Colorado State University Goes to Bat for Threatened Species

White Nose Syndrome has decimated more than 5 million bats in the eastern United States since it was identified in New York in 2006, and it has now progressed as far west as Missouri. Losing bats doesn’t just mean having to swat more annoying mosquitos, it represents a threat to agricultural industries, since bats are crucial for controlling pests that target crops.

In preparation for the anticipated arrival of the fungus in our state, the Colorado Natural Heritage Program at Colorado State University, in partnership with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, is conducting surveys of the state’s little brown bats so that scientists can detect any declines in that population caused by White Nose Syndrome.

Jeremy Siemers, a zoologist with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program in CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources, was part of a team that trapped and tagged more than 600 bats this summer at two locations near Steamboat Springs where females were raising their young. By inserting tags into the bats, he said, the researchers can track their presence at the roosts and hopefully be notified of the fungus’s arrival if a notable decline in the population occurs.