No Bats in the Belfry: The Origin of White-Nose Syndrome in Little Brown Bats
Kelsey Prickett
BIO 108
Caroline Solomon
February 4, 2016 In 2006, a disease called White-nose syndrome (WNS) was discovered. This disease was developed by a Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus (Dechaine & Johnson, 2014). The P.destructans is a cold-growing fungus (Hayman et al., 2016). This type of a disease is a significant threat to bats in the United States. White-nose syndrome had been spreading all over to twenty states, killing over 5.5 million bats in January 2012. To identify the sign that the bats have been infected, there will be a white fuzz on their noses. This disease is spreadable through direct contact or bacteria that can be transferred …show more content…
Is it possible for some bats to survive through this life-threating disease? I created three hypotheses. Firstly, I hypothesized that the P.destructans fungus has been brought to North America from Europe. I created this hypothesis because I think it’s possible that the bats in Europe have different traits or mutations, that are able to prevent WNA from harming them. Therefore, the disease has somehow been carried by humans or animals into North America’s caves. Secondly, I hypothesized that there are certain bats who are able to survive through White-nose syndrome. I disagreed with the scientists who predicted that all of the bats would go extinct in few years. I believe that the population would decrease significantly, but I predict that some bats will survive through the disease because of their certain traits. I think the trait is a different body size. Smaller bats would die easier because they have less fat than bigger bats do, so it will be faster for them to waste their fat reserves (Dechaine & Johnson, 2014). Lastly, I hypothesized that the White-nose syndrome causes bats to increase their frequency of arousals during hibernation. I think this hypothesis would be correct because, without White-nose syndrome, the bat would hibernate through the winter time without needing to wake up often (Warnecke et al., …show more content…
The study in PNAS article proved that White-nose syndrome causes hibernating bats to wake up. Waking up bats would cause them to fly around looking for food that isn’t even ready for them. With data, the scientists concluded that this infection causes arousal frequency to increase, leading to bat deaths because they wasted their fat reserves. There’s also another explanation, during the bats are awake, they are dehydrated because of the hibernation. So, the bats may have been searching for water too, this results in their deaths. In conclusion, my third hypothesis is correct (Warnecke et al., 2012). Bibliography
Dechaine, JM, Johnson, JE. (2014). No Bats in the Belfry: The Origin of White-Nose Syndrome in Little Brown Bats. National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science. 1-5.
Hayman, DTS, Pulliam, JRC, Marshall, JC, Cyran, PM, Webb, CT. (2016). Environment, host, and fungal traits predict continental-scale white-nose syndrome in bats. Science Advances. 2,1:1-12. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1500831
Warnecke, L, Turner, JM, Bollinger, TK, Lorch, JM, Misra, V, Cryan, PM, Wibbelt, G, Blehert,
DS, Willis, CKR. (2012). Inoculation of bats with European Geomyces destructans supports the novel pathogen hypothesis for the origin of white-nose syndrome. PNAS. 109,18: 6999-7003. doi:
Kelsey Prickett
BIO 108
Caroline Solomon
February 4, 2016 In 2006, a disease called White-nose syndrome (WNS) was discovered. This disease was developed by a Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus (Dechaine & Johnson, 2014). The P.destructans is a cold-growing fungus (Hayman et al., 2016). This type of a disease is a significant threat to bats in the United States. White-nose syndrome had been spreading all over to twenty states, killing over 5.5 million bats in January 2012. To identify the sign that the bats have been infected, there will be a white fuzz on their noses. This disease is spreadable through direct contact or bacteria that can be transferred …show more content…
Is it possible for some bats to survive through this life-threating disease? I created three hypotheses. Firstly, I hypothesized that the P.destructans fungus has been brought to North America from Europe. I created this hypothesis because I think it’s possible that the bats in Europe have different traits or mutations, that are able to prevent WNA from harming them. Therefore, the disease has somehow been carried by humans or animals into North America’s caves. Secondly, I hypothesized that there are certain bats who are able to survive through White-nose syndrome. I disagreed with the scientists who predicted that all of the bats would go extinct in few years. I believe that the population would decrease significantly, but I predict that some bats will survive through the disease because of their certain traits. I think the trait is a different body size. Smaller bats would die easier because they have less fat than bigger bats do, so it will be faster for them to waste their fat reserves (Dechaine & Johnson, 2014). Lastly, I hypothesized that the White-nose syndrome causes bats to increase their frequency of arousals during hibernation. I think this hypothesis would be correct because, without White-nose syndrome, the bat would hibernate through the winter time without needing to wake up often (Warnecke et al., …show more content…
The study in PNAS article proved that White-nose syndrome causes hibernating bats to wake up. Waking up bats would cause them to fly around looking for food that isn’t even ready for them. With data, the scientists concluded that this infection causes arousal frequency to increase, leading to bat deaths because they wasted their fat reserves. There’s also another explanation, during the bats are awake, they are dehydrated because of the hibernation. So, the bats may have been searching for water too, this results in their deaths. In conclusion, my third hypothesis is correct (Warnecke et al., 2012). Bibliography
Dechaine, JM, Johnson, JE. (2014). No Bats in the Belfry: The Origin of White-Nose Syndrome in Little Brown Bats. National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science. 1-5.
Hayman, DTS, Pulliam, JRC, Marshall, JC, Cyran, PM, Webb, CT. (2016). Environment, host, and fungal traits predict continental-scale white-nose syndrome in bats. Science Advances. 2,1:1-12. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1500831
Warnecke, L, Turner, JM, Bollinger, TK, Lorch, JM, Misra, V, Cryan, PM, Wibbelt, G, Blehert,
DS, Willis, CKR. (2012). Inoculation of bats with European Geomyces destructans supports the novel pathogen hypothesis for the origin of white-nose syndrome. PNAS. 109,18: 6999-7003. doi: