Sunday, May 24, 2009

Cute but contagious

Brian Murray

This article discusses how there has been a huge decline in the population of bats in the United States. According to the article, white-nose syndrome is a fungal disease that shows up as a white powdery substance on the bats face, wings, and legs. This disease has spread swiftly through the United States impacting seven states on the east cost. Nearly half a million bats have deceased because of this disease which originated in New York. This decline in the North American bat population causes concern for everyone. Bats generally will eat their body weight in bugs per night of feasting. However, with half a million bats dead already, this means that the bugs and insect population is not being balanced. Ultimately, this could result in the farmers using more insecticide on their crop instead of having the natural bat insecticide in place.

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13702854

No comments: