Deadly double whammy: Turbines and disease combine to harm endangered bats

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An Indiana bat hangs in a tree. (Adam Mann, courtesy of USFWS)

Wind turbine collisions and a deadly bat disease, white-nose syndrome (WNS), could exacerbate the decline in bat populations. The endangered Indiana bat According to a recently published study, the population of the Midwestern United States USGS Research.

“Bats are valuable “Because by eating insects, they could save U.S. agriculture billions of dollars in pest control costs each year,” said Richard Erickson, lead author of the study and a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “Our research is important for understanding the threats facing endangered Indiana bats and could help guide conservation efforts.”

Wind power may kill bats Some species, including bats in west-central Indiana, approach turbines during migration. temperate zoneIt is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Killing millions of hibernating bats In North America and SpreadingThe new study finds that these two dangers combined have a greater negative impact on Indiana bats than either threat alone.

Researchers used scientific modeling to compare how wind turbine mortality and WNS individually and together affect bat population dynamics across Indiana The species’ U.S. rangeThe model’s conclusions include:

Mortality from wind turbines is localized and more likely to affect small subpopulations of bats, whereas WNS is more likely to devastate large winter colonies throughout the species’ range;
Together, these two threats have led to declines in all bat subspecies populations in Indiana;
WNS had the greatest impact on population dynamics, with the most severe potential mortality scenario resulting in a population reduction of approximately 95%;
Although wind turbines killed fewer animals than WNS, they disrupted the migratory routes of Indiana bats, which had a greater impact on population dynamics than WNS in almost all simulated scenarios. Bat populations are composed of isolated groups of the same species that interact during migration.

“These findings are useful to wildlife managers because they demonstrate the additional importance of protecting small bat colonies in Indiana during the winter to prevent extinctions,” Erickson said.

It is not yet known whether WNS poses a threat to humans, pets, livestock or other wildlife.

The United States Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service exist New researchpublished in PeerJ journal.

For more information on bats, wind energy and WNS, visit U.S. Geological Survey Northern Midwest Environmental Science Centerthis U.S. Geological Survey Earth Science and Environmental Change Science Center and U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center website.

access whitenosesyndrome.org Learn about the coordinated response to WNS led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This surveillance video captured by a thermal imaging camera shows a bat interacting with a wind turbine around 3 a.m. on a moonlit summer night. (Paul Klein, U.S. Geological Survey)

Counties in Indiana where bats are known to have died at wildlife facilities. The fatalities on the map are those known to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as of April 2015. This map is from “Bat Fatalities at Wind Energy Facilities in Indiana,” by Lori Pruitt and Jennifer Okajima of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Indiana Field Office.http://www.fws.gov/midwest/wind/wildlifeimpacts/inbafatalities.html) (Public domain.)

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