The Effects of White-Nose Syndrome

May 22, 2025

Did you know that with an estimated loss of over 1,000,000 (1 million) bats in the United States that between 660 and 1320 metric tons or 1,454,785 to 2,910,098 lbs of insects will go unchecked? Considering a mosquito weighs approximately 2.25 milligrams and that one milligram equals 0.0000352739619 ounces that’s a lot of mosquitoes!

Money wise that is equal to $23 billion a year in the economic importance to the agriculture community.

With the loss of so many bats the environmental impact also could be devastating . It would mean the increased use of pesticides to help combat insects to the food crop do to the loss of so many bats. This effect of increased pesticide use may not be seen for years but will have a long lasting impact.

http://www.fws.gov/WhiteNoseSyndrome/pdf/USFSNorthernRegionCaveClosureRelease.pdf

Categories: Bats, White Nose Syndrome (WNS)