White-nose syndrome is a deadly disease of hibernating bats caused by an invasive fungal pathogen that has spread across north america over the past 17 years

Temple University-Of The Commonwealth System Of Higher Education has been awarded a $189,535 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the White-nose Syndrome National Response Implementation program (CFDA 15.684). The grant aims to improve understanding of how hibernacula microclimates influence white-nose syndrome and assess the effectiveness of hibernacula manipulation in supporting bat population resiliency and recovery. Key objectives include clarifying how microclimates and manipulation of these microclimates affect the amount of the fungal pathogen and disease severity, evaluating changes in bat abundance and diversity over time at manipulated and unmanipulated sites, determining the most favorable contexts for manipulation, and identifying candidate sites. The study will focus on 30 underground sites across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, integrating findings from long-term studies of microclimate variation and bat counts at an additional 30 sites. Outcomes will include scientific presentations and publications to disseminate findings on the role of hibernacula microclimates in bat responses to white-nose syndrome and an assessment of the utility of hibernacula manipulations for supporting bat population recovery.

The disease disrupts hibernation in susceptible BAT species, leading to depletion of bats limited energy reserves before winter s end, and often death. Mass mortality has occurred repeatedly across the affected region in multiple species of hibernating bats, leading to serious threats to at least five north american BAT species. Understanding of key factors influencing risk to bats from white-nose syndrome remains limited, and managers have few tools proven to be effective, safe, and deployable at a large scale to support BAT populations. Previous research has highlighted the importance of hibernacula microclimates - the temperature and humidity profiles of hibernation sites - in determining the severity of white-nose syndrome infection and its impacts on BAT populations. The fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, pseudogymnoascus destructans exhibits slower growth rates in cooler and drier environmental conditions, suggesting that bats may find refuge from the worst effects of white-nose syndrome in roosts with such conditions. Building upon these findings, we have developed a management strategy with the potential to protect bats: manipulation of the internal temperatures of underground sites like mines or tunnels. By modifying the entrances of these sites to alter airflow in ways that reduce or stabilize temperatures, we aim to create more suitable hibernation conditions and potentially provide a refuge from white-nose syndrome. Our initial work on manipulated sites has been promising, suggesting that bats find and use these sites, leading to population growth over time. These intriguing results suggest a potentially effective and safe management strategy that can provide lasting benefits to entire BAT colonies. However, further assessment is needed, as analyses to date cover relatively short time periods and have yet to assess whether disease is reduced in manipulated sites. Limited analyses of temperature and humidity profiles within underground sites have also hindered our understanding of BAT-pathogen-environment interactions and the evaluation of the manipulation strategy s effectiveness. Consequently, our study aims to improve understanding of how hibernacula microclimates influence white-nose syndrome and assess the effectiveness of hibernacula manipulation in supporting BAT population resiliency and recovery. Our specific objectives are to clarify how microclimates and manipulation of these microclimates affect the amount of environmental pseudogymnoascus destructans and disease severity in bats, evaluate changes in BAT abundance and diversity over time at manipulated and unmanipulated sites, determine the most favorable contexts for manipulation, and identify candidate sites. We will study multiple BAT species at 30 underground sites across a broad area (pennsylvania, ohio, and west virginia). We will also integrate findings from long-term studies of microclimate variation and BAT counts at another suite of 30 sites. Our focus will be on recording temperature and humidity within hibernacula, quantifying pseudogymnoascus destructans abundance in the environmental reservoir, measuring the extent of white-nose syndrome infection on bats, tracking BAT colony sizes, and comparing field data with long-term data. We will use both comparative and longitudinal approaches to fulfill our objectives. Outcomes of our research will include scientific presentations and publications to disseminate findings on the role of hibernacula microclimates in BAT responses to white-nose syndrome and our assessment of the utility of hibernacula manipulations in supporting BAT population resiliency and recovery. We will also work closely with land management professionals to translate our scientific findings into management guidance.