Ecology and impacts of white-nose syndrome on bats.

The recent introduction of Pseudogymnoascus destructans (the fungal pathogen that causes white-nose syndrome in bats) from Eurasia to North America has resulted in the collapse of North American bat populations and restructured species communities. The long evolutionary history between P. destructans and bats in Eurasia makes understanding host life history essential to uncovering the ecology of P. destructans. In this Review, we combine information on pathogen and host biology to understand the patterns of P. destructans spread, seasonal transmission ecology, the pathogenesis of white-nose syndrome and the cross-scale impact from individual hosts to ecosystems. Collectively, this research highlights how early pathogen detection and quantification of host impacts has accelerated the understanding of this newly emerging infectious disease. The fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which causes white-nose syndrome in bats, has devastated bat populations in North America since its introduction from Eurasia in the 2000s. In this Review, Hoyt and colleagues describe the ecology of P. destructans in bats and its impacts on bats and the ecosystem.