Sorry I haven't posted this sooner..................but having three blogs, it's hard to remeber what I said I'd do and on which blog! :) So here's my WNS Essay Enjoy! :)

Maggie Wilson April 2009

Who Cares about Vermont’s Bats Dying?

Last April, when Maggie Wilson was swimming in her pond on an unseasonably hot day, a bat came swooping towards her. Maggie had to duck, otherwise the bat would have hit her in the forehead. It was unusual because bats do not come out of hibernation until late April or early May. Later, news reports said that some bats have a disease called White-Nose Syndrome.

White-Nose Syndrome is a disease that is causing bats to come out of hibernation too early, using up the fat needed to hibernate. If the bats don’t have fat they go hunting for food, which is why people see them in the middle of April. Since there are few bugs so early in the spring, the bats starve to death. Since the discovery of White-Nose Syndrome in February 2006, hundreds of thousands of bats have died, with many more expected to die in the next couple of years. The death of bats in Vermont is a frightening thing because it can effect the state’s economy, farms and food supply, and ecosystem.

Six of the nine bat species found in Vermont hibernate in the state. They are the Little Brown bat, the Big Brown bat, the rare Pipistrelle bat, the Northern Long-eared bat, the Small-footed bat, and the endangered Indiana bat. The other three species of bats that live in Vermont are migratory. In the winter the Silver-haired bat, the Hoary bat, and the Red bat hibernate in the southern United States. Since the fungus spreads only in the winter, the Silver-haired bat, the Hoary bat, and the Red bat have not shown any signs of White-Nose Syndrome.²

The most affected bat is the Little Brown bat because it tends to hibernate in large groups. Therefore the disease spreads much more easily. The Big Brown bat however, are less affected because they hibernate in barns, and houses.³

One of the major effects from the bats dying is insects will increase in number. A bat normally eats half his body weight up to his full body weight of bugs in one night. If Vermont loses 90 percent of its bats that eat 6,000 insects every night, the state will have an increase of 6,000 insects per bat, per night, we lose. If 100,000 thousand bats are lost, the insect population will increase by 600,000,000. Clearly, an increased bug population will negatively affect the state’s economy. Tourists will not want to come to Vermont because of the many insects, and outdoor activities will be cancelled because of too many bugs.

Some of these increased bugs will be forest pests, which will feed on tree leaves. If so, the pests could kill maple and other types of trees. Damage to Maple trees could affect the Maple syrup production. Maple syrup brings in $99 million dollars to Vermont. The state can not afford another big loss.

As a recent VPR news report stated, "Farmers and gardeners may also notice a significant increase in the number of bugs chowing down on their crops this summer. Bats can eat half their weight in insects every night, and a drop in the bat population likely means an increase in the bug population."⁴

One of the many questions people ask when they find out Vermont’s bat population is decreasing is, "how will this affect our ecosystem?" The definition of ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (/wiki/Biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment. An ecosystem is a completely independent unit of interdependent organisms which share the same habitat. Ecosystems usually form a number of food webs which show the interdependence of the organisms within the ecosystem.⁵

Bats play an important part in Vermont’s ecosystem. They pollinate flowers, disperse seeds, and eat billions of pesky bugs people hate. Vermonters may think it is no big deal to lose bats in our ecosystem because bees pollinate flowers, birds disperse seeds, and frogs eat pesky insects. But they cannot make up for the loss of bats. A food chain is a intricate web where all God’s created organisms work together. When bats are taken out of the food chain, it throws off the balance of nature. According to Fish & Wildlife biologist, Joel Flewelling, scientists do not know how this loss of bats will affect Vermont’s ecosystem.⁶ It is possible that birds will pick up where the bats left off, but the outcome cannot be pre-determined. However, the loss of bats in the ecosystem will negatively affect the way nature works together. Any major change within the ecosystem is a serious problem.

When all these effects occur, Vermont will be changed forever. People will never want to go outside because it is too buggy. Vermont State will lose millions of dollars from the lack of tourists. And farmers’ and gardeners’ crops will be overrun with insects. Vermont biologists have ruled out many causes of White-Nose Syndrome and are experimenting with many other theories, but will they find a cure for White-Nose Syndrome before Vermont loses most of its bats?

Hope you liked it!

~M~The~Writer~

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