View Full Version : Ban on Caving in Virginia
McKeever
03-19-2009, 22:09
http://nrvnews.com/Area-Announcements/Ban-on-Caving-in-Virginia.html
Bats being decimated by white-nose syndrome (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=42965)
Nicksaari
03-20-2009, 20:49
this is some serious Shizz. okay, not being able to spelunk sucks, but an affliction and disease of our bats here in VA is bad. imagine if bats in large chunks of rural/wilderness areas were decimated- the confluence and severity of three season bugs (gnats, horseflies, most importantly- mosquitoes) would make for an unpleasant evening under the stars- even un unpleasant, horrendous hiking during the day.
bats are what we scientists call "indicator species" is any biological species that defines a trait or characteristic of the environment. For example, a species may delineate an ecoregion or indicate an environmental condition such as a disease outbreak, pollution, species competition or climate change. Indicator species can be among the most sensitive species in a region, and sometimes act as an early warning to monitoring biologists.
this could be the start of something horrible, in other words.
im not the sharpest tool in the shed, but this fungal growth (WNS) is from high levels of pollutants in the air. after all the air that get to Va comes all the way from the nasty, invariable, west coast. it travels about 3000 miles, picking up any and all carbon, nitrogen, or nastiness from each region before it gets here... not too mention the geographic region west of Va's mtns... all the obsolete coal power plants in Ky, Tn, and WV.
bats are a delicate species in which they live nocturnally underground. the time they spend outdoors could be enough for them, as a whole species, to contract some type of benign growth stemming from a carcinogen or foul particulate in the air...
y'all didnt know i was that smart, did 'cha??!!
Nicksaari
03-20-2009, 20:51
wow i cant believe that i posted something finally worth while here. haha
this is some serious Shizz. okay, not being able to spelunk sucks, but an affliction and disease of our bats here in VA is bad. imagine if bats in large chunks of rural/wilderness areas were decimated- the confluence and severity of three season bugs (gnats, horseflies, most importantly- mosquitoes) would make for an unpleasant evening under the stars- even un unpleasant, horrendous hiking during the day.
bats are what we scientists call "indicator species" is any biological species that defines a trait or characteristic of the environment. For example, a species may delineate an ecoregion or indicate an environmental condition such as a disease outbreak, pollution, species competition or climate change. Indicator species can be among the most sensitive species in a region, and sometimes act as an early warning to monitoring biologists.
this could be the start of something horrible, in other words.
im not the sharpest tool in the shed, but this fungal growth (WNS) is from high levels of pollutants in the air. after all the air that get to Va comes all the way from the nasty, invariable, west coast. it travels about 3000 miles, picking up any and all carbon, nitrogen, or nastiness from each region before it gets here... not too mention the geographic region west of Va's mtns... all the obsolete coal power plants in Ky, Tn, and WV.
bats are a delicate species in which they live nocturnally underground. the time they spend outdoors could be enough for them, as a whole species, to contract some type of benign growth stemming from a carcinogen or foul particulate in the air...
y'all didnt know i was that smart, did 'cha??!!
Very good paper A+
Last I heard fungi still come from fungal spores which are produced by fungi.:-?
Nicksaari
03-20-2009, 21:36
haha i know. they said it was a "fungal-type growth" not a fungus.
genital warts are not fungal, they are viral. colloquialisms of america. like "kleenex", "xerox", and "handjob" haha
Nicksaari
03-20-2009, 21:38
okay using genital warts is a horrible metaphor, but you get what i mean. it was the first thing i thought of to relate to fungus. but a good metaphor in hindsight.
They said it was a "fungal-type growth" not a fungus.
I just re-read the article and failed to find what you quoted.
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/white_nose.html
Virginia Investigating Possible Cases of White-Nose Syndrome in Bats (http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/news/release.asp?id=210)