![]() Bats play a vital role in pest control, plant pollination, and seed dispersal across the world. Keeping citizens informed and acknowledging the threats of White Nose Syndrome is paramount. Even though our population has doubled over the course of five years, monitoring must remain a high priority at TRGT, and mitigation measures must be acted on.įrom the avid cave adventurers to the urban explorers, there are many things that can be done to help mitigate the spread of White Nose Syndrome. 95 tricolored bats were observed, doubling the population size from 2018! The monitoring team did observe diagnostic evidence of White Nose Syndrome among a few bats within the cave. This year, the TRGT field team and the TWRA monitoring team conducted another bat survey count at Hugden Cave. The unique genomic trait supports weight gain before hibernation and behavior during hibernation, suggesting that the influx of White Nose Syndrome within these populations has led to a rapid evolution. Scientists have studied colonies of little brown bats located in New England and found that survivors of White Nose Syndrome exhibit unique gene sequencing not found in bats that were killed by the fungus disease. While the news may seem bleak, there is growing evidence of a resistance from this disease in bats affected early in the outbreak. destructans evolved from coexisting with Europe/Asia bat communities to becoming a specialist pathogen that seeks out living bat tissue to grow and replicate. ![]() Scientists continue to study this fungus around the clock as its introduction has ignited one of the deadliest outbreaks in wild mammals in recent history. ![]() states but has gone on to spread to the mountain west with some confirmation in California and Washington. The disease is well established in east and midwest U.S. It has gone on to spread across North America (39 states) and many Canadian Provinces, killing millions of bats and in some areas depleting the native population by 90-100%. The disease was first identified back in 2006 in New York. As of September 2022, a proposal was submitted for this species to be listed as an endangered species in large part due to the deleterious effects of White-Nose Syndrome. In 2018, the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) recorded 48 Tricolored bats hibernating in Hugden Cave with some displaying diagnostic symptoms of White Nose Syndrome. Hugden Cave has been under the protection of TRGT since 1987 and is home to a colony of Tricolored bats. Tricolored bats seek “hibernaculums” or hibernation dwellings during the winter season. These furry natives are one of the smallest bat species in North America, coming in at the same weight as a quarter! The name comes from their fur’s physical attributes in that each specific hair has three components: a dark base, a lighter middle, and a yellow/brown tip. One species that is of high interest here at TRGT is the Tricolored bat. These caves are incredibly fragile, providing a unique ecosystem for a variety of species such as the Tennessee cave salamander, Barr’s cave spider, southern crayfish etc. The Tennessee River Gorge is home to a rich cave system that formed over 300 million years ago when water seeped into the cracks of the Earth and dissolved limestone rock, forming underground pipelines for gravity and water to play its part.
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