The greater sage-grouse is emblematic of the sagebrush ecosystem of the Great Basin of the Western United States. USGS scientists will host several talks and poster at The Wildlife Society meeting, describing research that can improve sagebrush habitat management and land-use decisions.

More than just Rocks

You could say that the U.S. Geological Survey is about more than just rocks.

When wildlife scientists, managers and students gather in Portland, Oregon, this October for The Wildlife Society’s 2012 Conference, they’ll find a conference program with close to 60 presentations, 5 symposia and at least 26 posters featuring a USGS contributor or mentor.

Now nested in the Ecosystems mission of the agency, wildlife research programs at USGS match the longevity of The Wildlife Society, which commemorates its 75^th anniversary this year. The Cooperative Research Unit program was founded in 1935, and one USGS Ecosystems science center — the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center — came into being in 1936, when President Franklin Roosevelt established the Patuxent Research Refuge.

With over a century of history under various U.S. Department of Interior entities, these wildlife research units now form a crucial and complementary element of USGS.

These days USGS is working on science issues that are more complex, larger in scale, and involve more scientific uncertainty than in the past. The agency’s expertise in mapping and landscape surveys, satellite tools and natural hazards analysis has injected technological innovations into wildlife research. At the same time, the legacy of these wildlife research programs — and the collaborative partnerships they have nurtured — are ever more critical as USGS assists other Interior agencies on addressing complex wildlife resource issues, such as climate change, energy, ecosystem restoration, water availability, and human impacts on the landscape.

USGS at The Wildlife Society’s 2012 Conference

White-nose syndrome is devastating bat species, and this one will be one of many wildlife diseases to be discussed by USGS scientists at The Wildlife Society Conference.

A quick glance through the 2012 conference program and you’ll find USGS scientists alongside academia, agency and institutional partners slated to discuss wildlife topics such as:

• Bat interactions with wind energy installations,
• energy development decision support and greater sage-grouse, songbirds, raptors and other species,
• white-nose syndrome, chronic wasting disease and other wildlife health trends,
• innovations in spatial capture-recapture models and hierarchical models, as well as applications of population genetics, LiDAR and stable isotope analysis,
• conservation, climate change impacts and habitat modeling of migratory waterfowl and shorebirds, and
• pika, polar bear, clapper rail, spotted owl, salamanders and other species of concern.

Furthermore, USGS is proud to continue its support of the TWS Native Students Professional Development Program, welcoming the next generation of wildlife scientists and enriching the cultural and technical knowledge base of the wildlife research community.

Follow Us!

USGS scientists will present research on many waterfowl species at The Wildlife Society conference, including northern pintails, lesser scaup, Hawaiian goose, and diving ducks.

Fans can follow the USGS at TWS 2012 Conference via social media. Follow @USGSlive on Twitter as well as the #TWS2012 conference hashtag, friend us on Facebook at facebook.com/usgeologicalsurvey, browse the schedule of USGS talks on Google Calendar or add the schedule to your smartphone.

More importantly, say hello to our many scientists in person and stop by the USGS exhibit booth. It’s said that you learn the most being out in the field, but the same can be said for the great face-to-face exchange of ideas and inspired collaborations that are sparked at TWS conferences.

Happy 75^th Birthday, TWS!

Scan this to browse the schedule of USGS talks on Google Calendar:

Browse the schedule of USGS talks at The Wildlife Society’s conference on Google Calendar

Scan this to add the schedule to your smartphone:

Add the Schedule of USGS Presentations at The Wildlife Society’s Conference to Your Mobile Device

Little brown bat with fungus on muzzle.

Winter Home

Missouri has more than 6,300 caves and the implications for the potential spread of WNS farther west are profound. Missouri caves provide winter habitat for more endangered Indiana bats than any other state outside of Indiana.  Three Missouri caves used by endangered gray bats provide critical winter habitat for approximately one quarter of the known hibernating population of that species. Detection of WNS in Missouri also indicates the disease may continue spreading towards the range of more than a dozen additional species of hibernating bats that occur only west of the Great Plains.

What Is It?

White-nose sydrome results from a skin infection of hibernating bats by a fungus previously unknown to science, Geomyces destructans; and is named for the white fungus often seen on the muzzles, ears, and wings of bats. This disease poses a threat to cave hibernating bats of the United States, Canada, and potentially all temperate regions of the world. In 2011, scientists from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center published a study confirming the cold-loving fungus G. destructans is the cause of WNS.

Where Is It?

Hibernating little brown bat with white muzzle typical of White-nose syndrome.

This devastating disease affecting hibernating bats has spread from the Northeast to the mid-Atlantic to the central United States. Since the winter of 2007-2008, millions of insect-eating bats have died from this emerging disease in the eastern US and Canadian provinces.

