密歇根新闻广播 北美蝙蝠因白鼻综合症数量下降

White-nose syndrome¹ is a deadly disease caused by a fungus². It's killing³ bats in 27 states including Michigan, and five Canadian provinces.

It was first discovered in North America around a decade ago. Researchers think it came over from Europe, possibly on the shoes of a tourist or caver.

The disease affects bats that hibernate⁴ underground, and the northern long-eared bat is getting hit especially hard. It was listed as threatened last April because of white-nose syndrome.

The federal government recently finalized⁵ a rule that lays out how the Endangered Species Act will protect that bat.

What white-nose syndrome did to bats this winter

Researchers surveyed hibernating⁶ bats this winter, and they found populations are down a lot.

Allen Kurta is a bat researcher with Eastern Michigan University. He says in some sites, numbers were down by 40-60%.

Kurta says infected bats wake up more often than normal during hibernation⁷.

"And because of those more frequent arousals, they run out of their fat by January, February, sometimes even earlier," Kurta says. "And if they run out of fat, they're in trouble."

He says some of them fly out of caves looking for food in the winter. That's not normal for bats. They end up dying in the snow.

This winter, Kurta visited Bumblebee Mine in the Upper Peninsula.

He says bats inside the mine were no better off. Many of them had fallen into a pool of water.

"There were bats trying to crawl out of the water, and up onto the rock," Kurta says. "Some of them made it, but they just couldn't go any farther. You could tell—they're just sitting there. That wasn't pretty. That was a lot of suffering. You could tell those animals were dying."

Those bats were mainly little brown bats. They're Michigan's most common bat species.

Kurta says before white-nose syndrome arrived, the northern long-eared bat was doing well in Michigan. That's not the case anymore.

"We're having a harder time finding any northern bats," he says. "And that's not a good sign."

How the 4(d) rule protects northern-long eared bats

Things have gotten so bad for the northern long-eared bat that the species was listed as threatened last April. This January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized the 4(d) rule for the northern long-eared bat.

Dan Kennedy is the Endangered Species Coordinator⁸ for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

"It protects that bat during its most sensitive life stages while limiting the regulatory burden on the public and several different government agencies," Kennedy says.

The 4(d) rule bans purposeful take—that means you can't harm or kill these bats anywhere on purpose.

The rule also bans incidental take—which means you can't accidently harm or kill the bats—anywhere they're hibernating in winter or raising young in June and July.

But if you accidently harm or kill bats at any other time, the 4(d) rule basically says that's okay.

Hal Zweng is with the Michigan Department of Transportation. He says the rule makes it easier to do construction projects year-round. But Zweng says MDOT will change their work plans to avoid cutting down trees in the summer. That's because bats raise their babies in trees.

"We believe that the majority of our projects are going to be planned, going forward, we'll do the tree removal work in the winter," Zweng says.

But there's a catch to the 4(d) rule.

The rule says you can't harm or kill bats anywhere the federal government knows bats are raising young in summer.

And that's controversial. The federal government keeps a list of trees where bats have babies each year, and those spots are off limits. But if a tree is not on this list, someone could cut it down.

Bat expert Allen Kurta is worried that means there's a huge loophole in the rule.

"Virtually every tree out there that these bats use could be removed," Kurta says. "And many of them are going to be removed in the summertime when there's maternity⁹ colonies inside, because no one has to look."

The DNR says it has a good grasp on where northern long-eared bats hibernate. But officials say they're still trying to find out where the bats spend the summer. That means a lot of places those bats raise their young in Michigan are unprotected right now.

See this article to learn about research scientists are doing to find a cure for white-nose syndrome. For information on how to help bats out around your house, click here.

1 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

2 fungus   

n.真菌，真菌类植物

参考例句：

• Mushrooms are a type of fungus.蘑菇是一种真菌。
• This fungus can just be detected by the unaided eye.这种真菌只用肉眼就能检查出。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 hibernate   

v.冬眠，蛰伏

参考例句：

• Bears often hibernate in caves.熊常在山洞里冬眠。
• Some warm-blooded animals do not need to hibernate.一些温血动物不需要冬眠。

5 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 hibernating   

（某些动物）冬眠，蛰伏( hibernate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The hibernating animals reduce movement to far below the ordinary level. 冬眠的动物把活动量大大减少到低于一般的水平。
• People find hibernating animals asleep. 人们发现冬眠动物处于休眠状态。

7 hibernation   

n.冬眠

参考例句：

• Bears wake up in the spring after a winter of hibernation.熊经过一个冬天的冬眠后在春季苏醒。
• The tortoise spends the winter months in hibernation.乌龟在冬眠中度过寒冬季节。

8 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

9 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。