Chapter 10: The New Pangea

July 14, 2019

 

          In Chapter 7, Elizabeth Kolbert talks about bats in Albany, New York that have started dying and it was found by a group of biologists who wanted to count the number of bats. The bats were found during the winter to be covered in a white powdery substance which is found to be a cold-loving fungus called Geomyces destructions. Found on page 194, "The white powder is now known to be a cold-loving fungus--what's known as a psychrophile--that was accidentally imported to the U.S., probably from Europe. Kolbert then goes into how the fungi could have gotten a hold of the bats, she points out that Charles Darwin stated most species cannot travel long distances. However, in this Anthropocene era, Human travel has allowed species, bacteria, fungi, and etc. to travel on to other areas quickly pushing Kolbert to use the phrase "The New Pangea". Now connecting to the APES Theme: Environmental problems have a cultural and social context; understanding the role of cultural, social, and economic factors is vital to the development of solutions. Like most species, bats are very social according to page 214 --- "Bats' sociability has turned out to be a great boon to Geomyces destructans. In winter, when they cluster, infected bats transfer the fungus to uninfected ones. Those that make it until spring then disperse, carrying the fungus with them. In this way, Geomyces destructans passes from bat to bat and cave to cave". These dominant sorts of species such as the fungi have come to decrease biodiversity in other areas; so the author claims that if the trade of human commerce ceases, biodiversity will begin to grow again. [C] To connect the idea of fungi domination over bats, this relates to how another fungi species almost put the Panamanian golden frogs to extinction.