Within the last two years, WNS has been confirmed in several central states, including Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. However, high mortality of bats has not yet been reported at these locations. The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates bat mortality in the northeastern US since the emergence of WNS has exceeded 5-6 million bats, however, it remains to be seen if WNS will develop and manifest with similar severity in other parts of the country.

Hard at Work

Scientists at many Federal and State agencies and academic institutions are pursuing research to better understand this disease in an effort to manage its spread. The USGS National Wildlife Health Center, the USGS Fort Collins Science Center, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and other partners continue to play a primary role in WNS research.

Studies conducted at the NWHC led to the discovery, characterization, and naming of the causative agent of White-nose syndrome, G. destructans, and to the development of standardized diagnostic criteria for diagnosing the disease. Additionally, NWHC has pioneered animal husbandry and laboratory techniques for studying impacts of the fungus to hibernating bats.

Long-Term Impacts

Most of the species affected by WNS are long-lived and have only a single pup per year. Subsequently, bat populations do not fluctuate widely in numbers over time, and it is unlikely that species of bats affected by WNS will recover quickly. The sudden and widespread mortality associated with WNS is unprecedented in hibernating bats, among which widespread disease outbreaks have not been previously documented. In temperate regions, bats are primary consumers of insects, and a recent economic analysis indicated that insect suppression services (ecosystem services) provided by bats to U.S. agriculture is valued between 4 to 50 billion dollars per year. However, the true ecological consequences of large-scale population reductions currently under way among hibernating bats are not yet known.

Insect-eating bats provide a great pest-control service to agriculture and natural ecosystems.

Back-lit photographs of wings of White-nose Syndrome (WNS)-positive little brown bats, one with subtle circular and irregular pale areas (arrows) indicating areas of fungal infection (A) and another bat (B) with areas of relatively normal tone and elasticity (black arrow), compared to a WNS affected area that looks like crumpled tissue paper with loss of elasticity, surface sheen and areas of irregular pigmentation (white arrow). (C) Microscopic section of wing membrane from a little brown bat showing extensive infection with the fungus (magenta structures), G. destructans.

The United States is under an economic and ecological siege by alien invaders — America’s Most Unwanted. More than 6,500 of these harmful non-native species cause more than 100 billion dollars in damage each year to the U.S. economy as the country battles to control the economic, ecological, and health threats these invaders pose. Increased global travel and trade are providing more pathways for both intentional and unintentional introductions of invasive species.

Invasive species affect just about everyone in every State in the country, in urban centers and wilderness areas. And their costs are borne by all of us — farmers, ranchers, businesses, and local, State, Tribal, and Federal governments.

The Cost of Invasives

Costly effects of invasives include crop decimation (cactus and gypsy moths), clogging of water facilities (quagga and zebra mussels) and waterways (hydrilla, giant salvinia), wildlife and human disease transmission (West Nile virus, monkeypox, and diseases in some ships’ ballast water), threats to commercial, native, and farmed fisheries (Asian carp, snakehead fish, sea lamprey, Asian swamp eel, whirling disease, and viral hemorrhagic septicemia), increased fire vulnerability (cheatgrass, brome, and buffelgrass) and adverse effects for ranchers and farmers (leafy spurge and cheatgrass).

Researchers with the USGS Invasive Species Program work on every one of those species mentioned; in fact, our researchers work collaboratively on all significant groups of invasive organisms in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in all regions of the United States. Across the Nation, our invasive species experts partner with States, other Federal agencies, businesses, agriculture, and natural resource managers to help solve the problems posed by these invaders.

Key components of invasive species activities include prevention, monitoring and forecasting threats, and control and management of established invaders.

During Invasive Species Awareness Week, we will feature some of America’s Most Unwanted each day to highlight the impacts of invasive species to the nation’s Ecosystems and economy.

The USGS National Wildlife Health Center conducts a bat autopsy as part of its efforts to study the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats.

Invasive Wildlife Diseases: USGS scientists collaborate with public health and animal health agencies on notable invasive zoonotic diseases – invasive diseases that are transmissible between animals and people. Such diseases are a potential collateral result of exotic animal introductions. Specialized biological containment facilities at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) in Madison, Wisconsin, allow scientists to provide diagnostic surveillance and research, information needed by all levels of government to adequately respond to wildlife diseases. NWHC scientists used patterns of wild bird mortality from West Nile virus, a wildlife disease introduced to the United States in 1999, as an indicator of the spread and activity level of this emerging disease. This information allowed public health officials to estimate human population risk and enact control and prevention activities. USGS and USDA surveillance also indicated that monkeypox, an invasive disease introduced to the United States from Africa through the international pet trade, had not spread from pets or humans to free-living wildlife. Since 2006, USGS along with other agencies, has been conducting surveillance and monitoring of wild birds to detect highly pathogenic avian influenza, an important zoonotic and economic disease, if it invades the United States through migratory birds.

An Emerging Bat Disease: The sudden emergence of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a devastating disease of hibernating bats, demonstrates the importance of a national and international infrastructure to investigate and respond to emerging wildlife diseases and their ecological and societal threats. Since 2008, when scientists first began investigating this unknown disease in bats of the northeastern U.S., WNS has spread to 16 states and 4 Canadian provinces. WNS has caused precipitous declines of some bat species.  Not only are bats important ecologically, but a recent USGS and partner study showed their pest control services likely save the U.S. agricultural industry at least $3 billion a year.  Since the USGS first identified the WNS fungus, our ongoing research has provided critical information about the fungus and the disease, guiding state, federal, NGO and tribal disease-response activities. Land-management agencies rely on our research and disease investigations to support on-the-ground actions, to help develop the WNS National Plan, and to assist with other national disease-management plans.

Little brown bat with fungus on muzzle.

Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus:

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) is among the most important viral pathogens of finfish, causing losses in both freshwater and marine species. In 2005-2006, VHSV emerged in the Great Lakes Basin, resulting in a series of fish kills. As of June 2011, the virus has been found in 31 fish species from Lakes Erie, Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, St. Clair, as well as the Niagara and St. Lawrence rivers, and inland lakes in Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Significant VHSV outbreaks have affected many species of fish, such as muskellunge, freshwater drum, goby, burbot, yellow perch, gizzard shad, and smallmouth bass. Research by USGS scientists, in collaboration with state, federal, and Canadian partners, focuses on using molecular genetic tools to identify and track strains of the virus, developing improved diagnostic methods, determining methods for disinfection of eggs, and testing for virus transmission pathways. A three-year project funded by the Great Lakes Fishery Trust to the USGS’s Western Fisheries Research Center and colleagues at Cornell University and Michigan State University has allowed USGS scientists to compare the genetic sequences of VHSV strains obtained from fish at 37 locations in the Great Lakes Basin with those representing strains from other regions of the world. The very low level of genetic diversity within the Great Lakes is consistent with a recent, single introduction of VHSV to a native population of fish. To date, the route of introduction has not been determined.

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia has recently emerged in the Great Lakes and caused severe epidemics in many fish species.

For more information on USGS research on invasive diseases:

USGS Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus Page

National Wildlife Health Center

National Wildlife Health Center Avian Influenza Research

National Wildlife Health Center White-nose syndrome research

USGS Monkeypox fact sheet

Vaccination and Flea Control to Assess Invasion of Plague into the Conata Basin, South Dakota

Development of a White-nose Syndrome Disease Tracking System

Fort Collins Science Center: White-nose syndrome

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Iodophor Disinfection of Walleye and Northern Pike Eggs to Eliminate Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus

An outbreak of infectious disease among bats on the order of white-nose syndrome is without precedent, and USGS researchers are working diligently to learn more about its impacts and threats to wild bats

Bat White-nose Syndrome:  There is a New Fungus Among Us

Since first discovered in 2007 in  New York, white-nose syndrome has spread to 16 states, including Virginia and Maryland, and four Canadian provinces. The disease is estimated to have killed over five million hibernating bats.  An outbreak of infectious disease among bats on the order of white-nose syndrome is without precedent, and although insect-feeding wild bats may lack the easily defined monetary value of domestic animals, a recent analysis showed that they provide natural pest control services to American farmers valued at approximately $23 billion per year.  Join us on March 7 to learn about this emergent wildlife disease and to discuss the profound impacts white-nose syndrome may have in the 21st century.

Time: Wednesday, March 7, 2012 • 7-8pmSpeaker: Dr. David BlehertLocation: 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive Reston, VA 20192Phone:  703-648-4748Please

Note: This event takes place at a Federal Facility — Photo Id is Required

FREE and Open to the Public

Follow this event live on Twitter @USGSLive

This announcement and directions can be found online.

Requests for accommodations (i.e. sign language interpreting) require notice at least two weeks before the event. Please email jcorley@usgs.gov or call 703-648-7770.

The USGS public lectures are held monthly in Reston, Virginia. These evening events are free to the public and intended to familiarize a general audience with science issues that are meaningful to their daily lives. USGS speakers are selected for their ability and enthusiasm to share their expertise with an audience that may be unfamiliar with the topic; speakers are encouraged to thoroughly explain the subject matter and to define any words or terms that may be unfamiliar.

The USGS lecture series provides the public an opportunity to interact with USGS scientists and ask questions about recent developments in Natural Hazards; Water; Energy Minerals and Environmental Health; Climate and Land Use Change; Ecosystems; and Core Science Systems. Ultimately, the goal is to create a better understanding of the importance and value of USGS science in action.

Insect-eating bats provide a great pest-control service to agriculture and natural ecosystems.

A new article explains the economic importance of insect-eating bats to U.S. agriculture and how white-nose syndrome and wind turbines threaten these valuable animals.

 Learn more