researchers have NO idea yet how much the population as a whole has been affected. Now that's it is summer, bats don't have a whole lot to worry about, most researchers believe, because it's primary affect is the disruption of their hibernation). Also, bats are not slow at reproducing, like Packer said, the problem is they usually have small litters. Typically only one or two, at most three. They grow fairly quickly from that point, depending on the species, anywhere from 6 months to 1 year until they are essentially adults.

And to answer Broomstick, I think it is a little bit of both. They are being reported on now more than ever before, because people are more interested.