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Sample records for swift bat survey

  1. THE 70 MONTH SWIFT-BAT ALL-SKY HARD X-RAY SURVEY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baumgartner, W. H.; Tueller, J.; Markwardt, C. B.; Skinner, G. K.; Barthelmy, S.; Gehrels, N. [NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Astrophysics Science Division, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Mushotzky, R. F. [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Evans, P. A., E-mail: whbaumga@alum.mit.edu [X-Ray and Observational Astronomy Group/Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH (United Kingdom)

    2013-08-15

    We present the catalog of sources detected in 70 months of observations with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray detector on the Swift gamma-ray burst observatory. The Swift-BAT 70 month survey has detected 1171 hard X-ray sources (more than twice as many sources as the previous 22 month survey) in the 14-195 keV band down to a significance level of 4.8{sigma}, associated with 1210 counterparts. The 70 month Swift-BAT survey is the most sensitive and uniform hard X-ray all-sky survey and reaches a flux level of 1.03 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -11} erg s{sup -1} cm{sup -2} over 50% of the sky and 1.34 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -11} erg s{sup -1} cm{sup -2} over 90% of the sky. The majority of new sources in the 70 month survey continue to be active galactic nuclei, with over 700 in the catalog. As part of this new edition of the Swift-BAT catalog, we also make available eight-channel spectra and monthly sampled light curves for each object detected in the survey in the online journal and at the Swift-BAT 70 month Web site.

  2. THE 70 MONTH SWIFT-BAT ALL-SKY HARD X-RAY SURVEY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baumgartner, W. H.; Tueller, J.; Markwardt, C. B.; Skinner, G. K.; Barthelmy, S.; Gehrels, N.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Evans, P. A.

    2013-01-01

    We present the catalog of sources detected in 70 months of observations with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray detector on the Swift gamma-ray burst observatory. The Swift-BAT 70 month survey has detected 1171 hard X-ray sources (more than twice as many sources as the previous 22 month survey) in the 14-195 keV band down to a significance level of 4.8σ, associated with 1210 counterparts. The 70 month Swift-BAT survey is the most sensitive and uniform hard X-ray all-sky survey and reaches a flux level of 1.03 × 10 –11 erg s –1 cm –2 over 50% of the sky and 1.34 × 10 –11 erg s –1 cm –2 over 90% of the sky. The majority of new sources in the 70 month survey continue to be active galactic nuclei, with over 700 in the catalog. As part of this new edition of the Swift-BAT catalog, we also make available eight-channel spectra and monthly sampled light curves for each object detected in the survey in the online journal and at the Swift-BAT 70 month Web site

  3. The 105-Month Swift-BAT All-sky Hard X-Ray Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Kyuseok; Koss, Michael; Markwardt, Craig B.; Schawinski, Kevin; Baumgartner, Wayne H.; Barthelmy, Scott D.; Cenko, S. Bradley; Gehrels, Neil; Mushotzky, Richard; Petulante, Abigail; Ricci, Claudio; Lien, Amy; Trakhtenbrot, Benny

    2018-03-01

    We present a catalog of hard X-ray sources detected in the first 105 months of observations with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) coded-mask imager on board the Swift observatory. The 105-month Swift-BAT survey is a uniform hard X-ray all-sky survey with a sensitivity of 8.40× {10}-12 {erg} {{{s}}}-1 {cm}}-2 over 90% of the sky and 7.24× {10}-12 {erg} {{{s}}}-1 {cm}}-2 over 50% of the sky in the 14–195 keV band. The Swift-BAT 105-month catalog provides 1632 (422 new detections) hard X-ray sources in the 14–195 keV band above the 4.8σ significance level. Adding to the previously known hard X-ray sources, 34% (144/422) of the new detections are identified as Seyfert active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in nearby galaxies (zBAT catalog, we release eight-channel spectra and monthly sampled light curves for each object in the online journal and at the Swift-BAT 105-month website.

  4. The 105-Month Swift-BAT All-Sky Hard X-Ray Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Kyuseok; Koss, Michael; Markwardt, Craig B.; Schawinski, Kevin; Baumgartner, Wayne H.; Barthelmy, Scott D.; Cenko, S. Bradley; Gehrels, Neil; Mushotzky, Richard; Petulante, Abigail; hide

    2018-01-01

    We present a catalog of hard X-ray sources detected in the first 105 months of observations with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) coded-mask imager on board the Swift observatory. The 105-month Swift-BAT survey is a uniform hard X-ray all-sky survey with a sensitivity of 8.40 x 10(exp -12) erg s(exp -1) cm(exp -2) over 90% of the sky and 7.24 x 10(exp -12) erg s(exp -1) cm(exp -2) over 50% of the sky in the 14-195 keV band. The Swift-BAT 105-month catalog provides 1632 (422 new detections) hard X-ray sources in the 14-195 keV band above the 4.8 sigma significance level. Adding to the previously known hard X-ray sources, 34% (144/422) of the new detections are identified as Seyfert active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in nearby galaxies (z < 0.2). The majority of the remaining identified sources are X-ray binaries (7%, 31) and blazars/BL Lac objects (10%, 43). As part of this new edition of the Swift-BAT catalog, we release eight-channel spectra and monthly sampled light curves for each object in the online journal and at the Swift-BAT 105-month website.

  5. SWIFT BAT Survey of AGN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tueller, J.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Barthelmy, S.; Cannizzo, J. K.; Gehrels, N.; Markwardt, C. B.; Skinner, G. K.; Winter, L. M.

    2008-01-01

    We present the results1 of the analysis of the first 9 months of data of the Swift BAT survey of AGN in the 14-195 keV band. Using archival X-ray data or follow-up Swift XRT observations, we have identified 129 (103 AGN) of 130 objects detected at [b] > 15deg and with significance > 4.8-delta. One source remains unidentified. These same X-ray data have allowed measurement of the X-ray properties of the objects. We fit a power law to the logN - log S distribution, and find the slope to be 1.42+/-0.14. Characterizing the differential luminosity function data as a broken power law, we find a break luminosity logL*(ergs/s)= 43.85+/-0.26. We obtain a mean photon index 1.98 in the 14-195 keV band, with an rms spread of 0.27. Integration of our luminosity function gives a local volume density of AGN above 10(exp 41) erg/s of 2.4x10(exp -3) Mpc(sup -3), which is about 10% of the total luminous local galaxy density above M* = -19.75. We have obtained X-ray spectra from the literature and from Swift XRT follow-up observations. These show that the distribution of log nH is essentially flat from nH = 10(exp 20)/sq cm to 10(exp 24)/sq cm, with 50% of the objects having column densities of less than 10(exp 22)/sq cm. BAT Seyfert galaxies have a median redshift of 0.03, a maximum log luminosity of 45.1, and approximately half have log nH > 22.

  6. The 105 month Swift-BAT data release

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Kyuseok; Koss, Michael; Markwardt, Craig B.; Schawinski, Kevin; Baumgartner, Wayne H.; Barthelmy, Scott D.; Cenko, Bradley; Gehrels, Neil; Mushotzky, Richard; Petulante, Abigail; Ricci, Claudio; Lien, Amy; Trakhtenbrot, Benny; NASA GSFC Swift BAT team, BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS)

    2018-01-01

    We present a new catalog of hard X-ray sources detected in the first 105 months of observations with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on board the Swift observatory. The 105 month Swift-BAT survey is a uniform hard X-ray all-sky survey with a sensitivity of 8.40×10-12 erg s-1 cm-2 over 90% of the sky and 7.24×10-12 erg s-1 cm-2 over 50% of the sky in the 14‑195 keV band. The Swift-BAT 105 month catalog provides 1632 (422 new detections) hard X-ray sources in the 14 ‑ 195 keV band above the 4.8σ significance level. Adding to the previously known hard X-ray sources, 34% (144/422) of the new detections are identified as Seyfert AGN in nearby galaxies (z BAT catalog, we release eight-channel spectra and monthly sampled light curves for each object in the online journal and at the Swift-BAT 105 month Web site.

  7. THE 22 MONTH SWIFT-BAT ALL-SKY HARD X-RAY SURVEY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tueller, J.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Markwardt, C. B.; Skinner, G. K.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Barthelmy, S.; Cummings, J.; Gehrels, N.; Holland, S.; Ajello, M.; Beardmore, A.; Evans, P.; Godet, O.; Brandt, W. N.; Burrows, D.; Grupe, D.; Chincarini, G.; Campana, S.; Cusumano, G.; Fenimore, E.

    2010-01-01

    We present the catalog of sources detected in the first 22 months of data from the hard X-ray survey (14-195 keV) conducted with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) coded mask imager on the Swift satellite. The catalog contains 461 sources detected above the 4.8σ level with BAT. High angular resolution X-ray data for every source from Swift-XRT or archival data have allowed associations to be made with known counterparts in other wavelength bands for over 97% of the detections, including the discovery of ∼30 galaxies previously unknown as active galactic nuclei and several new Galactic sources. A total of 266 of the sources are associated with Seyfert galaxies (median redshift z ∼ 0.03) or blazars, with the majority of the remaining sources associated with X-ray binaries in our Galaxy. This ongoing survey is the first uniform all-sky hard X-ray survey since HEAO-1 in 1977. Since the publication of the nine-month BAT survey we have increased the number of energy channels from four to eight and have substantially increased the number of sources with accurate average spectra. The BAT 22 month catalog is the product of the most sensitive all-sky survey in the hard X-ray band, with a detection sensitivity (4.8σ) of 2.2 x 10 -11 erg cm -2 s -1 (1 mCrab) over most of the sky in the 14-195 keV band.

  8. AGN classification for X-ray sources in the 105 month Swift/BAT survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masetti, N.; Bassani, L.; Palazzi, E.; Malizia, A.; Stephen, J. B.; Ubertini, P.

    2018-03-01

    We here provide classifications for 8 hard X-ray sources listed as 'unknown AGN' in the 105 month Swift/BAT all-sky survey catalogue (Oh et al. 2018, ApJS, 235, 4). The corresponding optical spectra were extracted from the 6dF Galaxy Survey (Jones et al. 2009, MNRAS, 399, 683).

  9. Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) Instrument Response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parsons, A.; Barthelmy, S.; Cummings, J.; Gehrels, N.; Hullinger, D.; Krimm, H.; Markwardt, C.; Tueller, J.; Fenimore, E.; Palmer, D.; Sato, G.; Takahashi, T.; Nakazawa, K.; Okada, Y.; Takahashi, H.; Suzuki, M.; Tashiro, M.

    2004-01-01

    The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), a large coded aperture instrument with a wide field-of-view (FOV), provides the gamma-ray burst triggers and locations for the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer. In addition to providing this imaging information, BAT will perform a 15 keV - 150 keV all-sky hard x-ray survey based on the serendipitous pointings resulting from the study of gamma-ray bursts, and will also monitor the sky for transient hard x-ray sources. For BAT to provide spectral and photometric information for the gamma-ray bursts, the transient sources and the all-sky survey, the BAT instrument response must be determined to an increasingly greater accuracy. This paper describes the spectral models and the ground calibration experiments used to determine the BAT response to an accuracy suitable for gamma-ray burst studies

  10. THREE-YEAR SWIFT-BAT SURVEY OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI: RECONCILING THEORY AND OBSERVATIONS?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burlon, D.; Greiner, J.; Merloni, A.; Ajello, M.; Comastri, A.; Gehrels, N.

    2011-01-01

    It is well accepted that unabsorbed as well as absorbed active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are needed to explain the nature and shape of the Cosmic X-ray background (CXB), even if the fraction of highly absorbed objects (dubbed Compton-thick sources) still substantially escapes detection. We derive and analyze the absorption distribution using a complete sample of AGNs detected by Swift-BAT in the first three years of the survey. The fraction of Compton-thick AGNs represents only 4.6% of the total AGN population detected by Swift-BAT. However, we show that once corrected for the bias against the detection of very absorbed sources the real intrinsic fraction of Compton-thick AGNs is 20 -6 +9 %. We proved for the first time (also in the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) band) that the anti-correlation of the fraction of absorbed AGNs and luminosity is tightly connected to the different behavior of the X-ray luminosity functions (XLFs) of absorbed and unabsorbed AGNs. This points toward a difference between the two subsamples of objects with absorbed AGNs being, on average, intrinsically less luminous than unobscured ones. Moreover, the XLFs show that the fraction of obscured AGNs might also decrease at very low luminosity. This can be successfully interpreted in the framework of a disk cloud outflow scenario as the disappearance of the obscuring region below a critical luminosity. Our results are discussed in the framework of population synthesis models and the origin of the CXB.

  11. OPTICAL STUDIES OF 13 HARD X-RAY SELECTED CATACLYSMIC BINARIES FROM THE SWIFT-BAT SURVEY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Halpern, Jules P.; Thorstensen, John R.

    2015-01-01

    From a set of 13 cataclysmic binaries that were discovered in the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) survey, we conducted time-resolved optical spectroscopy and/or time-series photometry of 11, with the goal of measuring their orbital periods and searching for spin periods. Seven of the objects in this study are new optical identifications. Orbital periods are found for seven targets, ranging from 81 minutes to 20.4 hr. PBC J0706.7+0327 is an AM Herculis star (polar) based on its emission-line variations and large amplitude photometric modulation on the same period. Swift J2341.0+7645 may be a polar, although the evidence here is less secure. Coherent pulsations are detected from two objects, Swift J0503.7−2819 (975 s) and Swift J0614.0+1709 (1412 s and 1530 s, spin and beat periods, respectively), indicating that they are probable intermediate polars (DQ Herculis stars). For two other stars, longer spin periods are tentatively suggested. We also present the discovery of a 2.00 hr X-ray modulation from RX J2015.6+3711, possibly a contributor to Swift J2015.9+3715, and likely a polar

  12. Prompt Emission Observations of Swift BAT Bursts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barthelmy, Scott

    2009-01-01

    We review the prompt emission properties of Swift BAT gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We present the global properties of BAT GRBs based on their spectral and temporal characteristics. The BAT T90 and T50 durations peak at 80 and 20 s, respectively. The peak energy (Epeak) of about 60% of BAT GRBs is very likely to be less than 1.00 keV. We also present the BAT characteristics of GRBs with soft spectra, so called Xray flashes (XRFs). We will compare the BAT GRBs and XRFs parameter distribution to the other missions.

  13. The Swift BAT Hard X-ray Survey - A New Window on the Local AGN Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mushotzky, Richard

    2009-01-01

    The Swift Burst and Transient telescope (BAT) has surveyed the entire sky for the last 3.5 years obtaining the first sensitive all sky survey of the 14-195 keV sky. At high galactic latitudes the vast majority of the detected sources are AGN. Since hard x-rays penetrate all but Compton thick obscuring material (Column densities of 1.6E24 atms/cm2) this survey is unbiased with respect to obscuration, host galaxy type, optical , radio or IR properties. We will present results on the broad band x-ray properties, the nature of the host galaxies, the luminosity function and will discuss a few of the optical, IR and x-ray results in detail.

  14. Searches for hard X-ray gamma-ray burst afterglows with the BAT on Swift

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krimm, Hans A.; Ozawa, Hideki; Weidenspointner, Georg; Barbier, Louis M.; Barthelmy, Scott D.; Gehrels, Neil; Parsons, Ann M.; Tueller, Jack; Eftekharzadeh, Ardeshir; Hullinger, Derek D.; Markwardt, Craig; Fenimore, Edward E.; Palmer, David M.

    2003-01-01

    The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on the Swift gamma ray burst mission will continue to observe the fields of all detected gamma-ray bursts for several days after the prompt emission has faded. Utilizing first event-by-event data, then one minute and later five minute survey accumulations, the BAT will be extremely sensitive to the hard X-ray afterglow known to be associated with many bursts. This data will cover the crucial transition of the afterglow from rapid variability to the smoothly decaying power law in time and will extend observations of the tails of individual bursts to longer time scales than have been achievable so far. Since Swift is sensitive to short duration GRBs, we will also be able to determine whether hard X-ray afterglows are associated with short GRBs. The BAT will provide high resolution spectra of burst afterglows, allowing us to study in detail the time evolution of GRB spectra

  15. RXTE PCA and Swift BAT detects the millisecond pulsar Swift J1756.9-2508 in outburst

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Patruno, A.; Markwardt, C.B.; Strohmayer, T.E.; Swank, J.H.; Smith, S.E.; Pereira, D.

    2009-01-01

    We report a detection of increased activity of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar Swift J1756.9-2508 observed with the RXTE-PCA monitoring on July 8, 9hr UTC. Increased flux is detected simultaneously on the Swift-BAT camera. RXTE-PCA follow up observations starting on July 13, 23hr UTC,

  16. Fermi/LAT Observations of Swift/BAT Seyfert Galaxies: On the Contribution of Radio-Quiet Active Galactic Nuclei to the Extragalactic gamma-Ray Background

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teng, Stacy H.; Mushotzky, Richard F.; Sambruna, Rita M.; Davis, David S.; Reynolds, Christopher S.

    2011-01-01

    We present the analysis of 2.1 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data on 491 Seyfert galaxies detected by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) survey. Only the two nearest objects, NGC 1068 and NGC 4945, which were identified in the Fermi first year catalog, are detected. Using Swift/BAT and radio 20 cm fluxes, we define a new radio-loudness parameter R(sub X,BAT) where radio-loud objects have logR(sub X,BAT) > -4.7. Based on this parameter, only radio-loud sources are detected by Fermi/LAT. An upper limit to the flux of the undetected sources is derived to be approx.2x10(exp -11) photons/sq cm/s, approximately seven times lower than the observed flux of NGC 1068. Assuming a median redshift of 0.031, this implies an upper limit to the gamma-ray (1-100 GeV) luminosity of BAT Seyfert galaxies with significant Fermi/LAT detections. A majority of these objects do not have Swift/BAT counterparts, but their possible optical counterparts include blazars, flat-spectrum radio quasars, and quasars.

  17. FERMI/LAT OBSERVATIONS OF SWIFT/BAT SEYFERT GALAXIES: ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF RADIO-QUIET ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI TO THE EXTRAGALACTIC γ-RAY BACKGROUND

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teng, Stacy H.; Mushotzky, Richard F.; Reynolds, Christopher S.; Sambruna, Rita M.; Davis, David S.

    2011-01-01

    We present the analysis of 2.1 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data on 491 Seyfert galaxies detected by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) survey. Only the two nearest objects, NGC 1068 and NGC 4945, which were identified in the Fermi first year catalog, are detected. Using Swift/BAT and radio 20 cm fluxes, we define a new radio-loudness parameter R X,BAT where radio-loud objects have log R X,BAT > –4.7. Based on this parameter, only radio-loud sources are detected by Fermi/LAT. An upper limit to the flux of the undetected sources is derived to be ∼2 × 10 –11 photons cm –2 s –1 , approximately seven times lower than the observed flux of NGC 1068. Assuming a median redshift of 0.031, this implies an upper limit to the γ-ray (1-100 GeV) luminosity of ∼ 41 erg s –1 . In addition, we identified 120 new Fermi/LAT sources near the Swift/BAT Seyfert galaxies with significant Fermi/LAT detections. A majority of these objects do not have Swift/BAT counterparts, but their possible optical counterparts include blazars, flat-spectrum radio quasars, and quasars.

  18. STUDYING FAINT ULTRA-HARD X-RAY EMISSION FROM AGN IN GOALS LIRGS WITH SWIFT/BAT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koss, Michael; Casey, Caitlin M.; Mushotzky, Richard; Veilleux, Sylvain; Baumgartner, Wayne; Tueller, Jack; Markwardt, Craig

    2013-01-01

    We present the first analysis of the all-sky Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) ultra-hard X-ray (14-195 keV) data for a targeted list of objects. We find that the BAT data can be studied at three-times-fainter limits than in previous blind detection catalogs based on prior knowledge of source positions and using smaller energy ranges for source detection. We determine the active galactic nucleus (AGN) fraction in 134 nearby (z IR /L ☉ > 11.8) detected. The BAT AGN classification shows 97% (37/38) agreement with Chandra and XMM-Newton AGN classification using hardness ratios or detection of an iron Kα line. This confirms our statistical analysis and supports the use of the Swift/BAT all-sky survey to study fainter populations of any category of sources in the ultra-hard X-ray band. BAT AGNs in LIRGs tend to show higher column densities with 40% ± 9% showing 14-195 keV/2-10 keV hardness flux ratios suggestive of high or Compton-thick column densities (log N H > 24 cm –2 ), compared to only 12% ± 5% of non-LIRG BAT AGNs. We also find that using specific energy ranges of the BAT detector can yield additional sources over total band detections with 24% (5/21) of detections in LIRGs at 24-35 keV not detected at 14-195 keV.

  19. The most luminous type 2 Active Galactic Nuclei of the Swift/ BAT catalog : Are they different?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baer, Rudolf Erik; Oh, Kyuseok; Koss, Michael; Wong, Ivy; Schawinski, Kevin

    2018-01-01

    We present an analysis of the most luminous obscured AGN of the Swift/BAT 70 month catalog, which is based on an all-sky survey in the 14 – 195 keV energy range. This survey identified 838 AGN. Excluding Blazars and AGN close ( |gb| BAT 70 month catalog and from a specific observation campaign in order to analyze the relationship of their luminosity to black hole mass and their Eddington ratios. We discuss whether these most luminous type 2 AGN have common characteristics, which differentiate them from all the type 2 AGN in the 70 month catalog.

  20. Swift/BAT confirms the giant outburst of H 1417-624

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krimm, H. A.; Barthelmy, S. D.; Cummings, J. R.; Lien, A. Y.; Markwardt, C. B.; Palmer, D. M.; Sakamoto, T.; Stamatikos, M.; Ukwatta, T. N.

    2018-04-01

    The Swift/BAT transient monitor confirms the current outburst from the Be/X-ray binary pulsar, H 1417-624 ( = 2S 1417-624) (Nakajima et al., ATel #11479). In the BAT 15-50 keV energy band, the outburst began approximately on 20 March 2018 (MJD 57467) and the count rate has been steadily rising since that time.

  1. Swift-BAT: The First Year of Gamma-Ray Burst Detections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krimm, Hans A.

    2006-01-01

    The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on the Swift has been detecting gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) since Dec. 17,2004 and automated burst alerts have been distributed since Feb. 14,2005. Since commissioning the BAT has triggered on more than 100 GRBs, nearly all of which have been followed up by the narrow-field instruments on Swift through automatic repointing, and by ground and other satellite telescopes after rapid notification. Within seconds of a trigger the BAT produces and relays to the ground a position good to three arc minutes and a four channel light curve. A full ten minutes of event data follows on subsequent ground station passes. The burst archive has allowed us to determine ensemble burst parameters such as fluence, peak flux and duration. An overview of the properties of BAT bursts and BAT'S performance as a burst monitor will be presented in this talk. BAT is a coded aperture imaging system with a wide (approx.2 sr) field of view consisting of a large coded mask located 1 m above a 5200 cm2 array of 32.768 CdZnTe detectors. All electronics and other hardware systems on the BAT have been operating well since commissioning and there is no sign of any degradation on orbit. The flight and ground software have proven similarly robust and allow the real time localization of all bursts and the rapid derivation of burst light curves, spectra and spectral fits on the ground.

  2. BAT2 GRB Catalog - Prompt Emission Properties of Swift GRBs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakamoto, T.; Barthelmy, S.; Gehrels, N.; Parsons, A.; Tueller, J.; Baumgartner, W.; Cummings, J.; Fenimore, E.; Palmer, D.; Krimm, H.; Markwardt, C.; Sato, G.; Stamatikos, M.; Ukwatta, T.

    2010-01-01

    We present the second Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which contains 476 bursts detected by the BAT between 2004 December 19 and 2009 December 21. This catalog presents burst trigger time, location, 90% error radius, duration, fluence, peak flux, time-averaged spectral parameters and time-resolved spectral parameters measured by the BAT. The BAT T 90 duration peaks at 70 s. We confirm that the spectra of the BAT short-duration GRBs are generally harder than those of the long-duration GRBs. The observed durations of the BAT high redshift GRBs are not systematically longer than those of the moderate redshift GRBs. Furthermore, the observed spectra of the BAT high redshift GRBs are similar to or harder than the moderate redshift GRBs.

  3. Modeling the Swift BAT Trigger Algorithm with Machine Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graff, Philip B.; Lien, Amy Y.; Baker, John G.; Sakamoto, Takanori

    2015-01-01

    To draw inferences about gamma-ray burst (GRB) source populations based on Swift observations, it is essential to understand the detection efficiency of the Swift burst alert telescope (BAT). This study considers the problem of modeling the Swift BAT triggering algorithm for long GRBs, a computationally expensive procedure, and models it using machine learning algorithms. A large sample of simulated GRBs from Lien et al. (2014) is used to train various models: random forests, boosted decision trees (with AdaBoost), support vector machines, and artificial neural networks. The best models have accuracies of approximately greater than 97% (approximately less than 3% error), which is a significant improvement on a cut in GRB flux which has an accuracy of 89:6% (10:4% error). These models are then used to measure the detection efficiency of Swift as a function of redshift z, which is used to perform Bayesian parameter estimation on the GRB rate distribution. We find a local GRB rate density of eta(sub 0) approximately 0.48(+0.41/-0.23) Gpc(exp -3) yr(exp -1) with power-law indices of eta(sub 1) approximately 1.7(+0.6/-0.5) and eta(sub 2) approximately -5.9(+5.7/-0.1) for GRBs above and below a break point of z(sub 1) approximately 6.8(+2.8/-3.2). This methodology is able to improve upon earlier studies by more accurately modeling Swift detection and using this for fully Bayesian model fitting. The code used in this is analysis is publicly available online.

  4. XMM FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS OF THREE SWIFT BAT-SELECTED ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trippe, M. L.; Reynolds, C. S.; Koss, M.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Winter, L. M.

    2011-01-01

    We present XMM-Newton observations of three active galactic nuclei (AGNs) taken as part of a hunt to find very heavily obscured Compton-thick AGNs. For obscuring columns greater than 10 25 cm -2 , AGNs are only visible at energies below 10 keV via reflected/scattered radiation, characterized by a flat power law. We therefore selected three objects (ESO 417-G006, IRAS 05218-1212, and MCG -01-05-047) from the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray survey catalog with Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) 0.5-10 keV spectra with flat power-law indices as candidate Compton-thick sources for follow-up observations with the more sensitive instruments on XMM-Newton. The XMM spectra, however, rule out reflection-dominated models based on the weakness of the observed Fe Kα lines. Instead, the spectra are well fit by a model of a power-law continuum obscured by a Compton-thin absorber plus a soft excess. This result is consistent with previous follow-up observations of two other flat-spectrum BAT-detected AGNs. Thus, out of the six AGNs in the 22 month BAT catalog with apparently flat Swift XRT spectra, all five that have had follow-up observations are not likely Compton thick. We also present new optical spectra of two of these objects, IRAS 05218-1212 and MCG -01-05-047. Interestingly, though both the AGNs have similar X-ray spectra, their optical spectra are completely different, adding evidence against the simplest form of the geometric unified model of AGNs. IRAS 05218-1212 appears in the optical as a Seyfert 1, despite the ∼8.5 x 10 22 cm -2 line-of-sight absorbing column indicated by its X-ray spectrum. MCG -01-05-047's optical spectrum shows no sign of AGN activity; it appears as a normal galaxy.

  5. Gamma Ray Burst Discoveries with the Swift Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gehrels, Neil; Tueller, Jack

    2007-01-01

    There is a great synergy between the Swift and INTEGRAL missions. Swift provides wide-field hard x-ray monitoring and sensitive x-ray and UV/optical observations. INTEGRAL provides optical through gamma-ray coverage with emphasis on hard xray imaging and gamma-ray spectroscopy. For hard x-ray survey studies, the BAT and IBIS instruments are complementary with BAT covering the full sky every day and IBIS scanning the galactic plane. For GRBs, Swift follows up bursts detected by INTEGRAL. X-ray and optical observations give arcsecond positions and afterglow lightcurves. For IGR sources, X-ray observations identify counterparts. The joint BAT and IBIS survey data are giving the most complete picture of the hard x-ray sky ever obtained. This talk will review Swift capabilities and discuss joint observations that are taking place and planned

  6. Modeling the Swift Bat Trigger Algorithm with Machine Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graff, Philip B.; Lien, Amy Y.; Baker, John G.; Sakamoto, Takanori

    2016-01-01

    To draw inferences about gamma-ray burst (GRB) source populations based on Swift observations, it is essential to understand the detection efficiency of the Swift burst alert telescope (BAT). This study considers the problem of modeling the Swift / BAT triggering algorithm for long GRBs, a computationally expensive procedure, and models it using machine learning algorithms. A large sample of simulated GRBs from Lien et al. is used to train various models: random forests, boosted decision trees (with AdaBoost), support vector machines, and artificial neural networks. The best models have accuracies of greater than or equal to 97 percent (less than or equal to 3 percent error), which is a significant improvement on a cut in GRB flux, which has an accuracy of 89.6 percent (10.4 percent error). These models are then used to measure the detection efficiency of Swift as a function of redshift z, which is used to perform Bayesian parameter estimation on the GRB rate distribution. We find a local GRB rate density of n (sub 0) approaching 0.48 (sup plus 0.41) (sub minus 0.23) per cubic gigaparsecs per year with power-law indices of n (sub 1) approaching 1.7 (sup plus 0.6) (sub minus 0.5) and n (sub 2) approaching minus 5.9 (sup plus 5.7) (sub minus 0.1) for GRBs above and below a break point of z (redshift) (sub 1) approaching 6.8 (sup plus 2.8) (sub minus 3.2). This methodology is able to improve upon earlier studies by more accurately modeling Swift detection and using this for fully Bayesian model fitting.

  7. Galaxy Clusters in the Swift/BAT era II: 10 more Clusters detected above 15 keV

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ajello, M.; /SLAC /KIPAC, Menlo Park; Rebusco, P.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park; Cappelluti, N.; /Garching, Max Planck Inst., MPE /Maryland U., Baltimore County; Reimer, O.; /SLAC /Palermo Observ.; Boehringer, H.; /Garching, Max Planck Inst., MPE; La Parola, V.; Cusumano, G.; /Palermo Observ.

    2010-10-27

    We report on the discovery of 10 additional galaxy clusters detected in the ongoing Swift/BAT all-sky survey. Among the newly BAT-discovered clusters there are: Bullet, Abell 85, Norma, and PKS 0745-19. Norma is the only cluster, among those presented here, which is resolved by BAT. For all the clusters we perform a detailed spectral analysis using XMM-Newton and Swift/BAT data to investigate the presence of a hard (non-thermal) X-ray excess. We find that in most cases the clusters emission in the 0.3-200 keV band can be explained by a multi-temperature thermal model confirming our previous results. For two clusters (Bullet and Abell 3667) we find evidence for the presence of a hard X-ray excess. In the case of the Bullet cluster, our analysis confirms the presence of a non-thermal, power-law like, component with a 20-100 keV flux of 3.4 x 10{sup -12} erg cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} as detected in previous studies. For Abell 3667 the excess emission can be successfully modeled as a hot component (kT = {approx}13 keV). We thus conclude that the hard X-ray emission from galaxy clusters (except the Bullet) has most likely thermal origin.

  8. GALAXY CLUSTERS IN THE SWIFT/BAT ERA. II. 10 MORE CLUSTERS DETECTED ABOVE 15 keV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ajello, M.; Reimer, O.; Rebusco, P.; Cappelluti, N.; Boehringer, H.; La Parola, V.; Cusumano, G.

    2010-01-01

    We report on the discovery of 10 additional galaxy clusters detected in the ongoing Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) all-sky survey. Among the newly BAT-discovered clusters there are Bullet, A85, Norma, and PKS 0745-19. Norma is the only cluster, among those presented here, which is resolved by BAT. For all the clusters, we perform a detailed spectral analysis using XMM-Newton and Swift/BAT data to investigate the presence of a hard (non-thermal) X-ray excess. We find that in most cases the clusters' emission in the 0.3-200 keV band can be explained by a multi-temperature thermal model confirming our previous results. For two clusters (Bullet and A3667), we find evidence for the presence of a hard X-ray excess. In the case of the Bullet cluster, our analysis confirms the presence of a non-thermal, power-law-like, component with a 20-100 keV flux of 3.4 x 10 -12 erg cm -2 s -1 as detected in previous studies. For A3667, the excess emission can be successfully modeled as a hot component (kT ∼ 13 keV). We thus conclude that the hard X-ray emission from galaxy clusters (except the Bullet) has most likely a thermal origin.

  9. VizieR Online Data Catalog: Short GRBs with Fermi GBM and Swift BAT (Burns+, 2016)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burns, E.; Connaughton, V.; Zhang, B.-B.; Lien, A.; Briggs, M. S.; Goldstein, A.; Pelassa, V.; Troja, E.

    2018-01-01

    Compact binary system mergers are expected to generate gravitational radiation detectable by ground-based interferometers. A subset of these, the merger of a neutron star with another neutron star or a black hole, are also the most popular model for the production of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) trigger on short GRBs (SGRBs) at rates that reflect their relative sky exposures, with the BAT detecting 10 per year compared to about 45 for GBM. We examine the SGRB populations detected by Swift BAT and Fermi GBM. (4 data files).

  10. VizieR Online Data Catalog: IR photometry of AGNs in Swift/BAT 70 month cat. (Ichikawa+, 2017)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ichikawa, K.; Ricci, C.; Ueda, Y.; Matsuoka, K.; Toba, Y.; Kawamuro, T.; Trakhtenbrot, B.; Koss, M. J.

    2017-08-01

    Our initial sample contains the 834 AGNs reported in the 70 month Swift/BAT catalog (Baumgartner+ 2013, J/ApJS/207/19), 105 of which are blazars. Of the remaining 729 sources, 697 sources have secure redshift information as presented in Ricci et al. (2016, ApJ, submitted). Next, we removed galaxy pairs or interacting galaxies not resolved in the BAT survey. Further, the 606 sources located at higher galactic latitudes with |b|>10° were selected to reduce the contamination in the crowded region through IR catalog matching. (1 data file).

  11. Correlative Spectral Analysis of Gamma-Ray Bursts using Swift-BAT and GLAST-GBM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stamatikos, Michael; Sakamoto, Takanori; Band, David L.

    2008-01-01

    We discuss the preliminary results of spectral analysis simulations involving anticipated correlated multi-wavelength observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) using Swift's Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope's (GLAST) Burst Monitor (GLAST-GBM), resulting in joint spectral fits, including characteristic photon energy (E peak ) values, for a conservative annual estimate of ∼30 GRBs. The addition of BAT/s spectral response will (i) complement in-orbit calibration efforts of GBM's detector response matrices, (ii) augment GLAST's low energy sensitivity by increasing the ∼20-100 keV effective area, (iii) facilitate ground-based follow-up efforts of GLAST GRBs by increasing GBM's source localization precision, and (iv) help identify a subset of non-triggered GRBs discovered via off-line GBM data analysis. Such multi-wavelength correlative analyses, which have been demonstrated by successful joint-spectral fits of Swift-BAT GRBs with other higher energy detectors such as Konus-WIND and Suzaku-WAM, would enable the study of broad-band spectral and temporal evolution of prompt GRB emission over three energy decades, thus potentially increasing science return without placing additional demands upon mission resources throughout their contemporaneous orbital tenure over the next decade

  12. THE SWIFT/BAT HARD X-RAY TRANSIENT MONITOR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Krimm, H. A.; Holland, S. T.; Corbet, R. H. D.; Pearlman, A. B.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Cummings, J. R. [Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Romano, P. [INAF, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Via U. La Malfa 153, I-90146 Palermo (Italy); Kennea, J. A. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Bloom, J. S. [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States); Barthelmy, S. D.; Gehrels, N.; Lien, A. Y.; Markwardt, C. B.; Ukwatta, T. N. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Palmer, D. M. [Los Alamos National Laboratory, B244, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States); Sakamoto, T. [Department of Physics and Mathematics, College of Science and Engineering, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa 252-5258 (Japan); Stamatikos, M. [Department of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)

    2013-11-01

    The Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray transient monitor provides near real-time coverage of the X-ray sky in the energy range 15-50 keV. The BAT observes 88% of the sky each day with a detection sensitivity of 5.3 mCrab for a full-day observation and a time resolution as fine as 64 s. The three main purposes of the monitor are (1) the discovery of new transient X-ray sources, (2) the detection of outbursts or other changes in the flux of known X-ray sources, and (3) the generation of light curves of more than 900 sources spanning over eight years. The primary interface for the BAT transient monitor is a public Web site. Between 2005 February 12 and 2013 April 30, 245 sources have been detected in the monitor, 146 of them persistent and 99 detected only in outburst. Among these sources, 17 were previously unknown and were discovered in the transient monitor. In this paper, we discuss the methodology and the data processing and filtering for the BAT transient monitor and review its sensitivity and exposure. We provide a summary of the source detections and classify them according to the variability of their light curves. Finally, we review all new BAT monitor discoveries. For the new sources that are previously unpublished, we present basic data analysis and interpretations.

  13. The Swift/BAT Hard X-ray Transient Monitor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krimm, H. A.; Holland, S. T.; Corbet, R.H.D.; Pearlman, A. B.; Romano, P.; Kennea, J. A.; Bloom, J. S.; Barthelmy, S. D.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Cummings, J. R.; hide

    2013-01-01

    The Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray transient monitor provides near real-time coverage of the X-ray sky in the energy range 15-50 keV. The BAT observes 88% of the sky each day with a detection sensitivity of 5.3 mCrab for a full-day observation and a time resolution as ne as 64 seconds. The three main purposes of the monitor are (1) the discovery of new transient X-ray sources, (2) the detection of outbursts or other changes in the ux of known X-ray sources, and (3) the generation of light curves of more than 900 sources spanning over eight years. The primary interface for the BAT transient monitor is a public web page. Since 2005 February, 242 sources have been detected in the monitor, 149 of them persistent and 93 detected only in outburst. Among these sources, 16 were previously unknown and discovered in the transient monitor. In this paper, we discuss the methodology and the data processing and ltering for the BAT transient monitor and review its sensitivity and exposure. We provide a summary of the source detections and classify them according to the variability of their light curves. Finally, we review all new BAT monitor discoveries and present basic data analysis and interpretations for those sources with previously unpublished results.

  14. The Swift-BAT Hard X-Ray Transient Monitor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krimm, H. A.; Holland, S. T.; Corbet, R. H. D.; Pearlman, A. B.; Romano, P.; Kennea, J. A.; Bloom, J. S.; Barthelmy, S. D.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Cummings, J. R.; hide

    2013-01-01

    The Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray transient monitor provides near real-time coverage of the X-ray sky in the energy range 15-50 keV. The BAT observes 88% of the sky each day with a detection sensitivity of 5.3 mCrab for a full-day observation and a time resolution as fine as 64 s. The three main purposes of the monitor are (1) the discovery of new transient X-ray sources, (2) the detection of outbursts or other changes in the flux of known X-ray sources, and (3) the generation of light curves of more than 900 sources spanning over eight years. The primary interface for the BAT transient monitor is a public Web site. Between 2005 February 12 and 2013 April 30, 245 sources have been detected in the monitor, 146 of them persistent and 99 detected only in outburst. Among these sources, 17 were previously unknown and were discovered in the transient monitor. In this paper, we discuss the methodology and the data processing and filtering for the BAT transient monitor and review its sensitivity and exposure.We provide a summary of the source detections and classify them according to the variability of their light curves. Finally, we review all new BAT monitor discoveries. For the new sources that are previously unpublished, we present basic data analysis and interpretations.

  15. THE SWIFT/BAT HARD X-RAY TRANSIENT MONITOR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krimm, H. A.; Holland, S. T.; Corbet, R. H. D.; Pearlman, A. B.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Cummings, J. R.; Romano, P.; Kennea, J. A.; Bloom, J. S.; Barthelmy, S. D.; Gehrels, N.; Lien, A. Y.; Markwardt, C. B.; Ukwatta, T. N.; Palmer, D. M.; Sakamoto, T.; Stamatikos, M.

    2013-01-01

    The Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray transient monitor provides near real-time coverage of the X-ray sky in the energy range 15-50 keV. The BAT observes 88% of the sky each day with a detection sensitivity of 5.3 mCrab for a full-day observation and a time resolution as fine as 64 s. The three main purposes of the monitor are (1) the discovery of new transient X-ray sources, (2) the detection of outbursts or other changes in the flux of known X-ray sources, and (3) the generation of light curves of more than 900 sources spanning over eight years. The primary interface for the BAT transient monitor is a public Web site. Between 2005 February 12 and 2013 April 30, 245 sources have been detected in the monitor, 146 of them persistent and 99 detected only in outburst. Among these sources, 17 were previously unknown and were discovered in the transient monitor. In this paper, we discuss the methodology and the data processing and filtering for the BAT transient monitor and review its sensitivity and exposure. We provide a summary of the source detections and classify them according to the variability of their light curves. Finally, we review all new BAT monitor discoveries. For the new sources that are previously unpublished, we present basic data analysis and interpretations

  16. The Swift BAT Perspective on Non-Thermal Emission in HIFLUGCS Galaxy Clusters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wik, Daniel R.

    2011-01-01

    The search for diffuse non-thermal, inverse Compton (IC) emission from galaxy clusters at hard X-ray energies has been underway for many years, with most detections being either of low significance or controversial. Until recently, comprehensive surveys of hard X-ray emission from clusters were not possible; instead, individually proposed-for. long observations would be collated from the archive. With the advent of the Swift BAT all sky survey, any c1u,;ter's emission above 14 keV can be probed with nearly uniform sensitivity. which is comparable to that of RXTE, Beppo-SAX, and Suzaku with the 58-month version of the survey. In this work. we search for non-thermal excess emission above the exponentially decreasing, high energy thermal emission in the flux-limited HIFLUGCS sample. The BAT emission from many of the detected clusters is marginally extended; we are able to extract the total flux for these clusters using fiducial models for their spatial extent. To account for thermal emission at BAT energies, XMM-Newton EPIC spectra are extracted from coincident spatial regions so that both the thermal and non-thermal spectral components can be determined simultaneou,;ly in joint fits. We find marginally significant IC components in 6 clusters, though after closer inspection and consideration of systematic errors we are unable to claim a clear detection in any of them. The spectra of all clusters are also summed to enhance a cumulative non-thermal signal not quite detectable in individual clusters. After constructing a model based on single temperature

  17. The Second SWIFT Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakamoto, T.; Barthelmy, S. D.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Cummings, J. R.; Fenimore, E. E.; Gehrels, N.; Krimm, H. A.; Markwardt, C. B.; Palmer, D. M.; Parsons, A. M.; hide

    2012-01-01

    We present the second Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog of gamma-ray bursts. (GRBs), which contains 476 bursts detected by the BAT between 2004 December 19 and 2009 December 21. This catalog (hereafter the BAT2 catalog) presents burst trigger time, location, 90% error radius, duration, fluence, peak flux, time-averaged spectral parameters and time-resolved spectral parameters measured by the BAT. In the correlation study of various observed parameters extracted from the BAT prompt emission data, we distinguish among long-duration GRBs (L-GRBs), short-duration GRBs (S-GRBs), and short-duration GRBs with extended emission (S-GRBs with E.E.) to investigate differences in the prompt emission properties. The fraction of L-GRBs, S-GRBs and S-GRBs with E.E. in the catalog are 89%, 8% and 2% respectively. We compare the BAT prompt emission properties with the BATSE, BeppoSAX and HETE-2 GRB samples.. We also correlate the observed prompt emission properties with the redshifts for the GRBs with known redshift. The BAT T(sub 90) and T(sub 50) durations peak at 70 s and 30 s, respectively. We confirm that the spectra of the BAT S-GRBs are generally harder than those of the L-GRBs.

  18. Swift Burst Alert Telescope Data Products and Analysis Software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krimm, Hans A.; Barbier, Louis M.; Barthelmy, Scott D.; Cummings, Jay R.; Gehrels, Neil; Parsons, Ann M.; Tueller, Jack; Fenimore, Edward E.; Palmer, David M.; Hullinger, Derek D.; Markwardt, Craig B.

    2004-01-01

    The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on the Swift gamma-ray burst mission serves as the GRB trigger for Swift as well as a sensitive imaging telescope for the energy range of 15-150 keV. All BAT data products will be available to the astronomical community along with a complete set of analysis tools. Gamma-ray burst data products include rapid discovery messages delivered immediately via the GRB Coordinates Network, and event-by-event data from which light curves and spectra of the burst are generated. During nominal operations, the instrument provides accumulated survey histograms with 5-minute time sampling and appropriate energy resolution. These survey accumulations are analyzed in a pipeline to detect new sources and derive light curves of known sources. The 5-minute surveys will also be combined to produce the BAT all sky hard X-ray survey. In addition, the instrument accumulates high time resolution light curves of the brightest BAT sources in multiple energy bands, which are merged into a source light curve database on the ground. The BAT science data products and analysis tools will be described in this paper

  19. The Second Swift BAT Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barthelmy, S. D.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Cummings, J. R.; Fenimore, E. E.; Gehrels, N.; Krimm, H. A.; Markwardt, C. B.; Palmer, D. M.; Parsons, A. M.; Sato, G.; hide

    2010-01-01

    We present the second Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which contains 476 bursts detected by the BAT between 2004 December 19 and 2009 December 21. This catalog (hereafter the BAT2 catalog) presents burst trigger time, location, 90% error radius, duration, fluence, peak flux, time-averaged spectral parameters and time-resolved spectral parametert:; measured by the BAT. In the correlation study of various observed parameters extracted from the BAT prompt emission data, we distinguish among long-duration GRBs (L-GRBs), short-duration GRBs (S-GRBs), and short-duration GRBs with extended emission (S-GRBs with E.E.) to investigate differences in the prompt emission properties. The fraction of L-GRBs, S-GRBs and S-GRBs with E.E. in the catalog are 89%, 8% and 2% respectively. We compare the BAT prompt emission properties with the BATSE, BeppoSAX and HETE-2 GRB samples. We also correlate the observed prompt emission properties with the redshifts for the GRBs with known redshift. The BAT T90 and T50 durations peak at 70 s and 30 s, respectively. We confirm that the spectra of the BAT S-GRBs are generally harder than those of the L-GRBs. The time-averaged spectra of the BAT S GRBs with E.E. are similar to those of the L-GRBs. Whereas, the spectra of the initial short spikes of the S-GRBs with E.E. are similar to those of the S-GRBs. We show that the BAT GRB samples are significantly softer than the BATSE bright GRBs, and that the time-averaged E obs/peak of the BAT GRBs peaks at 80 keV which is significantly lower energy than those of the BATSE sample which peak at 320 keV. The time-averaged spectral properties of the BAT GRB sample are similar to those of the HETE-2 GRB samples. By time-resolved spectral analysis, we find that 10% of the BAT observed photon indices are outside the allowed region of the synchrotron shock model. The observed durations of the BAT high redshift GRBs are not systematically longer than those of the moderate

  20. The BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koss, Michael

    2017-08-01

    We present the Swift BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS) and discus the first four papers. The catalog represents an unprecedented census of hard-X-ray selected AGN in the local universe, with ~90% of sources at zpast studies. Consistent with previous surveys, we find an increase in the fraction of un-obscured (type 1) AGN, as measured from broad Hbeta and Halpha, with increasing 14-195 keV and 2-10 keV luminosity. We find the FWHM of the emission lines to show broad agreement with the X-ray obscuration measurements. Compared to narrow line AGN in the SDSS, the X-ray selected AGN in our sample with emission lines have a larger fraction of dustier galaxies suggesting these types of galaxies are missed in optical AGN surveys using emission line diagnostics.

  1. Correlative Spectral Analysis of Gamma-Ray Bursts using Swift-BAT and GLAST-GBM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stamatikos, Michael; Sakamoto, Taka; Band, David L.

    2008-01-01

    We discuss the preliminary results of spectral analysis simulations involving anticipated correlated multi-wavelength observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) using Swift's Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope's (GLAST) Burst Monitor (GLAST-GBM), resulting in joint spectral fits, including characteristic photon energy (E peak ) values, for a conservative annual estimate of ∼30 GRBs. The addition of BAT's spectral response will (i) complement in-orbit calibration efforts of GBM's detector response matrices, (ii) augment GLAST's low energy sensitivity by increasing the ∼20-100 keV effective area, (iii) facilitate ground-based follow-up efforts of GLAST GRBs by increasing GBM's source localization precision, and (iv) help identify a subset of non-triggered GRBs discovered via off-line GBM data analysis. Such multi-wavelength correlative analyses, which have been demonstrated by successful joint-spectral fits of Swift-BAT GRBs with other higher energy detectors such as Konus-WIND and Suzaku-WAM, would enable the study of broad-band spectral and temporal evolution of prompt GRB emission over three energy decades, thus potentially increasing science return without placing additional demands upon mission resources throughout their contemporaneous orbital tenure over the next decade.

  2. The hard X-ray spectrum of MAXI J1820+070 observed by Swift/BAT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Del Santo, Melania; Segreto, Alberto

    2018-03-01

    We have analysed the Swift/BAT data of the new transient MAXI J1820+070 (Atel #11399,#11400, #11403, #11404, #11406, #11418, #11420, #11421, #11423,#11424, #11425, #11425) collected from 2018-03-07 00:41:07 until 2018-03-15 06:20:58.

  3. Suzaku View of the Swift/BAT Active Galactic Nuclei (I): Spectral Analysis of Six AGNs and Evidence for Two Types of Obscured Population

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eguchi, Satoshi; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Terashima, Yuichi; Mushotzky, Richard F.; Tueller, Jack

    2009-01-01

    We present a systematic spectral analysis with Suzaku of six AGNs detected in the Swift/BAT hard X-ray (15-200 keV) survey, Swift J0138.6-4001, J0255.2-0011, J0350.1-5019, J0505.7-2348, J0601.9-8636, and J1628.1-5145. This is considered to be a representative sample of new AGNs without X-ray spectral information before the BAT survey. We find that the 0.5-200 keV spectra of these sources can be uniformly fit with a base model consisting of heavily absorbed (log NH >23.5/sq cm) transmitted components, scattered lights, a reflection component, and an iron-K emission line. There are two distinct groups, three "new type" AGNs (including the two sources reported by Ueda et al. 2007) with an extremely small scattered fraction (f(sub scat) or equal to 0.8 where omega is the solid angle of the reflector), and three "classical type" ones with f(sub scat > 0.5% and R or approx. 30deg. We infer that a significant number of new type AGNs with an edge-on view is missing in the current all-sky hard X-ray surveys. Subject headings: galaxies: active . gamma rays: observations . X-rays: galaxies . X-rays: general

  4. The Swift/BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey. IX. The Clustering Environments of an Unbiased Sample of Local AGNs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, M. C.; Cappelluti, N.; Urry, C. M.; Koss, M.; Finoguenov, A.; Ricci, C.; Trakhtenbrot, B.; Allevato, V.; Ajello, M.; Oh, K.; Schawinski, K.; Secrest, N.

    2018-05-01

    We characterize the environments of local accreting supermassive black holes by measuring the clustering of AGNs in the Swift/BAT Spectroscopic Survey (BASS). With 548 AGN in the redshift range 0.01 2MASS galaxies, and interpreting it via halo occupation distribution and subhalo-based models, we constrain the occupation statistics of the full sample, as well as in bins of absorbing column density and black hole mass. We find that AGNs tend to reside in galaxy group environments, in agreement with previous studies of AGNs throughout a large range of luminosity and redshift, and that on average they occupy their dark matter halos similar to inactive galaxies of comparable stellar mass. We also find evidence that obscured AGNs tend to reside in denser environments than unobscured AGNs, even when samples were matched in luminosity, redshift, stellar mass, and Eddington ratio. We show that this can be explained either by significantly different halo occupation distributions or statistically different host halo assembly histories. Lastly, we see that massive black holes are slightly more likely to reside in central galaxies than black holes of smaller mass.

  5. The Swift GRB MIDEX Mission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gehrels, N.

    2003-01-01

    Swift is a first-of-its-kind multiwavelength transient observatory for gamma-ray burst astronomy. It has the optimum capabilities for the next breakthroughs in determining the origin of gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows, as well as using bursts to probe the early Universe. Swift will also perform the first sensitive hard X-ray survey of the sky. The mission is being developed by an international collaboration and consists of three instruments, the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), the X-ray Telescope (XRT), and the Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope (UVOT). The BAT, a wide-field gamma-ray detector, will detect 3-7 gamma-ray bursts per week with a sensitivity 5 times that of BATSE. The sensitive narrow-field XRT and UVOT will be autonomously slewed to the burst location in 20 to 70 seconds to determine 0.3-5.0 arcsec positions and perform optical, UV, and X-ray spectrophotometry. Strong education/public outreach and follow-up programs will help to engage the public and astronomical community. The Swift launch is planned for September 2003

  6. The status of BAT detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lien, Amy; Markwardt, Craig B.; Krimm, Hans Albert; Barthelmy, Scott D.; Cenko, Bradley

    2018-01-01

    We will present the current status of the Swift/BAT detector. In particular, we will report the updated detector gain calibration, the number of enable detectors, and the global bad time intervals with potential calibration issues. We will also summarize the results of the yearly BAT calibration using the Crab nebula. Finally, we will discuss the effects on the BAT survey, such as the sensitivity, localization, and spectral analysis, due to the changes in detector status.

  7. Two New Bursting Neutron Star Low-mass X-Ray Binaries: Swift J185003.2-005627 and Swift J1922.7-1716

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Degenaar, N.; Linares, M.; Altamirano, D.; Wijnands, R.

    2012-01-01

    We discuss the origin of two triggers of Swift's Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) that occurred in 2011. The triggers were identified with Swift J185003.2-005627, a previously unknown X-ray source, and the known but unclassified X-ray transient Swift J1922.7-1716. We investigate the BAT data and

  8. X-RAY PROPERTIES OF THE NORTHERN GALACTIC CAP SOURCES IN THE 58 MONTH SWIFT/BAT CATALOG

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vasudevan, Ranjan V.; Mushotzky, Richard F.; Shimizu, Thomas T.; Brandt, William N.; Schneider, Donald P.; Nousek, John; Winter, Lisa M.; Baumgartner, Wayne H.

    2013-01-01

    We present a detailed X-ray spectral analysis of the non-beamed, hard X-ray selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the northern Galactic cap of the 58 month Swift Burst Alert Telescope (Swift/BAT) catalog, consisting of 100 AGNs with b > 50°. This sky area has excellent potential for further dedicated study due to a wide range of multi-wavelength data that are already available, and we propose it as a low-redshift analog to the 'deep field' observations of AGNs at higher redshifts (e.g., CDFN/S, COSMOS, Lockman Hole). We present distributions of luminosity, absorbing column density, and other key quantities for the catalog. We use a consistent approach to fit new and archival X-ray data gathered from XMM-Newton, Swift/XRT, ASCA, and Swift/BAT. We probe to deeper redshifts than the 9 month BAT catalog ((z) = 0.043 compared to (z) = 0.03 for the 9 month catalog), and uncover a broader absorbing column density distribution. The fraction of obscured (log N H ≥ 22) objects in the sample is ∼60%, and 43%-56% of the sample exhibits 'complex' 0.4-10 keV spectra. We present the properties of iron lines, soft excesses, and ionized absorbers for the subset of objects with sufficient signal-to-noise ratio. We reinforce previous determinations of the X-ray Baldwin (Iwasawa-Taniguchi) effect for iron Kα lines. We also identify two distinct populations of sources; one in which a soft excess is well-detected and another where the soft excess is undetected, suggesting that the process responsible for producing the soft excess is not at work in all AGNs. The fraction of Compton-thick sources (log N H > 24.15) in our sample is ∼9%. We find that 'hidden/buried AGNs' (which may have a geometrically thick torus or emaciated scattering regions) constitute ∼14% of our sample, including seven objects previously not identified as hidden. Compton reflection is found to be important in a large fraction of our sample using joint XMM-Newton+BAT fits ((R) = 2.7 ± 0.75), indicating

  9. THE THIRD SWIFT BURST ALERT TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY BURST CATALOG

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lien, Amy; Baumgartner, Wayne H.; Cannizzo, John K.; Collins, Nicholas R.; Krimm, Hans A.; Troja, Eleonora [Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Sakamoto, Takanori [Department of Physics and Mathematics, College of Science and Engineering, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa 252-5258 (Japan); Barthelmy, Scott D.; Cummings, Jay R.; Gehrels, Neil; Markwardt, Craig B. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Chen, Kevin [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, 366 LeConte Hall MC 7300, Berkeley, CA 9472 (United States); Palmer, David M.; Ukwatta, T. N. [Space and Remote Sensing (ISR-2), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544 (United States); Stamatikos, Michael [Department of Physics, Department of Astronomy and Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)

    2016-09-20

    To date, the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) onboard Swift has detected ∼1000 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), of which ∼360 GRBs have redshift measurements, ranging from z = 0.03 to z = 9.38. We present the analyses of the BAT-detected GRBs for the past ∼11 years up through GRB 151027B. We report summaries of both the temporal and spectral analyses of the GRB characteristics using event data (i.e., data for each photon within approximately 250 s before and 950 s after the BAT trigger time), and discuss the instrumental sensitivity and selection effects of GRB detections. We also explore the GRB properties with redshift when possible. The result summaries and data products are available at http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/results/batgrbcat/index.html. In addition, we perform searches for GRB emissions before or after the event data using the BAT survey data. We estimate the false detection rate to be only one false detection in this sample. There are 15 ultra-long GRBs (∼2% of the BAT GRBs) in this search with confirmed emission beyond ∼1000 s of event data, and only two GRBs (GRB 100316D and GRB 101024A) with detections in the survey data prior to the starting of event data.

  10. Swift: A gamma ray burst MIDEX

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barthelmy, Scott

    2001-01-01

    Swift is a first of its kind multiwavelength transient observatory for gamma-ray burst astronomy. It has the optimum capabilities for the next breakthroughs in determining the origin of gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows as well as using bursts to probe the early Universe. Swift will also perform the first sensitive hard X-ray survey of the sky. The mission is being developed by an international collaboration and consists of three instruments, the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), the X-ray Telescope (XRT), and the Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope (UVOT). The BAT, a wide-field gamma-ray detector, will detect ∼1 gamma-ray burst per day with a sensitivity 5 times that of BATSE. The sensitive narrow-field XRT and UVOT will be autonomously slewed to the burst location in 20 to 70 seconds to determine 0.3-5.0 arcsec positions and perform optical, UV, and X-ray spectrophotometry. On-board measurements of redshift will also be done for hundreds of bursts. Swift will incorporate superb, low-cost instruments using existing flight-spare hardware and designs. Strong education/public outreach and follow-up programs will help to engage the public and astronomical community. Swift has been selected by NASA for development and launch in late 2003

  11. Multiwavelength Studies of Dual AGN in the Swift/BAT Sample

    Science.gov (United States)

    Treister, Ezequiel; Privon, George; Sartori, Lia; Nagar, Neil; Bauer, Franz Erik; Schawinski, Kevin; Ricci, Claudio; U, Vivian; Comerford, Julie; Muller-Sanchez, Francisco; Evans, Aaron; Koss, Michael; Sanders, David B.; Urry, Meg; MODA Collaboration

    2018-01-01

    For the last 30 years there has been growing evidence for a strong connection between major galaxy mergers and simultaneous episodes ofstrong star formation and signicant central supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth. A natural consequence of this scenario is that dual Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), i.e., systems in which the two nuclear SMBHs are growing simultaneously at separations survey aimed to study the multiwavelength properties of the dual AGN in the neary universe, z10 keV, obtained from the Swift-BAT extragalactic survey and complemented by NuSTAR observations. Our work focuses on the study of the physical properties of the ionized, atomic and molecular gas and the dust in confirmed dual AGN by combining observations with ALMA, VLT/MUSE and SINFONI and Keck/OSIRIS among others. In addition to providing general properties of this poulation, we will further focus on two remarkable systems, NGC6240 and Mrk 463. Both systems show evidence of large kpc-scale tidal features, complex gas dynamics and kinematical evidence for both inflows and outflows.These results clearly show the importance of performing high resolution multi wavelength studies covering kpc scales in order to understandthe complex connection between black hole growth and galaxy evolution in this critical phase.Support from this work has been provided by CONICYT FONDECYT 1160999 and PFB-06/2007.

