Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 18 : Fall 2013 | Page 64

Where Have All
of the Bats Gone?
By Steve Agius
A Disease Like No Other

Since 2006, more than 5.7 million bats in the
northeast have perished from White-nose syndrome, a
disease that affects hibernating bats. Named for the white
fungus that appears on the muzzle and other body parts of
hibernating bats, WNS is associated with extensive mortality
of bats in eastern North America. First documented in New
York in the winter of 2006-2007, WNS has spread rapidly
across the eastern United States and Canada, and as of this
year, the fungus that causes WNS has been detected as far
west as Oklahoma and Minnesota.

Bats with WNS exhibit uncharacteristic behavior
during cold winter months, including flying outside in the
day and clustering near the entrances of caves. Bats have
been found sick and dying in unprecedented numbers
in and around caves and mines. In some caves 90 to 100
percent of bats have died from the disease. Many laboratories
and state and federal biologists are investigating the cause
of the bat deaths. A newly discovered fungus, Geomyces
destructans, has been demonstrated to cause WNS.
Scientists are investigating the dynamics of fungal infection
and transmission, and searching for a way to control it.

bat typically eats the equivalent of her entire body weight in
insects each night (Bat Conservation International, 2013).
Bat Conservation In Aroostook County

Currently there are more than 300 previously used
military bunkers on National Wildlife Refuges throughout
the country. Over the course of the last three years, every
National Wildlife Refuge that has bunkers in the northeast
monitored the temperature and humidity within their
bunkers. It was determined that the forty-three cold war
era bunkers located at Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge
in Limestone were the only bunkers that had the ideal
conditions for hibernating bats in the entire northeast U.S.

Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge has taken a
lead role in the northeast U.S. in identifying the feasibility
of providing bats with artificial hibernation sites for the
winter months. The refuge began implementing a fourphase bat conservation project three years ago in an effort
to help rapidly declining bat populations. The project is a
collaboration between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
the U.S. Geological Survey, the Maine Department of
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the Vermont Department of
Fish and Game, the New York Department of Conservation,
Bucknell University, the University of California-Santa
Why We Should Care
Cruz and the Center for Microbial Genetics. The project
aims to (1) identify species of bats that occur in Aroostook

Bats are essential to the health of our natural world. County, (2) examine the feasibility of providing artificial
They help control pests and are vital pollinators and seed- hibernation sites to overwintering bats, (3) determine how
dispersers for countless plants. Insect-eating bats provide to sterilize a hibernation site to prevent the spread of the
pest-control services that save the U.S. agriculture industry WNS, and (4) attract bats to a steri