White-nose syndrome is a devastating fungal disease responsible for population collapse in cave hibernating BAT species across much of north america

This federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the White-nose Syndrome National Response Implementation program (CFDA 15.684) will provide $325,110 to the University of Montana to conduct research on the impacts of white-nose syndrome on bat populations. The key products and services to be delivered include:

1. Generating whole genome sequences from cave myotis bat specimens to identify genes associated with different disease outcomes and assess the susceptibility of naïve populations.

2. Using landscape simulations to understand the pathogen and environmental drivers of white-nose syndrome and forecast the potential disease response and population trajectories of cave myotis across their global range.

The results of this two-year project, which begins on January 1, 2025, will advance scientific knowledge on cave myotis genetic responses to white-nose syndrome and enable stakeholders to develop more effective conservation and disease control strategies as the fungal pathogen continues to spread.

The fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, pseudogymnoascus destructans, recently arrived in the range of the cave myotis (myotis velifer), a species that is common and abundant from southern kansas to EL salvador. There are multiple subspecies of the cave myotis, two of which having experienced dramatically different disease outcomes, the reasons for which are unknown. In this study we propose to investigate what is driving these divergent disease outcomes in the two subspecies and assess the potential consequences of white-nose syndrome arrival in nave populations across this bats range. We propose a two-pronged approach:first, we will generate whole genome sequences from cave myotis specimens previously collected across their global range including those of unaffected populations and populations where the fungus has been present for several years. We will compare survivors to non-survivors to identify genes that may be associated with different disease outcomes and assess whether nave populations are susceptible based on the presence and frequency of putatively adaptive genes.second, we will use landscape simulations to understand pathogen and environmental drivers of the disease. These models will allow US to better understand the potential disease response and population trajectories of cave myotis populations across their global range as white-nose syndrome continues to expand. The results of this study will not only advance our knowledge of cave myotis genetic responses to white-nose syndrome and enable US to assess the effect of pathogen and environmental drivers on disease outcomes, but will allow US to forecast how white-nose syndrome may affect populations as IT spreads throughout the range. More importantly, we will produce a cave myotis decision support tool and work with stakeholders to simulate and compare hypothetical conservation and disease control scenarios