One of the most common inquiries I receive asks if there is any relationship between colony collapse disorder in bees and white-nose syndrome in bats.
I asked microbiologist David Blehert with the USGS National Wildlife Health Center to explain the similarities and differences between the two wildlife diseases:
People have frequently asked whether there is a connection between colony collapse disorder (CCD) in domestic honey bees and white-nose syndrome (WNS) in wild bats. Despite perceived similarities, the bee and bat diseases are quite different. Colony collapse disorder affects a single species, the European honey bee, a non-native domesticated bee species in North America that is maintained in artificial hives by bee keepers. In contrast, WNS affects many species of wild bats that are native to North America.
The causative agents for each disease are also different. Current research suggests that CCD is caused by the combined effects of a virus and a fungus (see Iridovirus and Microsporidian linked to honey bee colony decline). In contrast, scientific evidence indicates that a fungus alone causes WNS, the bat disease. The WNS-fungus is a cold-loving species that is distinct from the fungus associated with bee CCD, and it only infects bats while they are hibernating. There is no evidence to suggest viral involvement in WNS.
For a recent overview of WNS, David suggests reading Wing pathology associated with white-nose syndrome in bats suggests life-threatening disruption of physiology.
This analysis is superficial and wanting. The underlying cause of both CCD and WNS is that the the bees and bats are too unhealthy to fight off opportunistic diseases. It’s not the absence of one or the other bacterium, virus, or fungus. It’s the state of being and health that’s dependent upon many subtle but powerful interconnections.
There is a crisis of environmental distress, from the depletion of the soil to the pollution of our waters and atmosphere. A widespread increase of illness, weakened immunity and increasing natural disasters reflect the imbalance that threatens to destroy many forms of life.
Thank you for your comment, publius2012.
The purpose of this blog is to provide general information, not an in-depth scientific analysis. There are a wide variety of peer-reviewed scientific sources available related to white-nose syndrome (WNS) and its affects on hibernating bats.
Bats are at risk from a number of factors other than the disease, WNS. But to respond to this comment, significant research on the subject has revealed that the fungus associated with WNS attacks bats while they are hibernating and their immune systems are suppressed. This immune system suppression is a natural part of the hibernation process, and is not indicitive of the overall health of the bats.
I have been doing research on the effects of ILFN on our area in CT and it’s timing here and the coincidence of bee and bat diasters. The distributor of the ILFN in areas of bat and bee issues is the recent occurance of what you may know as the HUM. Frequencies of 40, 30 and 16 Hz are permeating the habitats, as we have seen coyotes leave established habitats and other animals change in behaviour with the on set of the HUM from ILFN radiation from changes to natural gas pipe line systems. This is not a popular position, but the data and research are almost conclusive. Please contact me.