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Source: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/03/28/disease-continues-to-batter-minn-bats
Disease continues to batter Minnesota bat populations
Environment
Dan Gunderson ? Moorhead, Minn. ? Mar 28, 2019
Minnesota bat populations continue a sharp decline from the effects of white nose syndrome, a fungal disease usually fatal to hibernating bats.
The fungus that causes white nose syndrome first showed up in Minnesota at the Soudan Underground Mine State Park in 2013. Bats started showing signs of the disease a couple of years later. It has since spread to other caves in the state, including Mystery Cave in southeastern Minnesota.
The disease began killing bats in the northeastern United States more than a decade ago and has since moved across the country, decimating bat populations.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recently completed population surveys of eight sites in the state.
"We were hoping maybe our story would be a little different, but it isn't. It's following the trend where [bat populations] decline to very low levels ? around 90, sometimes 100 percent decline in some sites," said DNR mammalogist Gerda Nordquist...
Disease continues to batter Minnesota bat populations
Environment
Dan Gunderson ? Moorhead, Minn. ? Mar 28, 2019
Minnesota bat populations continue a sharp decline from the effects of white nose syndrome, a fungal disease usually fatal to hibernating bats.
The fungus that causes white nose syndrome first showed up in Minnesota at the Soudan Underground Mine State Park in 2013. Bats started showing signs of the disease a couple of years later. It has since spread to other caves in the state, including Mystery Cave in southeastern Minnesota.
The disease began killing bats in the northeastern United States more than a decade ago and has since moved across the country, decimating bat populations.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recently completed population surveys of eight sites in the state.
"We were hoping maybe our story would be a little different, but it isn't. It's following the trend where [bat populations] decline to very low levels ? around 90, sometimes 100 percent decline in some sites," said DNR mammalogist Gerda Nordquist...