The Potential Impact of White-Nose Syndrome on the Conservation Status of North American Bats
The Potential Impact of White-Nose Syndrome on the Conservation Status of North American Bats
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0107395
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发表时间：
2014-09-09
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Brito, Daniel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Alves, Davi M. C. C.;Terribile, Levi C.;Brito, Daniel
白鼻综合征（WNS）是一种突发性传染病，在北美已经造成约600万只蝙蝠死亡，并从震中蔓延超过2000公里。然而，关于这种真菌对蝙蝠宿主的可能影响，特别是关于其对蝙蝠保护的影响，只进行了少数研究。我们预测WNS传播的后果，根据疾病已经发生的地点的环境条件生成一张地图，其中有可能发生WNS的区域，并将其与北美所有冬眠蝙蝠的地理分布覆盖在一起。我们假设，所有的交叉点的地方会对当地蝙蝠种群产生负面影响，并重新评估其保护状况的基础上，其潜在的人口下降。我们的研究结果表明，WNS不会在整个北美广泛传播，主要限于东部和东南部地区。相比之下，我们最悲观的种群下降情况表明，这种疾病将威胁到32%的蝙蝠物种。我们的研究结果可能有助于进一步保护北美蝙蝠多样性的保护计划。
White-Nose syndrome (WNS) is an emergent infectious disease that has already killed around six million bats in North America and has spread over two thousand kilometers from its epicenter. However, only a few studies on the possible impacts of the fungus on bat hosts were conducted, particularly concerning its implications for bat conservation. We predicted the consequences of WNS spread by generating a map with potential areas for its occurrence based on environmental conditions in sites where the disease already occurs, and overlaid it with the geographic distribution of all hibernating bats in North America. We assumed that all intersection localities would negatively affect local bat populations and reassessed their conservation status based on their potential population decline. Our results suggest that WNS will not spread widely throughout North America, being mostly restricted to the east and southeast regions. In contrast, our most pessimistic scenario of population decline indicated that the disease would threaten 32% of the bat species. Our results could help further conservation plans to preserve bat diversity in North America.