We also isolated viable G. destructans from the walls of an underground site suggesting that the hibernacula could act as passive vectors and/or reservoirs for G. destructans and therefore, might play an important role in the transmission process.
However, recent sampling suggests that bat hibernacula host a diversity of previously uncharacterized Geomyces spp (15 ), and given our limited understanding of the global distribution of G. destructans strains and their phylogenetic relationships (6 ), it remains possible that G. destructans is endemic to North America.
"These aggregations are frequently found in protected places called hibernacula that can be as varied as crevices and cracks of rocks or trunks, beneath the bark of trees, between walls of buildings, or any other natural or artificial structures that provides protection during hibernation".
Such a study would be important, to account for why WNS suddenly appeared in hibernacula that had no prior history of it across three decades of recorded observations.
Pertinent to WNS management, we found isolates of both mating types of P. destructans coexisting in European hibernacula, indicating that in central Europe there is the potential for mating populations.
Although the total numbers of bats in the hibernacula decreased through April as bats left for the maternity colonies, our results show that there is a high probability of fungal growth developing on the remaining individuals.
Swarming begins in August, when bats of both sexes congregate at sites that will later serve as hibernacula, apparently to assess the site's suitability for hibernation, and later to mate and commence daytime torpor [23], [25] [26].
The FWS describes it like this: "While they are in the hibernacula, affected bats often have white fungus on their muzzles and other parts of their bodies.
Relatedness in spring nests is not lower than within hibernaculae [5], suggesting that unrelated foundresses could plausibly be hibernaculum-mates of their co-foundresses, but this raises the question of why other Polistes do not share this problem [37].
Environmental distribution of G. destructans also is poorly understood, but the pathogen has been detected in soil samples (15 ), and viable spores have been collected from cave walls in bat hibernacula (12 ), both factors that suggest the fungus has abiotic reservoirs.
