[Image taken from Parks Canada’s video “BATS AND WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME“]
Parks Canada Agency just released their newest short video about WNS, cave-entry, and decontamination! You can view this video in English or in French.
Two weeks ago I attended the annual white-nose syndrome (WNS) workshop. This year it was held in beautiful Denver, Colorado. The first two days were full of presentations about the latest research, and the last two days consisted of working group meetings to discuss various issues. A big topic at this year’s meeting was the arrival of WNS in Washington State and how western states should respond. Surveillance efforts are ongoing to determine how widespread WNS is in the west. Thankfully, so far all additional samples have been negative. Other active areas of research include determining how some bats are able to survive WNS infection, and exploring various treatment options to lower bat mortality.
In other news, we have a new paper published! This one describes a species of fungus new-to-science that I cultured from bats and the cave environment in New Brunswick. Check it out!
Karen Vanderwolf
Karen has been interested in the natural world for as long as she can remember, and she always knew her career would take her into the field of biology. Karen received her Masters of Science at the University of New Brunswick, where she studied bats and the pre-white-nose syndrome fungal flora that occurs on them. She completed her Bachelor of Science (Hons.) in biology at the University of Western Ontario. Karen has previously worked with Ontario Parks, performing plant and salamander field work; assisted in preparations for a Karner Blue Butterfly reintroduction; and worked with Swift Foxes, Wood Turtles and waterfowl.
