Sorry to be a bit late on this topic, but it's been a busy week. This
topic was covered last Friday on the radio talk show Science Friday
with Ira Flatow. You can download the podcast at
http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200903063
In addition, if you go to the web site, there is a cool video to watch
of researchers Alan Hicks and Melissa Behr collecting samples of the
fungus from bats in a cave in NY state. These two scientists were two
of the authors of the Science paper on White-Nose Syndrome that I
mentioned here on CaveTex last week (Blehert D.S., Hicks A.C., Behr
M., Meteyer C.U., Berlowski-Zier B.M., Buckles E.L., Coleman J.T.H.,
Darling S.R., Gargas, A., Niver R., Okoniewski J.C., Rudd R.J., Stone
W.B. "Bat White-Nose Syndrome: An Emerging Fungal Pathogen?" Science
vol. 323, 9 JANUARY 2009, p. 227).
Admittedly the video shows the sort of science-geeky side of these two
researchers, but I'm used to seeing that kind of thing. :)
There are also images of the bat boxes on the web site. If you have
problems accessing the podcast (an mp3 file), email me and I'll send
it to you.
From the web site:
Caring for White-Nose Syndrome Bats (broadcast Friday, March 6th, 2009)
Bat colonies across the Northeast US have fallen victim to 'White Nose
Syndrome,' a lethal and mysterious condition. The syndrome is
characterized by a white, fuzzy fungal infection on bats in infected
colonies -- but bat specialists still aren't sure if the fungus is a
symptom of the syndrome, or its cause. Bats affected by the syndrome
appear to have difficulty conserving their energy during the cold
winter, causing them to starve to death.
Writing this week in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, a
journal of the Ecological Society of America, a team of researchers
propose a dramatic stopgap measure to protect affected colonies --
building warm 'bat boxes' inside affected caves that would allow
affected bats to conserve their energy. We'll talk with researchers
about the idea and what, if anything, can be done to protect colonies
affected by the syndrome.
Guests:
Justin Boyles
Graduate Student
Center for North American Bat Research and Conservation
Department of Biology
Indiana State University
Terre Haute, Indiana
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Diana R. Tomchick
Associate Professor
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Department of Biochemistry
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Rm. ND10.214B
Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A.
Email: [email protected]
214-645-6383 (phone)
214-645-6353 (fax)
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