Assessing threats to North American bats: impacts of white-nose syndrome and climate on reproduction and survival
type: CreativeWork
description: Many cave-hibernating North American bat species currently face the threat of extinction due to the newly emergent wildlife disease, white-nose syndrome (WNS). WNS is a fungal disease that has been causing catastrophic declines of bat populations in the eastern United States and Canada since it first emerged in 2006. The fungal pathogen, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, infects the wings, ears and nose of bats that hibernate in caves in winter while both cave temperatures and bats’ body temperatures are low. The hibernating bats' immune systems do not respond to the infection, leading to wing damage, emaciation, depletion of fat stores, and often death. Infected bats that survive winter mount a vigorous immune response upon exiting hibernation. These bats typically clear the infection, regenerate wing tissue and survive. WNS mortality varies greatly by species. Some species have suffered greater than 90% population declines, while other species appear to have not declined at all. Although researchers have made great strides in the last nine years in understanding WNS, there are still many unknowns. The vast majority of our knowledge of the effects of WNS comes from M. lucifugus because it is one of the most abundant North American species, and is also heavily affected by WNS (population declines > 90%). Aside from estimates of rates of population declines at hibernation sites, the effects of WNS on species other than M. lucifugus are not well resolved. In the next most abundant species, E. fuscus, estimates of population declines range from 0% to 40%. Wing damage had not been studied prior to WNS, making inferences about the relationship between wing damage and WNS difficult. The effects of WNS on reproduction are unknown. Population viability analyses of M. lucifugus determined that population growth is most influenced by survival of reproductive females, but the factors that affect reproductive female survival remain unknown. Currently, the primary WNS population mod…
abstract: Many cave-hibernating North American bat species currently face the threat of extinction due to the newly emergent wildlife disease, white-nose syndrome (WNS). WNS is a fungal disease that has been causing catastrophic declines of bat populations in the eastern United States and Canada since it first emerged in 2006. The fungal pathogen, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, infects the wings, ears and nose of bats that hibernate in caves in winter while both cave temperatures and bats’ body temperatures are low. The hibernating bats' immune systems do not respond to the infection, leading to wing damage, emaciation, depletion of fat stores, and often death. Infected bats that survive winter mount a vigorous immune response upon exiting hibernation. These bats typically clear the infection, regenerate wing tissue and survive. WNS mortality varies greatly by species. Some species have suffered greater than 90% population declines, while other species appear to have not declined at all. Although researchers have made great strides in the last nine years in understanding WNS, there are still many unknowns. The vast majority of our knowledge of the effects of WNS comes from M. lucifugus because it is one of the most abundant North American species, and is also heavily affected by WNS (population declines > 90%). Aside from estimates of rates of population declines at hibernation sites, the effects of WNS on species other than M. lucifugus are not well resolved. In the next most abundant species, E. fuscus, estimates of population declines range from 0% to 40%. Wing damage had not been studied prior to WNS, making inferences about the relationship between wing damage and WNS difficult. The effects of WNS on reproduction are unknown. Population viability analyses of M. lucifugus determined that population growth is most influenced by survival of reproductive females, but the factors that affect reproductive female survival remain unknown. Currently, the primary WNS population mod…
author: Powers, Lisa Ellen
language: en
keywords: Myotis lucifugus, Eptesicus fuscus, population growth, fertility, maternity, hibernation, white-nose syndrome
date published: 2016-07-07T20:27:03Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:26:34Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90733