Threats to Bats
Learn more about factors impacting the survival and health of North America's bats
The Problem: North American bats are currently facing a range of significant threats that have led to alarming declines in various species. Key issues include diseases such as white-nose syndrome, collisions with wind turbines, and habitat loss and degradation. Understanding species distributions and abundance, as well as how these metrics change over time, is critical to assessing the viability of bat populations and identifying when populations are recovering.
A Solution: The North American Bat Program effectively addresses the historical lack of information regarding bat species status and trends through coordinated, standardized, long-term data collection. The data collected as part of NAB will contribute to spatially explicit estimates of bat distributions and abundance, as well as track changes over time. information is vital for filling knowledge gaps and supports proactive management of bat populations.
White-nose Syndrome
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease caused by an invasive, cold-growing fungus that affects hibernating bats. The fungus grows on bats’ skin, disturbing hibernation and resulting in dehydration, starvation, and often death. First documented in New York in 2006, WNS has since spread to numerous U.S. states and Canadian provinces, causing severe population declines in many bat species. Click on the button below to learn more or explore the WNS publications database.
Wind Energy
Current evidence suggest that collisions with spinning wind turbine blades may kill hundreds of thousands of bats each year in North America. Although it has been theorized that barotrauma, internal injuries caused by rapid changes in air pressure, may also contribute to bat fatalities at wind turbines, research shows this is exceedingly unlikely. Given that bats are long-lived and typically limited to 1 or 2 offspring per year, existing fatality rates may not be sustainable for some species. Recent studies indicate population-level declines are possible, particularly with the anticipated growth of wind energy development (see example wind energy future scenarios for the U.S. here). As a result, significant investments have been made in search of solutions that minimize impacts to bats without impeding the continued deployment of wind energy. Learn more from this webinar recording or click below to explore literature on this topic.
Habitat Loss & Degradation
Forests and underground structures like caves and mines are critical bat habitat for roosting, foraging, and reproduction. The growing loss of these habitats, continues to cause substantial impacts on the abundance and diversity of bats at a global scale.