U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2018–3020

July 2018

U.S. Geological Survey Response 

to White-Nose Syndrome in Bats

Overview

Since its discovery in 2007, the fungal disease known

as white-nose syndrome (WNS) has killed more than

six million bats. Ten of 47 bat species have been affected 

by WNS across 32 States and 5 Canadian Provinces. The 

cold-growing fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) 

that causes WNS infects skin covering the muzzle, ears,

and wings of hibernating bats. The fungus erodes deep

into the vitally important skin of bat wings and fatally

disrupts hibernation of bats through physical damage

and energy depletion as they try to cope with infection.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science has 

been critical in identifying the causal fungus, 

characterizing the effects of WNS, and tracking 

the fungus as it rapidly spreads through many 

populations of bats in North America. Early 

USGS research enhanced our understanding 

of how WNS affects individual bats and how 

the fungus persists in the environment. 

Today, USGS scientists are engaged 

in a nationwide response to WNS, in 

close coordination with our partners 

at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

(USFWS), National Park Service 

(NPS), and U.S. Forest Service 

(USFS). 

Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus)

Ann Froschauer, USFWS

Cave bat (Myotis velifer)

Public Domain, NPS

Eastern small-footed bat (Myotis leibii )

Virginia State Parks

Gray bat (Myotis grisescens)

1

Larisa Bishop-Boros, CC license

Little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)

Alan Hicks, NY Department of 

Environmental Conservation

Southeastern bat (Myotis austroriparius)

Dottie Brown, Ecological Solutions, Inc.

Tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus )

Larisa Bishop-Boros, CC license

Yuma bat (Myotis yumanensis)

Gabriel Reyes, USGS

Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis )

1

Andrew Kniowski, Department of Fish and 

Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech

Northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis)

2 

Figure 1. North American Pete Patavino, USFWS

bat species affected by 

white-nose syndrome 

as of June 1, 2018.

1

Federally endangered.

2

Federally threatened.
Importance of Bats

A female yuma myotis (Myotis yumanensis) pursuing a moth 

on the wing. Bats catch their prey in the wing membrane and 

then scoop it into their mouth (digital composite).

Copyright Michael Durham (used with permission).

Early Detection Tools and 

Mapping the Spread of WNS

The USGS National Wildlife Health 

Center (NWHC) (Madison, Wisconsin) 

serves as the reference laboratory for 

WNS detections in the United States, 

analyzing one to two thousand samples 

each year from across the country. NWHC 

scientists work with partners to strengthen 

and enhance laboratory and field methods 

for detecting WNS and the causative fungus.

The USGS Fort Collins Science 

Center (FORT) (Fort Collins, Colorado) 

manages the national WNS website 

(https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/), 

which includes static and dynamic 

maps of the spread of WNS in 

North America. These maps provide 

up-to-date information for natural 

resource managers to guide 

targeted surveillance or control

efforts along the leading edge 

of disease spread. 

Bats, the only mammal 

capable of true flight, eat 

mind-boggling quantities of 

insects, including those that 

damage crops and forests 

(corn earworm moth, emerald 

ash borer beetle) and those 

that carry diseases (mosquitoes).

USGS research indicates that 

bats likely save U.S. farmers 

billions of dollars each year 

in pest suppression simply by 

doing what they naturally do 

in most places—eating insects. 

In subtropical and tropical 

areas, bats also play major 

roles in pollinating and 

dispersing the seeds of many 

important species of plants.

Figure 2. Wing of a bat affected by white-nose syndrome (WNS) 

under ultraviolet light. Areas affected by WNS appear yellow-orange 

under ultraviolet light. Use of ultraviolet light provides a useful tool in 

field and rehabilitation settings to screen bats for signs suggestive of 

WNS. Additional laboratory diagnostic testing is required to confirm 

a WNS diagnosis. (Modified from Turner and others, 2014.)
Developing Treatments for WNS

Scientists at the USGS NWHC and FORT are 

investigating the fungi and bacteria on bat skin 

(microbiome) to identify natural defenses and 

potential control mechanisms. 

