White-nose syndrome inflicts lasting injuries to the wings of little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus)

• Autorzy: Reichard J.D. , Kunz T. H.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging disease causing massive mortality of hibernating bats in the northeastern United States. At hibernacula, bats affected with WNS typically exhibit growth of a white psychrophylic fungus (Geomyces destructans) on the nose, wings and ears; many individuals seem to prematurely die of starvation owing to depleted fat reserves. Conspicuous scarring and necrosis of the wings on WNS-affected bats that survive hibernation may have lasting consequences for survival and reproductive success during the active season. We monitored two maternity colonies of little brown myotis, Myotis lucifugus, in Massachusetts and New Hampshire from 14 May to 8 August 2008 to assess body conditions after expected exposure to WNS over the previous winter. We developed a 4-point wing damage index (WDI = 0 to 3) to assess the incidence and severity of wing damage in the months following emergence from hibernation. Severe wing damage was observed up to 4 June and moderate damage was observed through 9 July. Light wing damage was observed on both adult and juvenile bats throughout the study period, but was not exclusively attributed to WNS. The most severe wing damage was associated with a lower body mass index which may reflect reduced foraging success. Overall, reproductive rate was 85.1% in 2008; slightly lower than reported in previous studies. The incidence, timing, and geographic range of wing damage observed on little brown myotis in 2008 correspond to the occurrence of WNS at hibernacula. Monitoring wing conditions of affected and healthy bats will be important tool for assessing the spread of this disease and for establishing baseline data for unaffected bats. The simple scale we propose should be useful for monitoring wing conditions in any bat species.

• Wydawca: -
• Czasopismo: Acta Chiropterologica
• Rocznik: 2009
• Tom: 11
• Numer: 2
• Opis fizyczny: p.457-464,fig.,ref.

Twórcy

autor

Reichard J.D.

• Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA

autor

Kunz T. H.

• Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Bibliografia

• Arita, H. T., and M. B. Fenton. 1997. Flight and echolocation in the ecology and evolution of bats. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 12: 53-58
• Basset, J. E., B. Pinshow, and C. Korine. 2009. Methods for investigation water balance in bats. Pp. 659-673, in Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats, 2nd edition (T. H. Kunz and S. Parsons, eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 901 pp.
• Blehert, D. S., A. C. Hicks, M. Behr, C. U. Meteyer, B. M. Berlowski-Zier, E. L. Buckles, J. T. H. Coleman, S. R. Darling, A Gargas, R. Niver, J. C. Okoniewski, R. J. Rudd, and W. B. Stone. 2009. Bat white-nose syndrome: an emerging fungal pathogen? Science, 323: 227.
• Boyles, J. G., and C. K. R. Willis. 2009. Could localized warm areas in cold caves reduce mortality of hibernating bats affected by white-nose syndrome? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, doi: 10.1890/080187.
• Davis, R. 1968. Wing defects in a population of pallid bats. American Midland Naturalist, 79: 388-395.
• Davis, M. 1988a. Control of bat wing capillary pressure and blood flow reduced perfusion pressure. American Journal of Physiology, 225: H1114-H1129.
• Davis, M. 1988b. Microvascular control of capillary pressure during increases in local arterial and venous pressure. American Journal of Physiology, 254: H772-H784.
• Davis, W. H., and H. B. Hitchcock. 1965. Biology and migration of the bat, Myotis lucifugus, in New England. Journal of Mammalogy, 46: 296-313.
• Fenton, M. B. 1970. Population studies of Myotis lucifugus (Chiroptera: Vespertilinidae) in Ontario. Life Science Contributions, Royal Ontario Museum, 77: 1-34.
• Gargas, A., M. T. Trest, M. Christiansen, T. J. Volk, and D. S. Blehert. 2009. Geomyces destructans sp. nov. associated with bat white-nose syndrome. Mycotaxon, 108: 147-154.
• Griffin, D. R. 1970. Migration and homing in bats. Pp. 233-264, in Biology of bats. Volume 2 (W. A. Wimsatt, ed.). Academic Press, New York, 477 pp.
• Herreid, C. F., II, W. L. Bretz, and K. Schmidt-Nielsen. 1968. Cutaneous gas exchange in bats. American Journal of Physiology, 215: 506-508.
• Humphrey, S. R., and J. B. Cope. 1976. Population ecology of the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus, in Indiana and north-central Kentucky. Special Publications, American Society of Mammalogists, 4: 1-81.
• Kluger, M. J., and J. E. Heath. 1970. Vasomotion in the bat wing: a thermoregulatory response to internal heating. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 32: 219-220.
• Kunz, T. H., and C. Weise. 2009. Methods and devices for marking bats. Pp. 36-55, in Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats, 2nd edition (T. H. Kunz and S. Parsons, eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 901 pp.
• Kunz, T. H., R. Hodgkison, and C. Weise. 2009. Methods for capturing and handling bats. Pp. 3-35, in Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats, 2nd edition (T. H. Kunz and S. Parsons, eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 901 pp.
• Kunz, T. H., J. A. Wrazen, and C. D. Burnett. 1998. Changes in body mass and fat reserves in pre-hibernating little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus). Ecoscience, 5: 8-17.
• Makanya, A. N., and J. P. Mortola. 2007. The structural design of the bat wing web and its possible role in gas exchange. Journal of Anatomy, 211: 687-697.
• Meteyer, C. U., E. L. Buckles, D. S. Blehert, A. C. Hicks, D. E. Green, V. Shearn-Bochsler, N. J. Thomas, A. Gargas, and M. J. Behr. 2009. Histopathologic criteria to confirm white-nose syndrome in bats. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostics, 21: 411—414.
• Norberg, U. M. 1998. Morphological adaptations for flight in bats. Pp. 93-108, in Bat biology and conservation (T. H. Kunz and P. A. Racey, eds.). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., 365 pp.
• Norberg, U. M., and J. M. V. Rayner. 1987. Ecological morphology and flight in bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera): wing adaptations, flight performance, foraging strategy and echolocation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 316B: 335-427.
• Reynolds, D. S. 1998. Variation in life-history traits in the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Ph.D. Thesis, Boston University, Boston, 337 pp.
• Reynolds, D. S., and T. H. Kunz. 2000. Changes in body composition during reproduction and postnatal growth in the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Ecoscience, 7: 10-17.
• Sachanowicz, K., A. Wower, and A. Bashta. 2006. Further range extension of Pipistrellus kuhlii (Kuhl, 1817) in central and eastern Europe. Acta Chiropterologica, 8: 543-548.
• Swartz, S. M., P. W. Freeman, and E. F. Stockwell. 2003. Ecomorphology of bats: comparative and experimental approaches relating structural design to ecology. Pp. 257-300, in Bat ecology (T. H. Kunz and M. B. Fenton, eds.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 365 pp.
• Thomas, S. P., and R. A. Suthers. 1972. The physiology and energetics of bat flight. Journal of Experimental Biology, 57: 317-335.
• Thomas, S. P., D. B. Follette, and A. T. Farabaugh. 1991. Influence of air temperature on ventilation rates and thermoregulation of a flying bat. American Journal of Physiology, 260: R960-R968.
• Thomson, S. C., and J. R. Speakman. 1999. Absorption of visible spectrum radiation by the wing membranes of living pteropid bats. Journal of Comparative Physiology, 169B: 187-194.
• Turbill, C., and F. Geiser. 2008. Hibernation in tree-roosting bats. Journal of Comparative Physiology, 178B: 597-605.
• Wiegman, D. L., P. D. Harris, D. E. Longnecker, and F. N. Miller. 1975. Microvascular response to hypoxia, hyperoxia, hypercarbia and localized acidosis. American Journal of Physiology, 236: H545-H548
• Worthington Wilmer, J., and E. Barratt. 1996. A non-lethal method of tissue sampling for genetic studies of chiropterans. Bat Research News, 37: 1-3.
• Zhao, J., T. H. Kunz, N. Tumba, L. C. Schulz, C. Li, M. Reeves, and E. P. Widmaer. 2003. Comparative analysis of expression and secretion of placental leptin in mammals. American Journal of Physiology, 285: R438-R446.

Identyfikatory

DOI

10.3161/150811009X485684