White-nose syndrome is an infectious wildlife disease topic focused on a cutaneous mycosis of hibernating bats caused by the psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. It is characterized by fungal colonization of muzzle, ears, and wing membranes, disrupting epidermal integrity, water balance, and gas exchange, and inducing frequent arousals from torpor that deplete critical fat reserves. Research on this topic addresses host–pathogen interactions during hibernation, environmental reservoirs in caves and mines, transmission dynamics within and among colonies, population-level impacts on bat community structure, and implications for ecosystem processes such as insect predation, as well as the development of surveillance, diagnostic, and management strategies to mitigate disease spread.
Scientists at McMaster University have uncovered new evidence that the fungus causing white-nose syndrome, a deadly disease affecting bats, may be more widespread in Western Canada than existing testing methods reveal. In ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 25, 2026
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University of Queensland researchers say Australia's reptiles are at risk of extinction because a little understood fungus is infecting species throughout the environment. Associate Professor Celine Frere from UQ's School ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 3, 2026
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Millions of bats in North America have died from white-nose syndrome, and a new study from the University of Waterloo explores why and how the fungal disease has devastated bat populations on this continent, while it has ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 12, 2026
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After avoiding it for nearly two decades, wildlife officials say that the illness wiping out millions of bats may have reached Nevada.
Plants & Animals
Dec 9, 2025
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Across North America, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and other pesticides had a significant impact on bats from the 1940s through the '60s. Since the ban on DDT in 1972, bat populations had been slowly recovering, ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 23, 2025
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A study of the genetic basis of plague immunity in prairie dogs has broad implications for conservation. From white-nose syndrome in bats to avian malaria in Hawaiian birds, introduced pathogens are a major cause of population ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 8, 2025
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