| Report |
Publish Year |
Description |
Filename |
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Mitigating WNS - Using a Probiotic to Reduce Bat Mortality Caused by White-Nose Syndrome - 2019 Update on Testing
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2020
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A major challenge for treatment of white-nose syndrome (WNS; caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, Pd) in western North America (NA) is that hibernacula are poorly known, and bats are thought to largely use non-cave, non-mine underground winter refuges (Weller et al. 2018). Such conditions make it unfeasible to both access hibernacula and treat bats for WNS in large enough numbers to be effective. On the other hand, maternity roosts in human-built structures can hold thousands of female bats in a single roost making them biologically significant targets for protection Hundreds of roosts are already known and being continuously discovered across B.C. through blossoming community outreach and citizen science programs. Yuma (Myotis yumanensis) and Little Brown Myotis (M. lucifugus) in urbanized landscapes typically roost on non-natural substrates, which may reduce likelihood of naturally incorporating anti-Pd soil microbes into wing microbiomes. In a 3 year Development Phase (2017 - 2019), we developed the first WNS prophylaxis anti-Pd cocktail in North America, tested it on captive bats, and piloted in a field application.
Using bacteria sourced from local healthy bats, we derived a probiotic prophylaxis for the prevention of WNS, the fungal disease poised to devastate western North American bat populations. We successfully tested this probiotic on captive building- roosting bats, and concluded that it is effective at changing bat wing microbiomes, and slowing the growth of the Pd fungus. In 2019 we completed a final comprehensive captive trial including a summer component and a hibernation simulation. We also piloted the application of the probiotic in the field; this small-scale field implementation took place at two maternity roosts in the Vancouver region.
The premise of our mitigation strategy is that bats incorporate naturally-occurring anti-Pd bacteria into their wing microflora prior to leaving for hibernation in late summer. We hypoth ?
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wsi_5856_rpt_2019.pdf
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Mitigating WNS Testing use of a Probiotic to Reduce Bat Mortality Caused by White-Nose Syndrome - 2021 Update
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2021
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The goal of the Probiotic Project is to develop and test (in captive and wild trials) a cocktail of bacteria sourced from wings of B.C. bats which inhibits the fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans, Pd) that causes white-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats. Specific to the West, where few bat hibernacula are known, but many maternity roosts are known for building roosting species, our project aimed to take a prophylaxis approach; the strategy is that bats will be passively inoculated at their summer roosts, incorporate the probiotic bacteria into their wing microbiomes and then travel to hibernacula where the probiotic inhibit or slow growth of Pd, slowing or preventing the progression of WNS and reducing overwinter mortality.
In 2021, we swabbed field roosting substrates in February and are testing for presence of probiotic (lab results pending). We will opportunistically sample wings of bats returning to roosts in spring to look for probiotic and Pd; collect guano for Pd surveillance; PIT-tag additional bats at all study sites (there is currently disparate percentage of PIT tagged bats among sites); apply probiotic (mid to late summer); sample bat wings and roosting substrates prior to hibernation; install acoustic detectors to determine if bats are found in study areas in winter; sample roosting substrates at end of the 2021-22 winter (including building and bat box substrates). Our laboratory goals in 2021 will be to improve amplification of the 4th probiotic bacteria (P. antarctica); improve our sampling procedures given that swab sampling may result in higher than desired variance in cell concentration measurements; and improve our methodology for assessing the viability of probiotic cells in samples from bat wings and from roost substrates.
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wsi_6010_rpt_2021Probiotic.pdf
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North American Bat Monitoring Program in British Columbia - 2020 Data Summary and Preliminary Trend Analyses (2016 - 2020)
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2021
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The North American Bat Monitoring (NABat; Loeb et al. 2015) program is a multi-agency initiative administered by the US Geological Survey (USGS). It is designed to increase baseline monitoring at the national and continental scale. NABat aims to collect critical baseline data to inform conservation and management decisions on immediate and long-term time scales and a variety of spatial scales. Since 2016, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada has coordinated and implemented the program in British Columbia, through partnerships and engagements with bat biologists and naturalists across the province. Establishing a baseline is especially critical at this time, in advance of the arrival of white-nose syndrome (WNS) -- the deadly fungal disease that has been decimating hibernating bat populations as it spreads from the point of initial discovery in New York State and from a secondary point introduction in Washington State. In this report we describe the NABat monitoring program and summarize the NABat data in BC.