  12. The BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS) DR1-Spectral Measurements, Derived Quantities, and AGN Demographics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koss, Michael; BASS Team

    2018-01-01

    We present the first catalog and data release of the Swift-BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS). We analyze optical spectra of the majority of AGN (77%, 641/836) detected based on their 14-195 keV emission in the 70-month Swift BAT all-sky catalog. This includes redshift determination, absorption and emission line measurements, and black hole mass and accretion rate estimates for the majority of obscured and un-obscured AGN (74%, 473/641) with 340 measured for the first time. With ~90% of sources at z10^21.9 cm^-2. Seyfert 1.9 show a range of column densities. Compared to narrow line AGN in the SDSS, the X-ray selected AGN have a larger fraction of dusty host galaxies suggesting these types of AGN are missed in optical surveys. Using the most sensitive [OIII]/Hbeta and [NII]/Halpha emission line diagnostic, about half of the sources are classified as Seyferts, ~15% reside in dusty galaxies that lack an Hbeta detection, but for which the line upper limits imply either a Seyfert or LINER, ~15% are in galaxies with weak or no emission lines despite high quality spectra, and a few percent each are LINERS, composite galaxies, HII regions, or in known beamed AGN.

  13. Correlative Analysis of GRBs detected by Swift and Suzaku-WAM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krimm, Hans; Yamaoka, Kazutaka; Sugita, Satoshi; Ohno, Masanori; Tashiro, Makoto; Onda, Kaori; Sato, Goro; Sakamoto, Takanori

    2008-01-01

    Since most gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have a peak energy (Epeak) above the energy range (15-150 keV) of the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on Swift, a full understanding of the prompt emission from Swift GRBs requires spectral fits over as broad an energy range as possible. This can be done for bursts which are simultaneously detected by Swift BAT and the Suzaku Wide-band All-Sky Monitor (WAM), which covers the energy range from 50-5000 keV. Since the launch of Suzaku in July 2005, there have been 33 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) which have triggered both Swift and WAM. A joint BAT-WAM team has cross-calibrated the two instruments using GRBs, and we are now able to perform joint fits on these bursts to determine spectral parameters including Epeak. The results of broad spectral fits allows us to understand the distribution of Epeak for Swift bursts and to calibrate Epeak estimators when Epeak is within the BAT energy range. For those bursts with spectroscopic redshifts, we can calculate the isotropic energy and study various correlations between Epeak and other global burst parameters. Here we present preliminary results of joint Swift/BAT-Suzaku/WAM spectral fits

  14. X-ray View of Four High-Luminosity Swift-BAT AGN: Unveiling Obscuration and Reflection with Suzaku

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiorettil, V.; Angelini, L.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Koss, M.; Malaguti, G.

    2013-01-01

    Aims. A complete census of obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) is necessary to reveal the history of the super massive black hole (SMBH) growth and galaxy evolution in the Universe given the complex feedback processes and the fact that much of this growth occurs in an obscured phase. In this context, hard X-ray surveys and dedicated follow-up observations represent a unique tool for selecting highly absorbed AGN and for characterizing the obscuring matter surrounding the SMBH. Here we focus on the absorption and reflection occurring in highly luminous, quasar-like AGN, to study the relation between the geometry of the absorbing matter and the AGN nature (e.g. X-ray, optical, and radio properties), and to help to determine the column density dependency on the AGN luminosity. Methods. The Swift/BAT nine-month survey observed 153 AGN, all with ultra-hard X-ray BAT fluxes in excess of 10(exp -11) erg per square centimeter and an average redshift of 0.03. Among them, four of the most luminous BAT AGN (44.73 less than LogLBAT less than 45.31) were selected as targets of Suzaku follow-up observations: J2246.0+3941 (3C 452), J0407.4+0339 (3C 105), J0318.7+6828, and J0918.5+0425. The column density, scattered/reflected emission, the properties of the Fe K line, and a possible variability are fully analyzed. For the latter, the spectral properties from Chandra, XMM-Newton and Swift/XRT public observations were compared with the present Suzaku analysis, adding an original spectral analysis when non was available from the literature. Results. Of our sample, 3C 452 is the only certain Compton-thick AGN candidate because of i) the high absorption (N(sub H) approximately 4 × 10(exp 23) per square centimeter) and strong Compton reflection; ii) the lack of variability; iii) the "buried" nature, i.e. the low scattering fraction (less than 0.5%) and the extremely low relative [OIII] luminosity. In contrast 3C 105 is not reflection-dominated, despite the comparable column density

  15. The Evolution of Swift/BAT blazars and the origin of the MeV background

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ajello, M.; /SLAC /KIPAC, Menlo Park; Costamante, L.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park; Sambruna, R.M.; Gehrels, N.; /NASA, Goddard; Chiang, J.; /SLAC /KIPAC, Menlo Park; Rau, A.; /Caltech; Escala, A.; /SLAC /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Cerro Calan Observ.; Greiner, J.; /Garching, Max Planck Inst., MPE; Tueller, J.; /NASA, Goddard; Wall, J.V.; /British Columbia U.; Mushotzky, R.F.; /NASA, Goddard

    2009-10-17

    We use 3 years of data from the Swift/BAT survey to select a complete sample of X-ray blazars above 15 keV. This sample comprises 26 Flat-Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs) and 12 BL Lac objects detected over a redshift range of 0.03 < z < 4.0. We use this sample to determine, for the first time in the 15-55 keV band, the evolution of blazars. We find that, contrary to the Seyfert-like AGNs detected by BAT, the population of blazars shows strong positive evolution. This evolution is comparable to the evolution of luminous optical QSOs and luminous X-ray selected AGNs. We also find evidence for an epoch-dependence of the evolution as determined previously for radio-quiet AGNs. We interpret both these findings as a strong link between accretion and jet activity. In our sample, the FSRQs evolve strongly, while our best-fit shows that BL Lacs might not evolve at all. The blazar population accounts for 10-20% (depending on the evolution of the BL Lacs) of the Cosmic X-ray background (CXB) in the 15-55 keV band. We find that FSRQs can explain the entire CXB emission for energies above 500 keV solving the mystery of the generation of the MeV background. The evolution of luminous FSRQs shows a peak in redshift (z{sub c} = 4.3 {+-} 0.5) which is larger than the one observed in QSOs and X-ray selected AGNs. We argue that FSRQs can be used as tracers of massive elliptical galaxies in the early Universe.

  16. The nature of 50 Palermo Swift-BAT hard X-ray objects through optical spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rojas, A. F.; Masetti, N.; Minniti, D.; Jiménez-Bailón, E.; Chavushyan, V.; Hau, G.; McBride, V. A.; Bassani, L.; Bazzano, A.; Bird, A. J.; Galaz, G.; Gavignaud, I.; Landi, R.; Malizia, A.; Morelli, L.; Palazzi, E.; Patiño-Álvarez, V.; Stephen, J. B.; Ubertini, P.

    2017-06-01

    We present the nature of 50 hard X-ray emitting objects unveiled through an optical spectroscopy campaign performed at seven telescopes in the northern and southern hemispheres. These objects were detected with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) instrument onboard the Swift satellite and listed as of unidentified nature in the 54-month Palermo BAT catalogue. In detail, 45 sources in our sample are identified as active galactic nuclei of which, 27 are classified as type 1 (with broad and narrow emission lines) and 18 are classified as type 2 (with only narrow emission lines). Among the broad-line emission objects, one is a type 1 high-redshift quasi-stellar object, and among the narrow-line emission objects, one is a starburst galaxy, one is a X-ray bright optically normal galaxy, and one is a low ionization nuclear emission line region. We report 30 new redshift measurements, 13 confirmations and 2 more accurate redshift values. The remaining five objects are galactic sources: three are Cataclismic Variables, one is a X-ray Binary probably with a low mass secondary star, and one is an active star. Based on observations obtained from the following observatories: Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (Chile); Astronomical Observatory of Bologna in Loiano (Italy); Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (San Pedro Mártir, Mexico); Radcliffe telescope of the South African Astronomical Observatory (Sutherland, South Africa); Sloan Digital Sky Survey; Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Canary Islands, Spain) and New Technology Telescope (NTT) of La Silla Observatory, Chile.

  17. Testing the E(sub peak)-E(sub iso) Relation for GRBs Detected by Swift and Suzaku-WAM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krimm, H. A.; Yamaoka, K.; Sugita, S.; Ohno, M.; Sakamoto, T.; Barthelmy, S. D.; Gehrels, N.; Hara, R.; Onda, K.; Sato, G.; hide

    2009-01-01

    One of the most prominent, yet controversial associations derived from the ensemble of prompt-phase observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is the apparent correlation in the source frame between the peak energy (E(sub peak)) of the nuF(nu) spectrum and the isotropic radiated energy, E(sub iso). Since most gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have E(sub peak) above the energy range (15-150 keV) of the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on Swift, determining accurate E(sub peak) values for large numbers of Swift bursts has been difficult. However, by combining data from Swift/BAT and the Suzaku Wide-band All-Sky Monitor (WAM), which covers the energy range from 50-5000 keV, for bursts which are simultaneously detected ; one can accurately fit E(sub peak) and E(sub iso) and test the relationship between them for the Swift sample. Between the launch of Suzaku in July 2005 and the end of March 2009, there were 45 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) which triggered both Swift/BAT and WAM and an additional 47 bursts which triggered Swift and were detected by WAM, but did not trigger. A BAT-WAM team has cross-calibrated the two instruments using GRBs, and we are now able to perform joint fits on these bursts to determine spectral parameters. For those bursts with spectroscopic redshifts.. we can also calculate the isotropic energy. Here we present the results of joint Swift/BAT-Suzaku/WAM spectral fits for 86 of the bursts detected by the two instruments. We show that the distribution of spectral fit parameters is consistent with distributions from earlier missions and confirm that Swift, bursts are consistent with earlier reported relationships between Epeak and isotropic energy. We show through time-resolved spectroscopy that individual burst pulses are also consistent with this relationship.

  18. Swift/BAT and RXTE Observations of the Peculiar X-ray Binary 4U 2206+54 - Disappearance of the 9.6 Day Modulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corbet, R. H. D.; Markwardt, C.; Tueller, J.

    2007-01-01

    Observations of the high-mass X-ray binary 4U 2206+54 with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) do not show modulation at the previously reported period of 9.6 days found from observations made with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) All-Sky Monitor (ASM). Instead, the strongest peak in the power spectrum of the BAT light curve occurs at a period of 19.25+/-0.08 days, twice the period found with the RXTE ASM. The maximum of the folded BAT light curve is also delayed compared to the maximum of the folded ASM light curve. The most recent ASM data folded on twice the 9.6 day period show 'similar morphology to the folded BAT light curve. This suggests that the apparent period doubling is a recent secular change rather than an energy-dependent effect. The 9.6 day period is thus not a permanent strong feature of the light curve. We suggest that the orbital period of 4U 2206+54 may be twice the previously proposed value.

  19. Host Galaxy Properties of the Swift BAT Ultra Hard X-Ray Selected AGN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koss, Michael; Mushotzky, Richard; Veilleux, Sylvain; Winter, Lisa M.; Baumgartner, Wayne; Tueller, Jack; Gehrels, Neil; Valencic, Lynne

    2011-01-01

    We have assembled the largest sample of ultra hard X-ray selected (14-195 keV) AGN with host galaxy optical data to date, with 185 nearby (zBAT) sample. The BAT AGN host galaxies have intermediate optical colors (u -- r and g -- r) that are bluer than a comparison sample of inactive galaxies and optically selected AGN from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) which are chosen to have the same stellar mass. Based on morphological classifications from the RC3 and the Galaxy Zoo, the bluer colors of BAT AGN are mainly due to a higher fraction of mergers and massive spirals than in the comparison samples. BAT AGN in massive galaxies (log Stellar Mass >10.5) have a 5 to 10 times higher rate of spiral morphologies than in SDSS AGN or inactive galaxies. We also see enhanced far-IR emission in BAT AGN suggestive of higher levels of star formation compared to the comparison samples. BAT AGN are preferentially found in the most massive host galaxies with high concentration indexes indicative of large bulge-to-disk ratios and large supermassive black holes. The narrow-line (NL) BAT AGN have similar intrinsic luminosities as the SDSS NL Seyferts based on measurements of [O III] Lambda 5007. There is also a correlation between the stellar mass and X-ray emission. The BAT AGN in mergers have bluer colors and greater ultra hard X-ray emission compared to the BAT sample as whole. In agreement with the Unified Model of AGN, and the relatively unbiased nature of the BAT sources, the host galaxy colors and morphologies are independent of measures of obscuration such as X-ray column density or Seyfert type. The high fraction of massive spiral galaxies and galaxy mergers in BAT AGN suggest that host galaxy morphology is related to the activation and fueling of local AGN.

  20. SWIFT BAT Loop Heat Pipe Thermal System Characteristics and Ground/Flight Operation Procedure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Michael K.

    2003-01-01

    The SWIFT Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) Detector Array has a total power dissipation of 208 W. To meet the stringent temperature gradient and thermal stability requirements in the normal operational mode, and heater power budget in both the normal operational and safehold modes, the Detector Array is thermally well coupled to eight constant conductance heat pipes (CCHPs) embedded in the Detector Array Plate (DAP), and two loop heat pipes (LHPs) transport heat fiom the CCHPs to a radiator. The CCHPs have ammonia as the working fluid and the LHPs have propylene as the working fluid. Precision heater controllers, which have adjustable set points in flight, are used to control the LHP compensation chamber and Detector Array XA1 ASIC temperatures. The radiator has the AZ-Tek AZW-LA-II low-alpha white paint as the thermal coating and is located on the anti-sun side of the spacecraft. This paper presents the characteristics, ground operation and flight operation procedures of the LHP thermal system.

  1. DO THE FERMI GAMMA-RAY BURST MONITOR AND SWIFT BURST ALERT TELESCOPE SEE THE SAME SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURSTS?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burns, Eric; Briggs, Michael S.; Connaughton, Valerie; Zhang, Bin-Bin; Lien, Amy; Goldstein, Adam; Pelassa, Veronique; Troja, Eleonora

    2016-01-01

    Compact binary system mergers are expected to generate gravitational radiation detectable by ground-based interferometers. A subset of these, the merger of a neutron star with another neutron star or a black hole, are also the most popular model for the production of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) trigger on short GRBs (SGRBs) at rates that reflect their relative sky exposures, with the BAT detecting 10 per year compared to about 45 for GBM. We examine the SGRB populations detected by Swift BAT and Fermi GBM. We find that the Swift BAT triggers on weaker SGRBs than Fermi GBM, providing they occur close to the center of the BAT field of view, and that the Fermi GBM SGRB detection threshold remains flatter across its field of view. Overall, these effects combine to give the instruments the same average sensitivity, and account for the SGRBs that trigger one instrument but not the other. We do not find any evidence that the BAT and GBM are detecting significantly different populations of SGRBs. Both instruments can detect untriggered SGRBs using ground searches seeded with time and position. The detection of SGRBs below the on-board triggering sensitivities of Swift BAT and Fermi GBM increases the possibility of detecting and localizing the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave (GW) events seen by the new generation of GW detectors

  2. DO THE FERMI GAMMA-RAY BURST MONITOR AND SWIFT BURST ALERT TELESCOPE SEE THE SAME SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURSTS?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Burns, Eric; Briggs, Michael S. [University of Alabama in Huntsville, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805 (United States); Connaughton, Valerie [Universities Space Research Association, Science and Technology Institute, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805 (United States); Zhang, Bin-Bin [Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899 (United States); Lien, Amy [Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Goldstein, Adam [NASA Postdoctoral Program, Space Science Office, VP62, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812 (United States); Pelassa, Veronique [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, P.O. Box 97, Amado, AZ 85645 (United States); Troja, Eleonora, E-mail: eb0016@uah.edu [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)

    2016-02-20

    Compact binary system mergers are expected to generate gravitational radiation detectable by ground-based interferometers. A subset of these, the merger of a neutron star with another neutron star or a black hole, are also the most popular model for the production of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) trigger on short GRBs (SGRBs) at rates that reflect their relative sky exposures, with the BAT detecting 10 per year compared to about 45 for GBM. We examine the SGRB populations detected by Swift BAT and Fermi GBM. We find that the Swift BAT triggers on weaker SGRBs than Fermi GBM, providing they occur close to the center of the BAT field of view, and that the Fermi GBM SGRB detection threshold remains flatter across its field of view. Overall, these effects combine to give the instruments the same average sensitivity, and account for the SGRBs that trigger one instrument but not the other. We do not find any evidence that the BAT and GBM are detecting significantly different populations of SGRBs. Both instruments can detect untriggered SGRBs using ground searches seeded with time and position. The detection of SGRBs below the on-board triggering sensitivities of Swift BAT and Fermi GBM increases the possibility of detecting and localizing the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave (GW) events seen by the new generation of GW detectors.

  3. Mobile acoustic transects miss rare bat species: implications of survey method and spatio-temporal sampling for monitoring bats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth C. Braun de Torrez

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Due to increasing threats facing bats, long-term monitoring protocols are needed to inform conservation strategies. Effective monitoring should be easily repeatable while capturing spatio-temporal variation. Mobile acoustic driving transect surveys (‘mobile transects’ have been touted as a robust, cost-effective method to monitor bats; however, it is not clear how well mobile transects represent dynamic bat communities, especially when used as the sole survey approach. To assist biologists who must select a single survey method due to resource limitations, we assessed the effectiveness of three acoustic survey methods at detecting species richness in a vast protected area (Everglades National Park: (1 mobile transects, (2 stationary surveys that were strategically located by sources of open water and (3 stationary surveys that were replicated spatially across the landscape. We found that mobile transects underrepresented bat species richness compared to stationary surveys across all major vegetation communities and in two distinct seasons (dry/cool and wet/warm. Most critically, mobile transects failed to detect three rare bat species, one of which is federally endangered. Spatially replicated stationary surveys did not estimate higher species richness than strategically located stationary surveys, but increased the rate at which species were detected in one vegetation community. The survey strategy that detected maximum species richness and the highest mean nightly species richness with minimal effort was a strategically located stationary detector in each of two major vegetation communities during the wet/warm season.

  4. Mobile acoustic transects miss rare bat species: implications of survey method and spatio-temporal sampling for monitoring bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braun de Torrez, Elizabeth C; Wallrichs, Megan A; Ober, Holly K; McCleery, Robert A

    2017-01-01

    Due to increasing threats facing bats, long-term monitoring protocols are needed to inform conservation strategies. Effective monitoring should be easily repeatable while capturing spatio-temporal variation. Mobile acoustic driving transect surveys ('mobile transects') have been touted as a robust, cost-effective method to monitor bats; however, it is not clear how well mobile transects represent dynamic bat communities, especially when used as the sole survey approach. To assist biologists who must select a single survey method due to resource limitations, we assessed the effectiveness of three acoustic survey methods at detecting species richness in a vast protected area (Everglades National Park): (1) mobile transects, (2) stationary surveys that were strategically located by sources of open water and (3) stationary surveys that were replicated spatially across the landscape. We found that mobile transects underrepresented bat species richness compared to stationary surveys across all major vegetation communities and in two distinct seasons (dry/cool and wet/warm). Most critically, mobile transects failed to detect three rare bat species, one of which is federally endangered. Spatially replicated stationary surveys did not estimate higher species richness than strategically located stationary surveys, but increased the rate at which species were detected in one vegetation community. The survey strategy that detected maximum species richness and the highest mean nightly species richness with minimal effort was a strategically located stationary detector in each of two major vegetation communities during the wet/warm season.

  5. Bat Acoustic Survey Report for ORNL: Bat Species Distribution on the Oak Ridge Reservation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McCracken, Kitty [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Giffen, Neil R. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Haines, Angelina [XCEL Engineering Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Guge, B. J. [Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville, TN (United States); Evans, James W. [Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), Nashville, TN (United States)

    2015-10-01

    This report summarizes results of a three-year acoustic survey of bat species on the US Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The survey was implemented through the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Natural Resources Management Program and included researchers from the ORNL Environmental Sciences Division and ORNL Facilities and Operations Directorate, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s ORR wildlife manager, a student from Tennessee Technological University, and a technician contracted through Excel Corp. One hundred and twenty-six sites were surveyed reservation-wide using Wildlife Acoustics SM2+ Acoustic Bat Detectors.

  6. Swift BAT Thermal Recovery After Loop Heat Pipe #0 Secondary Heater Controller Failure in October 2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Michael K.

    2016-01-01

    The Swift BAT LHP #0 primary heater controller failed on March 31, 2010. It has been disabled. On October 31, 2015, the secondary heater controller of this LHP failed. On November 1, 2015, the LHP #0 CC temperature increased to as 18.6 C, despite that the secondary heater controller set point was 8.8 C. It caused the average DM XA1 temperature to increase to 25.9 C, which was 5 C warmer than nominal. As a result, the detectors became noisy. To solve this problem, the LHP #1 secondary heater controller set point was decreased in 0.5 C decrements to 2.2 C. The set-point decrease restored the average DM XA1 temperature to a nominal value of 19.7 C on November 21.

  7. Fermi and Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Population Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Racusin, Judith L.; Oates, S. R.; Schady, P.; Burrows, D. N.; dePasquale, M.; Donato, D.; Gehrels, N.; Koch, S.; McEnery, J.; Piran, T.; hide

    2011-01-01

    The new and extreme population of GRBs detected by Fermi -LAT shows several new features in high energy gamma-rays that are providing interesting and unexpected clues into GRB prompt and afterglow emission mechanisms. Over the last 6 years, it has been Swift that has provided the robust dataset of UV/optical and X-ray afterglow observations that opened many windows into components of GRB emission structure. The relationship between the LAT detected GRBs and the well studied, fainter, less energetic GRBs detected by Swift -BAT is only beginning to be explored by multi-wavelength studies. We explore the large sample of GRBs detected by BAT only, BAT and Fermi -GBM, and GBM and LAT, focusing on these samples separately in order to search for statistically significant differences between the populations, using only those GRBs with measured redshifts in order to physically characterize these objects. We disentangle which differences are instrumental selection effects versus intrinsic properties, in order to better understand the nature of the special characteristics of the LAT bursts.

  8. Finding X-ray counterparts for unidentified sources in the 105 months BAT survey - 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephen, J. B.; Bassani, L.; Malizia, A.; Masetti, N.; Ubertini, P.

    2018-02-01

    We provide X-ray counterparts for the unidentified Swift/BAT sources listed in the 105 month catalogue (Oh et al. 2018, ApJS in press). These associations were found by cross-correlating the list of U1,U2 and U3 sources with the ROSAT Bright (RASSBSC, Voges et al. 1999, A & A, 349, 389) and the XMM-Newton Slew (XMMSlew, Saxton et al. 2008, A & A, 480, 611) catalogues.

  9. AGN Clustering in the BAT Sample

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, Meredith; Cappelluti, Nico; Urry, Meg; Koss, Michael; BASS Team

    2018-01-01

    We characterize the environments of local growing supermassive black holes by measuring the clustering of AGN in the Swift-BAT Spectroscopic Survey (BASS). With 548 AGN in the redshift range 0.012MASS galaxies, we constrain the halo occupation distribution (HOD) of the full sample with unprecedented sensitivity, as well as in bins of obscuration with matched luminosity distributions. In doing so, we find that AGN tend to reside in galaxy groups, agreeing with previous studies of AGN throughout a large range of luminosity and redshift. We also find evidence that obscured AGN tend to reside in denser environments than unobscured AGN.

  10. THE SWIFT AGN AND CLUSTER SURVEY. II. CLUSTER CONFIRMATION WITH SDSS DATA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Griffin, Rhiannon D.; Dai, Xinyu; Kochanek, Christopher S.; Bregman, Joel N.

    2016-01-01

    We study 203 (of 442) Swift AGN and Cluster Survey extended X-ray sources located in the SDSS DR8 footprint to search for galaxy over-densities in three-dimensional space using SDSS galaxy photometric redshifts and positions near the Swift cluster candidates. We find 104 Swift clusters with a >3σ galaxy over-density. The remaining targets are potentially located at higher redshifts and require deeper optical follow-up observations for confirmation as galaxy clusters. We present a series of cluster properties including the redshift, brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) magnitude, BCG-to-X-ray center offset, optical richness, and X-ray luminosity. We also detect red sequences in ∼85% of the 104 confirmed clusters. The X-ray luminosity and optical richness for the SDSS confirmed Swift clusters are correlated and follow previously established relations. The distribution of the separations between the X-ray centroids and the most likely BCG is also consistent with expectation. We compare the observed redshift distribution of the sample with a theoretical model, and find that our sample is complete for z ≲ 0.3 and is still 80% complete up to z ≃ 0.4, consistent with the SDSS survey depth. These analysis results suggest that our Swift cluster selection algorithm has yielded a statistically well-defined cluster sample for further study of cluster evolution and cosmology. We also match our SDSS confirmed Swift clusters to existing cluster catalogs, and find 42, 23, and 1 matches in optical, X-ray, and Sunyaev–Zel’dovich catalogs, respectively, and so the majority of these clusters are new detections

  11. Finding X-ray counterparts for unidentified sources in the 105 months BAT survey - 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephen, J. B.; Bassani, L.; Malizia, A.; Masetti, N.; Ubertini, P.

    2018-02-01

    We provide X-ray counterparts for unidentified Swift/BAT sources in the 105 month catalogue (Oh et al. 2018, ApJS in press). They were found by cross-correlating the list of U1,U2 and U3 sources with the ROSAT Bright (RASSBSC, Voges et al. 1999, A & A, 349, 389) and XMM-Newton Slew (XMMSlew, Saxton et al. 2008, A & A, 480, 611) catalogues and optically identified as reported in Atel #11340.

  12. Fermi and Swift as supernova alarms: Alert, localization, and diagnosis of future Galactic Type Ia explosions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xilu; Fields, Brian D.; Lien, Amy Y.

    2017-01-01

    A Galactic SNIa event could go entirely unnoticed due to the large optical and near-IR extinction in the Milky Way plane, low radio and X-ray luminosities, and a weak neutrino signal. But the recent SN2014J confirms that Type Ia supernovae emit nuclear γ- ray lines, from the 56Ni → 56Co → 56Fe radioactive decay. The energy released in these decays powers the SNIa UVOIR light curve at times after ~1 week, leading to an exponential decline. Importantly for Swift and Fermi, these decays are accompanied by γ-ray line emission, with distinct series of lines for both the 56Ni and 56Co decays, spanning 158 keV to 2.6 MeV. These lines are squarely within the Fermi/GBM energy range, and the 56Ni 158 keV line is detectable by Swift/BAT. The Galaxy is optically thin to γ-rays, so the supernova line flux will suffer negligible extinction. Both GBM and BAT have continuous and nearly all-sky coverage. Thus GBM and BAT are ideal Galactic SNIa monitors and early warning systems. We will illustrate expected GBM and BAT light curves and spectra, based on our model for SNIa γ-ray emission and transfer. We show that the supernova signal emerges as distinct from the GBM background within days after the explosion in the SN2014J shell model. Therefore, if a Galactic SNIa were to explode, there are two possibilities of confirming and sounding the alert: 1) Swift/BAT discovers the SNIa first and localizes it within arcminutes; 2) Fermi/GBM finds the SNIa first and localizes it to within ~1 degree, using the Earth occultation technique, followed up by BAT to localize it within arcminutes. After the alert of either BAT or GBM, Swift localizes it to take spectra in optical, UV, soft and hard X-rays simultaneously with both XRT and UVOT instruments.

  13. Timing and technique impact the effectiveness of road-based, mobile acoustic surveys of bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Acunto, Laura E; Pauli, Benjamin P; Moy, Mikko; Johnson, Kiara; Abu-Omar, Jasmine; Zollner, Patrick A

    2018-03-01

    Mobile acoustic surveys are a common method of surveying bat communities. However, there is a paucity of empirical studies exploring different methods for conducting mobile road surveys of bats. During 2013, we conducted acoustic mobile surveys on three routes in north-central Indiana, U.S.A., using (1) a standard road survey, (2) a road survey where the vehicle stopped for 1 min at every half mile of the survey route (called a "start-stop method"), and (3) a road survey with an individual using a bicycle. Linear mixed models with multiple comparison procedures revealed that when all bat passes were analyzed, using a bike to conduct mobile surveys detected significantly more bat passes per unit time compared to other methods. However, incorporating genus-level comparisons revealed no advantage to using a bike over vehicle-based methods. We also found that survey method had a significant effect when analyses were limited to those bat passes that could be identified to genus, with the start-stop method generally detecting more identifiable passes than the standard protocol or bike survey. Additionally, we found that significantly more identifiable bat passes (particularly those of the Eptesicus and Lasiurus genera) were detected in surveys conducted immediately following sunset. As governing agencies, particularly in North America, implement vehicle-based bat monitoring programs, it is important for researchers to understand how variations on protocols influence the inference that can be gained from different monitoring schemes.

