Lowell lands public safety grant The Gov. Maura Healey Administration announced earlier this month the awarding of $4.8 million in grants to support public safety staffing, including an allocation of $180,825 to Lowell. The grant funding is meant to support the staffing of local police and fire departments, and Lowell is one of 10 cities […]
UMass Lowell scientists developing low-cost, portable biosensors that can be used by the aquaculture sector have received $1 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support their work.
White-nose syndrome has devastated bats—but some are developing immunity nationalgeographic.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalgeographic.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The finding suggests that survivors rapidly evolve to resist the fungal disease, according to a new study.
“Evolution is often thought of as a process that happened long ago. We have found that it has also been happening right in our backyards…”
White-nose syndrome has killed millions of bats in North America since 2006, following its introduction from Europe. The syndrome, which the fungal pathogen
Pseudogymnoascus destructans causes, is arguably the most catastrophic wildlife disease in history. It has led to unprecedented declines in many North American bat species, including the little brown bat (
Myotis lucifugus).
“Our finding that little brown bat populations have evolved, which could be why they survived, has large implications for management of bat populations going forward,” says Sarah Gignoux-Wolfsohn, a former postdoctoral associate at Rutgers University-New Brunswick now at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland.