https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/aeroecology/ Recent content in Aeroecology on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/mysterious-disease-sounds-death-knell-bats/ Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/mysterious-disease-sounds-death-knell-bats/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/mysterious-disease-sounds-death-knell-bats/i-468-7db-5-12.jpg" alt="A little brown bat with a white muzzle characteristic of White Nose Syndrome. Alan Hicks" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>A little brown bat with a white muzzle characteristic of White Nose Syndrome. Alan Hicks</figcaption> </figure> <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/mysterious-disease-sounds-death-knell-bats/i-469-7db-5-12.jpg" alt="Dead bats liter the floor of Aeolus Cave near Manchester, Vt. Alan Hicks" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Dead bats liter the floor of Aeolus Cave near Manchester, Vt. Alan Hicks</figcaption> </figure> <p>These are dark days for bats. Hundreds of thousands of tiny white-nosed bats have died over the past few winters, falling to cave floors across the eastern United States. The killer is <a href="http://www.fws.gov/whitenosesyndrome/">White Nose Syndrome</a>, a mysterious disease inflicted by an unusual cold-loving fungus that attacks bats while they are hibernating. Come spring, as few as 5 percent of the bats in heavily infected roosts are still alive.</p>