Our Team

Global Challenge: Preserving Biodiversity

Preservation of Bats in New England

Bats are important to humans

Worldwide Populations of Bats are Declining Loss of habitat due to deforestation and commercial development. Human destruction of bats and their habitat. Overuse of pesticides resulting in decrease food supply. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, around 40 to 50 percent of bats in the United States are considered endangered.

Our Solutions to Preserving the Bat Population in New England Educate the urban public of the Greater Hartford area as to the benefits of bats Promote the installation of bat houses Fund Research into White Nose Syndrome, the affliction decimating New England bats. /natural_resources/animals/bat s/Bat_box_5.jpg

Innovative and Unique The idea of promoting bat houses in urban areas is fairly unique. Bat education programs in city schools are not common. The Research Project that we chose to fund is investigating, among other things, immune response during different stages of hibernation and arousal which hasn’t been previously investigated in bats.

White Nose Syndrome First seen in New York caves in 2006 Has since spread to caves (hibernacula) in 9 New England states Characterized by whitish fungus on the nose, ears, and wings.

White Nose Syndrome

What’s known so far WNS does not appear to be caused by a virus, bacteria or parasite Almost all affected bats have the Geomyces fungus on them Uncharacteristic hibernation behaviors, such as, frequent arousal, daytime flying out of cave, staying near cave openings… All affected bats have severely depleted fat stores.

Our Grant Proposal After examining all current research into understanding WNS, we chose to fund the on-going research of Marianne Moore and Thomas Kunz of Boston University. (Marianne Moore is on our Advisory Board)

How is Immunocompetence Related to White Nose Syndrome in Bats? They are collecting data on immunocompetence in affected and unaffected bats and determining the relationship to WNS

Field Studies Also, measuring immune response during different stages of arousal.

“Green” Solution Our solution is green because we are funding a non-chemical approach to mitigating white nose syndrome in bats. By preserving the biodiversity of bats, we are preserving nature’s delicate balance, specifically within the ecosystems to which bats belong. Because bats are nature’s insecticide, we decreasing the potential overuse of pesticides.

Time Line The research we are choosing to fund has been going on since November With the additional funding from our grant, the research will continue through December Additional, more sensitive measures of immune response will be possible with the additional funding. The educational and promotional aspect of our solution will continue through the school year.

Budget Bat house materials, assembly, installation, and distribution - $5000 Printing of educational materials - $500 Additional funding of Moore’s research- approximately $160,000

Ethical, Social, Cultural Issues Many people have misconceptions about bats: All bats have rabies Bats will bite you in your sleep All bats suck blood Bats fly into your hair and get stuck

Obstacles to Preservation People may not care if bats are dying People may not be willing to set up bat houses on their property People may continue to vandalize bat roosting areas and hibernacula. diversity/bats/cave.html

Our Team

Our Advisory Special thanks to our Advisory Board!Advisory Board