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wsi_6010_rpt_2020NABat.pdf
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Spring roost selection and thermoregulation of silver-haired bats in the Smallwood creek area
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2021
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Silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans) are a tree roosting species of insectivorous bat found throughout North America. They belong to the guild of cavity-dwelling species, and as such, they are especially dependent on the presence of snags (standing dead trees) and large, mature trees, which generally have more roosting opportunities than smaller, younger trees. This species has long been thought to be migratory in much of its range. However, captures and visual and acoustic observations of this species have been recorded throughout winter at numerous locations in British Columbia, and this has begun to shift our perspective on its migratory strategies. To date, two silver-haired bat hibernacula have been identified in British Columbia. One identified hibernaculum is the Queen Victoria Mine in South-Central British Columbia. Preliminary research at this site shows that silver-haired bats use trees in the winter as hibernacula in addition to the mine site.
The large body of work on tree-roosting bats typically describes summer roost selection. Winter, fall and spring tree-roost selection in colder climates is poorly studied, and in areas where bats occupy trees year-round, little research exists on seasonal preferences. Work to describe winter and summer tree roost selection by silver-haired bats in the Smallwood area is ongoing, however little information exists on roost selection during the transitional spring period. Since much of the recommendations on bat protection in managed forests considers only summer use of trees, understanding how bats use forests throughout the year will better inform harvest timing windows to support bat conservation.
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wsi_6010_rpt_2021SpringSilverwing.pdf
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Year-round roost selection and thermoregulation of Silver-haired Bats in Smallwood-Garrity Area, Kootenay Lake
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2021
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Silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans) are a tree roosting species of insectivorous bat found throughout North America. They belong to the guild of cavity-dwelling species, and as such, they are especially dependent on the presence of snags (standing dead trees) and large, mature trees, which generally have more roosting opportunities than smaller, younger trees. This species has long been thought to be migratory in much of its range. However, captures and visual and acoustic observations of this species have been recorded throughout winter at numerous locations in British Columbia, and this has begun to shift our perspective on its migratory strategies. The objectives of this project are to 1) investigate characteristics of the tree roosts used in winter and summer, including roost microclimates; 2) describe the surrounding forest landscape to characterize roosting habitats in both summer and winter; 3) quantify use of torpor; 4) determine the suitability of BrandenBark as a habitat compensation tool and whether this would provide year-round habitat replacement for this tree-roosting species.
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wsi_6010_rpt_2021SilverHairedBats.pdf
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Mitigating WNS
Testing use of a Probiotic to Reduce Bat Mortality Caused by White-Nose Syndrome
(Annual Update)
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2022
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The goal of the Probiotic Project is to develop and test (in captive and wild trials) a cocktail of bacteria which was sourced from wings of B.C. bats with the goal of reducing the impact of white-nose syndrome (WNS). Here we summarize major milestones of the probiotic project and provide updated results from additional lab analyses that we conducted in 2021. We then outline next steps including final lab experiments, ongoing field experiments, and expansion of study sites. The latter will include an additional control site in the Greater Vancouver region and 5 - 6 study sites in Washington state (where WNS has been present for several years) as a new partnership with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
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wsi_6010_rpt_2022Probiotic.pdf
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North American Bat Monitoring Program in British Columbia - 2021 Data Summary and Activity Trend Analyses (2016-2021)
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2022
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We have successfully completed our first six years of NABat monitoring in B.C. with a total of 53 operating grid cells, 20 of which are part of our original 22 grid cells. These data provide baselines for pre-white-nose syndrome (WNS) bat distribution and activity data in the province that can be used to gauge changes moving forward using trend analyses.
In this report we describe the acoustic NABat monitoring program and summarize the acoustic NABat data in BC. Specifically, we provide:
1) descriptions of NABat objectives;
2) progress to date, including annual sample sizes;
3) locations and site information from all grid cells in BC;
4) tabulated acoustic results from both stationary and transect sampling, including species, relative activity (stationary detectors), and relative abundance (transects) for all NABat in BC data;
5) discussion of findings and the monitoring process, including challenges, solutions, successes, significance of results, and lessons learned; and
6) future directions.
We summarize bat acoustic activity recorded by stationary detectors and mobile transects throughout the sixth year of NABat in BC. In 2021 we surveyed 53 of 55 current grid cells and once again detected all species of bats thought to occur in BC (17). Two grid cells were not monitored in 2021 due to COVID-19-related logistical and safety concerns. Species distribution changes and updated maps are described below.
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wsi_6010_rpt_2021NABat.pdf
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Year-round roost selection and thermoregulation of Silver-haired Bats in Smallwood-Garrity Area, Kootenay Lake
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2022
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The objectives of this project are to 1) investigate characteristics of the tree roosts used in winter and summer, including roost microclimates; 2) describe the surrounding forest landscape to characterize roosting habitats in both summer and winter; 3) quantify use of torpor and describe hibernation behaviours; and 4) determine the suitability of Brandenbark(TM) as a habitat compensation tool, and whether this would provide year-round habitat replacement for this tree-roosting species. This latter objective is a collaborative project with Okanagan Nation Alliance.
