Biologists fear bat deaths' broader effect

— -- A mysterious illness that has been killing bats since at least 2007 is spreading rapidly and wiping out hundreds of thousands of them this winter in caves throughout the Northeast, biologists say.

Called white nose syndrome, after the white fungus the dead bats have on their faces, affected bats emerge early from hibernation, resulting in starvation, says Susi von Oettingen, endangered-species biologist with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The cause of the syndrome is not known.

Bats play an important role in nature's balance, eating insects and other pests that can damage crops. They also play a role in plant pollination. Biologists are concerned there is a potential for long-term impact to the ecosystem, von Oettingen says.

"It's mind-blowing to see the body count," von Oettingen says. "I find it unbelievable that if you take that many predators out, that it's not going to have an effect."

First detected in New York in 2007, the cold-loving fungus has researchers stumped, says David Blehert, a microbiologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Wildlife Health Center.

It isn't clear how the syndrome is spread, U.S. Fish and Wildlife says.

Alan Hicks, endangered-species biologist for the New York State Department of Conservation, says there is fear it could spread farther and even push some species to the brink of extinction within a few years.

Hicks cites New York's Hailes Cave as an example of how the plague can ravage a bat population. Once the winter home of an estimated 15,000 bats, the cave population dropped to about 7,400 because of white nose in 2007, the first year it was noticed, Hicks says. By last spring, only about 1,400 bats were found in the cave.

"There is no evidence yet of where this is going to stop," Hicks says.

Fewer insects eaten by bats could mean farmers using more pesticides, says Mick Valent, New Jersey's principal zoologist. Valent says he saw white nose kill hundreds of little brown bats in the state's two largest hibernacula (caves and mines where bats spend winter) in January, though checks two months earlier showed no sign of the ailment.