  14. Efficacy of Visual Surveys for White-Nose Syndrome at Bat Hibernacula.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amanda F Janicki

    Full Text Available White-Nose Syndrome (WNS is an epizootic disease in hibernating bats caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Surveillance for P. destructans at bat hibernacula consists primarily of visual surveys of bats, collection of potentially infected bats, and submission of these bats for laboratory testing. Cryptic infections (bats that are infected but display no visual signs of fungus could lead to the mischaracterization of the infection status of a site and the inadvertent spread of P. destructans. We determined the efficacy of visual detection of P. destructans by examining visual signs and molecular detection of P. destructans on 928 bats of six species at 27 sites during surveys conducted from January through March in 2012-2014 in the southeastern USA on the leading edge of the disease invasion. Cryptic infections were widespread with 77% of bats that tested positive by qPCR showing no visible signs of infection. The probability of exhibiting visual signs of infection increased with sampling date and pathogen load, the latter of which was substantially higher in three species (Myotis lucifugus, M. septentrionalis, and Perimyotis subflavus. In addition, M. lucifugus was more likely to show visual signs of infection than other species given the same pathogen load. Nearly all infections were cryptic in three species (Eptesicus fuscus, M. grisescens, and M. sodalis, which had much lower fungal loads. The presence of M. lucifugus or M. septentrionalis at a site increased the probability that P. destructans was visually detected on bats. Our results suggest that cryptic infections of P. destructans are common in all bat species, and visible infections rarely occur in some species. However, due to very high infection prevalence and loads in some species, we estimate that visual surveys examining at least 17 individuals of M. lucifugus and M. septentrionalis, or 29 individuals of P. subflavus are still effective to determine whether a site has

  15. Efficacy of Visual Surveys for White-Nose Syndrome at Bat Hibernacula.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janicki, Amanda F; Frick, Winifred F; Kilpatrick, A Marm; Parise, Katy L; Foster, Jeffrey T; McCracken, Gary F

    2015-01-01

    White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) is an epizootic disease in hibernating bats caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Surveillance for P. destructans at bat hibernacula consists primarily of visual surveys of bats, collection of potentially infected bats, and submission of these bats for laboratory testing. Cryptic infections (bats that are infected but display no visual signs of fungus) could lead to the mischaracterization of the infection status of a site and the inadvertent spread of P. destructans. We determined the efficacy of visual detection of P. destructans by examining visual signs and molecular detection of P. destructans on 928 bats of six species at 27 sites during surveys conducted from January through March in 2012-2014 in the southeastern USA on the leading edge of the disease invasion. Cryptic infections were widespread with 77% of bats that tested positive by qPCR showing no visible signs of infection. The probability of exhibiting visual signs of infection increased with sampling date and pathogen load, the latter of which was substantially higher in three species (Myotis lucifugus, M. septentrionalis, and Perimyotis subflavus). In addition, M. lucifugus was more likely to show visual signs of infection than other species given the same pathogen load. Nearly all infections were cryptic in three species (Eptesicus fuscus, M. grisescens, and M. sodalis), which had much lower fungal loads. The presence of M. lucifugus or M. septentrionalis at a site increased the probability that P. destructans was visually detected on bats. Our results suggest that cryptic infections of P. destructans are common in all bat species, and visible infections rarely occur in some species. However, due to very high infection prevalence and loads in some species, we estimate that visual surveys examining at least 17 individuals of M. lucifugus and M. septentrionalis, or 29 individuals of P. subflavus are still effective to determine whether a site has bats infected

  16. Bats: Swift Shadows in the Twilight. The Wonder Series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Ann C.

    This curriculum guide is all about bats and provides information through the telling of stories about bats and their history and folklore. The activities contained in this guide employ an interdisciplinary approach and use mazes, puzzles, model-building, and board games to interest and inform students. Topics covered include the physical…

  17. Bats and wind turbines : pre-siting and pre-construction survey protocols

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lausen, C.; Baerwald, E.; Gruver, J.; Barclay, R. [Calgary Univ., AB (Canada)

    2008-05-15

    Studies have shown that a number of bats are killed by moving wind turbine blades at wind farms throughout North America. The studies have shown that over 80 per cent of the fatalities involve migratory bat species. Hoary bats, eastern red bats, and silver-haired bats dominate the fatalities during the fall migration period. Fatality rates vary among wind energy developments. Some data suggest that fatalities are higher on nights with lower wind speeds, and increased fatalities have been associated with taller wind turbines. This report outlined pre-construction survey requirements for preventing bat fatalities at wind power plants. A pre-construction survey was recommended to achieve a representative sampling of bat activity and determine the relative risk to bats. The study suggested that monitoring data from locations across the province should be pooled to provide a better understanding of the landscape-scale patterns of bat migration. Monitoring for bats should be conducted continuously due to the sporadic nature of peaks in bat activity, the influence of temperature, moon phase, and weather variables. Sampling techniques for acoustic detection, radar tracking, and mist-netting should be implemented to determine the abundance of susceptible species and the location of migration routes. All existing meteorological towers should be used as sampling stations with bat detectors installed at ground level and near the top of the tower. Additional detector stations should be distributed throughout the wind resource area. Specialized anabat microphones should be calibrated to record bat activity. Acoustic data should be presented as total bat passes and mean passes per night and matched with corresponding meteorological data. It was concluded that pre-construction monitoring data should be gathered and made available for collaborative and cumulative research efforts. 28 refs., 1 fig.

  18. Bat Surveys of Retired Facilitiies Scheduled for Demolition by Washington Closure Hanford

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gano, K. A.; Lucas, J. G.; Lindsey, C. T.

    2011-06-30

    This project was conducted to evaluate buildings and facilities remaining in the Washington Closure Hanford (WCH) deactivation, decontamination, decommissioning, and demolition schedule for bat roost sites. The project began in spring of 2009 and was concluded in spring of 2011. A total of 196 buildings and facilities were evaluated for the presence of bat roosting sites. The schedule for the project was prioritized to accommodate the demolition schedule. As the surveys were completed, the results were provided to the project managers to facilitate planning and project completion. The surveys took place in the 300 Area, 400 Area, 100-H, 100-D, 100-N, and 100-B/C Area. This report is the culmination of all the bat surveys and summarizes the findings by area and includes recommended mitigation actions where bat roosts were found.

  19. Survey for bats in the Los Alamos National Environmental Research Park, with special emphasis on the spotted bat, Euderma maculatum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tyrell, K.; Brack, V. Jr.

    1992-10-29

    To increase knowledge about the presence of endangered species and their habitat at the LANL, 3D/Environmental Services, Inc. conducted a mist net survey for bats on Laboratory lands. In addition to documenting the presence of threatened and endangered species, this survey was conducted to gain more knowledge about the diversity and distribution of the bat fauna existing on the Laboratory. There are 25 species of bats found in New Mexico, about 16 of which are likely to occur in the region of the Laboratory. Of particular interest was documentation of the presence of the spotted bat, Euderma maculatum. The spotted bat is listed as Endangered, Group 2 by the State of New Mexico, and is a Federal Candidate for listing as endangered. As such, conservation of this species and its habitat should be a management priority on the Laboratory. A total of 94 bats were captured in 16 net nights, between 30 June and 05 July 1992. Thirteen species of bats were caught during the study: Antrozous pallidus (pallid bat), 10.6 percent; Eptesicus fuscus (big brown bat), 10.6 percent; Lasionycteris noctivigans (silver-haired bat), 16 percent; Lasiurus cinereus (hoary bat), 11.7 percent; Myotis californicus (California myotis), 4.3 percent; M. evotis (long-eared myotis), 7.4 percent; M. leibii (small-footed myotis), 5.3 percent; M. thysanodes (fringed myotis), 13.8 percent; M. volans (long-legged myotis), 7.4 percent of the catch; M. yumanensis,(Yuma myotis), 5.3 percent; Pipistrellus hesperus (western pipistrelle), 1.1 percent; Plecotus townsendii (Townsend`s big-eared bat), 1.1 percent, and Tadarida brasiliensis (Brazilian free-tailed bat), 5.3 percent.

  20. Survey for bats in the Los Alamos National Environmental Research Park, with special emphasis on the spotted bat, Euderma maculatum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tyrell, K.; Brack, V. Jr.

    1992-10-29

    To increase knowledge about the presence of endangered species and their habitat at the LANL, 3D/Environmental Services, Inc. conducted a mist net survey for bats on Laboratory lands. In addition to documenting the presence of threatened and endangered species, this survey was conducted to gain more knowledge about the diversity and distribution of the bat fauna existing on the Laboratory. There are 25 species of bats found in New Mexico, about 16 of which are likely to occur in the region of the Laboratory. Of particular interest was documentation of the presence of the spotted bat, Euderma maculatum. The spotted bat is listed as Endangered, Group 2 by the State of New Mexico, and is a Federal Candidate for listing as endangered. As such, conservation of this species and its habitat should be a management priority on the Laboratory. A total of 94 bats were captured in 16 net nights, between 30 June and 05 July 1992. Thirteen species of bats were caught during the study: Antrozous pallidus (pallid bat), 10.6 percent; Eptesicus fuscus (big brown bat), 10.6 percent; Lasionycteris noctivigans (silver-haired bat), 16 percent; Lasiurus cinereus (hoary bat), 11.7 percent; Myotis californicus (California myotis), 4.3 percent; M. evotis (long-eared myotis), 7.4 percent; M. leibii (small-footed myotis), 5.3 percent; M. thysanodes (fringed myotis), 13.8 percent; M. volans (long-legged myotis), 7.4 percent of the catch; M. yumanensis,(Yuma myotis), 5.3 percent; Pipistrellus hesperus (western pipistrelle), 1.1 percent; Plecotus townsendii (Townsend's big-eared bat), 1.1 percent, and Tadarida brasiliensis (Brazilian free-tailed bat), 5.3 percent.

  1. 78 FR 9409 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Revised Indiana Bat Summer Survey Guidelines

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-08

    ...-FF03E00000] Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Revised Indiana Bat Summer Survey Guidelines... documents related to the draft revised summer survey guidelines for the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) for an... U.S. mail address; Email: indiana_bat@fws.gov ; or Fax: 812-334-4273. Include ``Indiana Bat Summer...

  2. SWIFT-BAT HARD X-RAY SKY MONITORING UNVEILS THE ORBITAL PERIOD OF THE HMXB IGR J18219–1347

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    La Parola, V.; Cusumano, G.; Segreto, A.; D'Aì, A.; Masetti, N.; D'Elia, V.

    2013-01-01

    IGR J18219–1347 is a hard X-ray source discovered by INTEGRAL in 2010. We have analyzed the X-ray emission of this source exploiting the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) survey data up to 2012 March and the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) data that include also an observing campaign performed in early 2012. The source is detected at a significance level of ∼13 standard deviations in the 88 month BAT survey data, and shows a strong variability along the survey monitoring, going from high intensity to quiescent states. A timing analysis on the BAT data revealed an intensity modulation with a period of P 0 = 72.44 ± 0.3 days. The significance of this modulation is about seven standard deviations in Gaussian statistics. We interpret it as the orbital period of the binary system. The light curve folded at P 0 shows a sharp peak covering ∼30% of the period, superimposed to a flat level roughly consistent with zero. In the soft X-rays the source is detected only in 5 out of 12 XRT observations, with the highest recorded count rate corresponding to a phase close to the BAT folded light-curve peak. The long orbital period and the evidence that the source emits only during a small fraction of the orbit suggests that the IGR J18219–1347 binary system hosts a Be star. The broadband XRT+BAT spectrum is well modeled with a flat absorbed power law with a high-energy exponential cutoff at ∼11 keV

  3. Active Galaxy Host Properties from a New H I 21-cm Survey of the Swift BAT-detected AGN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winter, Lisa M.; George, E. R.; Zauderer, B.; Darling, J.

    2013-01-01

    Many questions remain open on how central supermassive black holes and their host galaxies form and affect each other's evolution. In order to answer these questions, we need to understand the observational properties of a complete sample of active galaxies. To this end, we have been collecting and studying multi-wavelength spectroscopy of a unique sample of active galaxies selected in the very hard X-rays with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. Here we present an analysis of the 21-cm H I spectra, which we observed with the 100-m Green Bank Telescope in 2012, for a sample of 95 Swift-detected AGN. With this complete sample, we show evidence for differences in the host cold gas mass content between obscured and unobscured AGN.

  4. Analysis of the Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts duration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horvath, I.; Veres, P.; Balazs, L. G.; Kelemen, J.; Bagoly, Z.; Tusnady, G.

    2008-01-01

    Two classes of gamma-ray bursts have been identified in the BATSE catalogs characterized by durations shorter and longer than about 2 seconds. There are, however, some indications for the existence of a third type of burst. Swift satellite detectors have different spectral sensitivity than pre-Swift ones for gamma-ray bursts. Therefore it is worth to reanalyze the durations and their distribution and also the classification of GRBs. Using The First BAT Catalog the maximum likelihood estimation was used to analyzed the duration distribution of GRBs. The three log-normal fit is significantly (99.54% probability) better than the two for the duration distribution. Monte-Carlo simulations also confirm this probability (99.2%).

  5. Survey of bats on Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, Washington, December 2011-April 2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagar, Joan C.; Manning, Tom; Barnett, Jenny

    2013-01-01

    Bats are diverse and abundant in many ecosystems worldwide. They perform important ecosystem functions, particularly by consuming large quantities of insects (Cleveland and others, 2006; Jones and others, 2009; Kuhn and others, 2011). The importance of bats to biodiversity and to ecosystem integrity has been overlooked in many regions, largely because the challenges of detecting and studying these small, nocturnal mammals have rendered a paucity of information on matters as basic as species distribution and natural history attributes. Recently, concern for bats has arisen in response to recognition of large-scale threats, such as white-nosed syndrome (WNS; Turner and others, 2009; Frick and others, 2010) and mortality at wind energy facilities (Arnett and others, 2008), factors that are causing unprecedented population declines of bats (Boyles and others, 2011). WNS is a fungal disease that has killed more than 1 million cave-hibernating bats in eastern North America since being discovered in New York State in 2006 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2012). WNS has spread rapidly from northeastern U.S., and as of August 2012 has been confirmed as far west as eastern Missouri(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2013). Given the rapid spread of WNS, there is concern that the disease may soon affect western bat populations. Hibernating bats are particularly vulnerable to the effects of WNS (Blehert and others, 2009). Refuges in eastern Washington, including the Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuge Complex (MCRNWRC) and Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge, support many potential hibernacula. Sixteen species of bats potentially occur on these refuges, including one federally listed species of concern (Townsend’s big-eared bat [Corynorhinus townsendii]; see table 1 for scientific names of bats), and 12 species that are of conservation concern in Washington and Oregon (table 1). However, little is known about bats on these refuges because few surveys have been

  6. Using an internet questionnaire to characterize bat survey efforts in the United States and Canada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theodore J. Weller; William J. Zielinski

    2006-01-01

    Standardized survey methods are important for obtaining reliable information on wildlife populations. As a precursor to creating a regional bat-survey (Chiroptera) protocol, we distributed a questionnaire via e-mail to biologists responsible for conducting bat surveys in the United States and Canada. We received 415 responses from 45 states and 7 Canadian provinces or...

  7. A Comparison of the Variability of the Symbiotic X-ray Binaries GX 1+4, 4U 1954+31, and 4U 1700+24 from Swift/BAT and RXTE/ASM Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corbet, R. H. D.; Sokoloski, J. L.; Mukai, K.; Markwardt, C. B.; Tueller, J.

    2007-01-01

    We present an analysis of the X-ray variability of three symbiotic X-ray binaries, GX 1+4, 4U 1700+24, and 4U 1954+31, using observations made with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) All-Sky Monitor (ASM). Observations of 4U 1954+31 with the Swift BAT show modulation at a period near 5 hours. Models to explain this modulation are discussed including the presence of an exceptionally slow X-ray pulsar in the system and accretion instabilities. We conclude that the most likely interpretation is that 4U 1954+31 contains one of the slowest known X-ray pulsars. Unlike 4U 1954+31, neither GX 1+4 nor 4U 1700+24 show any evidence for modulation on a timescale of hours. An analysis of the RXTE ASM light curves of GX l+4, 4U 1700+24, and 4U 1954+31 does not show the presence of periodic modulation in any source, although there is considerable variability on long timescales for all three sources. There is no modulation in GX 1+4 on either the optical 1161 day orbital period or a previously reported 304 day X-ray period. For 4U 1700+24 we do not confirm the 404 day period previously proposed for this source from a shorter duration ASM light curve.

  8. Offshore observations of eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis in the Mid-Atlantic United States using multiple survey methods.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shaylyn K Hatch

    Full Text Available Little is known about the migration and movements of migratory tree-roosting bat species in North America, though anecdotal observations of migrating bats over the Atlantic Ocean have been reported since at least the 1890s. Aerial surveys and boat-based surveys of wildlife off the Atlantic Seaboard detected a possible diurnal migration event of eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis in September 2012. One bat was sighted approximately 44 km east of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware during a boat-based survey. Eleven additional bats were observed between 16.9 and 41.8 km east of New Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia in high definition video footage collected during digital aerial surveys. Observations were collected incidentally as part of a large baseline study of seabird, marine mammal, and sea turtle distributions and movements in the offshore environment. Digital survey methods also allowed for altitude estimation for several of these bats at >100 m above sea level. These observations provide new evidence of bat movements offshore, and offer insight into their flight heights above sea level and the times of day at which such migrations may occur.

  9. The ΓX-L/LEdd relation in BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trakhtenbrot, Benny; Ricci, Claudio; Koss, Michael; Schawinski, Kevin; Mushotzky, Richard; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Veilleux, Sylvain; Lamperti, Isabella; Oh, Kyuseok; Treister, Ezequiel; Stern, Daniel; Harrison, Fiona; Balokovic, Mislav

    2018-01-01

    We present a study of the relation between accretion rate (in terms of L/LEdd) and shape of the hard X-ray spectral energy distribution (namely the photon index Γx) for a large sample of over 200 hard X-ray-selected, low-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGNs), drawn from the Swift/BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS). This includes 30 AGNs for which black hole mass (and therefore L/LEdd) is measured directly through masers, spatially resolved gas or stellar dynamics, or reverberation mapping. The high-quality and broad energy coverage of the data provided through BASS allow us to examine several alternative determinations of both Γx and L/LEdd. We find very weak correlation between Γx and L/LEdd for the BASS sample as a whole, with best-fitting relations that are considerably shallower than those reported in previous studies. Moreover, we find no corresponding correlations among the subsets of AGN with different MBH determination methodology, and in particular those AGN with direct or single-epoch MBH estimates. This latter finding is in contrast to several previous studies which focused on z > 0.5 broad-line AGN. We conclude that this tension can be partially accounted for if one adopts a simplified, power-law X-ray spectral model, combined with L/LEdd estimates that are based on the continuum emission and on single-epoch broad-line spectroscopy in the optical regime. Given these findings, we highlight the limitations of using Γx as a probe of supermassive black hole evolution in deep extragalactic X-ray surveys.

  10. VizieR Online Data Catalog: Swift Master Catalog (HEASARC, 2004-)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nasa; Heasarc

    2018-01-01

    This table records high-level information for each Swift observation and provides access to the data archive. Each record is associated with a single observation that contains data from all instruments on board Swift. The BAT is the large field of view instrument and operates in the 10-300 keV energy band. The narrow field instruments, XRT and UVOT, operate in the X-ray and UV/optical regime, respectively. An observation is defined as a collection of snapshots, where a snapshot is defined as the time spent observing the same position continuously. Because of observing constraints, the length of a snapshot can be shorter than a single orbit and it can be interrupted because the satellite will point in a different direction of the sky or because the time allocated to that observation ends. The typical Swift observing strategy for a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) and/or afterglow, consists of a serious of observations aimed at following the GRB and its afterglow evolution. This strategy is achieved with two different type of observations named Automatic Targets and Pre-Planned Targets. The Automatic Target is initiated on board soon after an event is triggered by the BAT. The Figure of Merit (FOM) algorithm, part of the observatory's autonomy, decides if it is worth requesting a slew maneuver to point the narrow field instruments (NFI) on Swift, XRT and UVOT, in the direction of the trigger. If the conditions to slew to the new position are satisfied, the Automatic Target observation takes place; all the instruments have a pre-set standard configuration of operating modes and filters and about 20000 seconds on source will be collected. The Pre-Planned Target observations instead are initiated from the ground once the trigger is known. These observations are planned on ground and uploaded onto the spacecraft. (1 data file).

  11. The Swift Burst Alert Telescope Detected Seyfert 1 Galaxies: X-Ray Broadband Properties and Warm Absorbers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winter, Lisa M.; Veilleux, Sylvain; McKernan, Barry; Kallman, T.

    2012-01-01

    We present results from an analysis of the broadband, 0.3-195 keV, X-ray spectra of 48 Seyfert 1-1.5 sources detected in the very hard X-rays with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT). This sample is selected in an all-sky survey conducted in the 14-195 keV band. Therefore, our sources are largely unbiased toward both obscuration and host galaxy properties. Our detailed and uniform model fits to Suzaku/BAT and XMM-Newton/BAT spectra include the neutral absorption, direct power-law, reflected emission, soft excess, warm absorption, and narrow Fe I K[alpha] emission properties for the entire sample. We significantly detect O VII and O VIII edges in 52% of our sample. The strength of these detections is strongly correlated with the neutral column density measured in the spectrum. Among the strongest detections, X-ray grating and UV observations, where available, indicate outflowing material. The ionized column densities of sources with O VII and O VIII detections are clustered in a narrow range with Nwarm [approx] 1021 cm-2, while sources without strong detections have column densities of ionized gas an order of magnitude lower. Therefore, we note that sources without strong detections likely have warm ionized outflows present but at low column densities that are not easily probed with current X-ray observations. Sources with strong complex absorption have a strong soft excess, which may or may not be due to difficulties in modeling the complex spectra of these sources. Still, the detection of a flat [Gamma] [approx] 1 and a strong soft excess may allow us to infer the presence of strong absorption in low signal-to-noise active galactic nucleus spectra. Additionally, we include a useful correction from the Swift BAT luminosity to bolometric luminosity, based on a comparison of our spectral fitting results with published spectral energy distribution fits from 33 of our sources.

  12. Fermi-LAT Gamma-Ray Bursts and Insights from Swift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Racusin, Judith L.

    2010-01-01

    A new revolution in Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) observations and theory has begun over the last two years since the launch of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The new window into high energy gamma-rays opened by the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) is providing insight into prompt emission mechanisms and possibly also afterglow physics. The LAT detected GRBs appear to be a new unique subset of extremely energetic and bright bursts compared to the large sample detected by Swift over the last 6 years. In this talk, I will discuss the context and recent discoveries from these LAT GRBs and the large database of broadband observations collected by the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) and UV/Optical Telescope (UVOT). Through comparisons between the GRBs detected by Swift-BAT, G8M, and LAT, we can learn about the unique characteristics, physical differences, and the relationships between each population. These population characteristics provide insight into the different physical parameters that contribute to the diversity of observational GRB properties.

  13. The Successful Synergy of Swift and Fermi/GBM in Magnetars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kouveliotou, Chryssa

    2011-01-01

    The magnetar rate of discovery has increased dramatically in the last decade. Five sources were discovered in the last three years alone as a result of the very efficient synergy among three X- and .gamma-ray instruments on NASA satellites: the Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), the Fermi/Gamma ray Burst Monitor (GBM), and the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer; RXTE/Proportional Counter Array (PCA). To date, there are approx. 25 magnetar candidates, of which two are (one each) in the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud and the rest reside on the Galactic plane of our Milky Way. I will discuss here the main properties of the Magnetar Population and the common projects that can be achieved with the synergy of Swift and GBM.

  14. Monitoring and Detecting X-ray Transients with the Swift Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markwardt, Craig

    2002-01-01

    Swift is a multi-wavelength observatory specifically designed to detect transients sources in the gamma-ray energy band 15-200 keV. The primary goals of the mission involve gamma ray burst (GRB) astronomy, namely to determine the origin of GRBs and their afterglows, and use bursts to probe the early Universe. However, Swift will also discover new X-ray transient sources, and it will be possible to bring Swift's considerable multi-wavelength capabilities to bear on these sources, and those discovered by other means. The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) is a coded mask instrument sensitive to 15-200 keV gamma rays, and has a field of view which covers approximately 1/8th of the sky in a single pointing. Over a typical observing day, the almost the entire sky will be observed and monitored for new transient sources. Sources will be detected within several hours of observation. The two narrow field instruments, the X-ray Telescope and Ultra-Violet Optical Telescope, can provide sensitive simultaneous imaging and spectroscopy observations in the optical through soft X-ray bands. The Swift science operations team will entertain requests for targets of opportunity for sources which are astrophysically significant. Swift will be ideally suited for the detection of transients which produce hard X-rays, such as black hole binaries and some neutron star systems.

  15. Molecular Survey of Bacterial Zoonotic Agents in Bats from the Country of Georgia (Caucasus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ying Bai

    Full Text Available Bats are important reservoirs for many zoonotic pathogens. However, no surveys of bacterial pathogens in bats have been performed in the Caucasus region. To understand the occurrence and distribution of bacterial infections in these mammals, 218 bats belonging to eight species collected from four regions of Georgia were examined for Bartonella, Brucella, Leptospira, and Yersinia using molecular approaches. Bartonella DNA was detected in 77 (35% bats from all eight species and was distributed in all four regions. The prevalence ranged 6-50% per bat species. The Bartonella DNA represented 25 unique genetic variants that clustered into 21 lineages. Brucella DNA was detected in two Miniopterus schreibersii bats and in two Myotis blythii bats, all of which were from Imereti (west-central region. Leptospira DNA was detected in 25 (13% bats that included four M. schreibersii bats and 21 M. blythii bats collected from two regions. The Leptospira sequences represented five genetic variants with one of them being closely related to the zoonotic pathogen L. interrogans (98.6% genetic identity. No Yersinia DNA was detected in the bats. Mixed infections were observed in several cases. One M. blythii bat and one M. schreibersii bat were co-infected with Bartonella, Brucella, and Leptospira; one M. blythii bat and one M. schreibersii bat were co-infected with Bartonella and Brucella; 15 M. blythii bats and three M. schreibersii bats were co-infected with Bartonella and Leptospira. Our results suggest that bats in Georgia are exposed to multiple bacterial infections. Further studies are needed to evaluate pathogenicity of these agents to bats and their zoonotic potential.

  16. The HEASARC Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Archive: The Pipeline and the Catalog

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donato, Davide; Angelini, Lorella; Padgett, C.A.; Reichard, T.; Gehrels, Neil; Marshall, Francis E.; Sakamoto, Takanori

    2012-01-01

    Since its launch in late 2004, the Swift satellite triggered or observed an average of one gamma-ray burst (GRB) every 3 days, for a total of 771 GRBs by 2012 January. Here, we report the development of a pipeline that semi automatically performs the data-reduction and data-analysis processes for the three instruments on board Swift (BAT, XRT, UVOT). The pipeline is written in Perl, and it uses only HEAsoft tools and can be used to perform the analysis of a majority of the point-like objects (e.g., GRBs, active galactic nuclei, pulsars) observed by Swift. We run the pipeline on the GRBs, and we present a database containing the screened data, the output products, and the results of our ongoing analysis. Furthermore, we created a catalog summarizing some GRB information, collected either by running the pipeline or from the literature. The Perl script, the database, and the catalog are available for downloading and querying at the HEASARC Web site.

  17. Species undersampling in tropical bat surveys: effects on emerging biodiversity patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Christoph F J; Aguiar, Ludmilla M S; Aguirre, Luis F; Baumgarten, Julio; Clarke, Frank M; Cosson, Jean-François; Estrada Villegas, Sergio; Fahr, Jakob; Faria, Deborah; Furey, Neil; Henry, Mickaël; Jenkins, Richard K B; Kunz, Thomas H; Cristina MacSwiney González, M; Moya, Isabel; Pons, Jean-Marc; Racey, Paul A; Rex, Katja; Sampaio, Erica M; Stoner, Kathryn E; Voigt, Christian C; von Staden, Dietrich; Weise, Christa D; Kalko, Elisabeth K V

    2015-01-01

    Undersampling is commonplace in biodiversity surveys of species-rich tropical assemblages in which rare taxa abound, with possible repercussions for our ability to implement surveys and monitoring programmes in a cost-effective way. We investigated the consequences of information loss due to species undersampling (missing subsets of species from the full species pool) in tropical bat surveys for the emerging patterns of species richness (SR) and compositional variation across sites. For 27 bat assemblage data sets from across the tropics, we used correlations between original data sets and subsets with different numbers of species deleted either at random, or according to their rarity in the assemblage, to assess to what extent patterns in SR and composition in data subsets are congruent with those in the initial data set. We then examined to what degree high sample representativeness (r ≥ 0·8) was influenced by biogeographic region, sampling method, sampling effort or structural assemblage characteristics. For SR, correlations between random subsets and original data sets were strong (r ≥ 0·8) with moderate (ca. 20%) species loss. Bias associated with information loss was greater for species composition; on average ca. 90% of species in random subsets had to be retained to adequately capture among-site variation. For nonrandom subsets, removing only the rarest species (on average c. 10% of the full data set) yielded strong correlations (r > 0·95) for both SR and composition. Eliminating greater proportions of rare species resulted in weaker correlations and large variation in the magnitude of observed correlations among data sets. Species subsets that comprised ca. 85% of the original set can be considered reliable surrogates, capable of adequately revealing patterns of SR and temporal or spatial turnover in many tropical bat assemblages. Our analyses thus demonstrate the potential as well as limitations for reducing survey effort and streamlining

  18. White-nose syndrome in bats: U.S. Geological Survey updates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogall, Gail Moede; Verant, Michelle

    2012-01-01

    White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a devastating disease that has killed millions of hibernating bats since it first appeared in New York in 2007 and has spread at an alarming rate from the northeastern to the central United States and Canada. The disease is named for the white fungus Geomyces destructans that infects the skin of the muzzle, ears, and wings of hibernating bats. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC), the USGS Fort Collins Science Center, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other partners continue to play a primary role in WNS research. Studies conducted at the NWHC led to the discovery (Blehert and others, 2009), characterization, and naming (Gargas and others, 2009) of the cold-loving fungus G. destructans and to the development of standardized criteria for diagnosing the disease (Meteyer and others, 2009). Additionally, scientists at the NWHC have pioneered laboratory techniques for studying the effects of the fungus on hibernating bats (Lorch and others, 2011). To determine if bats are affected by white-nose syndrome, scientists look for a characteristic microscopic pattern of skin erosion caused by G. destructans (Meteyer and others, 2009). Field signs of WNS can include visible white fungal growth on the bat's muzzle, wings, or both, but these signs alone are not a reliable disease indicator - laboratory examination and testing are required for disease confirmation. Infected bats also arouse from hibernation more frequently than uninfected bats (Warnecke and others, 2012) and often display abnormal behaviors in their hibernation sites, such as congregating at or near cave openings and daytime flights during winter. These abnormal behaviors may contribute to the bat's accelerated consumption of stored fat reserves, causing emaciation, a characteristic documented in some of the bats that die with WNS. During hibernation, bats likely have lowered immunity (Bouma and others, 2010), which may facilitate the ability

  19. HOST GALAXY PROPERTIES OF THE SWIFT BAT ULTRA HARD X-RAY SELECTED ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koss, Michael; Mushotzky, Richard; Veilleux, Sylvain; Winter, Lisa M.; Baumgartner, Wayne; Tueller, Jack; Gehrels, Neil; Valencic, Lynne

    2011-01-01

    We have assembled the largest sample of ultra hard X-ray selected (14-195 keV) active galactic nucleus (AGN) with host galaxy optical data to date, with 185 nearby (z * >10.5) have a 5-10 times higher rate of spiral morphologies than in SDSS AGNs or inactive galaxies. We also see enhanced far-infrared emission in BAT AGN suggestive of higher levels of star formation compared to the comparison samples. BAT AGNs are preferentially found in the most massive host galaxies with high concentration indexes indicative of large bulge-to-disk ratios and large supermassive black holes. The narrow-line (NL) BAT AGNs have similar intrinsic luminosities as the SDSS NL Seyferts based on measurements of [O III] λ5007. There is also a correlation between the stellar mass and X-ray emission. The BAT AGNs in mergers have bluer colors and greater ultra hard X-ray emission compared to the BAT sample as a whole. In agreement with the unified model of AGNs, and the relatively unbiased nature of the BAT sources, the host galaxy colors and morphologies are independent of measures of obscuration such as X-ray column density or Seyfert type. The high fraction of massive spiral galaxies and galaxy mergers in BAT AGNs suggest that host galaxy morphology is related to the activation and fueling of local AGN.

  20. Local Swift-BAT active galactic nuclei prefer circumnuclear star formation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lutz, D.; Shimizu, T.; Davies, R. I.; Herrera-Camus, R.; Sturm, E.; Tacconi, L. J.; Veilleux, S.

    2018-01-01

    We use Herschel data to analyze the size of the far-infrared 70 μm emission for z BAT selected active galactic nuclei (AGN), and 515 comparison galaxies that are not detected by BAT. For modest far-infrared luminosities 8.5 BAT hosts that is only half that of comparison galaxies of same far-infrared luminosity. The result mostly reflects a more compact distribution of star formation (and hence gas) in the AGN hosts, but compact AGN heated dust may contribute in some extremely AGN dominated systems. Our findings are in support of an AGN-host coevolution where accretion onto the central black hole and star formation are fed from the same gas reservoir, with more efficient black hole feeding if that reservoir is more concentrated. The significant scatter in the far-infrared sizes emphasizes that we are mostly probing spatial scales much larger than those of actual accretion, and that rapid accretion variations can smear the distinction between the AGN and comparison categories. Large samples are hence needed to detect structural differences that favor feeding of the black hole. No size difference between AGN host and comparison galaxies is observed at higher far-infrared luminosities log(LFIR [L⊙]) > 10.5 (star formation rates ≳6 M⊙ yr-1), possibly because these are typically reached in more compact regions. Full Table A.1 is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/609/A9

  1. Survey of bat populations from Mexico and Paraguay for rabies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheeler-Gordon, L L; Smith, J S

    2001-07-01

    A mammalian survey was conducted in Mexico (October 1994-January 1996) and in Paraguay (August 1996-March 1997); a complete specimen was collected for each bat in the survey, including primary voucher specimen, ectoparasites, karyotype, and various frozen tissues. The surveys combined provided 937 brain samples (65 bat species) for rabies diagnosis. One male Lasiurus ega, collected in Paraguay, tested positive for the rabies virus (overall prevalence rate of 0.1%). Nucleotide sequence from a 300 bp region of the rabies nucleoprotein gene was compared with sequence obtained from representative rabies virus samples in the repository at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, Georgia, USA). Rabies virus extracted from the brain material of L. ega differed by only one nucleotide from a 300 bp consensus sequence (>99% homology) derived from samples for the variant of rabies virus transmitted by Lasiurus cinereus. Lasiurus ego differed by approximately 15% for the variant transmitted by Desmodus rotundus. Phylogenetic analysis found no evidence to suggest L. ego is a reservoir for rabies antigenic variant 6. The most likely explanation for rabies in L. ega was infection following contact with a rabid L. cinereus.

  2. Swift observations of GS 1826-238

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, L.; Santangelo, A.; Zhang, S.; Ducci, L.; Suleimanov, V.

    2018-02-01

    GS 1826-238 is a well-studied low-mass X-ray binary neutron star. This source was in a persistent hard state since its discovery in 1988 and until 2014 June. After that, the source exhibited several softer periods of enhanced intensity in the energy range 2-20 keV. We studied the long-term light curves of MAXI (Monitor of All Sky X-ray Image) and Swift/BAT, and found clearly two branches in the MAXI-BAT and hardness-intensity diagrams, which correspond to the persistent state and softer periods, respectively. We analysed 21 Swift/XRT observations, of which four were located in the persistent state while the others were in softer periods or in a state between them. The XRT spectra could be generally fitted by using an absorbed Comptonization model with no other components required. We found a peculiar relationship between the luminosity and the hardness in the energy range of 0.6-10 keV: when the luminosity is larger (smaller) than 4 per cent-6 per cent Ledd, the hardness is anti-correlated (correlated) with luminosity. We also estimated the variability for each observation by using the fractional rms in the 0.1-10 Hz range. We found that the observations in the persistent state had a large fractional rms of ˜25 per cent, similar to other low-mass X-ray binaries. However, the variability is mainly found in the range of 5 per cent-20 per cent during softer periods. We suggest that GS 1826-238 did not evolve into the soft state of atoll sources, and all the observed XRT observations during the softer periods resemble a peculiar intermediate state of atoll sources.

  3. THE SECOND SWIFT BURST ALERT TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY BURST CATALOG

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakamoto, T.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Cummings, J. R.; Krimm, H. A.; Barthelmy, S. D.; Gehrels, N.; Markwardt, C. B.; Parsons, A. M.; Tueller, J.; Fenimore, E. E.; Palmer, D. M.; Sato, G.; Stamatikos, M.; Ukwatta, T. N.; Zhang, B.

    2011-01-01

    We present the second Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which contains 476 bursts detected by the BAT between 2004 December 19 and 2009 December 21. This catalog (hereafter the BAT2 catalog) presents burst trigger time, location, 90% error radius, duration, fluence, peak flux, time-averaged spectral parameters, and time-resolved spectral parameters measured by the BAT. In the correlation study of various observed parameters extracted from the BAT prompt emission data, we distinguish among long-duration GRBs (L-GRBs), short-duration GRBs (S-GRBs), and short-duration GRBs with extended emission (S-GRBs with E.E.) to investigate differences in the prompt emission properties. The fraction of L-GRBs, S-GRBs, and S-GRBs with E.E. in the catalog are 89%, 8%, and 2%, respectively. We compare the BAT prompt emission properties with the BATSE, BeppoSAX, and HETE-2 GRB samples. We also correlate the observed prompt emission properties with the redshifts for the GRBs with known redshift. The BAT T 90 and T 50 durations peak at 70 s and 30 s, respectively. We confirm that the spectra of the BAT S-GRBs are generally harder than those of the L-GRBs. The time-averaged spectra of the BAT S-GRBs with E.E. are similar to those of the L-GRBs. Whereas, the spectra of the initial short spikes of the S-GRBs with E.E. are similar to those of the S-GRBs. We show that the BAT GRB samples are significantly softer than the BATSE bright GRBs and that the time-averaged E obs peak of the BAT GRBs peaks at 80 keV, which is significantly lower energy than those of the BATSE sample, which peak at 320 keV. The time-averaged spectral properties of the BAT GRB sample are similar to those of the HETE-2 GRB samples. By time-resolved spectral analysis, we find that only 10% of the BAT observed photon indices are outside the allowed region of the synchrotron shock model. We see no obvious observed trend in the BAT T 90 and the observed spectra with redshifts. The T 90

  4. Swift fox survey along Heartland Expressway Corridor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-05-01

    The swift fox (Vulpes velox) is a small canid classified as endangered within the : state of Nebraska. Future construction of the Heartland Expressway Corridor (HEC), a : 300 km road expansion project in the panhandle of the state, may impact the res...

  5. Suzaku  Observations of Heavily Obscured (Compton-thick) Active Galactic Nuclei Selected by the Swift/BAT Hard X-Ray Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanimoto, Atsushi; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Kawamuro, Taiki; Ricci, Claudio; Awaki, Hisamitsu; Terashima, Yuichi

    2018-02-01

    We present a uniform broadband X-ray (0.5–100.0 keV) spectral analysis of 12 Swift/Burst Alert Telescope selected Compton-thick ({log}{N}{{H}}/{{cm}}-2≥slant 24) active galactic nuclei (CTAGNs) observed with Suzaku. The Suzaku data of three objects are published here for the first time. We fit the Suzaku and Swift spectra with models utilizing an analytic reflection code and those utilizing the Monte-Carlo-based model from an AGN torus by Ikeda et al. The main results are as follows: (1) The estimated intrinsic luminosity of a CTAGN strongly depends on the model; applying Compton scattering to the transmitted component in an analytic model may largely overestimate the intrinsic luminosity at large column densities. (2) Unabsorbed reflection components are commonly observed, suggesting that the tori are clumpy. (3) Most of CTAGNs show small scattering fractions (<0.5%), implying a buried AGN nature. (4) Comparison with the results obtained for Compton-thin AGNs suggests that the properties of these CTAGNs can be understood as a smooth extension from Compton-thin AGNs with heavier obscuration; we find no evidence that the bulk of the population of hard-X-ray-selected CTAGNs are different from less obscured objects.

  6. Bat Hunting and Bat-Human Interactions in Bangladeshi Villages: Implications for Zoonotic Disease Transmission and Bat Conservation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Openshaw, J J; Hegde, S; Sazzad, H M S; Khan, S U; Hossain, M J; Epstein, J H; Daszak, P; Gurley, E S; Luby, S P

    2017-08-01

    Bats are an important reservoir for emerging zoonotic pathogens. Close human-bat interactions, including the sharing of living spaces and hunting and butchering of bats for food and medicines, may lead to spillover of zoonotic disease into human populations. We used bat exposure and environmental data gathered from 207 Bangladeshi villages to characterize bat exposures and hunting in Bangladesh. Eleven percent of households reported having a bat roost near their homes, 65% reported seeing bats flying over their households at dusk, and 31% reported seeing bats inside their compounds or courtyard areas. Twenty percent of households reported that members had at least daily exposure to bats. Bat hunting occurred in 49% of the villages surveyed and was more likely to occur in households that reported nearby bat roosts (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] 2.3, 95% CI 1.1-4.9) and villages located in north-west (aPR 7.5, 95% CI 2.5-23.0) and south-west (aPR 6.8, 95% CI 2.1-21.6) regions. Our results suggest high exposure to bats and widespread hunting throughout Bangladesh. This has implications for both zoonotic disease spillover and bat conservation. © 2016 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  7. White-nose syndrome in North American bats - U.S. Geological Survey updates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lankau, Emily W.; Moede Rogall, Gail

    2016-12-27

    White-nose syndrome is a devastating wildlife disease that has killed millions of hibernating bats. This disease first appeared in New York during 2007 and has continued to spread at an alarming rate from the northeastern to the central United States and throughout eastern Canada. The disease is named for the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which often appears white when it infects the skin of the nose, ears, and wings of hibernating bats. This fact sheet provides updates on white-nose syndrome research and management efforts and highlights US Geological Survey scientists’ contributions to understanding and combating this disease.

  8. Can bats sense smoke during deep torpor?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doty, Anna C; Currie, Shannon E; Stawski, Clare; Geiser, Fritz

    2018-03-01

    While torpor is a beneficial energy-saving strategy, it may incur costs if an animal is unable to respond appropriately to external stimuli, which is particularly true when it is necessary to escape from threats such as fire. We aimed to determine whether torpid bats, which are potentially threatened because they must fly to escape, can sense smoke and whether respiration rate (RR), heart rate (HR) and reaction time of torpid bats prior to and following smoke introduction is temperature-dependent. To test this we quantified RR and HR of captive Australian tree-roosting bats, Nyctophilus gouldi (n=5, ~10g), in steady-state torpor in response to short-term exposure to smoke from Eucalyptus spp. leaves between ambient temperatures (T a ) of 11 and 23°C. Bats at lower T a took significantly longer (28-fold) to respond to smoke, indicated by a cessation of episodic breathing and a rapid increase in RR. Bats at lower T a returned to torpor more swiftly following smoke exposure than bats at higher T a . Interestingly, bats at T a <15°C never returned to thermoconforming steady-state torpor prior to the end of the experimental day, whereas all bats at T a ≥15°C did, as indicated by apnoeic HR. This shows that although bats at lower T a took longer to respond, they appear to maintain vigilance and prevent deep torpor after the first smoke exposure, likely to enable fast escape. Our study reveals that bats can respond to smoke stimuli while in deep torpor. These results are particularly vital within the framework of fire management conducted at T a <15°C, as most management burns are undertaken during winter when bats will likely respond more slowly to fire cues such as smoke, delaying the time to escape from the fire. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. SWIFT OBSERVATIONS OF HARD X-RAY EMITTING WHITE DWARFS IN SYMBIOTIC STARS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kennea, J. A.; Burrows, D. N.; Mukai, K.; Markwardt, C. B.; Sokoloski, J. L.; Luna, G. J. M.; Tueller, J.

    2009-01-01

    The X-ray emission from most accreting white dwarfs (WDs) in symbiotic binary stars is quite soft. Several symbiotic WDs, however, produce strong X-ray emission at energies greater than ∼20 keV. The Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) instrument has detected hard X-ray emission from four such accreting WDs in symbiotic stars: RT Cru, T CrB, CD -57 3057, and CH Cyg. In one case (RT Cru), Swift detected X-rays out to greater than 50 keV at >5σ confidence level. Combining data from the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and BAT detectors, we find that the 0.3-150 keV spectra of RT Cru, T CrB, and CD -57 3057 are well described by emission from a single-temperature, optically thin thermal plasma, plus an unresolved 6.4-6.9 keV Fe line complex. The X-ray spectrum of CH Cyg contains an additional bright soft component. For all four systems, the spectra suffer high levels of absorption from material that both fully and partially covers the source of hard X-rays. The XRT data did not show any of the rapid, periodic variations that one would expect if the X-ray emission were due to accretion onto a rotating, highly magnetized WD. The X-rays were thus more likely from the accretion-disk boundary layer around a massive, non-magnetic WD in each binary. The X-ray emission from RT Cru varied on timescales of a few days. This variability is consistent with being due to changes in the absorber that partially covers the source, suggesting localized absorption from a clumpy medium moving into the line of sight. The X-ray emission from CD -57 3057 and T CrB also varied during the nine months of Swift observations, in a manner that was also consistent with variable absorption.

  10. BAT Triggering Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLean, Kassandra M.; Fenimore, E. E.; Palmer, D. M.; BAT Team

    2006-09-01

    The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) onboard Swift has detected and located about 160 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in its first twenty months of operation. BAT employs two triggering systems to find GRBs: image triggering, which looks for a new point source in the field of view, and rate triggering, which looks for a significant increase in the observed counts. The image triggering system looks at 1 minute, 5 minute, and full pointing accumulations of counts in the detector plane in the energy range of 15-50 keV, with about 50 evaluations per pointing (about 40 minutes). The rate triggering system looks through 13 different time scales (from 4ms to 32s), 4 overlapping energy bins (covering 15-350 keV), 9 regions of the detector plane (from the full plane to individual quarters), and two background sampling models to search for GRBs. It evaluates 27000 trigger criteria in a second, for close to 1000 criteria. The image triggering system looks at 1, 5, and 40 minute accumulations of counts in the detector plane in the energy range of 15-50 keV. Both triggering systems are working very well with the settings from before launch and after we turned on BAT. However, we now have more than a year and a half of data to evaluate these triggering systems and tweak them for optimal performance, as well as lessons learned from these triggering systems.

  11. The swift UVOT stars survey. I. Methods and test clusters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Siegel, Michael H.; Porterfield, Blair L.; Linevsky, Jacquelyn S.; Bond, Howard E.; Hoversten, Erik A.; Berrier, Joshua L.; Gronwall, Caryl A. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Holland, Stephen T. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Breeveld, Alice A. [Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT (United Kingdom); Brown, Peter J., E-mail: siegel@astro.psu.edu, E-mail: blp14@psu.edu, E-mail: heb11@psu.edu, E-mail: caryl@astro.psu.edu, E-mail: sholland@stsci.edu, E-mail: aab@mssl.ucl.ac.uk, E-mail: grbpeter@yahoo.com [George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A. and M. University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 4242 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843 (United States)

    2014-12-01

    We describe the motivations and background of a large survey of nearby stellar populations using the Ultraviolet Optical Telescope (UVOT) on board the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission. UVOT, with its wide field, near-UV sensitivity, and 2.″3 spatial resolution, is uniquely suited to studying nearby stellar populations and providing insight into the near-UV properties of hot stars and the contribution of those stars to the integrated light of more distant stellar populations. We review the state of UV stellar photometry, outline the survey, and address problems specific to wide- and crowded-field UVOT photometry. We present color–magnitude diagrams of the nearby open clusters M67, NGC 188, and NGC 2539, and the globular cluster M79. We demonstrate that UVOT can easily discern the young- and intermediate-age main sequences, blue stragglers, and hot white dwarfs, producing results consistent with previous studies. We also find that it characterizes the blue horizontal branch of M79 and easily identifies a known post-asymptotic giant branch star.

  12. The swift UVOT stars survey. I. Methods and test clusters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siegel, Michael H.; Porterfield, Blair L.; Linevsky, Jacquelyn S.; Bond, Howard E.; Hoversten, Erik A.; Berrier, Joshua L.; Gronwall, Caryl A.; Holland, Stephen T.; Breeveld, Alice A.; Brown, Peter J.

    2014-01-01

    We describe the motivations and background of a large survey of nearby stellar populations using the Ultraviolet Optical Telescope (UVOT) on board the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission. UVOT, with its wide field, near-UV sensitivity, and 2.″3 spatial resolution, is uniquely suited to studying nearby stellar populations and providing insight into the near-UV properties of hot stars and the contribution of those stars to the integrated light of more distant stellar populations. We review the state of UV stellar photometry, outline the survey, and address problems specific to wide- and crowded-field UVOT photometry. We present color–magnitude diagrams of the nearby open clusters M67, NGC 188, and NGC 2539, and the globular cluster M79. We demonstrate that UVOT can easily discern the young- and intermediate-age main sequences, blue stragglers, and hot white dwarfs, producing results consistent with previous studies. We also find that it characterizes the blue horizontal branch of M79 and easily identifies a known post-asymptotic giant branch star.

  13. A comparison of survey methods for documenting presence of Myotis leibii (Eastern Small-Footed Bats) at roosting areas in Western Virginia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huth, John K.; Silvis, Alexander; Moosman, Paul R.; Ford, W. Mark; Sweeten, Sara E.

    2015-01-01

    Many aspects of foraging and roosting habitat of Myotis leibii (Eastern Small-Footed Bat), an emergent rock roosting-obligate, are poorly described. Previous comparisons of effectiveness of acoustic sampling and mist-net captures have not included Eastern Small-Footed Bat. Habitat requirements of this species differ from congeners in the region, and it is unclear whether survey protocols developed for other species are applicable. Using data from three overlapping studies at two sampling sites in western Virginia’s central Appalachian Mountains, detection probabilities were examined for three survey methods (acoustic surveys with automated identification of calls, visual searches of rock crevices, and mist-netting) for use in the development of “best practices” for future surveys and monitoring. Observer effects were investigated using an expanded version of visual search data. Results suggested that acoustic surveys with automated call identification are not effective for documenting presence of Eastern Small-Footed Bats on talus slopes (basal detection rate of 0%) even when the species is known to be present. The broadband, high frequency echolocation calls emitted by Eastern Small-Footed Bat may be prone to attenuation by virtue of their high frequencies, and these factors, along with signal reflection, lower echolocation rates or possible misidentification to other bat species over talus slopes may all have contributed to poor acoustic survey success. Visual searches and mist-netting of emergent rock had basal detection probabilities of 91% and 75%, respectively. Success of visual searches varied among observers, but detection probability improved with practice. Additionally, visual searches were considerably more economical than mist-netting.

  14. Swift Observations of 2MASS J070931-353746

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schartel, Dirk Grupe Norbert; Komossa, S.

    2018-05-01

    We report of Swift observations of 2MASS J070931-353746 which was discovered as a bright X-ray source during an XMM slew on 2018-April-26. Compared with the flux seen during the ROSAT All Sky Survey (Voges et al. 1999) the source appeared to be brighter by a factor of about 16. We performed a short 1ks Swift observation of 2MASS J070931-353746 on 2018-May-18.

  15. Surveillance for European bat lyssavirus in Swiss bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Megali, A; Yannic, G; Zahno, M-L; Brügger, D; Bertoni, G; Christe, P; Zanoni, R

    2010-10-01

    Most countries in Western Europe are currently free of rabies in terrestrial mammals. Nevertheless, rabies remains a residual risk to public health due to the natural circulation of bat-specific viruses, such as European bat lyssaviruses (EBLVs). European bat lyssavirus types 1 and 2 (EBLV-1 and EBLV-2) are widely distributed throughout Europe, but little is known of their true prevalence and epidemiology. We report that only three out of 837 brains taken from bats submitted to the Swiss Rabies Centre between 1976 and 2009 were found by immunofluorescence (FAT) to be positive for EBLVs. All three positive cases were in Myotis daubentoni, from 1992, 1993 and 2002. In addition to this passive surveillance, we undertook a targeted survey in 2009, aimed at detecting lyssaviruses in live bats in Switzerland. A total of 237 bats of the species M. daubentoni, Myotis myotis, Eptesicus serotinus and Nyctalus noctula were captured at different sites in western Switzerland. Oropharyngeal swabs and blood from each individual were analysed by RT-PCR and rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT), respectively. RNA corresponding to EBLV-2 was detected from oropharyngeal swabs of a single M. daubentoni bat, but no infectious virus was found. Molecular phylogenetic analysis revealed that the corresponding sequence was closely related to the other EBLV-2 sequences identified in previous rabies isolates from Swiss bats (particularly to that found at Geneva in 2002). Three M. daubentoni bats were found to be seropositive by RFFIT. In conclusion, even though the prevalence is low in Switzerland, continuous management and surveillance are required to assess the potential risk to public health.

  16. The Nustar Extragalactic Surveys: The Number Counts of Active Galactic Nuclei and the Resolved Fraction of the Cosmic X-Ray Background

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harrison, F. A.; Aird, J.; Civano, F.

    2016-01-01

    . The measured NuSTAR counts lie significantly abovesimple extrapolation with a Euclidian slope to low flux of the Swift/BAT 15–55 keV number counts measured at higher fluxes (S(15–55 keV) ≤ 10−11 erg s-1 cm-2), reflecting the evolution of the AGN population between the Swift/BAT local (z ...STAR’s z ~ 1 sample. CXB synthesis models, which account for AGNevolution, lie above the Swift/BAT measurements, suggesting that they do not fully capture the evolution of obscured AGNs at low redshifts....... cm-2 ≤ 10-12, a factor ∼100 fainter than previous measurements. The 8–24 keV number counts match predictions from AGN populationsynthesis models, directly confirming the existence of a population of obscured and/or hard X-ray sources inferredfrom the shape of the integrated cosmic X-ray background...

  17. Swift for dummies

    CERN Document Server

    Feiler, Jesse

    2015-01-01

    Get up and running with Swift-swiftly Brimming with expert advice and easy-to-follow instructions,Swift For Dummies shows new and existing programmers how toquickly port existing Objective-C applications into Swift and getinto the swing of the new language like a pro. Designed from theground up to be a simpler programming language, it's never beeneasier to get started creating apps for the iPhone or iPad, orapplications for Mac OS X. Inside the book, you'll find out how to set up Xcode for a newSwift application, use operators, objects, and data types, andcontrol program flow with conditiona

  18. Longitudinal survey of two serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus maternity colonies exposed to EBLV-1 (European Bat Lyssavirus type 1: Assessment of survival and serological status variations using capture-recapture models.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emmanuelle Robardet

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This study describes two longitudinal serological surveys of European Bat Lyssavirus type 1 (EBLV-1 antibodies in serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus maternity colonies located in the North-East of France. This species is currently considered as the main EBLV-1 reservoir. Multievent capture-recapture models were used to determine the factors influencing bat rabies transmission as this method accounts for imperfect detection and uncertainty in disease states. Considering the period of study, analyses revealed that survival and recapture probabilities were not affected by the serological status of individuals, confirming the capacity of bats to be exposed to lyssaviruses without dying. Five bats have been found with EBLV-1 RNA in the saliva at the start of the study, suggesting they were caught during virus excretion period. Among these bats, one was interestingly recaptured one year later and harbored a seropositive status. Along the survey, some others bats have been observed to both seroconvert (i.e. move from a negative to a positive serological status and serorevert (i.e. move from a positive to a negative serological status. Peak of seroprevalence reached 34% and 70% in site A and B respectively. On one of the 2 sites, global decrease of seroprevalence was observed all along the study period nuanced by oscillation intervals of approximately 2-3 years supporting the oscillation infection dynamics hypothesized during a previous EBLV-1 study in a Myotis myotis colony. Seroprevalence were affected by significantly higher seroprevalence in summer than in spring. The maximum time observed between successive positive serological statuses of a bat demonstrated the potential persistence of neutralizing antibodies for at least 4 years. At last, EBLV-1 serological status transitions have been shown driven by age category with higher seroreversion frequencies in adults than in juvenile. Juveniles and female adults seemed indeed acting as distinct drivers

  19. Longitudinal survey of two serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus) maternity colonies exposed to EBLV-1 (European Bat Lyssavirus type 1): Assessment of survival and serological status variations using capture-recapture models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robardet, Emmanuelle; Borel, Christophe; Moinet, Marie; Jouan, Dorothée; Wasniewski, Marine; Barrat, Jacques; Boué, Franck; Montchâtre-Leroy, Elodie; Servat, Alexandre; Gimenez, Olivier; Cliquet, Florence; Picard-Meyer, Evelyne

    2017-11-01

    This study describes two longitudinal serological surveys of European Bat Lyssavirus type 1 (EBLV-1) antibodies in serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus) maternity colonies located in the North-East of France. This species is currently considered as the main EBLV-1 reservoir. Multievent capture-recapture models were used to determine the factors influencing bat rabies transmission as this method accounts for imperfect detection and uncertainty in disease states. Considering the period of study, analyses revealed that survival and recapture probabilities were not affected by the serological status of individuals, confirming the capacity of bats to be exposed to lyssaviruses without dying. Five bats have been found with EBLV-1 RNA in the saliva at the start of the study, suggesting they were caught during virus excretion period. Among these bats, one was interestingly recaptured one year later and harbored a seropositive status. Along the survey, some others bats have been observed to both seroconvert (i.e. move from a negative to a positive serological status) and serorevert (i.e. move from a positive to a negative serological status). Peak of seroprevalence reached 34% and 70% in site A and B respectively. On one of the 2 sites, global decrease of seroprevalence was observed all along the study period nuanced by oscillation intervals of approximately 2-3 years supporting the oscillation infection dynamics hypothesized during a previous EBLV-1 study in a Myotis myotis colony. Seroprevalence were affected by significantly higher seroprevalence in summer than in spring. The maximum time observed between successive positive serological statuses of a bat demonstrated the potential persistence of neutralizing antibodies for at least 4 years. At last, EBLV-1 serological status transitions have been shown driven by age category with higher seroreversion frequencies in adults than in juvenile. Juveniles and female adults seemed indeed acting as distinct drivers of the rabies

  20. Wind power and bats : Ontario guideline

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McGuiness, F. [Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, ON (Canada). Renewable Energy Resources; Stewart, J. [Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Toronto, ON (Canada). Wildlife Section

    2008-07-01

    None of the 8 species of bats in Ontario are considered as species at risk. However, all bats in Ontario are protected under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is responsible for identifying significant wildlife habitat for bats, including hibernacula and maternity roosts. The MNR's role in wind development includes environmental assessments (EA) and surveys. The MNR bat guideline includes a summary of Ontario species, a literature review of research related to wind turbines and bats, and a review of methods for assessing and monitoring bats. Guideline development includes a bat working group responsible for obtaining data on risk factors and monitoring requirements. The MNR has determined that site selection is critical for minimizing potential impacts. Wind farm proponents can use MNR data, information, and maps for their site selection process. Information requirements include bat species data; habitat data; and meteorological data. The presence of risk factors results in a sensitivity rating. The MNR is also developing a site sensitivity mapping project in order to assist proponents in making siting decisions. All proposed sites are required to conduct pre-construction site surveys. Acoustic detectors and radar are used to determine bat activity at the site. Monitoring and mitigation strategies include selective wind turbine shutdown during key periods or weather conditions. tabs., figs.

  1. Swift pointing and gravitational-wave bursts from gamma-ray burst events

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sutton, Patrick J; Finn, Lee Samuel; Krishnan, Badri

    2003-01-01

    The currently accepted model for gamma-ray burst phenomena involves the violent formation of a rapidly rotating solar-mass black hole. Gravitational waves should be associated with the black-hole formation, and their detection would permit this model to be tested. Even upper limits on the gravitational-wave strength associated with gamma-ray bursts could constrain the gamma-ray burst model. This requires joint observations of gamma-ray burst events with gravitational and gamma-ray detectors. Here we examine how the quality of an upper limit on the gravitational-wave strength associated with gamma-ray bursts depends on the relative orientation of the gamma-ray-burst and gravitational-wave detectors, and apply our results to the particular case of the Swift Burst-Alert Telescope (BAT) and the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors. A result of this investigation is a science-based 'figure of merit' that can be used, together with other mission constraints, to optimize the pointing of the Swift telescope for the detection of gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts

  2. Discovery and Evolution of the New Black Hole Candidate Swift J1539.2-6227 During Its 2008 Outburst

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krimm, H. A.; Tomsick, J. A.; Markwardt, C. B.; Brocksopp, C.; Grise, F.; Kaaret, P.; Romano, P.

    2010-01-01

    We report on the discovery by the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer of the black hole candidate Swift J1539.2-6227 and the subsequent course of an outburst beginning in November 2008 and lasting at least seven months. The source was discovered during normal observations with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on 2008 November 25. An extended observing campaign with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and Swift provided near-daily coverage over 176 days, giving us a rare opportunity to track the evolution of spectral and timing parameters with fine temporal resolution through a series of spectral states. The source was first detected in a hard state during which strong low-frequency quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) were detected. The QPOs persisted for about 35 days and a signature of the transition from the hard to soft intermediate states was seen in the timing data. The source entered a short-lived thermal state about 40 days after the start of the outburst. There were variations in spectral hardness as the source flux declined and returned to a hard state at the end of the outburst. The progression of spectral states and the nature of the timing features provide strong evidence that Swift J1539.2-6227 is a candidate black hole in a low-mass X-ray binary system.

  3. Evidence of Australian bat lyssavirus infection in diverse Australian bat taxa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Field, Hume Ernest

    2018-05-21

    Historically, Australia was considered free of rabies and rabieslike viruses. Thus, the identification of Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) in 1996 in a debilitated bat found by a member of the public precipitated both public health consternation and a revision of lyssavirus taxonomy. Subsequent observational studies sought to elaborate the occurrence and frequency of ABLV infection in Australian bats. This paper describes the taxonomic diversity of bat species showing evidence of ABLV infection to better inform public health considerations. Blood and/or brain samples were collected from two cohorts of bats (wild-caught and diagnostic submissions) from four Australian states or territories between April 1996 and October 2002. Fresh brain impression smears were tested for ABLV antigen using fluorescein-labelled anti-rabies monoclonal globulin (CENTOCOR) in a direct fluorescent antibody test; sera were tested for the presence of neutralising antibodies using a rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test. A total of 3,217 samples from 2,633 bats were collected and screened: brain samples from 1,461 wild-caught bats and 1,086 submitted bats from at least 16 genera and seven families, and blood samples from 656 wild-caught bats and 14 submitted bats from 14 genera and seven families. Evidence of ABLV infection was found in five of the six families of bats occurring in Australia, and in three of the four Australian states/territories surveyed, supporting the historic presence of the virus in Australia. While the infection prevalence in the wild-caught cohort is evidently low, the significantly higher infection prevalence in rescued bats in urban settings represents a clear and present public health significance because of the higher risk of human exposure. © 2018 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  4. Deciphering the bat virome catalog to better understand the ecological diversity of bat viruses and the bat origin of emerging infectious diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Zhiqiang; Yang, Li; Ren, Xianwen; He, Guimei; Zhang, Junpeng; Yang, Jian; Qian, Zhaohui; Dong, Jie; Sun, Lilian; Zhu, Yafang; Du, Jiang; Yang, Fan; Zhang, Shuyi; Jin, Qi

    2016-03-01

    Studies have demonstrated that ~60%-80% of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) in humans originated from wild life. Bats are natural reservoirs of a large variety of viruses, including many important zoonotic viruses that cause severe diseases in humans and domestic animals. However, the understanding of the viral population and the ecological diversity residing in bat populations is unclear, which complicates the determination of the origins of certain EIDs. Here, using bats as a typical wildlife reservoir model, virome analysis was conducted based on pharyngeal and anal swab samples of 4440 bat individuals of 40 major bat species throughout China. The purpose of this study was to survey the ecological and biological diversities of viruses residing in these bat species, to investigate the presence of potential bat-borne zoonotic viruses and to evaluate the impacts of these viruses on public health. The data obtained in this study revealed an overview of the viral community present in these bat samples. Many novel bat viruses were reported for the first time and some bat viruses closely related to known human or animal pathogens were identified. This genetic evidence provides new clues in the search for the origin or evolution pattern of certain viruses, such as coronaviruses and noroviruses. These data offer meaningful ecological information for predicting and tracing wildlife-originated EIDs.

  5. Swift cookbook

    CERN Document Server

    Costa, Cecil

    2015-01-01

    If you are an experienced Objective-C programmer and are looking for quick solutions to many different coding tasks in Swift, then this book is for you. You are expected to have development experience, though not necessarily with Swift.

  6. Preventing Australian bat lyssavirus: community knowledge and risk perception of bats in South East Queensland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Megan K; El Saadi, Debra; McCall, Bradley J

    2014-04-01

    Ongoing potential exposure of members of the public to Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) in South East Queensland, Australia, prompted investigation of community knowledge, risk perception, and intention to handle bats to inform future prevention efforts. After pilot testing, a computer-assisted telephone survey of a representative sample of 700 adults without previous potential exposure to ABLV was undertaken in the defined geographic region. Twenty-four percent of eligible contacted individuals participated. Basic knowledge of bats and ABLV was generally high, with 65% of participants answering nine or more of 12 knowledge questions correctly. The perceived risk that bats pose to human health was also high, with 93% indicating some degree of risk. Although 88% of participants indicated they would handle bats in one or more of the scripted situations, overall intention to handle bats was low, with 59% indicating they would handle a bat in four or less of the 12 scenarios. Younger males with lower risk perception of bats most frequently indicated intention to handle bats in varying situations. Knowledge score was not associated with intention to handle bats on multivariate modeling. Future public health prevention efforts, both in Australia and overseas, should focus further on conveying the risk to humans and to bats when nontrained, nonvaccinated people attempt to handle bats rather than attempting to purely convey knowledge about bats and ABLV or rabies. Suitable alternative measures to handling should be included. Younger adult males are a particular target group for prevention efforts.

  7. Indiana Bat (Towns)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Vermont Center for Geographic Information — This dataset includes towns that contain documented hibernacula or summer range occupied by federally endangered Indiana bats. Survey data used to create this...

  8. Modeling habitat distributions of bats using GIS: wind energy and Indiana bats

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jones, Jason; Jansen, Erik; Friedel, Robert

    2011-07-01

    Full text: Post-construction monitoring indicates that commercial wind energy facilities are a source of bat mortality resulting from collisions or other negative interactions with operational turbines. An understanding of the potential distribution and movement of bats on the landscape is essential to minimizing these impacts. Using remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems software, we present a modelling approach that evaluates the distribution of bat roosting and foraging habitat and potential flight paths at a landscape scale which may be used to assess the risk to bats from the development of a wind energy facility. Accurate assessment of these risks can minimize schedule delays and unexpected costs. Applied to the behaviour and ecology of the United States federally endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) at two hypothetical wind farms, this method predicts the areas where the species is likely to travel while foraging, thereby highlighting the riskiest areas within a project area. The results of our modelling indicate that risk to bats is not directly proportional to habitat availability or suitability, in part because risk is associated with areas where bats are travelling. This modelling approach will assist wind energy developers in making both large-scale (e.g., choosing between different development locations) and small-scale decisions (e.g., choosing where to locate turbines) aimed at minimizing impacts to bats. Using habitat models can provide a cost-effective method for evaluating bat risk, satisfying requirements of regulatory agencies, and limiting the more intensive survey methods to projects that absolutely require them. (Author)

  9. Bat study in the Kharaa region, Mongolia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ariunbold Jargalsaikhan

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Our study objectives were to determine bat species composition and to study the genetic variations and sound characteristics in bats of the Kharaa, Shatan, and Ulgii areas of Mongolia. This study is the first bat survey in this area. Nineteen species were from Mongolia. Six bat species belonged to three genera. We performed mitochondrial DNA sequencing of Myotis bombinus, Myotis gracilis, and Myotis petax to confirm the morphological identification of these species. We also determined the sound frequencies of the six bat species, based on their echolocation calls. The conservation status was determined using World Conservation Union red list categories and criteria. Sixteen bats from three species were ringed during this study and three artificial boxes were placed on trees in the Kharaa River Valley. Other than the northern bat, all species were eastern Palearctic. The northern bat (Eptesicus nilssonii species is widespread in the northern Palearctic region.

  10. Habitat preferences of bats in a rural area of Sicily determined by acoustic surveys

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivy Di Salvo

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The bat fauna of a 60 km2 wide area representing the typical rural landscape of inland Sicily and including the small “Rocche di Entella” karstic plateau (Natural Reserve and SAC was surveyed between May 2006 and September 2007. Sampling was carried out at 95 sites, distributed proportionally in six main habitats. Bat calls were time-expanded with a D980 bat detector and then identified to species level by a Discriminant Function Analysis. We recorded 305 bat passes and identified 96.4% of recorded calls. Moon phase, cloud cover and their interaction did not affect total bat activity, nor did the sampling period. Aquatic and riparian habitats were preferred, whilst Eucalyptus plantations and vineyards were avoided. At species level, all bats selected the former habitats, except H. savii, and avoided field crops, except Myotis sp. Thermo-Mediterranean shrub formations showed the highest species richness, whereas vineyards had the lowest. Our study emphasizes the value of riparian habitats and low-intensity farming for bat conservation.
    Riassunto Preferenze ambientali dei chirotteri in un’area rurale della Sicilia. Il presente lavoro espone i risultati di un’analisi di selezione del habitat da parte della chirotterofauna in un’area di 60 km2 rappresentativa del tipico paesaggio rurale dell’entroterra siciliano e comprensiva del plateau carsico "Rocche di Entella" (Riserva Naturale e SIC. Da maggio a settembre 2006 e 2007, abbiamo effettuato campionamenti mediante bat detector (Pettersson D980 in 95 stazioni distribuite proporzionalmente alla disponibilità di habitat. I segnali sono stati identificati mediante Analisi della Funzione Discriminante. Abbiamo re- gistrato 305 passaggi, identificandone il 96.4% a livello di specie. Né la fase lunare, né la nuvolosità o l’interazione tra queste hanno influenzato

  11. SPECTRAL LAGS AND THE LAG-LUMINOSITY RELATION: AN INVESTIGATION WITH SWIFT BAT GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ukwatta, T. N.; Dhuga, K. S.; Eskandarian, A.; Maximon, L. C.; Parke, W. C.; Stamatikos, M.; Sakamoto, T.; Barthelmy, S. D.; Gehrels, N.; Norris, J. P.

    2010-01-01

    Spectral lag, the time difference between the arrival of high-energy and low-energy photons, is a common feature in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Norris et al. reported a correlation between the spectral lag and the isotropic peak luminosity of GRBs based on a limited sample. More recently, a number of authors have provided further support for this correlation using arbitrary energy bands of various instruments. In this paper, we report on a systematic extraction of spectral lags based on the largest Swift sample to date of 31 GRBs with measured redshifts. We extracted the spectral lags for all combinations of the standard Swift hard X-ray energy bands: 15-25 keV, 25-50 keV, 50-100 keV, and 100-200 keV and plotted the time dilation corrected lag as a function of isotropic peak luminosity. The mean value of the correlation coefficient for various channel combinations is -0.68 with a chance probability of ∼0.7 x 10 -3 . In addition, the mean value of the power-law index is 1.4 ± 0.3. Hence, our study lends support to the existence of a lag-luminosity correlation, albeit with large scatter.

  12. Bat habitat use in White Mountain National Forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rachel A. Krusic; Mariko Yamasaki; Christopher D. Neefus; Peter J. Pekins

    1996-01-01

    In 1992 and 1993, we surveyed the foraging and feeding activity of bat species with broadband bat detectors at 2 foliage heights in 4 age classes of northern hardwood and spruce/fir forest stands in White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire and Maine. The association of bat activity with trails and water bodies and the effect of elevation were measured. Mist nets,...

  13. Beginning Swift programming

    CERN Document Server

    Lee, Wei-Meng

    2014-01-01

    Enter the Swift future of iOS and OS X programming Beginning Swift Programming is your ideal starting point for creating Mac, iPhone, and iPad apps using Apple's new Swift programming language. Written by an experienced Apple developer and trainer, this comprehensive guide explains everything you need to know to jumpstart the creation of your app idea. Coverage includes data types, strings and characters, operators and functions, arrays and dictionaries, control flow, and looping, with expert guidance on classes, objects, class inheritance, closures, protocols, and generics. This succinct - ye

  14. Increasing evidence that bats actively forage at wind turbines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foo, Cecily F; Bennett, Victoria J; Hale, Amanda M; Korstian, Jennifer M; Schildt, Alison J; Williams, Dean A

    2017-01-01

    Although the ultimate causes of high bat fatalities at wind farms are not well understood, several lines of evidence suggest that bats are attracted to wind turbines. One hypothesis is that bats would be attracted to turbines as a foraging resource if the insects that bats prey upon are commonly present on and around the turbine towers. To investigate the role that foraging activity may play in bat fatalities, we conducted a series of surveys at a wind farm in the southern Great Plains of the US from 2011-2016. From acoustic monitoring we recorded foraging activity, including feeding buzzes indicative of prey capture, in the immediate vicinity of turbine towers from all six bat species known to be present at this site. From insect surveys we found Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Orthoptera in consistently high proportions over several years suggesting that food resources for bats were consistently available at wind turbines. We used DNA barcoding techniques to assess bat diet composition of (1) stomach contents from 47 eastern red bat ( Lasiurus borealis ) and 24 hoary bat ( Lasiurus cinereus ) carcasses collected in fatality searches, and (2) fecal pellets from 23 eastern red bats that were found on turbine towers, transformers, and tower doors. We found that the majority of the eastern red bat and hoary bat stomachs, the two bat species most commonly found in fatality searches at this site, were full or partially full, indicating that the bats were likely killed while foraging. Although Lepidoptera and Orthoptera dominated the diets of these two bat species, both consumed a range of prey items with individual bats having from one to six insect species in their stomachs at the time of death. The prey items identified from eastern red bat fecal pellets showed similar results. A comparison of the turbine insect community to the diet analysis results revealed that the most abundant insects at wind turbines, including terrestrial insects such as crickets and several

  15. Hibernacula selection by Townsend's big-eared bat in Southwestern Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes, Mark A.; Schorr, Robert A.; Navo, Kirk W.

    2011-01-01

    In western United States, both mine reclamations and renewed mining at previously abandoned mines have increased substantially in the last decade. This increased activity may adversely impact bats that use these mines for roosting. Townsend's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii) is a species of conservation concern that may be impacted by ongoing mine reclamation and renewed mineral extraction. To help inform wildlife management decisions related to bat use of abandoned mine sites, we used logistic regression, Akaike's information criterion, and multi-model inference to investigate hibernacula use by Townsend's big-eared bats using 9 years of data from surveys inside abandoned mines in southwestern Colorado. Townsend's big-eared bats were found in 38 of 133 mines surveyed (29%), and occupied mines averaged 2.6 individuals per mine. The model explaining the most variability in our data included number of openings and portal temperature at abandoned mines. In southwestern Colorado, we found that abandoned mine sites with more than one opening and portal temperatures near 0°C were more likely to contain hibernating Townsend's big-eared bats. However, mines with only one opening and portal temperatures of ≥10°C were occasionally occupied by Townsend's big-eared bat. Understanding mine use by Townsend's big-eared bat can help guide decisions regarding allocation of resources and placement of bat-compatible closures at mine sites scheduled for reclamation. When feasible we believe that surveys should be conducted inside all abandoned mines in a reclamation project at least once during winter prior to making closure and reclamation recommendations.

  16. The distribution and contaminant exposure of Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bats in South Carolina with an emphasis on bridge surveys.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    F.M. Bennett; S.C. Loeb; W.W. Bowerman

    2003-10-23

    Rafinesque's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii), an insectivorous mammal indigenous to the southern United States, has long been referred to as one of the least known bats in North America. Although there has been a moderate increase in the number of peer-reviewed articles published on this species in the past 6 years, the basic ecology and status of Rafinesque's big-eared bat remains largely obscure. Prior to 1996, when the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) discontinued the list of Candidate Species, Rafinesque's big-eared bat was listed as a Federal Category 2 Candidate species. Currently, Rafinesque's big-eared bat is recognized as a ''species of special concern'' across most of its range but receives no legal protection. Nonetheless, the USFWS and numerous state agencies remain concerned about this species. Further biological research and field study are needed to resolve the conservation status of this taxona. In response to the paucity of information regarding the status and distribution of Rafinesque's big-eared bat, statewide survey of highway bridges used as roost sites was conducted.

  17. A plan for the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loeb, Susan C.; Rodhouse, Thomas J.; Ellison, Laura E.; Lausen, Cori L.; Reichard, Jonathan D.; Irvine, Kathryn M.; Ingersoll, Thomas E.; Coleman, Jeremy; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Sauer, John R.; Francis, Charles M.; Bayless, Mylea L.; Stanley, Thomas R.; Johnson, Douglas H.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) is to create a continent-wide program to monitor bats at local to rangewide scales that will provide reliable data to promote effective conservation decisionmaking and the long-term viability of bat populations across the continent. This is an international, multiagency program. Four approaches will be used to gather monitoring data to assess changes in bat distributions and abundances: winter hibernaculum counts, maternity colony counts, mobile acoustic surveys along road transects, and acoustic surveys at stationary points. These monitoring approaches are described along with methods for identifying species recorded by acoustic detectors. Other chapters describe the sampling design, the database management system (Bat Population Database), and statistical approaches that can be used to analyze data collected through this program.

  18. Bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naturescope, 1986

    1986-01-01

    Presents information about bats, including definitions and descriptions of the characteristics of bats. Provides teaching activities such as "Bat and Math,""A Bat Like That,""Bat Party,""Ears in the Dark," and "The Big Bat Mystery." Contains reproducible handouts and quizzes. (TW)

  19. Post-White-nose syndrome trends in Virginia’s cave bats, 2008-2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powers, Karen E.; Reynolds, Richard J.; Orndorff, Wil; Ford, W. Mark; Hobson, Christopher S.

    2015-01-01

    Since its 2009 detection in Virginia hibernacula, the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans causing White-nose Syndrome (WNS) has had a marked impact on cave bats locally. From 2008-2013, we documented numeric and physiologic changes in cave bats through fall swarm (FS), early hibernation (EH), and late hibernation (LH) capture and banding surveys at 18 hibernacula in western Virginia. We coupled active surveys with passive biennial winter counts in 2009, 2011, and 2013. We compared individual body mass index (BMI) across years for FS, EH, and LH hibernation to determine if WNS impacts on extant bats would be manifested by changes in body condition (as anecdotally observed elsewhere for WNS-impacted bats) as well as a population reduction. To estimate percent declines in bat presence or relative activity, we used FS capture per-unit-effort data, and the winter hibernacula absolute counts. We captured 4,524 bats of eight species, with species-specific capture success declining by 75-100% post-WNS. Little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) exhibited the greatest declines in winter hibernacula counts (AVG. = 99.0% decline), followed by tri-colored bats (Perimyotis subflavus; 89.5% decline) and Indiana bats (M. sodalis; 33.5% decline). Graphical analyses of captures-per-trap-hour in FS showed declines for little brown bats, tri-colored bats, and northern long-eared bats (M. septentrionalis), but suggest a modest rebound of Indiana bat numbers. Fall swarm trends in BMI suggested some drops post-WNS exposure, but these trends were not consistent across sexes or seasonal time blocks. Our inconclusive BMI metrics and little brown bat band recapture data suggest little competitive advantage or selection for surviving bats. Lesser (but apparent) declines in Indiana bat numbers mirrors trends seen elsewhere regionally, and band recoveries do show that some individuals are persisting. Additional surveys will determine if bats in Virginia will persist or face extirpation due

  20. Surveys on the distribution and abundance of the Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus) in the vicinity of proposed geothermal project subzones in the District of Puna, Hawaii. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reynolds, M.; Ritchotte, G.; Dwyer, J.; Viggiano, A.; Nielsen, B.; Jacobi, J.D. [Fish and Wildlife Service, Hawaii National Park, HI (United States). Hawaii Research Station

    1994-08-01

    In 1993 the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) entered into an interagency agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct wildlife surveys relative to identifying potential impacts of geothermal resource development on the native biota of the east rift zone of Kilauea volcano in the Puna district on the island of Hawaii. This report presents data on the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat (Hawaiian bat), or opeapea (Lasiurus cinereus semotus), within the proposed Hawaii geothermal subzones. Potential effects of geothermal development on Hawaiian bat populations are also discussed. Surveys were conducted to determine the distribution and abundance of bats throughout the District of Puna. Baseline information was collected to evaluate the status of bats within the study area and to identify important foraging habitats. Little specific data exists in the published literature on the population status and potential limiting factors affecting the Hawaiian bat. A USFWS recovery plan does not exist for this endangered species.

  1. Large roads reduce bat activity across multiple species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kitzes, Justin; Merenlender, Adina

    2014-01-01

    Although the negative impacts of roads on many terrestrial vertebrate and bird populations are well documented, there have been few studies of the road ecology of bats. To examine the effects of large roads on bat populations, we used acoustic recorders to survey bat activity along ten 300 m transects bordering three large highways in northern California, applying a newly developed statistical classifier to identify recorded calls to the species level. Nightly counts of bat passes were analyzed with generalized linear mixed models to determine the relationship between bat activity and distance from a road. Total bat activity recorded at points adjacent to roads was found to be approximately one-half the level observed at 300 m. Statistically significant road effects were also found for the Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis), big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), and silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans). The road effect was found to be temperature dependent, with hot days both increasing total activity at night and reducing the difference between activity levels near and far from roads. These results suggest that the environmental impacts of road construction may include degradation of bat habitat and that mitigation activities for this habitat loss may be necessary to protect bat populations.

  2. SWIFT-Review: a text-mining workbench for systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, Brian E; Phillips, Jason; Miller, Kyle; Tandon, Arpit; Mav, Deepak; Shah, Mihir R; Holmgren, Stephanie; Pelch, Katherine E; Walker, Vickie; Rooney, Andrew A; Macleod, Malcolm; Shah, Ruchir R; Thayer, Kristina

    2016-05-23

    There is growing interest in using machine learning approaches to priority rank studies and reduce human burden in screening literature when conducting systematic reviews. In addition, identifying addressable questions during the problem formulation phase of systematic review can be challenging, especially for topics having a large literature base. Here, we assess the performance of the SWIFT-Review priority ranking algorithm for identifying studies relevant to a given research question. We also explore the use of SWIFT-Review during problem formulation to identify, categorize, and visualize research areas that are data rich/data poor within a large literature corpus. Twenty case studies, including 15 public data sets, representing a range of complexity and size, were used to assess the priority ranking performance of SWIFT-Review. For each study, seed sets of manually annotated included and excluded titles and abstracts were used for machine training. The remaining references were then ranked for relevance using an algorithm that considers term frequency and latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling. This ranking was evaluated with respect to (1) the number of studies screened in order to identify 95 % of known relevant studies and (2) the "Work Saved over Sampling" (WSS) performance metric. To assess SWIFT-Review for use in problem formulation, PubMed literature search results for 171 chemicals implicated as EDCs were uploaded into SWIFT-Review (264,588 studies) and categorized based on evidence stream and health outcome. Patterns of search results were surveyed and visualized using a variety of interactive graphics. Compared with the reported performance of other tools using the same datasets, the SWIFT-Review ranking procedure obtained the highest scores on 11 out of 15 of the public datasets. Overall, these results suggest that using machine learning to triage documents for screening has the potential to save, on average, more than 50 % of the screening

  3. Bat white-nose syndrome: An emerging fungal pathogen?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blehert, D.S.; Hicks, A.C.; Behr, M.; Meteyer, C.U.; Berlowski-Zier, B. M.; Buckles, E.L.; Coleman, J.T.H.; Darling, S.R.; Gargas, A.; Niver, R.; Okoniewski, J.C.; Rudd, R.J.; Stone, W.B.

    2009-01-01

    White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a condition associated with an unprecedented bat mortality event in the northeastern United States. Since the winter of 2006*2007, bat declines exceeding 75% have been observed at surveyed hibernacula. Affected bats often present with visually striking white fungal growth on their muzzles, ears, and/or wing membranes. Direct microscopy and culture analyses demonstrated that the skin of WNS-affected bats is colonized by a psychro-philic fungus that is phylogenetically related to Geomyces spp. but with a conidial morphology distinct from characterized members of this genus. This report characterizes the cutaneous fungal infection associated with WNS.

  4. SWiFT Software Quality Assurance Plan.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berg, Jonathan Charles [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2016-01-01

    This document describes the software development practice areas and processes which contribute to the ability of SWiFT software developers to provide quality software. These processes are designed to satisfy the requirements set forth by the Sandia Software Quality Assurance Program (SSQAP). APPROVALS SWiFT Software Quality Assurance Plan (SAND2016-0765) approved by: Department Manager SWiFT Site Lead Dave Minster (6121) Date Jonathan White (6121) Date SWiFT Controls Engineer Jonathan Berg (6121) Date CHANGE HISTORY Issue Date Originator(s) Description A 2016/01/27 Jon Berg (06121) Initial release of the SWiFT Software Quality Assurance Plan

  5. MID-INFRARED PROPERTIES OF THE SWIFT BURST ALERT TELESCOPE ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI SAMPLE OF THE LOCAL UNIVERSE. I. EMISSION-LINE DIAGNOSTICS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weaver, K. A.; Melendez, M.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Kraemer, S.; Engle, K.; Malumuth, E.; Tueller, J.; Markwardt, C.; Berghea, C. T.; Dudik, R. P.; Winter, L. M.; Armus, L.

    2010-01-01

    We compare mid-infrared emission-line properties from high-resolution Spitzer spectra of a hard X-ray (14-195 keV) selected sample of nearby (z < 0.05) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detected by the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) aboard Swift. The luminosity distribution for the mid-infrared emission lines, [O IV] 25.89 μm, [Ne II] 12.81 μm, [Ne III] 15.56 μm, and [Ne V] 14.32/24.32 μm, and hard X-ray continuum show no differences between Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 populations; however, six newly discovered BAT AGNs are under-luminous in [O IV], most likely the result of dust extinction in the host galaxy. The overall tightness of the mid-infrared correlations and BAT fluxes and luminosities suggests that the emission lines primarily arise in gas ionized by the AGNs. We also compare the mid-infrared emission lines in the BAT AGNs with those from published studies of ULIRGs, Palomar-Green quasars, star-forming galaxies, and LINERs. We find that the BAT AGN sample falls into a distinctive region when comparing the [Ne III]/[Ne II] and the [O IV]/[Ne III] ratios. These line ratios are lower in sources that have been previously classified in the mid-infrared/optical as AGNs than those found for the BAT AGNs, suggesting that, in our X-ray selected sample, the AGNs represent the main contribution to the observed line emission. These ratios represent a new emission line diagnostic for distinguishing between AGNs and star-forming galaxies.

  6. Accounting for false-positive acoustic detections of bats using occupancy models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clement, Matthew J.; Rodhouse, Thomas J.; Ormsbee, Patricia C.; Szewczak, Joseph M.; Nichols, James D.

    2014-01-01

    1. Acoustic surveys have become a common survey method for bats and other vocal taxa. Previous work shows that bat echolocation may be misidentified, but common analytic methods, such as occupancy models, assume that misidentifications do not occur. Unless rare, such misidentifications could lead to incorrect inferences with significant management implications.

  7. Habitat-associated and temporal patterns of bat activity in a diverse forest landscape of southern New England, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert T. Brooks

    2009-01-01

    The development and use of acoustic recording technology, surveys have revealed the composition, relative levels of activity, and preliminary habitat use of bat communities of various forest locations. However, detailed examinations of acoustic surveys results to investigate temporal patterns of bat activity are rare. Initial active acoustic surveys of bat activity on...

  8. Temporal dynamics of European bat Lyssavirus type 1 and survival of Myotis myotis bats in natural colonies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amengual, Blanca; Bourhy, Hervé; López-Roig, Marc; Serra-Cobo, Jordi

    2007-06-27

    Many emerging RNA viruses of public health concern have recently been detected in bats. However, the dynamics of these viruses in natural bat colonies is presently unknown. Consequently, prediction of the spread of these viruses and the establishment of appropriate control measures are hindered by a lack of information. To this aim, we collected epidemiological, virological and ecological data during a twelve-year longitudinal study in two colonies of insectivorous bats (Myotis myotis) located in Spain and infected by the most common bat lyssavirus found in Europe, the European bat lyssavirus subtype 1 (EBLV-1). This active survey demonstrates that cyclic lyssavirus infections occurred with periodic oscillations in the number of susceptible, immune and infected bats. Persistence of immunity for more than one year was detected in some individuals. These data were further used to feed models to analyze the temporal dynamics of EBLV-1 and the survival rate of bats. According to these models, the infection is characterized by a predicted low basic reproductive rate (R(0) = 1.706) and a short infectious period (D = 5.1 days). In contrast to observations in most non-flying animals infected with rabies, the survival model shows no variation in mortality after EBLV-1 infection of M. myotis. These findings have considerable public health implications in terms of management of colonies where lyssavirus-positive bats have been recorded and confirm the potential risk of rabies transmission to humans. A greater understanding of the dynamics of lyssavirus in bat colonies also provides a model to study how bats contribute to the maintenance and transmission of other viruses of public health concern.

  9. Temporal dynamics of European bat Lyssavirus type 1 and survival of Myotis myotis bats in natural colonies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blanca Amengual

    Full Text Available Many emerging RNA viruses of public health concern have recently been detected in bats. However, the dynamics of these viruses in natural bat colonies is presently unknown. Consequently, prediction of the spread of these viruses and the establishment of appropriate control measures are hindered by a lack of information. To this aim, we collected epidemiological, virological and ecological data during a twelve-year longitudinal study in two colonies of insectivorous bats (Myotis myotis located in Spain and infected by the most common bat lyssavirus found in Europe, the European bat lyssavirus subtype 1 (EBLV-1. This active survey demonstrates that cyclic lyssavirus infections occurred with periodic oscillations in the number of susceptible, immune and infected bats. Persistence of immunity for more than one year was detected in some individuals. These data were further used to feed models to analyze the temporal dynamics of EBLV-1 and the survival rate of bats. According to these models, the infection is characterized by a predicted low basic reproductive rate (R(0 = 1.706 and a short infectious period (D = 5.1 days. In contrast to observations in most non-flying animals infected with rabies, the survival model shows no variation in mortality after EBLV-1 infection of M. myotis. These findings have considerable public health implications in terms of management of colonies where lyssavirus-positive bats have been recorded and confirm the potential risk of rabies transmission to humans. A greater understanding of the dynamics of lyssavirus in bat colonies also provides a model to study how bats contribute to the maintenance and transmission of other viruses of public health concern.

  10. The influence of the observatory latitude on the study of ultra high energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anjos, Rita C. dos [Departamento de Engenharias e Exatas, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Pioneiro, 2153, Palotina, PR, 85950-000 Brazil (Brazil); De Souza, Vitor [Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, CP 369, São Carlos, SP, 13560-970 Brazil (Brazil); De Almeida, Rogerio M. [EEIMVR, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Volta Redonda, RJ (Brazil); Santos, Edivaldo M., E-mail: ritacassia@ufpr.br, E-mail: vitor@ifsc.usp.br, E-mail: rmenezes@id.uff.br, E-mail: emoura@if.usp.br [Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão trav. R 187, São Paulo, 05508-090 Brazil (Brazil)

    2017-07-01

    Recent precision measurements of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) arrival directions, spectrum and parameters related to the mass of the primary particle have been done by the HiRes, Pierre Auger and Telescope Array (TA) Observatories. In this paper, distributions of arrival directions of events in the nearby Universe are assumed to correlate with sources in the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS), IRAS 1.2 Jy Survey, Palermo Swift-BAT and Swift-BAT catalogs, and the effect of the latitude of the observatory on the measurement of the energy spectrum and on the capability of measuring anisotropy is studied. The differences between given latitudes on the northern and southern hemispheres are quantified. It is shown that the latitude of the observatory: a) has an influence on the total flux measured and b) imposes an important limitation on the capability of measuring an anisotropic sky.

