| Little Brown Bat with White-Nose Syndrome Photo by A. Hicks (NYDEC) |
White-Nose Syndrome
Bats in Connecticut have found themselves to be the focus of many conservation efforts after White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) spread through the state. WNS gets its name from the white fungus that can be seen growing on the bare skin on the face and wing membranes of affected bats. The fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, infects bats during winter hibernation and causes physiological changes that irritate the bat, and may even cause it to exit the cave during the day. Being awake and active during the winter depletes the fat reserves which should have carried them through to the spring. Because bats are especially vulnerable during hibernation, this disease has a very high kill rate. Some caves in Connecticut have seen up to 95% of hibernating bats killed in one winter. It is estimated that millions of bats across North America have died from WNS since its discovery in 2007.
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| Little Brown Bats hibernating in a cave in CT. White-Nose Syndrome can clearly be seen on the left bat Photo by P. Fusco |
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| Big Brown Bat in flight. Photo courtesy of Science Magazine and Micheal Durham |
What are we doing about WNS?
The research staff at White Memorial have been doing their part to gather data on bats in our area. We participate in three bat-centric surveys: 1. Bat Maternity Counts, 2. Stationary Bat Detecting Microphone, and 3. Mobile Bat Detecting Microphone.
1. Summer Bat Colony Counts
This survey consists of counting bats as they exit a known roost at dusk. We observe the a colony of Big Brown bats that resides in the storage barn during the summer. These bats exit through the East and West ends of the barn around sunset to hunt for insects. We do this survey twice a year to monitor changes in the population. Once before the pups begin to fly, and once after the pups begin to fly.
This year we counted 193 bats in the initial survey and 363 bats in the second survey.
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| Intern Abby Wilson sets up the stationary bat detector over a vernal pool |
By using a sophisticated microphone which can detect and record very high frequency noises, we can find spots on the property where bats are using echolocation to hunt for insects at night. We set up this microphone in places we predict bats to be flying; places such as vernal pools, marshes, swamps, etc., and wait a few days. Upon retrieving the device, we read the recorded files through a special software which can analyze the noises and attribute them to species of bat. Each species has a slightly different "call".
So far over many nights and different locations, we've recorded Big Brown Little Brown, Hoary, Red, and Silver-Haired bats with this microphone.
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| The white tube contains a microphone (the size of a smart phone) |
You can probably guess from the name that this survey is similar to the former. It also uses a microphone specially designed to register and record high frequency noise. However, this microphone is much smaller (about the size of a smartphone), and used in a slightly different way. This mobile survey is named such because we use magnets to stick this microphone to the top of the truck, and follow pre-determined transects across all 4,000 acres of the White Memorial property. This method affords us the ability to survey many different habitats in one night, and has yielded some amazing results. We've observed all the same species recorded using the stationary microphone (which took many nights), in one single survey night, which takes about two hours. What an amazing diversity of bats we have here in Connecticut!
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| The signature sound profile of a Big Brown Bat, Eptesicus fuscus, labelled Epfu for the first two letters of the genus and species. |
What can you do?
If you want to help the bats, see this website from the CT DEEP: Help CT's Bats!!P. destructans spores can last a long time on clothe surfaces, so it is imperative that people exploring caves be mindful to wash all clothes, shoes, and gear before entering a new cave. !!
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