untangling the effects of white-nose syndrome on endangered bats · 2019-03-29 · dr. tina cheng....

Wings in the Night:

Untangling the effects of white-nose syndrome

on endangered bats

Dr. Christina DavyTrent University / OMNRFchristina.davy@ontario.ca; @Christina_Davy Photo: Brock and Sherri Fenton

Photo: Joe Crowley

Photo: Heather Fotherby

Dr. Vikram Misra

Dr. Mike Donaldson

Dr. Chris Kyle

Dr. Gaby Mastromonaco

Dr. Craig Willis

Photo: Brock and Sherri Fenton

Foley et al. 2018 Science Advances

Ind

ex o

f lo

nge

vity

Log (body mass) (g)

Photo: Brock Fenton

Photo: Nancy Heaslip

Photo: Karen Vanderwolf

Photo

: Anne F

roschau

er

1,142 little brown bats14 microsatellite loci

Red star = most westerly record of WNS

Davy et al. 2017, FACETS

Davy et al. 2017, FACETS

Donaldson, Davy, Willis, McBurney, Park and Kyle (2017) Evolutionary Applications

Evidence for local immunogenetic adaptation

Evidence for direct selection by WNSon immune genes

Inferred in M. lucifugus from SNPs in 138 immune genes and their regulatory regions

Do we see a signature of immunogenetic selection related to WNS?

Yes (so far, in little brown bats)

Hooton, Cameron, Hale, Fenton, and Davy in review

Dr. Tina Cheng

Hypothesis: the fungal pathogen and the different bat hosts exhibit reciprocal, context-dependent molecular responses.

Davy, Donaldson, Willis, Saville, McGuire, Mayberry, Wilcox, Wibbelt, Misra, Bollinger and Kyle (2017, 2018) Ecology and EvolutionDavy, Donaldson, Willis, Pikula […] and Kyle (in prep.)

Do in vitro studies accurately represent the response of the fungus to bats?

Does the fungus respond the same way among in vitro conditions?

Dr. Mike Donaldson Karen Vanderwolf

Donaldson, Davy, Vanderwolf, Willis, Saville and Kyle (2018), Mycologia

Does the fungus respond the same way on bats and culture plates?

North American

Little brown bat

(Myotis lucifugus)

WNS-susceptible

North American

big brown bat

(Eptesicus fuscus)

WNS-tolerant

European

greater mouse-eared bat

(Myotis myotis)

WNS-tolerant

Davy, Donaldson, Willis, Pikula […] and Kyle (in prep.)

Davy, Donaldson, Willis, Pikula […] and Kyle (in prep.)

Tolerant big brown batsSusceptible little brown batsTolerant greater mouse-eared bats

Davy, Donaldson, Willis, Pikula […] and Kyle (in prep.)

Cluster dendrogram grouping samples by similarity of gene

expression

Tolerantgreater mouse-eared bats

Tolerant big brown bats

Susceptible little brown bats

Davy, Donaldson, Willis, Pikula […] and Kyle (in prep.)

Lesion-positive wing tissueLesion-negative wing tissue

The Accidental Pathogen?

Whoops!

Sonu Subudhi Dr. Vikram Misra

Davy, Donaldson, Rapin, Subudhi, et al., 2018, Scientific Reports

Gene expression (ileum) varies among Pd-infected, CoV-infected, and coinfected Myotis lucifugus

Context Matters

Davy, Mastromonaco, Riley, Baxter-Gilbert, Mayberry, and Willis. (2017), Conservation Biology

Does the pathogen’s impact reach past the point of recovery?

Claw sampling

Cortisol deposition

Davy, Mastromonaco, Riley, Baxter-Gilbert, Mayberry, and Willis. (2017), Conservation Biology

Naïve Exposed Naïve Exposed

Davy, Mastromonaco, Riley, Baxter-Gilbert, Mayberry, and Willis. (2017), Conservation Biology

Does the pathogen’s impact reach past the point of recovery?

Photo: Brock Fenton Photo: Laura Scott

Dr. Thomas Jung

Brian Slough

Val Von Zuben

Davy, Von Zuben, Slough and Jung (in preparation)

Forearm

Davy, Von Zuben, Slough and Jung (in preparation)

0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000

"Aquatic habitat""Marine habitat"

Freshwater habitat"Riverine habitat""Littoral habitat"

"Terrestrial habitat""Desert habitat"

"Montane habitat""Woodland habitat"

"Aerial habitat"

Google Scholar results

Also reference “conservation”

Do not reference “conservation”

Google Scholar search results (September 6, 2015) for representation of selected habitat types in scientific literature.

Aerial habitats are under-represented in the literature

292 records; 53 referring to the airspace as habitat

Davy, Ford and Fraser (2017), Conservation Letters

Davy, Ford and Fraser (2017), Conservation Letters

Aerial species are well-represented in global lists of SAR. Yet aerial habitats are not defined.

Data from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Habitat classifications for the airspace

Davy, Ford and Fraser (2017), Conservation Letters

Photo: Susan Heaslip, DFO Photo: Jeol Trick, USFWS

Eel and Warbler

Basoaerial habitat fragmentation (0-1 km altitude)

Red= airportsBlue = cities

Black= roads White = windfarms

Purple = FCC communications towers

Davy, Ford and Fraser (2017), Conservation Letters

Photo: Brock Fenton

Aerial habitat fragmentation can be quantified using existing tools from terrestrial ecology

Davy, Ford and Fraser (2017), Conservation Letters

Photo: Lauren Hooton

Lauren Hooton

christina.davy@ontario.ca