INDIANAPOLIS - Over the past several years, a fungus causing a disease called white nose syndrome has killed up to 6.7 million bats in North America. It was first documented in Indiana in January of 2011 and is now present in at least eight counties.

The Indiana Bat, a species first discovered in a southern Indiana cave in 1928, is endangered and is susceptible to white nose syndrome, according to Department of Natural Resources biologist Scott Johnson.

"We had, at the last count, over 200,000-220,000 Indiana Bats in our hibernacula. Those were in 2011, so, it's a good number. It's over half of the known population."

Johnson says the state surveys the hibernating Indiana Bats every two years. The next count will start in January of 2013.

The fungus has been been found from New York to Alabama and west to Missouri.

The little brown bat has taken the biggest hit from white nose syndrome. Scott Bearer, with The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania, says the fungus hinders hibernation and causes the bats to burn the fat they've stored for the winter.

"They wake up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, thinking, 'I'm really hungry. It's time for me to come out of hibernation.' So, then they go outside and they look for insects but they realize that it's still in the middle of winter and there aren't any insects to eat and it's freezing cold, and they very quickly succumb."

Dr. Joy O'Keefe, director of the Center for North American Bat Research and Conservation at Indiana State University, says repopulating the bats will take a very long time.

"They mostly only have one pup per year. And so they're going to be slow to reproduce and slow to replace themselves as these populations are devastated. The bats are really not mice and they're not going to recover quickly from this impact."

Scott Bearer says that if the bats keep dying, American consumers will begin to feel the effect at the grocery store, because bats eat tons of insects, including many kinds that feed on crops.

"That means that the farmers are going to have to spend more money to spray pesticides on their crops and, of course, the farmer is going to pass on those costs."

Bearer says another worry is that insects carry diseases and there's a concern we might start seeing an increase in diseases spread by mosquitoes, if there are fewer bats to eat those bugs.

There's more on white nose syndrome at whitenosebats.wordpress.com.




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Latino Conservation Week is in full swing, with 330 events across the U.S. and 90 in California alone.

The 11th annual event runs through Sunday. The program is designed to draw people outside to enjoy public lands and work to protect the nation's air, land, water and wildlife.

Jessica Godinez, Latino Conservation Week manager for the Hispanic Access Foundation, explained the goal of the week.

"It was established to break down different barriers of access that the Latino community faces when it comes to accessing public lands," Godinez outlined. "And inspire the next generation of environmental stewards."

Godinez pointed out her group is encouraging authorities to improve access to public lands by making them less expensive, easier to reach via public transportation, more wheelchair-friendly and more culturally relevant.

Godinez added the events also promote a variety of environmental causes.

"Here at Hispanic Access Foundation, we focus our conservation work on climate change, ocean conservation, waterways and rivers and public lands," Godinez noted. "We try to amplify and elevate the voices of our community."

Latino Conservation Week was moved from July to September this year because of a record-breaking heat wave that gripped the state over the summer. The programming includes group hikes and other outdoor recreational opportunities, community film screenings and more.

A new report contends fossil fuel funding has biased Columbia University's climate research.

The report, by two Columbia students, shows the university has taken in close to $48 million in donations from the fossil fuel industry since 2005. Around $16 million went to fund Columbia's Center on Global Energy Policy.

Leel Dias, an environmental science major and report co-author, is convinced this funding has slanted the center's research. He cited a 2014 paper about the impacts of the U.S. ending its then-ban on exporting crude oil.

"A CEO of a natural gas company is listed as a contributor on this report. His name is Charif Souki; no disclaimers, no disclosures. All these reports by CGEP, I think the vast majority of them are not peer-reviewed, so there's no check. They're just published on the CGEP website," Dias said.

He added this study was a key factor when Congress ended the country's crude oil export ban in 2015. But Columbia isn't alone in this. Fossil fuel companies sponsor climate research at other schools, from Princeton and Stanford to George Washington University.

Other findings show some advisory board members for Columbia research centers are also on the boards of fossil fuel companies. Columbia University officials couldn't be reached for comment.

The research includes memos from fossil fuel companies suggesting Columbia University has been complicit in 'greenwashing' them.

Anika Kathuria, a computer science major and report co-author, said another conclusion is that Jason Bordoff, the Center for Global Energy Policy's founding director, might be swaying the center's research agenda.

"He has basically been talked about by numerous companies as this kind of 'corporate counselor' figure, where they will go to him to decide - to make decisions, decide what research paths they're going to go on. And it doesn't really make sense why the head of a center of research would be counseling corporate interests," Kathuria said.

The authors added that one goal of the report is to aid the newly formed student and faculty committee in examining fossil fuel research funding. The committee is slated to release a final report next fall, with guidelines for the university about this type of research funding.


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In Virginia's waters, the decline of a small but critically important fish is causing growing concern among conservation groups and fishermen alike.

Menhaden, often referred to as the "most important fish in the sea," are vital to the diets of predatory species like striped bass and osprey. Now, experts warn the decreasing menhaden population in the Chesapeake Bay could disrupt the ecosystem and threaten the sportfishing industry.

Steve Atkinson, chairman of the Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association, explained the ripple effect of the menhaden shortage on other species.

"The decline of menhaden in the bay is impacting the most important fishery that we have, which is striped bass," Atkinson pointed out. "That fishery has been in decline for over a decade now. Striped bass are overfished but we also believe they are underfed, because they rely heavily on menhaden."

The Chesapeake Bay is a primary spawning ground for menhaden and decades of overfishing have taken a toll on the species. The shortage is not only affecting sportfish. Research at the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William & Mary shows ospreys, which rely on menhaden to feed their chicks, have seen a dramatic reduction in nesting success.

Conservation groups said the problem stems from the current management of menhaden fishing. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has implemented catch limits but some experts believe they do not fully address the localized effects on ecosystems.

Jaclyn Higgins, forage fish program manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said more needs to be done.

"A huge amount of menhaden that are being taken out of arguably the most important estuary in the United States, by the third-largest fishery in the United States, and we have no idea what those impacts are to the greater ecosystem," Higgins emphasized.

Higgins noted about 75% of the Atlantic coastwide quota for menhaden is allocated to Virginia. She believes the management framework is robust but needs to be more region-specific.

Last month, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to establish a workgroup to consider additional protections from industrial fishing of menhaden in the bay. These could include seasonal closures, to protect important fish and bird species.