An experiment by: zachary antoniw, marie-ève bédard, and Véronique caron
summary
White Nose Syndrome (WNS), a disease caused by a pathogenic fungus known as Pseudogymnoascus destructans, has caused a significant decline to overwintering bat populations in North America. Due to these species’ ecological and economical importance, finding a solution to mitigate the impacts of WNS is imperative. Testing the effectiveness of different treatment types at various temperatures will allow us to find a treatment that is best suited to the conditions of hibernacula in Canada. We tested three biological treatments and two chemical treatments against P. destructans at three different temperatures (2°C, 5°C, and 10°C). While all treatments in each site showed signs of inhibition against the growth of P. destructans, two strains of Pseudomonas sp. had the highest percentage of inhibition, especially at 2°C. We recognized that the high rate of inhibition may not be representative of results in the field; however, these treatments could be potentially considered as mitigation solutions to protect our bat species.