  11. A comprehensive landscape approach for monitoring bats on the Nevada Test Site in south-central Nevada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hall, D.

    2000-01-01

    The Nevada Test Site (NTS) is located in south-central Nevada and encompasses approximately 3,497 square kilometers (1,350 square miles). It straddles both the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts and includes a distinct transition region between these two deserts. Because of its geographical location, a great level of vegetative and physiographic diversity exists on the NTS. Also, numerous mines and tunnels are found on the NTS which are potential roost sites for bats. Multiple technqiues are being used to inventory and monitor the bat fauna on the NTS. These techniques include mistnetting at water sources with concurrent use of the Anabat II bat detection system, conducting road surveys with the Anabat II system, and conducting exit surveys at mine and tunnel entrances using the Anabat II system. To date, a total of 13 species of bats has been documented on the NTS, of which six are considered species of concern by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. These include Townsend's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii), spotted bat (Euderma maculatum), small-footed myotis (Myotis ciliolabrum), long-eared myotis (M. evotis), fringed myotis (M. thysanodes), and long-legged myotis (M. volans). Results from mistnet and Anabat surveys reveal that all bat species of concern except for the long-legged myotis are found exclusively in the Great Basin Desert portion of the NTS. The long-legged myotis is found throughout the NTS. The Anabat II system has greatly facilitated the monitoring of bats on the NTS, and allowed biologists to cost effectively survey large areas for bat activity. Information obtained from bat monitoring will be used to develop and update guidelines for managing bats on the NTS.

  12. Diets of swift foxes (Vulpes velox) in continuous and fragmented prairie in Northwestern Texas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamler, J.F.; Ballard, W.B.; Wallace, M.C.; Gipson, P.S.

    2007-01-01

    Distribution of the swift fox (Vulpes velox) has declined dramatically since the 1800s, and suggested causes of this decline are habitat fragmentation and transformation due to agricultural expansion. However, impacts of fragmentation and human-altered habitats on swift foxes still are not well understood. To better understand what effects these factors have on diets of swift foxes, scats were collected in northwestern Texas at two study sites, one of continuous native prairie and one representing fragmented native prairie interspersed with agricultural and fields in the Conservation Reserve Program. Leporids, a potential food source, were surveyed seasonally on both sites. Diets of swift foxes differed between sites; insects were consumed more on continuous prairie, whereas mammals, birds, and crops were consumed more on fragmented prairie. Size of populations of leporids were 2-3 times higher on fragmented prairie, and swift foxes responded by consuming more leporids on fragmented (11.1% frequency occurrence) than continuous (3.8%) prairie. Dietary diversity was greater on fragmented prairie during both years of the study. Differences in diets between sites suggested that the swift fox is an adaptable and opportunistic feeder, able to exploit a variety of food resources, probably in relation to availability of food. We suggest that compared to continuous native prairie, fragmented prairie can offer swift foxes a more diverse prey base, at least within the mosaic of native prairie, agricultural, and fields that are in the Conservation Reserve Program.

  13. Mercury contamination in bats from the central United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korstian, Jennifer M; Chumchal, Matthew M; Bennett, Victoria J; Hale, Amanda M

    2018-01-01

    Mercury (Hg) is a highly toxic metal that has detrimental effects on wildlife. We surveyed Hg concentrations in 10 species of bats collected at wind farms in the central United States and found contamination in all species. Mercury concentration in fur was highly variable both within and between species (range: 1.08-10.52 µg/g). Despite the distance between sites (up to 1200 km), only 2 of the 5 species sampled at multiple locations had fur Hg concentrations that differed between sites. Mercury concentrations observed in the present study all fell within the previously reported ranges for bats collected from the northeastern United States and Canada, although many of the bats we sampled had lower maximum Hg concentrations. Juvenile bats had lower concentrations of Hg in fur compared with adult bats, and we found no significant effect of sex on Hg concentrations in fur. For a subset of 2 species, we also measured Hg concentration in muscle tissue; concentrations were much higher in fur than in muscle, and Hg concentrations in the 2 tissue types were weakly correlated. Abundant wind farms and ongoing postconstruction fatality surveys offer an underutilized opportunity to obtain tissue samples that can be used to assess Hg contamination in bats. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:160-165. © 2018 SETAC. © 2017 SETAC.

  14. A COMPLETE SAMPLE OF BRIGHT SWIFT LONG GAMMA-RAY BURSTS. I. SAMPLE PRESENTATION, LUMINOSITY FUNCTION AND EVOLUTION

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salvaterra, R.; Campana, S.; Vergani, S. D.; Covino, S.; D'Avanzo, P.; Fugazza, D.; Ghirlanda, G.; Ghisellini, G.; Melandri, A.; Sbarufatti, B.; Tagliaferri, G.; Nava, L.; Flores, H.; Piranomonte, S.

    2012-01-01

    We present a carefully selected sub-sample of Swift long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that is complete in redshift. The sample is constructed by considering only bursts with favorable observing conditions for ground-based follow-up searches, which are bright in the 15-150 keV Swift/BAT band, i.e., with 1-s peak photon fluxes in excess to 2.6 photons s –1 cm –2 . The sample is composed of 58 bursts, 52 of them with redshift for a completeness level of 90%, while another two have a redshift constraint, reaching a completeness level of 95%. For only three bursts we have no constraint on the redshift. The high level of redshift completeness allows us for the first time to constrain the GRB luminosity function and its evolution with cosmic times in an unbiased way. We find that strong evolution in luminosity (δ l = 2.3 ± 0.6) or in density (δ d = 1.7 ± 0.5) is required in order to account for the observations. The derived redshift distributions in the two scenarios are consistent with each other, in spite of their different intrinsic redshift distributions. This calls for other indicators to distinguish among different evolution models. Complete samples are at the base of any population studies. In future works we will use this unique sample of Swift bright GRBs to study the properties of the population of long GRBs.

  15. A COMPLETE SAMPLE OF BRIGHT SWIFT LONG GAMMA-RAY BURSTS. I. SAMPLE PRESENTATION, LUMINOSITY FUNCTION AND EVOLUTION

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Salvaterra, R. [INAF, IASF Milano, via E. Bassini 15, I-20133 Milano (Italy); Campana, S.; Vergani, S. D.; Covino, S.; D' Avanzo, P.; Fugazza, D.; Ghirlanda, G.; Ghisellini, G.; Melandri, A.; Sbarufatti, B.; Tagliaferri, G. [INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate (Saint Lucia) (Italy); Nava, L. [SISSA, via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste (Italy); Flores, H. [Laboratoire GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS-UMR8111, Univ. Paris-Diderot 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon (France); Piranomonte, S., E-mail: ruben@lambrate.inaf.it [INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, Rome (Italy)

    2012-04-10

    We present a carefully selected sub-sample of Swift long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that is complete in redshift. The sample is constructed by considering only bursts with favorable observing conditions for ground-based follow-up searches, which are bright in the 15-150 keV Swift/BAT band, i.e., with 1-s peak photon fluxes in excess to 2.6 photons s{sup -1} cm{sup -2}. The sample is composed of 58 bursts, 52 of them with redshift for a completeness level of 90%, while another two have a redshift constraint, reaching a completeness level of 95%. For only three bursts we have no constraint on the redshift. The high level of redshift completeness allows us for the first time to constrain the GRB luminosity function and its evolution with cosmic times in an unbiased way. We find that strong evolution in luminosity ({delta}{sub l} = 2.3 {+-} 0.6) or in density ({delta}{sub d} = 1.7 {+-} 0.5) is required in order to account for the observations. The derived redshift distributions in the two scenarios are consistent with each other, in spite of their different intrinsic redshift distributions. This calls for other indicators to distinguish among different evolution models. Complete samples are at the base of any population studies. In future works we will use this unique sample of Swift bright GRBs to study the properties of the population of long GRBs.

  16. Bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae and Streblidae) infesting cave-dwelling bats in Gabon: diversity, dynamics and potential role in Polychromophilus melanipherus transmission.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obame-Nkoghe, Judicaël; Rahola, Nil; Bourgarel, Mathieu; Yangari, Patrick; Prugnolle, Franck; Maganga, Gael Darren; Leroy, Eric-Maurice; Fontenille, Didier; Ayala, Diego; Paupy, Christophe

    2016-06-10

    Evidence of haemosporidian infections in bats and bat flies has motivated a growing interest in characterizing their transmission cycles. In Gabon (Central Africa), many caves house massive colonies of bats that are known hosts of Polychromophilus Dionisi parasites, presumably transmitted by blood-sucking bat flies. However, the role of bat flies in bat malaria transmission remains under-documented. An entomological survey was carried out in four caves in Gabon to investigate bat fly diversity, infestation rates and host preferences and to determine their role in Polychromophilus parasite transmission. Bat flies were sampled for 2-4 consecutive nights each month from February to April 2011 (Faucon and Zadie caves) and from May 2012 to April 2013 (Kessipoughou and Djibilong caves). Bat flies isolated from the fur of each captured bat were morphologically identified and screened for infection by haemosporidian parasites using primers targeting the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Among the 1,154 bats captured and identified as Miniopterus inflatus Thomas (n = 354), Hipposideros caffer Sundevall complex (n = 285), Hipposideros gigas Wagner (n = 317), Rousettus aegyptiacus Geoffroy (n = 157, and Coleura afra Peters (n = 41), 439 (38.0 %) were infested by bat flies. The 1,063 bat flies recovered from bats belonged to five taxa: Nycteribia schmidlii scotti Falcoz, Eucampsipoda africana Theodor, Penicillidia fulvida Bigot, Brachytarsina allaudi Falcoz and Raymondia huberi Frauenfeld group. The mean infestation rate varied significantly according to the bat species (ANOVA, F (4,75) = 13.15, P bat fly species and host bat species was observed. Polychromophilus melanipherus Dionisi was mainly detected in N. s. scotti and P. fulvida and less frequently in E. africana, R. huberi group and B. allaudi bat flies. These results suggest that N. s. scotti and P. fulvida could potentially be involved in P. melanipherus transmission among cave-dwelling bats

  17. Characterization of a Novel Bat Adenovirus Isolated from Straw-Colored Fruit Bat (Eidolon helvum).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogawa, Hirohito; Kajihara, Masahiro; Nao, Naganori; Shigeno, Asako; Fujikura, Daisuke; Hang'ombe, Bernard M; Mweene, Aaron S; Mutemwa, Alisheke; Squarre, David; Yamada, Masao; Higashi, Hideaki; Sawa, Hirofumi; Takada, Ayato

    2017-12-04

    Bats are important reservoirs for emerging zoonotic viruses. For extensive surveys of potential pathogens in straw-colored fruit bats ( Eidolon helvum ) in Zambia, a total of 107 spleen samples of E. helvum in 2006 were inoculated onto Vero E6 cells. The cell culture inoculated with one of the samples (ZFB06-106) exhibited remarkable cytopathic changes. Based on the ultrastructural property in negative staining and cross-reactivity in immunofluorescence assays, the virus was suspected to be an adenovirus, and tentatively named E. helvum adenovirus 06-106 (EhAdV 06-106). Analysis of the full-length genome of 30,134 bp, determined by next-generation sequencing, showed the presence of 28 open reading frames. Phylogenetic analyses confirmed that EhAdV 06-106 represented a novel bat adenovirus species in the genus Mastadenovirus . The virus shared similar characteristics of low G + C contents with recently isolated members of species Bat mastadenoviruses E , F and G , from which EhAdV 06-106 diverged by more than 15% based on the distance matrix analysis of DNA polymerase amino acid sequences. According to the taxonomic criteria, we propose the tentative new species name " Bat mastadenovirus H ". Because EhAdV 06-106 exhibited a wide in vitro cell tropism, the virus might have a potential risk as an emerging virus through cross-species transmission.

  18. Sandia SWiFT Wind Turbine Manual.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    White, Jonathan; LeBlanc, Bruce Philip; Berg, Jonathan Charles; Bryant, Joshua; Johnson, Wesley D.; Paquette, Joshua

    2016-01-01

    The Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) facility, operated by Sandia National Laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind and Water Power Program, is a wind energy research site with multiple wind turbines scaled for the experimental study of wake dynamics, advanced rotor development, turbine control, and advanced sensing for production-scale wind farms. The SWiFT site currently includes three variable-speed, pitch-regulated, three-bladed wind turbines. The six volumes of this manual provide a detailed description of the SWiFT wind turbines, including their operation and user interfaces, electrical and mechanical systems, assembly and commissioning procedures, and safety systems. Further dissemination only as authorized to U.S. Government agencies and their contractors; other requests shall be approved by the originating facility or higher DOE programmatic authority. 111 UNCLASSIFIED UNLIMITED RELEASE Sandia SWiFT Wind Turbine Manual (SAND2016-0746 ) approved by: Department Manager SWiFT Site Lead Dave Minster (6121) Date Jonathan White (6121) Date SWiFT Site Supervisor Dave Mitchell (6121) Date Note: Document revision logs are found after the title page of each volume of this manual. iv

  19. Bat assemblages from three Atlantic Forest fragments in Rio de Janeiro state, Southeastern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Leonan Novaes

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Bat species richness in Neotropical localities is generally higher than that of any other group of mammals, and surveys of local bat assemblages may provide useful data for conservation management plans. Although the bat fauna of the Rio de Janeiro state is currently one of the best known in Brazil, there are several localities not adequately surveyed yet, and most of them are in the mountainous regions and in the northern portion of the state. From January 2008 to November 2009, we conducted surveys of bats in three localities in the state of Rio de Janeiro (municipalities of Varre-Sai, Sumidouro, and Cantagalo, and our fieldwork constitutes the first assessment of the bat assemblages of these localities. Surveys were conducted using mist nets in four different habitat types in each locality (forest interior, forest edge, riparian forest, and open areas [pastures]. We captured a total of 148 individuals in 17 species, 14 genera and 3 families. Among them, 11 species were recorded in Sumidouro, seven in Cantagalo, and nine in Varre-Sai. Although species richness was low compared with previous surveys in other close localities, we recorded species that have been rarely sampled in Southeastern Brazil (e.g., Macrophyllum macrophyllum [Phyllostomidae]. The results reinforce the importance of sampling different habitats in short surveys to improve the number of species registered.

  20. Bat diversity and abundance in Omo Forest Reserve, Nigeria ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Bats are yet to be incorporated in management plans in Nigeria. This is attributed to dearth in information as well as social stigma. This study was designed to determine bat species diversity, abundance and the relation of both indices to habitat structure. The survey was carried out in Omo forest reserve between May and ...

  1. Swift: 10 Years of Discovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-12-01

    The conference Swift: 10 years of discovery was held in Roma at La Sapienza University on Dec. 2-5 2014 to celebrate 10 years of Swift successes. Thanks to a large attendance and a lively program, it provided the opportunity to review recent advances of our knowledge of the high-energy transient Universe both from the observational and theoretical sides. When Swift was launched on November 20, 2004, its prime objective was to chase Gamma-Ray Bursts and deepen our knowledge of these cosmic explosions. And so it did, unveiling the secrets of long and short GRBs. However, its multi-wavelength instrumentation and fast scheduling capabilities made it the most versatile mission ever flown. Besides GRBs, Swift has observed, and contributed to our understanding of, an impressive variety of targets including AGNs, supernovae, pulsars, microquasars, novae, variable stars, comets, and much more. Swift is continuously discovering rare and surprising events distributed over a wide range of redshifts, out to the most distant transient objects in the Universe. Such a trove of discoveries has been addressed during the conference with sessions dedicated to each class of events. Indeed, the conference in Rome was a spectacular celebration of the Swift 10th anniversary. It included sessions on all types of transient and steady sources. Top scientists from around the world gave invited and contributed talks. There was a large poster session, sumptuous lunches, news interviews and a glorious banquet with officials attending from INAF and ASI. All the presentations, as well as several conference pictures, can be found in the conference website (http://www.brera.inaf.it/Swift10/Welcome.html). These proceedings have been collected owing to the efforts of Paolo D’Avanzo who has followed each paper from submission to final acceptance. Our warmest thanks to Paolo for all his work. The Conference has been made possible by the support from La Sapienza University as well as from the ARAP

  2. Notes on bat diversity at Berenty Private Reserve and Beza ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Surveys of bat diversity are rare for the southern domain of Madagascar. Mistnetting for bats took place at Berenty Private Reserve in southeastern Madagascar during a six months study in 2009 and at Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve in southwestern Madagascar for one month in 2011. At Berenty, Hipposideros ...

  3. Swiftly searching the sky: the first three years of the Swift gamma-ray burst explorer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nousek, John; Varela, Karen; Quijandria, Fernando

    2009-01-01

    The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer has revolutionized the study of these remarkable high-energy explosions. We summarize the technical developments which lead to the creation of the Swift mission, and outline the highlights of the first three years, and the prospects ahead.

  4. Bats are rare reservoirs of Staphylococcus aureus complex in Gabon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Held, Jana; Gmeiner, Markus; Mordmüller, Benjamin; Matsiégui, Pierre-Blaise; Schaer, Juliane; Eckerle, Isabella; Weber, Natalie; Matuschewski, Kai; Bletz, Stefan; Schaumburg, Frieder

    2017-01-01

    The colonization of afro-tropical wildlife with Staphylococcus aureus and the derived clade Staphylococcus schweitzeri remains largely unknown. A reservoir in bats could be of importance since bats and humans share overlapping habitats. In addition, bats are food sources in some African regions and can be the cause of zoonotic diseases. Here, we present a cross-sectional survey employing pharyngeal swabs of captured and released bats (n=133) in a forest area of Gabon. We detected low colonization rates of S. aureus (4-6%) and S. schweitzeri (4%) in two out of four species of fruit bats, namely Rousettus aegyptiacus and Micropteropus pusillus, but not in insectivorous bats. Multilocus sequence typing showed that S. aureus from Gabonese bats (ST2984, ST3259, ST3301, ST3302) were distinct from major African human associated clones (ST15, ST121, ST152). S. schweitzeri from bats (ST1697, ST1700) clustered with S. schweitzeri from other species (bats, monkeys) from Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire. In conclusion, colonization rates of bats with S. aureus and S. schweitzeri were low in our study. Phylogenetic analysis supports an intense geographical dispersal of S. schweitzeri among different mammalian wildlife hosts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Swift vs. Objective-C: A New Programming Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristian González García

    2015-06-01

    In this article, we compare the new programming language of Apple, Swift, with the main programming language of Apple before Swift, Objective-C. We are going to show the differences, characteristics and novelties to verify the words of Apple about Swift. With that we want to answer the next question: Is Swift a new programming language easier, more secure and quicker to develop than Objective-C?

  6. Lewis Swift celebrated comet hunter and the people's astronomer

    CERN Document Server

    Kronk, Gary W

    2017-01-01

    This biography covers the life of Lewis Swift (1820-1913), who discovered 13 comets and nearly 1,200 other deep sky objects. All 13 comets found by Swift now bear his name, including three periodic comets with periods of 6 years (11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR), 9 years (64P/Swift-Gehrels), and 133 years (109P/Swift-Tuttle). Swift's enthusiasm and success as an amateur astronomer helped make him famous in the United States. With the help of others, Swift was able to buy a 16-inch refractor, the third largest telescope in the United States at the time. Hulbert Harrington Warner built "Warner Observatory" to house this telescope. As a prolific writer and lecturer, Swift's stories appeared in newspapers and magazines, while his lectures showed that he was able to explain anything in a way that everyone could understand.  When Warner went broke during the "Panic of 1893," Swift was forced to leave his home. Almost two dozen invitations arrived from around the United States asking him to bring his telescope to their ci...

  7. Mitochondrial genome sequence of Egyptian swift Rock Pigeon (Columba livia breed Egyptian swift).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Chun-Hong; Shi, Wei; Shi, Wan-Yu

    2015-06-01

    The Egyptian swift Rock Pigeon is a breed of fancy pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding. In this work, we report the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Egyptian swift Rock Pigeon. The total length of the mitogenome was 17,239 bp and its overall base composition was estimated to be 30.2% for A, 24.0% for T, 31.9% for C and 13.9% for G, indicating an A-T (54.2%)-rich feature in the mitogenome. It contained the typical structure of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and a non-coding control region (D-loop region). The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Egyptian swift Rock Pigeon would serve as an important data set of the germplasm resources for further study.

  8. Assessing collision risk for birds and bats : radar survey

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brunet, R. [Genivar SEC, Sherbrooke, PQ (Canada)

    2010-07-01

    This PowerPoint presentation described some of the inventories and instrumentation available for monitoring winged fauna in and around wind farms. In addition to visual observations, bird calls and songs can be recorded to determine the amount and different types of birds located at wind farm sites. Radio-telemetry devices are also used to evaluate bird activities, and nest searches are conducted to determine the amount of eggs or young birds that will soon add to the bird population. Between 90 and 100 percent of birds and bats migrate at night. Acoustic radar, Doppler radar, and maritime surveillance radar instruments are used to monitor night-time activities in wind farm locations. Doppler radar is also used to detect bird and bat migration corridors. Screen-shots of various radar interfaces were presented. tabs., figs.

  9. Semi-automatic long-term acoustic surveying

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreassen, Tórur; Surlykke, Annemarie; Hallam, John

    2014-01-01

    Increasing concern about decline in biodiversity has created a demand for population surveys. Acoustic monitoring is an efficient non-invasive method, which may be deployed for surveys of animals as diverse as insects, birds, and bats. Long-term unmanned automatic monitoring may provide unique...... to determine bat behavior and correct for the bias toward loud bats inherent in acoustic surveying....

  10. Bat biology, genomes, and the Bat1K project

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Teeling, Emma C; Vernes, Sonja C; Dávalos, Liliana M

    2018-01-01

    and endangered. Here we announce Bat1K, an initiative to sequence the genomes of all living bat species (n∼1,300) to chromosome-level assembly. The Bat1K genome consortium unites bat biologists (>148 members as of writing), computational scientists, conservation organizations, genome technologists, and any...

  11. Social Grooming in Bats: Are Vampire Bats Exceptional?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerald Carter

    Full Text Available Evidence for long-term cooperative relationships comes from several social birds and mammals. Vampire bats demonstrate cooperative social bonds, and like primates, they maintain these bonds through social grooming. It is unclear, however, to what extent vampires are special among bats in this regard. We compared social grooming rates of common vampire bats Desmodus rotundus and four other group-living bats, Artibeus jamaicensis, Carollia perspicillata, Eidolon helvum and Rousettus aegyptiacus, under the same captive conditions of fixed association and no ectoparasites. We conducted 13 focal sampling sessions for each combination of sex and species, for a total of 1560 presence/absence observations per species. We observed evidence for social grooming in all species, but social grooming rates were on average 14 times higher in vampire bats than in other species. Self-grooming rates did not differ. Vampire bats spent 3.7% of their awake time social grooming (95% CI = 1.5-6.3%, whereas bats of the other species spent 0.1-0.5% of their awake time social grooming. Together with past data, this result supports the hypothesis that the elevated social grooming rate in the vampire bat is an adaptive trait, linked to their social bonding and unique regurgitated food sharing behavior.

  12. Social Grooming in Bats: Are Vampire Bats Exceptional?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carter, Gerald; Leffer, Lauren

    2015-01-01

    Evidence for long-term cooperative relationships comes from several social birds and mammals. Vampire bats demonstrate cooperative social bonds, and like primates, they maintain these bonds through social grooming. It is unclear, however, to what extent vampires are special among bats in this regard. We compared social grooming rates of common vampire bats Desmodus rotundus and four other group-living bats, Artibeus jamaicensis, Carollia perspicillata, Eidolon helvum and Rousettus aegyptiacus, under the same captive conditions of fixed association and no ectoparasites. We conducted 13 focal sampling sessions for each combination of sex and species, for a total of 1560 presence/absence observations per species. We observed evidence for social grooming in all species, but social grooming rates were on average 14 times higher in vampire bats than in other species. Self-grooming rates did not differ. Vampire bats spent 3.7% of their awake time social grooming (95% CI = 1.5-6.3%), whereas bats of the other species spent 0.1-0.5% of their awake time social grooming. Together with past data, this result supports the hypothesis that the elevated social grooming rate in the vampire bat is an adaptive trait, linked to their social bonding and unique regurgitated food sharing behavior.

  13. Bartonellae are Prevalent and Diverse in Costa Rican Bats and Bat Flies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Judson, S D; Frank, H K; Hadly, E A

    2015-12-01

    Species in the bacterial genus, Bartonella, can cause disease in both humans and animals. Previous reports of Bartonella in bats and ectoparasitic bat flies suggest that bats could serve as mammalian hosts and bat flies as arthropod vectors. We compared the prevalence and genetic similarity of bartonellae in individual Costa Rican bats and their bat flies using molecular and sequencing methods targeting the citrate synthase gene (gltA). Bartonellae were more prevalent in bat flies than in bats, and genetic variants were sometimes, but not always, shared between bats and their bat flies. The detected bartonellae genetic variants were diverse, and some were similar to species known to cause disease in humans and other mammals. The high prevalence and sharing of bartonellae in bat flies and bats support a role for bat flies as a potential vector for Bartonella, while the genetic diversity and similarity to known species suggest that bartonellae could spill over into humans and animals sharing the landscape. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  14. Bats and bat habitats : guidelines for wind power projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-03-01

    Bat mortality has been documented at wind power projects in a number of habitats across North America. Wind power projects in Ontario have reported annual estimates ranging from 4 to 14 bat mortalities per turbine per year. This document presented guidance on identifying and addressing potential negative effects on bats and bat habitats during the planning, construction, and operation of wind power projects in Ontario. The guidelines supported the Ministry of Environment's renewable energy approval regulation and applied on both Crown and privately-owned land. The document presented the regulatory framework and discussed the assessment process for bats and bat habitats. This process included project site; records review; site investigation; and evaluation of significance. Other topics that were presented included an environmental impact study and an environmental effects monitoring plan such as post construction monitoring and post construction mitigation. Several appendices were also included regarding the potential effects of wind power project on bats; best management practices; methods for evaluating bat wildlife habitat; and post construction monitoring methods. 10 refs., 1 tab., 2 figs., 4 appendices.

  15. Bats and bat habitats : guidelines for wind power projects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2010-03-15

    Bat mortality has been documented at wind power projects in a number of habitats across North America. Wind power projects in Ontario have reported annual estimates ranging from 4 to 14 bat mortalities per turbine per year. This document presented guidance on identifying and addressing potential negative effects on bats and bat habitats during the planning, construction, and operation of wind power projects in Ontario. The guidelines supported the Ministry of Environment's renewable energy approval regulation and applied on both Crown and privately-owned land. The document presented the regulatory framework and discussed the assessment process for bats and bat habitats. This process included project site; records review; site investigation; and evaluation of significance. Other topics that were presented included an environmental impact study and an environmental effects monitoring plan such as post construction monitoring and post construction mitigation. Several appendices were also included regarding the potential effects of wind power project on bats; best management practices; methods for evaluating bat wildlife habitat; and post construction monitoring methods. 10 refs., 1 tab., 2 figs., 4 appendices.

  16. The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy Legacy Survey. I. Sample Selection and Redshift Distribution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perley, D. A.; Kruhler, T.; Schulze, S.; Postigo, A. De Ugarte; Hjorth, J.; Berger, E.; Cenko, S. B.; Chary, R.; Cucchiara, A.; Ellis, R.; hide

    2016-01-01

    We introduce the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy Legacy Survey (SHOALS), a multi-observatory high redshift galaxy survey targeting the largest unbiased sample of long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) hosts yet assembled (119 in total). We describe the motivations of the survey and the development of our selection criteria, including an assessment of the impact of various observability metrics on the success rate of afterglow-based redshift measurement. We briefly outline our host galaxy observational program, consisting of deep Spitzer/IRAC imaging of every field supplemented by similarly deep, multicolor optical/near-IR photometry, plus spectroscopy of events without preexisting redshifts. Our optimized selection cuts combined with host galaxy follow-up have so far enabled redshift measurements for 110 targets (92%) and placed upper limits on all but one of the remainder. About 20% of GRBs in the sample are heavily dust obscured, and at most 2% originate from z > 5.5. Using this sample, we estimate the redshift-dependent GRB rate density, showing it to peak at z approx. 2.5 and fall by at least an order of magnitude toward low (z = 0) redshift, while declining more gradually toward high (z approx. 7) redshift. This behavior is consistent with a progenitor whose formation efficiency varies modestly over cosmic history. Our survey will permit the most detailed examination to date of the connection between the GRB host population and general star-forming galaxies, directly measure evolution in the host population over cosmic time and discern its causes, and provide new constraints on the fraction of cosmic star formation occurring in undetectable galaxies at all redshifts.

  17. Bat consumption in Thailand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kanokwan Suwannarong

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Human consumption of bats poses an increasing public health threat globally. Communities in which bat guano is mined from caves have extensive exposure to bat excreta, often harvest bats for consumption, and are at risk for bat-borne diseases. Methods: This rapid ethnographic study was conducted in four provinces of Thailand (Ratchaburi, Sakaeo, Nakorn Sawan, and Phitsanulok, where bat guano was mined and sold during the period April–August 2014. The aim of this study was to understand behaviors and risk perceptions associated with bat conservation, exposure to bats and their excreta, and bat consumption. Sixty-seven respondents playing various roles in bat guano mining, packaging, sale, and use as fertilizer participated in the study. Data were collected through interviews and/or focus group discussions. Results: In spite of a bat conservation program dating back to the 1980s, the benefits of conserving bats and the risks associated with bat consumption were not clear and infrequently articulated by study respondents. Discussion: Since bat consumption continues, albeit covertly, the risk of bat-borne diseases remains high. There is an opportunity to reduce the risk of bat-borne diseases in guano-mining communities by strengthening bat conservation efforts and raising awareness of the health risks of bat consumption. Further research is suggested to test behavior change strategies for reducing bat consumption.

