| White-Nose Syndrome Plagues Bats, Troubles Farmers |
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| Written by Kiki Hubbard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, 05 March 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A mysterious illness called white nose syndrome is plaguing bat populations in the Northeast, and scientists predict fatalities might reach the hundreds of thousands this winter. New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts alone have more than 9 million acres of farmland. Farmers fear the kind of damage that some crop producers have experienced due to colony collapse disorder in bees. The unexplained and sudden lack of pollinators has cost the agriculture industry approximately $8 to $12 billion. Experts agree that losing a significant number of bats will affect farmers of all kinds – from grain growers to orchardists. And while scientists are unsure if the white fungus that forms around bats' noses is the cause of the life-threatening syndrome or merely a symptom of another viral or bacterial disease, they know that bats' immune symptoms are compromised and depleting fat reserves. As a consequence, bats are exiting their caves during hibernation to seek food. In some caves, mortality has reached 97 percent. In one New York cave, bat populations have dropped from 1,300 bats to 38. It's estimated that 8,000 to 11,000 bats fell victim to the illness in 2007 alone. Because a bat can live up to 30 years or more, and produces one offspring per year, repopulating the four affected species – Indiana (an endangered species), Little Brown, Northern Long-Eared, and Eastern Pipistrelle – would likely take a long, long time. For now, scientists remain baffled by the cause and very concerned that their dire predictions will become true. Sources: The Boston Globe and Medill Reports
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