![]() Since 2014, we have installed artificial structures, called bat boxes, throughout Pennsylvania, including on WPC-owned properties. We are also coordinating with partnering agencies on the implementation of a habitat conservation plan. We have increased our field survey efforts for bats to help locate WNS survivors. Using survey data provided by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, we are consistently updating datasets for bat occurrences. PNHP staff are working with agency partners to help hibernating bats in our region. Conservation measures are now aimed at the protection of maternity colonies, so that more offspring might survive and increase bat populations. The hope is that their offspring will be able to do the same. These survivors are able to cope with WNS. Though populations of some bat species have suffered massive declines, we are finding limited numbers of resilient survivors. While WNS research is ongoing, there is no known practical treatment to counter the effects of the disease. Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania Game Commission believes that all hibernacula in the commonwealth contain Pd. Unfortunately, this activity depletes the bat’s limited fat reserves, causing the bats to leave their hibernacula early in a vain attempt to forage for food that is not available. Characterized by the white fungus that grows on a bat’s muzzle, WNS produces lesions on its wings, specifically its patagia, and causes bats to awaken from winter hibernation prematurely. a decade ago, Pd has no natural controls. Pennsylvania’s hibernating bat populations have undergone drastic declines due to an introduced fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), which causes the disease called WNS. Hibernacula should not be disturbed during the winter months, and should be gated when necessary. When awakened from their deep sleep, bats begin to burn their stored fat more rapidly and can starve if they do not retain enough fat until spring. These same forests also provide key foraging areas.īoth recreational and commercial caving can disturb bats during hibernation. Removal of these trees reduces the amount of natural roosts from the landscape, decreasing the summer habitat necessary for roosting and rearing pups. Mature trees, snags and tree species with exfoliating bark provide important summer habitat for bats. Bats begin to emerge from hibernation in early spring, though at different time intervals depending on the species and sex of the bat. Different species can be found throughout a single hibernacula based upon their choice of microclimate. ![]() Once temperatures begin to drop and prey becomes scarce, bats begin to descend into the hibernacula for the duration of winter. During this time, bats put on their final fat stores and breed. Known as the fall swarm, it’s an important period of social interaction when bats congregate near the entrance of the hibernacula. In Pennsylvania, bats begin migrating to hibernacula as early as September. Some underground mines and abandoned transportation tunnels also provide suitable habitat for bat hibernation. In Pennsylvania, the vast majority of natural hibernacula are found as solutional caves that form in carbonite rock as it is dissolved by water. Natural and man-made hibernacula play a crucial role in the life history of these bats. Hibernating bat species in Pennsylvania seek refuge in places that provide moderate conditions during colder months, called hibernacula.
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