Going to bat for bats
By Kate Jordan
Though viewed as symbols of good health and fortune in many parts of the world, bats have often been maligned in Western culture as evil, bloodthirsty creatures. In truth, bats play a crucial role in our ecosystem. Capable of devouring thousands of insects in a single night, bats are a tremendous asset in helping to maintain healthy crops, such as cotton and corn. They also serve important aesthetic and economic functions by pollinating countless flowers and vegetables.
Bats’ significant contributions are starting to be recognized. Over the past two years, about one million bats in North America have died of a disease called white-nose syndrome. Some species, including North America’s most common bat, the little brown myotis, are likely to become regionally extinct within 16 years.
“We’re facing the biggest wildlife crisis in history,” says Dr. Thomas H. Kunz, a professor of biology and director of the Center for Ecology & Conservation Biology at Boston University. “There have been times during this epidemic when we couldn’t even walk inside certain caves due to the piles of dead bats.”
The disease, caused by a fungus, appears to spread from bat to bat, and it is also spread by human cave visitors who inadvertently move the fungus to different caves. The fungus invades the skin on a bat’s ears, nose, tail and wings—ultimately causing severe body-fat loss and fatal dehydration.
With Morris Animal Foundation funding, Dr. Kunz and his students and colleagues are tackling the disease with a focus on molecular genetics. By studying the genetics of the little brown myotis—the species most likely responsible for the disease’s prevalence and spread—his team hopes to determine the dispersal patterns of this widespread species. From this information, they hope to be able to predict the spread of whitenose syndrome and protect bat colonies not yet affected. His team is also researching whether there is a genetic basis for the small percentage of bats that appear to be resistant to the fungus. By simultaneously studying the bat population’s genetic structure and variations in the fungus found in different regions, Dr. Kunz and his team may be able to identify populations that can still be saved.
“At this point we are doing damage control,” Dr. Kunz says. “But the fact that the Foundation has backed this research so far has been vital.”
Morris Animal Foundation is honored to provide funding to Dr. Kunz, one of the preeminent bat scholars in the world, in the race to save as many bats as possible.
Posted by MAFon May 13, 2011.
Categories: Animal health, Wildlife health
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