A striking feature of white-nose syndrome, a fungal infection of hibernating bats, is the difference in infection outcome between North America and Europe. Here we show high WNS prevalence both in Europe and on the West Siberian Plain in Asia. Palearctic bat communities tolerate similar fungal loads of Pseudogymnoascus destructans infection as their Nearctic counterparts and histopathology indicates equal focal skin tissue invasiveness pathognomonic for WNS lesions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn contrast to birds, bats are possibly limited in their capacity to use body fat as an energy source for long migrations. Here, we studied the fuel choice of migratory Pipistrellus nathusii (approximate weight: 8 g) by analysing the stable carbon isotope ratio (δ(13)C(V-PDB)) of breath and potential energy sources. Breath δ(13)C(V-PDB) was intermediate between δ(13)C(V-PDB) of insect prey and adipocyte triacylglycerols, suggesting a mixed-fuel use of P.
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