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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>Carol A. Sanders-Reed</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Jennifer A. Szymanski</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Patrick C. McKann</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Lori Pruitt</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>R. Andrew King</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Michael C. Runge</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Robin E. Russell</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>Wayne E. Thogmartin</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2013</dc:date>
  <dc:description>White-nose syndrome, a novel fungal pathogen spreading quickly through cave-hibernating bat species in east and central North America, is responsible for killing millions of bats. We developed a stochastic, stage-based population model to forecast the population dynamics of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) subject to white-nose syndrome. Our population model explicitly incorporated environmentally imposed annual variability in survival and reproductive rates and demographic stochasticity in predictions of extinction. With observed rates of disease spread, &gt;90% of wintering populations were predicted to experience white-nose syndrome within 20 years, causing the proportion of populations at the quasi-extinction threshold of less than 250 females to increase by 33.9% over 50 years. At the species’ lowest median population level, ca. year 2022, we predicted 13.7% of the initial population to remain, totaling 28,958 females (95% CI = 13,330; 92,335). By 2022, only 12 of the initial 52 wintering populations were expected to possess wintering populations of &gt;250 females. If the species can acquire immunity to the disease, we predict 3.7% of wintering populations to be above 250 females after 50 years (year 2057) after a 69% decline in abundance (from 210,741 to 64,768 [95% CI = 49,386; 85,360] females). At the nadir of projections, we predicted regional quasi-extirpation of wintering populations in 2 of 4 Recovery Units while in a third region, where the species is currently most abundant, &gt;95% of the wintering populations were predicted to be below 250 females. Our modeling suggests white-nose syndrome is capable of bringing about severe numerical reduction in population size and local and regional extirpation of the Indiana bat.</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.1016/j.biocon.2013.01.010</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>Elsevier</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>White-nose syndrome is likely to extirpate the endangered Indiana bat over large parts of its range</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>