Bat program offers tools to fend off deadly fungus

With the threat of a deadly bat fungus looming over Alberta, the province has revved up its bat monitoring program.

Technology to analyze bat echolocation calls has been around for years, but improvements are making it more effective.

In Alberta, scientists are using a new e-platform to help process the bat calls and get information into databases to help figure out the populations and locations of different bat species.

The data itself can’t do anything to stop the dreaded white nose fungus from making its inevitable way into Alberta, but the provincial government’s resident bat expert Lisa Wilkinson says it can help inform a proactive response plan for when the fungus does hit.

Gathering baseline data about Alberta’s bats is key, Wilkinson said.

“The more we know, we might be in a position to help (bats) if research shows ways to do that,” she said.

The new system automatically uploads bat calls, reviews them and consolidates the data in a user-friendly way to eventually make it available to all researchers.

Echolocation software isn’t perfect, meaning researchers still have to physically look at calls.

“It’s not a panacea, but it’s helpful,” Wilkinson said.

Along with the echolocation databases, the province is looking to find more bat maternity colonies and hibernacula, so it can close caves if need be.

A fungus found in caves, white nose was first detected in New York state in the winter of 200607, having made its way across the Atlantic from Europe. It has since been found in 31 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces.

White nose mortality is around 98 per cent. Once the spores get into a cave, they can stick around for decades, reinfecting any other bats that enter.

The province closed Cadomin and Wapiabi caves in 2010 to try to prevent the disease from hitting Alberta’s largest bat populations.

“The chances are very low, but if it does get in there, the ramifications are huge,” Wilkinson said.

Millions of dollars are currently being funnelled into white nose research.

The longer Alberta can keep it out, Wilkinson said, the more chance there is of a scientific breakthrough that can help stop the decimation of the province’s bat population.