Field Notes: Luanne Johnson updates us on bats.

FIELDNotes

To: Bluedot Living From: Luanne Johnson, BiodiversityWorks Subject: Keeping bats safe from COVID

As COVID-19 restrictions were implemented in March 2020, we at BiodiversityWorks were preparing to begin spring mist-netting to capture Northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis, MYSE). MYSE were once the most common forest bat in New England but more than 95 percent of its population has died during winter hibernation since a non-native, cold-thriving fungus (Pseudogymnoascans destructans, or Pd) was first found and identified from dead bats at a cave in New York State in 2006. Bats have since spread the fungus to other hibernation sites across North America, killing millions of other bats.

MYSE survive winter by entering caves and mines where they go into a torpor and live off their fat reserves; bat immune systems are also at rest during winter. Thus, our native bats were not prepared for a novel fungus from Europe. Pd thrives in the high humidity and cool temperatures where it colonizes and digests bat skin, especially on their wings and muzzle. Pd embedded in bats’ skin tissue is known as white-nose syndrome (WNS). The infection rouses bats from their winter rest and disrupts their metabolism such that they run out of fat reserves. While not a threat to humans, Pd and WNS threatens our native bats with extinction.

With support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we have been collaborating with biologists on Nantucket and Long Island to understand how small populations of these now-rare bats are persisting amid Pd and WNS. We learned that they are not flying to mainland, but hibernating in crawlspaces, and cinderblock walls or basements with bulkhead doors on their respective islands. Bat detectors at these sites tell us that MYSE wake up and feed during warm periods in winter, which awakens their immune systems. Thus, we believe their persistence is related to our shorter and milder winters.

While so many people were looking at bats as the potential cause of the global pandemic, our team of biologists was focused on how to conserve some of the only bats surviving their own ongoing crisis. Federal and state agencies restrictedt all handling of bats in 2020, to prevent any human researchers from passing COVID-19 to the bats. We canceled our netting efforts for the spring and summer of 2020, and used only acoustic detectors to record bat calls and document presence

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Solar creates a cool summer.

The Vineyard Transit Authority (VTA) powered up eight new solar canopies in May 2021 – this marks the next step in our conversion from diesel-powered vehicles to an all-electric fleet. The solar energy generated onsite will be stored in batteries and used to charge the buses. The VTA has spent the last four years creating a clean, resilient transportation system for the Island and is proud to announce that 50% of the bus fleet is now all electric.