As the international response to combat white-nose syndrome (WNS) continues, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is announcing an additional $2.5 million in grants for research, management and communications projects. These new investments will further the effort to stop the spread of this deadly fungal disease that has killed millions of North American bats, which are critical to the economy and environment, since it was first documented in New York in 2007.
The Service provided grants to 26 projects in three categories:
- Federal agency projects to increase capacity for research and response to WNS;
- Research and communication projects ($30,000 or less each) open to non-U.S. federal applicants;
- Research projects to address priorities established by multi-agency working groups under a national response plan for WNS.
Individual awards ranged from $7,500 to $300,000. The $2,541,501 in grants will be matched with more than $1.3 million from recipient agencies and organizations.
Selected projects (below) included research on biological control of WNS, disease and bat population dynamics and education and outreach campaigns.
“Previous research funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has led to major breakthroughs in our understanding of white-nose syndrome, providing a measure of hope that we can defeat this devastating disease,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “Bats are a critical part of our ecology and provide essential pest control for our farmers, foresters and city residents, limiting the need to spray harmful pesticides. As the disease continues its spread into new areas, it is more critical than ever that we continue our strong support for solid science to inform wise decisions about our natural resources.”
Since 2008, the Service has granted more than $24 million to institutions and federal and state agencies for WNS research and response. About $1.0 million was awarded earlier this year to state agencies.
Funding for the grants was provided through the Service’s Endangered Species Recovery and Science Applications programs.
Additional information about WNS is available at www.whitenosesyndrome.org/. Connect with our white-nose syndrome Facebook page at www.facebook.com/usfwswns, follow our tweets at www.twitter.com/usfws_wns and download photos from our Flickr page at www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq/collections/72157626455036388/.
2015 White-Nose Syndrome Open Grant Recipients
Investigators | Title | Funding amount |
Sudha Chaturvedi and Vishnu Chaturvedi, New York State Department of Health | Control of white-nose syndrome: Applications of a unique Trichoderma polysporum strain for the biocontrol of Pseudogymnoascus destructans on bats and the environment | $242,227 |
Brooke Maslo, Malin Pinsky and Nina Fefferman, Rutgers University | Are bat populations infected with white-nose syndrome undergoing rapid natural selection? | $292,804 |
Brent Sewall, Temple University; Gregory Turner, Pennsylvania Game Commission and DeeAnn Reeder, Bucknell University | Effects of age and colony experience on bat responses to white-nose syndrome and consequences for population dynamics | $160,500 |
Winifred Frick and Marm Kilpatrick, University of California, Santa Cruz; Jeffrey Foster, University of New Hampshire; Jiang Feng and Keping Sun, Northeast Normal University and Kate Langwig, Harvard University | Disease dynamics of white-nose syndrome in an endemic region | $154,313 |
Christine Salomon and Robert Blanchette, University of Minnesota | An ecological approach for biological control of white-nose syndrome | $240,000 |
Emma Willcox, Gary McCracken and Riley Bernard, The University of Tennessee | The effect of winter emergence and foraging on the susceptibility of Southeastern bats to | $248,500 |
Marm Kilpatrick and Winifred Frick, University of California, Santa Cruz; Craig Willis, University of Winnipeg and Jeffrey Foster, University of New Hampshire | Field trial of a probiotic to protect bats from white-nose syndrome | $49,725 |
Naowarat Cheeptham, Thompson Rivers University and Cori Lausen, Wildlife Conservation Society, Canada | Finding effective biological control options against Pd | $75,000 |
Total | $1,463,069 |
2015 White-Nose Syndrome Federal Grant Recipients
Investigators | Title | Funding amount |
Sybill Amelon, USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station; Christopher Cornelison, Georgia State University; Sarah Hooper, University of Missouri and Daniel Lindner, USDA Forest Service Center for Forest Mycology Research | Interrupting the disease cycle of Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd): Leveraging knowledge of disease and treatment dynamics to design integrated disease management strategies | $165,000 |
