NFWF Grant Profile

Improve survival of bats with white-nose syndrome (WNS) by enhancing their foraging efficiency in the fall, when bats accumulate critical fat reserves, and in spring, when bats are recovering from WNS. Project will use light and chemical attractants at seven sites in Michigan and Manitoba to concentrate insects near hibernacula in fall and spring to determine whether more insect prey improves survivability, with the goal of reducing the mortality rate from 71 percent to 30 percent.