The potential impact of white-nose syndrome on the conservation status of north american bats.

ABSTRACT: White-Nose syndrome (WNS) is an emergent infectious disease that has already killed around six million bats in North America and has spread over two thousand kilometers from its epicenter. However, only a few studies on the possible impacts of the fungus on bat hosts were conducted, particularly concerning its implications for bat conservation. We predicted the consequences of WNS spread by generating a map with potential areas for its occurrence based on environmental conditions in sites where the disease already occurs, and overlaid it with the geographic distribution of all hibernating bats in North America. We assumed that all intersection localities would negatively affect local bat populations and reassessed their conservation status based on their potential population decline. Our r

SUBMITTER: Alves DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4159351 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature