August 2010 Edition - Radish Magazine

healthy living
Bats on the brink
Loss of friendly insect eaters could affect our food chain
By Lindsay Hocker
In recent years “colony collapse disorder” — the
term describing the disappearance of honeybees —
has become a familiar phrase. However, bees are not
the only animals important to agriculture suffering a
serious and mysterious decline in population. Since
2006, more than a million bats have died from whitenose
syndrome.
“It’s a fungal infection with a mortality rate of
nearly 100 percent,” says Joe Kath, endangered species
program coordinator for Illinois Department of
Natural Resources. While white-nose syndrome is a
serious threat to bats, Kath says it isn’t transmissible
to humans.
The decline in bat population does have implications
for the well-being of people, however. Bats,
which eat thousands of insects nightly, are a natural
form of pest control. Kath says any loss of bats is bad
for the agricultural industry, because fewer bats will
likely mean more pesticide applications, which Kath
says translates into other harmful effects for humans
and wildlife, as well as more expenses.
8
“You’re going to see increased cost at the grocery
stores,” he says.
In addition to helping keep the numbers of
crop-eating bugs down, Kath says bats are also important
because they are natural pollinators.
The number of bats who have died from whitenose
syndrome is constantly climbing, Kath says.
The more than one million who have died so far
was already “a very noticeable chunk” of the United
States’ bat population, he says, adding that it could
take the bat population decades to return to prewhite-nose
syndrome numbers.
Cave closures
Little brown bats with white-nose syndrome. (Photo courtesy of Nancy
Heaslip / New York Department of Environmental Conservation)
Most publicly-owned caves in Illinois and Iowa
were closed this spring as a precautionary measure in
hopes of keeping the disease from spreading further.
Kath says people could carry microscopic fungal
spores from one cave to another on their clothing or
equipment, which would put the bats in that cave in
danger unintentionally.
In Illinois, only one of the six publicly-owned
caves was open to the public. Kath says it was a tough
call to close Illinois Caverns in Monroe County,
because it took away an educational opportunity.
Even so, he says the closure was necessary.
Throughout Illinois, there are at least 50-60
caves. Kath says most of the caves are privatelyowned,
so state officials are teaching landowners
about white-nose syndrome and encouraging them to
restrict access to their caves as well.
When DNR officials enter the caves to check for
the fungus, Kath says they must wear hazmat suits,
and follow a “very strict decontamination procedure”
where they clean their equipment and gear to ensure
they won’t spread the fungus.
At Maquoketa Caves State Park in Maquoketa,
Iowa, the caves were closed on May 3. Park Ranger
Scott Dykstra says the number of park visitors has
dropped significantly since the park’s cave closures.
“We don’t want them closed, but it’s something
we have to do to protect our natural resources,”
Dykstra says.
Even though the caves
are closed, Dykstra
says there’s still
plenty to do