Vulnerability of Australian bats to white-nose syndrome

澳大利亚独特的野生动物天生就面临着入侵新奇病原体的风险。白鼻症是一种新出现的真菌疾病，已使北美各地的蝙蝠数量大幅减少。这种真菌疾病可能很快就会蔓延到大陆，并严重威胁澳大利亚的蝙蝠动物群。该项目旨在量化接触这种真菌的风险，并了解澳大利亚蝙蝠种群对白鼻症死亡率的敏感性。预期结果包括澳大利亚东南部蝙蝠种群对白鼻病易感性的空间上明确的、特定物种的模型，这对于指导预防、检测和减轻这种潜在灾难性野生动物疾病的影响至关重要。

Australia's unique wildlife is inherently at risk from invasive novel pathogens. White-nose syndrome is an emerging fungal disease that has decimated bat populations across North America. This fungal disease is likely to soon jump continents and also seriously threaten Australia's bat fauna. This project aims to quantify the risk of exposure to this fungus and understand the sensitivity of Australian bat populations to white-nose syndrome mortality. Expected outcomes include spatially-explicit, species-specific models of vulnerability to white-nose syndrome for bat populations across south-eastern Australia, essential for directing actions to prevent, detect and mitigate the impacts of this potentially catastrophic wildlife disease.