The USGS NWHC has expertise in vaccine 

development for diseases such as sylvatic plague 

in prairie dogs. That technology is being used to 

investigate the potential for a WNS vaccine. As a 

proof-of-concept, in collaboration with the Centers 

for Disease Control and Prevention, the USGS 

completed preliminary trials of a bat rabies 

vaccine in which more rabies-vaccinated bats 

survived the virus than unvaccinated bats. 

Monitoring Bats

The USGS Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research 

Unit (Blacksburg, Virginia) is assessing the performance of 

acoustic bat monitoring tools and methods to support the USFWS 

and other Federal and State agency guidance on bat monitoring 

for regulatory assessment.

The USGS FORT, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences 

Center (UMESC) (La Crosse, Wisconsin), and Northern Rocky 

Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) (Bozeman, Montana) have 

taken the lead in coordinating the North American Bat Monitoring 

Program (NABat, https://nabatmonitoring.org), 

a long-term monitoring program that includes 

USFS, USFWS, NPS, U.S. Department of 

Defense, Canadian Wildlife Service, Canadian 

Wildlife Health Cooperative, Bat Conservation 

International, and Wildlife Conservation 

Society Canada. Figure 4 (above). A graduate student sets 

up a bat acoustic detector in the National 

Park Service’s Rock Creek Park, Washington, 

D.C. Photograph by Jason Bullock.

Figure 3 (right). Endangered Indiana bats 

(Myotis sodalis) in New York with forearm 

bands and radio transmitters. Photograph by 

Tomas Nocera.

Figure 5 (above). Pallid bat (Antrozous pallidus ) being swabbed.

Photograph by Kenneth Ingham. 

Figure 6 (right). The mycobiome from a resistant bat species 

growing in culture (a swab from the bat’s skin was streaked across 

the agar surface in lines). Pink and white structures are colonies 

of different yeast species from the wing of the bat growing on 

laboratory medium. Photograph by National Wildlife Health Center.
https://github.com/USGS-R/BatTool

Figure 8. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), U.S. Geological

Survey (USGS), and Pennsylvania State University, in collaboration

with the Cranbrook Institute and Organization for Bat Conservation, 

convened a white-nose syndrome (WNS) science 

synthesis workshop in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. 

Diverse scientific expertise was utilized to identify 

information gaps, management interventions, 

and novel actions to respond to WNS. 

Photograph by Evan Grant.

Figure 7 (right). Thermal image of Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) 

grouped for warmth (bright areas). Photograph by Paul Cryan.

Facilitating Adaptive WNS Management

USGS scientists at Patuxent Wildlife 

Research Center are working with Federal and 

State wildlife partners to help identify

management actions that maximize bat 

persistence and reduce the spread of WNS,

taking into consideration the timing of

these actions based on occurrence of

the disease (WNS free area, WNS

established area, leading edge).

Assessing the Impact of WNS on Bat Populations

Scientists at the USGS UMESC and NWHC are developing 

tools to assess the impact of WNS on the viability of bat populations 

and estimate recovery potential. BatTool, a statistical package 

(https://github.com/USGS-R/BatTool), was developed to help 

decision makers understand how the combined effects of WNS 

and other stressors, such as wind energy development, may impact 

specific bat populations. 

Since WNS was discovered, scientists at USGS FORT have 

been investigating why certain populations of bats are more 

susceptible to WNS than others. In addition to studying how bats 

survive WNS, this work can help identify populations most in 

need of treatment or other interventions. 

By M. Camille Hopkins and Suzanna C. Soileau

For more information contact:

Associate Director, Ecosystems

U.S. Geological Survey

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Mail Stop 300

Reston, VA 20192

https://www.usgs.gov/science/mission-areas/ecosystems/

ISSN 2327-6916 (print)

ISSN 2327-6932 (online)

https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20183020

BatTool

Edited by Kay Naugle, Reston PSC

Layout by Carol Quesenberry 

The fungus causing WNS has been 

detected on Eastern red bats 

(Lasiurus borealis). Photograph by 

Alexander Silvis.