First detected in New York State in 2006, a deadly fungal disease that infects and kills numerous bat species has since spread, devastating populations across North America.
Few places have avoided the wrath of white-nose syndrome (WNS), as it's known, but there are some, including Lillooet, a small district municipality straddling the shores of the Fraser River in south-west British Columbia.
Scientists believe that microbes found on the wings of bats in this uninfected refuge could hold the key to protecting these remarkable creatures from the disease.
What are scientists doing in Lillooet?
First identified in New York State in 2006, WNS has decimated populations of species such as the little brown bat and the northern long-eared bat, with some colonies seeing declines of up to 90%. The disease thrives in cold conditions and affects hibernating bats, disrupting their sleep cycle and leading to starvation.
Lillooet, home to a high concentration of bat species, has attracted scientific interest because bats in this region have shown no signs of infection, despite the presence of the WNS fungus appearing elsewhere in the province.
“We see a very high number of bat species in the Rockies and west of the Rockies,” explains Jianping Xu, a professor in the Department of Biology at McMaster University and lead author of the paper, published in Microbiology Spectrum.
“If there is a new frontier for preserving bat species, it will likely be found in western North America, yet we know very little about the wing microbiome of these bats.”
The microbiome found on the wings of bats is believed to play a critical role in their defence against WNS. Xu's team is using the data gathered to refine a 'probiotic cocktail' they developed in collaboration with scientists at the Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada and Thompson Rivers University. This treatment is one of several innovative approaches being tested to combat the disease, alongside vaccines and fumigation efforts.
What was learnt about white-nose syndrome?
Through their research in Lillooet, Xu’s team identified thousands of previously unknown bacteria and fungi on bat wings. They have already isolated over 1,000 bacterial strains, with some showing promise in fending off the WNS fungus. Testing revealed that certain bacteria work more effectively when combined, which could be crucial for developing a potent probiotic cocktail to shield bats in the wild.
Over the past three years, this experimental cocktail has been tested in bat roosts in British Columbia and Washington State, with encouraging results. “This kind of information will allow us to refine potentially region-specific probiotic cocktails and manipulate the microbiome to help the survival of bats,” says Xu.
This promising research offers a glimmer of hope for bats, whose survival is crucial not just for biodiversity but also for the health of ecosystems throughout North America.
Find out more about the study: DNA metabarcoding analyses reveal fine-scale microbiome structures on Western Canadian bat wings
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