W. Mark Ford, U.S. Geological Survey/ Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit; David Jachowski, Clemson University; Susan Loeb and John Kilgo, USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station; Joshua Johnson, Pennsylvania Game Commission and Robin Russell, U.S. Geological Survey Nat’l Wildlife Health Center | Evaluating the effect of white-nose syndrome on long-term bat community structure and remnant bat population ecology | $141,940 |
Daniel Lindner, Jessie Glaesser and Jonathan Palmer, USDA Forest Service Center for Forest Mycology Research and Michelle Jusino, USDA Forest Service Center for Forest Mycology Research/ University of Wisconsin-Madison | Exploiting environmental sensitivities of Pseudogymnoascus destructans: Leveraging knowledge gained through comparative genomics to develop and inform treatment strategies for white-nose syndrome | $129,681 |
Robin Russell, U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center; W. Mark Ford, U.S. Geological Survey/ Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Alexander Silvis and Nicole Abaid, Virginia Tech Univ. U | Assessing the impacts of white-nose syndrome on Midwestern bat communities | $52,800 |
Gail Moede-Rogall, U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center | Development of communication/outreach products to educate the public and specifically policy-makers about what is being done to understand and mitigate white-nose syndrome | $28,245 |
Jeffrey Lorch and David Blehert, U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center | Determining mechanisms of host resistance to white-nose syndrome and predicting disease susceptibility of western bat species based on microbial skin flora | $192,794 |
Jessie Glaesser, USDA Forest Service Center for Forest Mycology Research | Further development of decontamination protocols to mitigate human-based transmission of Pseudogymnoascus destructans | $20,600 |
Susan Loeb, USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station and Eric Britzke, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center | Understanding the vulnerability of tri-colored bats to white-nose syndrome in the South: Torpor patterns and hibernacula conditions | $95,409 |
Total | $826,469 |
2015 White-Nose Syndrome Recipients of Grants < $30,000
Investigators | Title | Funding Amount |
Debbie C. Buecher, Buecher Biological Consulting and Diana Northup, University of New Mexico | Actinobacteria on New Mexico cave myotis (Myotis velifer) suggests N natural defense against white-nose syndrome in ideal microclimate for Pseudogymnoascus destructans | $25,621 |
Timothy Divoll and Joy O’Keefe, Indiana State University | Analyzing diets and foraging habits of endangered myotis to assess potential economic benefits and inform range-wide habitat conservation | $23,773 |
Rob Mies, Organization for Bat Conservation | Save the Bats Campaign: Amplify WNS message reach and activate the public | $30,000 |
Andrew Edelman, University of West Georgia; Joseph Johnson, Bucknell University and Jonathan Stober, Talladega National Forest | Resolving potential habitat management conflicts between remnant populations of endangered myotis and red-cockaded woodpeckers in the southeastern United States | $30,000 |
Brooke Maslo, Rutgers University and Chris Sanders, Sanders Environmental, Inc. | Annual survival of Indiana bats after white-nose syndrome and its implications for population recovery | $21,221 |
Micaela Jemison and Dianne Odegard, Bat Conservation International and Cynthia Sandeno, USDA Forest Service | Development of educational tools to inform and engage the public in bat conservation and white-nose syndrome efforts (Bat Week 2015) | $30,000 |
Craig Willis and Quinn Fletcher, University of Winnipeg; Christina Day, Trent University and Gabriela Mastromonaco, Toronto Zoo | Implications of carryover effects from white-nose syndrome on reproduction and population viability | $29,095 |
Heidi Kretser, Wildlife Conservation Society and T. Bruce Lauber and Katherine McComas, Cornell University | Using multiple agency perspectives to improve communication strategies for bat recovery from WNS | $24,799 |
Winifred Frick and Marm Kilpatrick, University of California, Santa Cruz; Craig Willis, University of Winnipeg; Alexander Gerson, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Marianne Moore, Arizona State University | Investigating mechanisms of host tolerance in persisting populations of Myotis lucifugus in the Northeastern USA | $29,954 |
Leslie Sturges and Kim O’Keefe, The Save Lucy Campaign and Natalie Weatherby-Nance, Educator and Reading Specialist | Develop and produce animated short films to inform and engage the public in bat conservation and white-nose syndrome efforts | $7,500 |
Total | $251,963 |
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For more information, visit www.fws.gov.
