For centuries there have been varying myths about bats. Some say they suck your blood, others believe they carry rabies and to this very day people still believe they are blind. Bats tend to get a bad rep because of how they've been portrayed in horror movies and just by their general mystique. However, in the last few years the bat population in eastern North America has been decreasing due to a disease that has somehow been flying under the radar. And according to experts the decrease can significantly affect our ecosystem. The fungus that causes the syndrome is known psuedogymnoascus destructans and is now making its way west with concerns it could end up in Saskatchewan causing the bat population in the province to also decline.
Why are they so important? Researchers at the University of Regina say all bats in Canada eat flying insects, in amounts upward to their body mass throughout the summer. A decrease would mean a potential threat to crops in the province. For Saskatchewan, this is not good. The disease is called White Nose Syndrome and as the name suggest, the disease is characterized by a fungus white in color, found on the nose of bats. According to Dr. Mark Brigham, professor in the department of Biology at the University of Regina and lead on the research project, the fungus is native to Europe and was brought to a cave near Albany, NY.
"They eat lots of beetles, lots of moths, lots of things that do damage to our crops. There was a paper published by some colleagues last year in the Journal Science that suggests the economic benefits to bats in North America is at least two billion dollars in terms of destroying pests that would otherwise do damage to crops," he said.
Brigham said the fungus was brought to North America, almost certainly, on clothing by someone who enjoys going into caves and was more than likely done by accident. The first evidence of bats dying in caves in Albany was seen in the winter of 2005. Brigham and his team are now tracking the spread of the disease and hope with the help of the public, investigate bat populations in towns from Regina to the Manitoba border this summer.
"We are interested in the distribution particularly of little brown bats in Saskatchewan because they are the ones to take this on the nose so to speak, if the fungus gets here," he said.
"We really would like some information , on how common they are and where they are found, so if the fungus does come we can go back and see and say 'hey, was it as deadly here as it has been in other places and does the dryness of the Prairies seem to help a little bit."
Brigham explained the fungus changes the pattern of hibernation of bats and basically causes the animal to burn through their fat reserves too quickly and in effect, they starve to death. The disease also causes serious damage to their wings.
"It affects different species and it appears in different ways and that is - there are three species, the little brown bat is the most common one, there's a couple of others, they are only found in the east so they [are not relevant] for Saskatchewan," Brigham explained.
He said scientists are still learning about the fungus so there is no cure as of yet but they do know the fungus likes conditions that are cold and wet, indicating why it thrives when bats hibernate.
"The Prairies are definitely cold but not wet but there is a possibility that they may not do particularly well here and we can cross our fingers and hope but we don't know for sure."
He said the towns that seem more willing to help out with the research will be the ones that his team of researchers will visit first and wants to make it scientifically relevant by spending an equal amount of time in all towns throughout the summer. Big brown bats he said seem to be more resistant to the fungus as 95 per cent of little brown bats die compared to the 50 per cent found among big brown bats. In Winnipeg little brown bats are common and in Regina big brown bats are more prevalent.
"The thing we don't know is - there is a lot of distance between Regina and Winnipeg, so is there a sort of a line where it changes from little brown bats to big brown bats, or do big brown bats take over certain areas? And that's why we want to look at a lot of towns between here and Winnipeg," he said.
He hopes Carlyle will be one those towns to participate in the venture and urges residents who know of the bat in the area to contact him at the university. Brigham and his team hope to visit at least 20 towns to conduct their research.
"We can follow the spread of the disease, we know it started at a single point in Albany and it's spreading out. It went north; it went south and its coming west. There are records of it for animals in Northern Ontario in Lake Superior, there is a record of it last summer where the spores of the fungus were found on a bat in Minnesota," he said.
"I have a colleague at St. Mary's University in Halifax, he was monitoring five hibernation sites that houses about 30,000 bats and there's less than a 100 left now."
Hibernation sites in Northern Manitoba are currently being monitored by a former student of Brigham, who is currently a professor at the University of Winnipeg. This Brigham says will allow his team to monitor the progression of the fungus.
In eight winters the fungus has gone from Albany, NY to Oklahoma, then PEI, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. Based on this timeline Dr. Brigham says its arrival in the province will be soon.
People who wish pass on information to Dr. Mark Brigham about bats in the Carlyle and surrounding area can contact him at [email protected] or his research assistant Alyssa Stulberg at [email protected] .
