Development of a White-nose Syndrome (WNS) Disease Tracking System

Research Task: RB00CN9.8.0
Task Manager: Lance Everette

During the winter of 2006-2007, an affliction of unknown origin dubbed “White-Nose Syndrome” (WNS) began devastating colonies of hibernating bats around Albany, New York. Since then, WNS has rapidly spread, infecting bats in 16 states and 4 provinces of Canada. This has raised alarms in the resource management community, where efforts are now underway to coordinate and manage WNS response on a continental scale. One need identified by resource management agencies is the ability to track and share information regarding bat specimens (for example, carcasses and tissues) submitted for WNS verification, in order to better understand WNS's movement and distribution across the landscape. FORT scientists are working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a single, secure, Web-based system to support implementation of common methodologies and protocols across agencies and organizations. This geospatially oriented data management system will track specimens from the point of collection through analysis by centralizing all partner data in a single repository and enforcing the approved data integrity standards, and by allowing users to enter, verify, and report on their data remotely using a secure internet connection. In this way, the WNS disease tracking system will provide wildlife managers and researchers with near real-time access to WNS data, which they can use to evaluate seasonality of disease effects, identify WNS distribution patterns through geospatial analyses, and forecast potential risk areas.

 For more information contact Lance Everette

Related Products

Publications

• Development of a North American Bat Population Monitoring and Modeling Program
• Bat White-Nose Syndrome in North America
• Economic importance of bats in agriculture
• Response to: Concerns about extrapolating right off the bat [Letter]
• Update on video surveillance, electrolyte imbalance, and development of an online interactive database for tracking WNS
• White-nose Syndrome in North America
• White-nose syndrome in bats: A primer for resource managers
• Update on WNS Research and Response Activities at the USGS Fort Collins Science Center
• Bat ecology as it relates to white-nose syndrome
• Current white-nose syndrome (WNS) research
• Wing pathology of white-nose syndrome in bats suggests life-threatening disruption of physiology
• White-Nose Syndrome Fungus (Geomyces destructans) in bats, Europe
• Bats prove to be rich reservoirs for emerging viruses

Web Applications

• White-nose Syndrome Disease Tracking System (v.1)