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wsi_6010_rpt_2021WinterSilverwing.pdf
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Bat WNS in SW BC: Disease Mitigation and Monitoring Impacts - COA-F23-W-3687
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2023
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In this report, we summarize major milestones of the probiotic project and provide updated results from additional lab analyses that we conducted in 2022. We then outline next steps including the expansion of probiotic application to study sites (6) in Washington through our new partnerships with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Woodland Park Zoo. At this time, based on a north-south movement of bats that likely occurs coastally in the Pacific Northwest, the probiotic cocktail we are using is thought to be applicable across the Pacific Northwest and southern BC, locations from which the anti-Pd bacteria were sourced.
We focus on 2022 field activities, and lab analyses that we conducted between April 2022 - mid-March 2023. We present successes and challenges. Because we have now analyzed stored samples from previous experiments and additional lab analyses of past field samples, we are also presenting some multi-year results from the collective body of work (2019 - 2022).
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wsi_6010_rpt_2023WNS.pdf
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Mitigating WNS Testing use of a Probiotic to Reduce Bat Mortality Caused by White-Nose Syndrome (Annual Update) COA-F24-W-3929
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2024
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In 2023 we continued to apply a cocktail of four anti-Pd bacteria to roost surfaces of three treatment sites in B.C., and we began the first set of probiotic applications at three treatment sites in Washington state (via partnerships with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Woodland Park Zoo). The 5 BC study sites of this trans-border project are in the Greater Vancouver/Sea-to-Sky Area each are mixed maternity roosts of Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus) and Yuma Myotis (M. yumanensis), treatment sites being : Colony Farm Regional Park, Alice Lake Provincial Park and Stave Lake BC Hydro Installation, and the controls sites being: Burrvilla House (in Deas Island Regional Park), and Stanley Park (new as of 2023). At the 3 treatment sites, bats use buildings and bat boxes. In this report, we report largely on results from 2023, with some inclusion of 2022 results as these were not completed in time for our March 2023 reporting. Because this report was partially updated in March 2025, we have also provided some context for 2023 results based on new findings in 2024. In brief, we have determined that the probiotic bacteria appear to be naturally spread among bats of a region, which is greatly beneficial for this method of disease mitigation. Details of this discovery will be reported on fully in the March 2025 annual report of the 2024 field season.
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wsi_6010_rpt_2023Probiotic.pdf
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Mitigating WNS - Testing use of a Probiotic to Reduce Bat Mortality Caused by White-Nose Syndrome - Project Number: COA-F25-W-4098
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2025
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In 2024, we continued to apply a cocktail of four anti-Pd bacteria to roost surfaces of six treatment sites in BC and Washington state (WA) (via trans-border partnerships with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Woodland Park Zoo). All 11 treatment and control sites are mixed maternity roosts of Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus, MYLU) and Yuma Myotis (M. yumanensis, MYYU). The treatment sites are: Colony Farm Regional Park, Alice Lake Provincial Park and Stave and Hayward Lakes BC Hydro Installation in BC, and Baker Lake, Haven and Lake Chelan in WA. The control sites are: Burrvilla House (in Deas Island Regional Park), and Stanley Park in BC, and Hwy 530, Trek and Sunnyside in WA.
We conducted swab-sampling of both bat roosts and bat wings at all treatment (6) and control (5) sites and 2024 results here for BC and WA. All BC samples have tested Pd negative, while all WA sites tested Pd-positive, with some signs of WNS disease observed at control sites The Pd status of certain sites fluctuated between years. Probiotic transfer and persistence varied depending on site, time of roost application of probiotics (spring vs summer), and type of probiotics used (fresh versus freeze-dried).
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wsi_6010_rpt_2024.pdf
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| Field Data |
Publish Year |
Description |
Filename |
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Point data for the 2020 survey formatted for entry into SPI
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wsi_6010_dct_2020.xlsm
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Point data for the 2021 survey formatted for entry into SPI
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wsi_6010_dct_2021.xlsm
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Point data for the 2021 survey formatted for entry into SPI with updated species codes
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wsi_6010_dct_2021.xlsx
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Point data for the 2021 survey in original format
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wsi_6010_org_2021.xlsm
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Point data for the 2022 survey formatted for entry into SPI
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wsi_6010_dct_2022.xlsm
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Point data for the 2022 survey in original format
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wsi_6010_org_2022.xlsm
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Point data for the 2023 survey formatted for entry into SPI
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wsi_6010_dct_2023.xlsm
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Point data for the 2023 survey in original format
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wsi_6010_org_2023.xlsm
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