  18. Bat consumption in Thailand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suwannarong, Kanokwan; Schuler, Sidney

    2016-01-01

    Human consumption of bats poses an increasing public health threat globally. Communities in which bat guano is mined from caves have extensive exposure to bat excreta, often harvest bats for consumption, and are at risk for bat-borne diseases. This rapid ethnographic study was conducted in four provinces of Thailand (Ratchaburi, Sakaeo, Nakorn Sawan, and Phitsanulok), where bat guano was mined and sold during the period April-August 2014. The aim of this study was to understand behaviors and risk perceptions associated with bat conservation, exposure to bats and their excreta, and bat consumption. Sixty-seven respondents playing various roles in bat guano mining, packaging, sale, and use as fertilizer participated in the study. Data were collected through interviews and/or focus group discussions. In spite of a bat conservation program dating back to the 1980s, the benefits of conserving bats and the risks associated with bat consumption were not clear and infrequently articulated by study respondents. Since bat consumption continues, albeit covertly, the risk of bat-borne diseases remains high. There is an opportunity to reduce the risk of bat-borne diseases in guano-mining communities by strengthening bat conservation efforts and raising awareness of the health risks of bat consumption. Further research is suggested to test behavior change strategies for reducing bat consumption.

  19. The 60 Month All-Sky Burst Alert Telescope Survey of Active Galactic Nucleus and the Anisotropy of Nearby AGNs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ajello, M.; Alexander, D. M.; Greiner, J.; Madejeski, G. M.; Gehrels, N.; Burlon, D.

    2014-01-01

    Surveys above 10 keV represent one of the best resources to provide an unbiased census of the population of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We present the results of 60 months of observation of the hard X-ray sky with Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT). In this time frame, BAT-detected (in the 15-55 keV band) 720 sources in an all-sky survey of which 428 are associated with AGNs, most of which are nearby. Our sample has negligible incompleteness and statistics a factor of approx. 2 larger over similarly complete sets of AGNs. Our sample contains (at least) 15 bona fide Compton-thick AGNs and 3 likely candidates. Compton-thick AGNs represent approx. 5% of AGN samples detected above 15 keV. We use the BAT data set to refine the determination of the log N-log S of AGNs which is extremely important, now that NuSTAR prepares for launch, toward assessing the AGN contribution to the cosmic X-ray background. We show that the log N-log S of AGNs selected above 10 keV is now established to approx. 10% precision. We derive the luminosity function of Compton-thick AGNs and measure a space density of 7.9(+4.1/-2.9)× 10(exp -5)/cubic Mpc for objects with a de-absorbed luminosity larger than 2 × 10(exp 42) erg / s. As the BAT AGNs are all mostly local, they allow us to investigate the spatial distribution of AGNs in the nearby universe regardless of absorption. We find concentrations of AGNs that coincide spatially with the largest congregations of matter in the local (much < 85 Mpc) universe. There is some evidence that the fraction of Seyfert 2 objects is larger than average in the direction of these dense regions..

  20. Virginia big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii virginianus) roosting in abandoned coal mines in West Virginia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Johnson, J.B.; Edwards, J.W.; Wood, P.B. [West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV (US). Wildlife & Fisheries Resources Programme

    2005-07-01

    We surveyed bats at 36 abandoned coal mines during summer 2002 and 47 mines during fall 2002 at New River Gorge National River and Gauley River National Recreation Area, WV. During summer, we captured three federally endangered Virginia big-eared bats at two mine entrances, and 25 were captured at 12 mine entrances during fall. These represent the first documented captures of this species at coal mines in West Virginia. Future survey efforts conducted throughout the range of the Virginia big-eared bat should include abandoned coal mines.

  1. Natural infection of bats with Leishmania in Ethiopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kassahun, Aysheshm; Sadlova, Jovana; Benda, Petr; Kostalova, Tatiana; Warburg, Alon; Hailu, Asrat; Baneth, Gad; Volf, Petr; Votypka, Jan

    2015-10-01

    The leishmaniases, a group of diseases with a worldwide-distribution, are caused by different species of Leishmania parasites. Both cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis remain important public health problems in Ethiopia. Epidemiological cycles of these protozoans involve various sand fly (Diptera: Psychodidae) vectors and mammalian hosts, including humans. In recent years, Leishmania infections in bats have been reported in the New World countries endemic to leishmaniasis. The aim of this study was to survey natural Leishmania infection in bats collected from various regions of Ethiopia. Total DNA was isolated from spleens of 163 bats belonging to 23 species and 18 genera. Leishmania infection was detected by real-time (RT) PCR targeting a kinetoplast (k) DNA and internal transcribed spacer one (ITS1) gene of the parasite. Detection was confirmed by sequencing of the PCR products. Leishmania kDNA was detected in eight (4.9%) bats; four of them had been captured in the Aba-Roba and Awash-Methara regions that are endemic for leishmaniasis, while the other four specimens originated from non-endemic localities of Metu, Bedele and Masha. Leishmania isolates from two bats were confirmed by ITS1 PCR to be Leishmania tropica and Leishmania major, isolated from two individual bats, Cardioderma cor and Nycteris hispida, respectively. These results represent the first confirmed observation of natural infection of bats with the Old World Leishmania. Hence, bats should be considered putative hosts of Leishmania spp. affecting humans with a significant role in the transmission. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. The effectiveness of search dogs compared with humans in searching difficult terrain at turbine sites for bat fatalities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mathews, Fiona

    2011-07-01

    Full text: Many wind farms in the UK and elsewhere in northern Europe are situated in habitat with dense tall vegetation such as arable fields and upland heaths. This makes surveying for bat fatalities extremely difficult. To facilitate a multi-centre study of the effects of wind turbines on British bats, we have therefore conducted controlled trials of the relative success of trained search dogs and ecologists in retrieving bat carcasses. Although dogs have been used previously in ecological surveys for bats, this is the first time they have been specifically trained for use in 'difficult to survey' habitats. Two ecologists and two Labrador dogs with handlers were each given the opportunity to retrieve up to 45 bat carcasses in a range of habitat types. Their efficiency in terms of overall search time, costs, and retrieval abilities were evaluated. Our results indicate that high rates of retrieval can be achieved by dogs, even in dense vegetation up to 75cm high. Further, a typical 100m2 search area can be surveyed in less than half the time taken by humans. The limitations of using search dogs, and their ability to detect the presence of bats that have been scavenged are also presented (presentation supported with video footage). (Author)

  3. Onboard calibration and monitoring for the SWIFT instrument

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rahnama, P; McDade, I; Shepherd, G; Gault, W

    2012-01-01

    The SWIFT (Stratospheric Wind Interferometer for Transport studies) instrument is a proposed space-based field-widened Doppler Michelson interferometer designed to measure stratospheric winds and ozone densities using a passive optical technique called Doppler Michelson imaging interferometry. The onboard calibration and monitoring procedures for the SWIFT instrument are described in this paper. Sample results of the simulations of onboard calibration measurements are presented and discussed. This paper also discusses the results of the derivation of the calibrations and monitoring requirements for the SWIFT instrument. SWIFT's measurement technique and viewing geometry are briefly described. The reference phase calibration and filter monitoring for the SWIFT instrument are two of the main critical design issues. In this paper it is shown that in order to meet SWIFT's science requirements, Michelson interferometer optical path difference monitoring corresponding to a phase calibration accuracy of ∼10 −3 radians, filter passband monitoring corresponding to phase accuracy of ∼5 × 10 −3 radians and a thermal stability of 10 −3 K s −1 are required. (paper)

  4. Renewed mining and reclamation: Imapacts on bats and potential mitigation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brown, P.E. [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Berry, R.D. [Brown-Berry Biological Consulting, Bishop, CA (United States)

    1997-12-31

    Historic mining created new roosting habitat for many bat species. Now the same industry has the potential to adversely impact bats. Contemporary mining operations usually occur in historic districts; consequently the old workings are destroyed by open pit operations. Occasionally, underground techniques are employed, resulting in the enlargement or destruction of the original workings. Even during exploratory operations, historic mine openings can be covered as drill roads are bulldozed, or drills can penetrate and collapse underground workings. Nearby blasting associated with mine construction and operation can disrupt roosting bats. Bats can also be disturbed by the entry of mine personnel to collect ore samples or by recreational mine explorers, since the creation of roads often results in easier access. In addition to roost disturbance, other aspects of renewed mining can have adverse impacts on bat populations, and affect even those bats that do not live in mines. Open cyanide ponds, or other water in which toxic chemicals accumulate, can poison bats and other wildlife. The creation of the pits, roads and processing areas often destroys critical foraging habitat, or change drainage patterns. Finally, at the completion of mining, any historic mines still open may be sealed as part of closure and reclamation activities. The net result can be a loss of bats and bat habitat. Conversely, in some contemporary underground operations, future roosting habitat for bats can be fabricated. An experimental approach to the creation of new roosting habitat is to bury culverts or old tires beneath waste rock. Mining companies can mitigate for impacts to bats by surveying to identify bat-roosting habitat, removing bats prior to renewed mining or closure, protecting non-impacted roost sites with gates and fences, researching to identify habitat requirements and creating new artificial roosts.

  5. Baseline investigations of bats and birds at Wind Turbine Test Centre Østerild

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    The Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University was commissioned by the Danish Nature Agency to undertake a bat and bird monitoring programme prior to the construction of a national test centre for wind turbines near Østerild in Thy, Denmark. The occurrence and activity level of bats in Østerild...... Plantation and the vicinity were monitored in summer and autumn 2011. Bats were recorded on 57-100% of surveyed nights at individual wind turbine sites, ponds and lakes. A total of seven species were recorded. Pond bats were recorded at all sites and throughout the survey period in the plantation. Whooper...... swan, taiga bean goose, pink-footed goose and common crane were included as focal species in the ornithological investigations. In addition, species specific data on all bird species occurring regularly in the study area were collected. On the basis of a preliminary assessment of collision risk...

  6. Gliding swifts attain laminar flow over rough wings.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Lentink

    Full Text Available Swifts are among the most aerodynamically refined gliding birds. However, the overlapping vanes and protruding shafts of their primary feathers make swift wings remarkably rough for their size. Wing roughness height is 1-2% of chord length on the upper surface--10,000 times rougher than sailplane wings. Sailplanes depend on extreme wing smoothness to increase the area of laminar flow on the wing surface and minimize drag for extended glides. To understand why the swift does not rely on smooth wings, we used a stethoscope to map laminar flow over preserved wings in a low-turbulence wind tunnel. By combining laminar area, lift, and drag measurements, we show that average area of laminar flow on swift wings is 69% (n = 3; std 13% of their total area during glides that maximize flight distance and duration--similar to high-performance sailplanes. Our aerodynamic analysis indicates that swifts attain laminar flow over their rough wings because their wing size is comparable to the distance the air travels (after a roughness-induced perturbation before it transitions from laminar to turbulent. To interpret the function of swift wing roughness, we simulated its effect on smooth model wings using physical models. This manipulation shows that laminar flow is reduced and drag increased at high speeds. At the speeds at which swifts cruise, however, swift-like roughness prolongs laminar flow and reduces drag. This feature gives small birds with rudimentary wings an edge during the evolution of glide performance.

  7. Leading-edge vortex lifts swifts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Videler, J J; Stamhuis, E J; Povel, G D E

    2004-12-10

    The current understanding of how birds fly must be revised, because birds use their hand-wings in an unconventional way to generate lift and drag. Physical models of a common swift wing in gliding posture with a 60 degrees sweep of the sharp hand-wing leading edge were tested in a water tunnel. Interactions with the flow were measured quantitatively with digital particle image velocimetry at Reynolds numbers realistic for the gliding flight of a swift between 3750 and 37,500. The results show that gliding swifts can generate stable leading-edge vortices at small (5 degrees to 10 degrees) angles of attack. We suggest that the flow around the arm-wings of most birds can remain conventionally attached, whereas the swept-back hand-wings generate lift with leading-edge vortices.

  8. Fidelity of bats to forest sites revealed from mist-netting recaptures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roger W. Perry

    2011-01-01

    Although site fidelity to permanent roost structures by bats is generally known, long-term fidelity to areas such as foraging or drinking sites is unknown. Furthermore, mist-net recaptures of bats over multiple years are rarely reported. Extensive mist-net surveys were conducted over the course of 8 y in the Ouachita National Forest of central Arkansas, United States...

  9. Northern California redwood forests provide important seasonal habitat for migrant bats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theodore J. Weller; Craig A. Stricker

    2012-01-01

    Bats are known to roost in redwood forests year-round, but their activities outside the summer season are poorly understood. To improve understanding of the use of redwoods by resident and migrant bats, we conducted 74 mist net surveys between February 2008 and October 2010. Captures were dominated by Yuma myotis (M. yumanensis) in the summer and...

  10. Acute effects of various weighted bat warm-up protocols on bat velocity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyes, G Francis; Dolny, Dennis

    2009-10-01

    Although research has provided evidence of increased muscular performance following a facilitation set of resistance exercise, this has not been established for use prior to measuring baseball bat velocity. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of selected weighted bat warm-up protocols to enhance bat velocity in collegiate baseball players. Nineteen collegiate baseball players (age = 20.15 +/- 1.46 years) were tested for upper-body strength by a 3-repetition maximum (RM) bench press (mean = 97.98 +/- 14.54 kg) and mean bat velocity. Nine weighted bat warm-up protocols, utilizing 3 weighted bats (light = 794 g; standard = 850 g; heavy = 1,531 g) were swung in 3 sets of 6 repetitions in different orders. A control trial involved the warm-up protocol utilizing only the standard bat. Pearson product correlation revealed a significant relationship between 3RM strength and pretest bat velocity (r = 0.51, p = 0.01). Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no significant treatment effects of warm-up protocol on bat velocity. However, the order of standard, light, heavy bat sequence resulted in the greatest increase in bat velocity (+6.03%). These results suggest that upper-body muscle strength influences bat velocity. It appears that the standard, light, heavy warm-up order may provide the greatest benefit to increase subsequent bat velocity and may warrant use in game situations.

  11. Update of the Polar SWIFT model for polar stratospheric ozone loss (Polar SWIFT version 2)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wohltmann, Ingo; Lehmann, Ralph; Rex, Markus

    2017-07-01

    The Polar SWIFT model is a fast scheme for calculating the chemistry of stratospheric ozone depletion in polar winter. It is intended for use in global climate models (GCMs) and Earth system models (ESMs) to enable the simulation of mutual interactions between the ozone layer and climate. To date, climate models often use prescribed ozone fields, since a full stratospheric chemistry scheme is computationally very expensive. Polar SWIFT is based on a set of coupled differential equations, which simulate the polar vortex-averaged mixing ratios of the key species involved in polar ozone depletion on a given vertical level. These species are O3, chemically active chlorine (ClOx), HCl, ClONO2 and HNO3. The only external input parameters that drive the model are the fraction of the polar vortex in sunlight and the fraction of the polar vortex below the temperatures necessary for the formation of polar stratospheric clouds. Here, we present an update of the Polar SWIFT model introducing several improvements over the original model formulation. In particular, the model is now trained on vortex-averaged reaction rates of the ATLAS Chemistry and Transport Model, which enables a detailed look at individual processes and an independent validation of the different parameterizations contained in the differential equations. The training of the original Polar SWIFT model was based on fitting complete model runs to satellite observations and did not allow for this. A revised formulation of the system of differential equations is developed, which closely fits vortex-averaged reaction rates from ATLAS that represent the main chemical processes influencing ozone. In addition, a parameterization for the HNO3 change by denitrification is included. The rates of change of the concentrations of the chemical species of the Polar SWIFT model are purely chemical rates of change in the new version, whereas in the original Polar SWIFT model, they included a transport effect caused by the

  12. Recolonization of bat roost by bat bugs (Cimex pipistrelli): could parasite load be a cause of bat roost switching?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartonička, Tomáš; Růžičková, Lucie

    2013-04-01

    Roost ectoparasites are believed to have a negative impact on fitness of their hosts as birds or mammals. Previous studies were mostly focussed on the synchronization between reproduction cycles of ectoparasites and hosts living in infested roosts. However, to date, it has not been examined how fast ectoparasites colonize new, non-infested roosts and thus increasing the impact on the local populations of hosts. The parasite-host model was studied, including bat bugs Cimex pipistrelli and soprano pipistrelles Pipistrellus pygmaeus, where bat behaviour was observed which tended to reduce the parasite load in bat roosts. We investigated (1) whether bats change their roosting behaviour when we discontinued synchronization of their reproduction and the life cycle of the bat bugs and (2) how fast and which stages of bat bugs reoccupy cleaned roosts. In a 3-year field experiment, we removed all bat bugs from six bat boxes in each spring. Pipistrelles bred young in all non-infested boxes during these 3 years. In addition, 8 years of regular observations before this experiment indicate that bats avoided breeding in the same bat boxes at all. Bat bugs were found again in clean boxes in mid-May. However, their densities did not maximise before the beginning of June, before parturition. A re-appearance of bugs was observed after 21-56 days after the first bat visit. Adult bugs, mainly females, colonised cleaned boxes first though at the same time there were a lot of younger and smaller instars in non-manipulated roosts in the vicinity.

  13. Lyssavirus surveillance in bats of southern China's Guangxi Province.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Zhuan-Ling; Wang, Wen; Yin, Wei-Li; Tang, Hai-Bo; Pan, Yan; Liang, Xiang; Liu, Qi; Xiong, Yi; Minamoto, Nobuyuki; Luo, Ting Rong

    2013-04-01

    Although rabies virus is widely distributed in the world, and has been the subject of extensive investigations with the objective of its ultimate prevention, control, and management, there is much less knowledge of the characteristics, distribution, and infectivity of other lyssaviruses. Since bats are known animal vectors for all but one of the known lyssavirus genotypes, we have performed an extensive survey of bats in the Guangxi Province to provide information on lyssavirus distribution in southern China. The lyssavirus nucleoprotein gene was detected in brains of 2.86 % of 2,969 bats. Nucleotide sequence homologies among isolates were 86.9-99.6 %, but only 70.0-85.0 % for lyssaviruses in GenBank. These infected bats were detected from a wide area, essentially forming a band running from the south-west to the north-east of Guangxi, and it appears that infection by new lyssaviruses is widespread in this region.

  14. The Swift Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romano, P.; Barthelmy, S.; Bozzo, E.; Burrows, D.; Ducci, L.; Esposito, P.; Evans, P.; Kennea, J.; Krimm, H.; Vercellone, S.

    2017-10-01

    We present the Swift Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients project, a systematic study of SFXTs and classical supergiant X-ray binaries (SGXBs) through efficient long-term monitoring of 17 sources including SFXTs and classical SGXBs across more than 4 orders of magnitude in X-ray luminosity on timescales from hundred seconds to years. We derived dynamic ranges, duty cycles, and luminosity distributions to highlight systematic differences that help discriminate between different theoretical models proposed to explain the differences between the wind accretion processes in SFXTs and classical SGXBs. Our follow-ups of the SFXT outbursts provide a steady advancement in the comprehension of the mechanisms triggering the high X-ray level emission of these sources. In particular, the observations of the outburst of the SFXT prototype IGR J17544-2619, when the source reached a peak X-ray luminosity of 3×10^{38} erg s^{-1}, challenged for the first time the maximum theoretical luminosity achievable by a wind-fed neutron star high mass X-ray binary. We propose that this giant outburst was due to the formation of a transient accretion disc around the compact object. We also created a catalogue of over 1000 BAT flares which we use to predict the observability and perspectives with future missions.

  15. Ecological factors associated with European bat lyssavirus seroprevalence in spanish bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serra-Cobo, Jordi; López-Roig, Marc; Seguí, Magdalena; Sánchez, Luisa Pilar; Nadal, Jacint; Borrás, Miquel; Lavenir, Rachel; Bourhy, Hervé

    2013-01-01

    Bats have been proposed as major reservoirs for diverse emerging infectious viral diseases, with rabies being the best known in Europe. However, studies exploring the ecological interaction between lyssaviruses and their natural hosts are scarce. This study completes our active surveillance work on Spanish bat colonies that began in 1992. Herein, we analyzed ecological factors that might affect the infection dynamics observed in those colonies. Between 2001 and 2011, we collected and tested 2,393 blood samples and 45 dead bats from 25 localities and 20 bat species. The results for dead confirmed the presence of EBLV-1 RNA in six species analyzed (for the first time in Myotis capaccinii). Samples positive for European bat lyssavirus-1 (EBLV-1)-neutralizing antibodies were detected in 68% of the localities sampled and in 13 bat species, seven of which were found for the first time (even in Myotis daubentonii, a species to date always linked to EBLV-2). EBLV-1 seroprevalence (20.7%) ranged between 11.1 and 40.2% among bat species and seasonal variation was observed, with significantly higher antibody prevalence in summer (July). EBLV-1 seroprevalence was significantly associated with colony size and species richness. Higher seroprevalence percentages were found in large multispecific colonies, suggesting that intra- and interspecific contacts are major risk factors for EBLV-1 transmission in bat colonies. Although bat-roosting behavior strongly determines EBLV-1 variability, we also found some evidence that bat phylogeny might be involved in bat-species seroprevalence. The results of this study highlight the importance of life history and roost ecology in understanding EBLV-1-prevalence patterns in bat colonies and also provide useful information for public health officials.

  16. Optimizing sampling design to deal with mist-net avoidance in Amazonian birds and bats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João Tiago Marques

    Full Text Available Mist netting is a widely used technique to sample bird and bat assemblages. However, captures often decline with time because animals learn and avoid the locations of nets. This avoidance or net shyness can substantially decrease sampling efficiency. We quantified the day-to-day decline in captures of Amazonian birds and bats with mist nets set at the same location for four consecutive days. We also evaluated how net avoidance influences the efficiency of surveys under different logistic scenarios using re-sampling techniques. Net avoidance caused substantial declines in bird and bat captures, although more accentuated in the latter. Most of the decline occurred between the first and second days of netting: 28% in birds and 47% in bats. Captures of commoner species were more affected. The numbers of species detected also declined. Moving nets daily to minimize the avoidance effect increased captures by 30% in birds and 70% in bats. However, moving the location of nets may cause a reduction in netting time and captures. When moving the nets caused the loss of one netting day it was no longer advantageous to move the nets frequently. In bird surveys that could even decrease the number of individuals captured and species detected. Net avoidance can greatly affect sampling efficiency but adjustments in survey design can minimize this. Whenever nets can be moved without losing netting time and the objective is to capture many individuals, they should be moved daily. If the main objective is to survey species present then nets should still be moved for bats, but not for birds. However, if relocating nets causes a significant loss of netting time, moving them to reduce effects of shyness will not improve sampling efficiency in either group. Overall, our findings can improve the design of mist netting sampling strategies in other tropical areas.

  17. Improved analysis of long-term monitoring data demonstrates marked regional declines of bat populations in the eastern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas E. Ingersoll; Brent J. Sewall; Sybill K. Amelon

    2013-01-01

    Bats are diverse and ecologically important, but are also subject to a suite of severe threats. Evidence for localized bat mortality from these threats is well-documented in some cases, but long-term changes in regional populations of bats remain poorly understood. Bat hibernation surveys provide an opportunity to improve understanding, but analysis is complicated by...

  18. Diverse Long-term Variability of Five Candidate High-mass X-Ray Binaries from Swift Burst Alert Telescope Observations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Corbet, Robin H. D. [University of Maryland, Baltimore County, MD 21250 (United States); Coley, Joel B. [NASA Postdoctoral Program, and Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, Code 661 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt Road, MD 20771 (United States); Krimm, Hans A., E-mail: corbet@umbc.edu [Universities Space Research Association, 10211 Wincopin Circle, Suite 500, Columbia, MD 21044 (United States)

    2017-09-10

    We present an investigation of long-term modulation in the X-ray light curves of five little-studied candidate high-mass X-ray binaries using the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. IGR J14488-5942 and AX J1700.2-4220 show strong modulation at periods of 49.6 and 44 days, respectively, which are interpreted as orbital periods of Be star systems. For IGR J14488-5942, observations with the Swift X-ray Telescope show a hint of pulsations at 33.4 s. For AX J1700.2-4220, 54 s pulsations were previously found with XMM-Newton . Swift J1816.7-1613 exhibits complicated behavior. The strongest peak in the power spectrum is at a period near 150 days, but this conflicts with a determination of a period of 118.5 days by La Parola et al. AX J1820.5-1434 has been proposed to exhibit modulation near 54 days, but the extended BAT observations suggest modulation at slightly longer than double this at approximately 111 days. There appears to be a long-term change in the shape of the modulation near 111 days, which may explain the apparent discrepancy. The X-ray pulsar XTE J1906+090, which was previously proposed to be a Be star system with an orbital period of ∼30 days from pulse timing, shows peaks in the power spectrum at 81 and 173 days. The origins of these periods are unclear, although they might be the orbital period and a superorbital period respectively. For all five sources, the long-term variability, together with the combination of orbital and proposed pulse periods, suggests that the sources contain Be star mass donors.

  19. Bats from Fazenda Intervales, Southeastern Brazil: species account and comparison between different sampling methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine V. Portfors

    2000-06-01

    Full Text Available Assessing the composition of an area's bat fauna is typically accomplished by using captures or by monitoring echolocation calls with bat detectors. The two methods may not provide the same data regarding species composition. Mist nets and harp traps may be biased towards sampling low flying species, and bat detectors biased towards detecting high intensity echolocators. A comparison of the bat fauna of Fazenda Intervales, southeastern Brazil, as revealed by mist nets and harp trap captures, checking roosts and by monitoring echolocation calls of flying bats illustrates this point. A total of 17 species of bats was sampled. Fourteen bat species were captured and the echolocation calls of 12 species were recorded, three of them not revealed by mist nets or harp traps. The different sampling methods provided different pictures of the bat fauna. Phyllostomid bats dominated the catches in mist nets, but in the field their echolocation calls were never detected. No single sampling approach provided a complete assessment of the bat fauna in the study area. In general, bats producing low intensity echolocation calls, such as phyllostomids, are more easily assessed by netting, and bats producing high intensity echolocation calls are better surveyed by bat detectors. The results demonstrate that a combined and varied approach to sampling is required for a complete assessment of the bat fauna of an area.

  20. Ecological factors associated with European bat lyssavirus seroprevalence in spanish bats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jordi Serra-Cobo

    Full Text Available Bats have been proposed as major reservoirs for diverse emerging infectious viral diseases, with rabies being the best known in Europe. However, studies exploring the ecological interaction between lyssaviruses and their natural hosts are scarce. This study completes our active surveillance work on Spanish bat colonies that began in 1992. Herein, we analyzed ecological factors that might affect the infection dynamics observed in those colonies. Between 2001 and 2011, we collected and tested 2,393 blood samples and 45 dead bats from 25 localities and 20 bat species. The results for dead confirmed the presence of EBLV-1 RNA in six species analyzed (for the first time in Myotis capaccinii. Samples positive for European bat lyssavirus-1 (EBLV-1-neutralizing antibodies were detected in 68% of the localities sampled and in 13 bat species, seven of which were found for the first time (even in Myotis daubentonii, a species to date always linked to EBLV-2. EBLV-1 seroprevalence (20.7% ranged between 11.1 and 40.2% among bat species and seasonal variation was observed, with significantly higher antibody prevalence in summer (July. EBLV-1 seroprevalence was significantly associated with colony size and species richness. Higher seroprevalence percentages were found in large multispecific colonies, suggesting that intra- and interspecific contacts are major risk factors for EBLV-1 transmission in bat colonies. Although bat-roosting behavior strongly determines EBLV-1 variability, we also found some evidence that bat phylogeny might be involved in bat-species seroprevalence. The results of this study highlight the importance of life history and roost ecology in understanding EBLV-1-prevalence patterns in bat colonies and also provide useful information for public health officials.

  1. Bat Bonanza

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, Amanda J.; Scott, Catherine; Matthews, Catherine E.

    2013-01-01

    This article describes a lesson on bats developed for kindergartners, which uses models of bats to teach about their physiology, diet, and habitat. The lesson uses craft sticks, wax paper, and colored construction paper that kindergarten teachers can use to help their students compare the features of 4 different kinds of bats. The use of online…

  2. Bartonella species in bats (Chiroptera) and bat flies (Nycteribiidae) from Nigeria, West Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamani, Joshua; Baneth, Gad; Mitchell, Mark; Mumcuoglu, Kosta Y; Gutiérrez, Ricardo; Harrus, Shimon

    2014-09-01

    Previous and ongoing studies have incriminated bats as reservoirs of several emerging and re-emerging zoonoses. Most of these studies, however, have focused on viral agents and neglected important bacterial pathogens. To date, there has been no report investigating the prevalence of Bartonella spp. in bats and bat flies from Nigeria, despite the fact that bats are used as food and for cultural ritual purposes by some ethnic groups in Nigeria. To elucidate the role of bats as reservoirs of bartonellae, we screened by molecular methods 148 bats and 34 bat flies, Diptera:Hippoboscoidea:Nycteribiidae (Cyclopodia greeffi) from Nigeria for Bartonella spp. Overall, Bartonella spp. DNA was detected in 76 out of 148 (51.4%) bat blood samples tested and 10 out of 24 (41.7%) bat flies tested by qPCR targeting the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer (ITS) locus. Bartonella was isolated from 23 of 148 (15.5%) bat blood samples, and the isolates were genetically characterized. Prevalence of Bartonella spp. culture-positive samples ranged from 0% to 45.5% among five bat species. Micropterus spp. bats had a significantly higher relative risk of 3.45 for being culture positive compared to Eidolon helvum, Epomophorus spp., Rhinolophus spp., and Chaerephon nigeriae. Bartonella spp. detected in this study fall into three distinct clusters along with other Bartonella spp. isolated from bats and bat flies from Kenya and Ghana, respectively. The isolation of Bartonella spp. in 10.0-45.5% of four out of five bat species screened in this study indicates a widespread infection in bat population in Nigeria. Further investigation is warranted to determine the role of these bacteria as a cause of human and animal diseases in Nigeria.

  3. Enhanced passive bat rabies surveillance in indigenous bat species from Germany--a retrospective study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliane Schatz

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In Germany, rabies in bats is a notifiable zoonotic disease, which is caused by European bat lyssaviruses type 1 and 2 (EBLV-1 and 2, and the recently discovered new lyssavirus species Bokeloh bat lyssavirus (BBLV. As the understanding of bat rabies in insectivorous bat species is limited, in addition to routine bat rabies diagnosis, an enhanced passive surveillance study, i.e. the retrospective investigation of dead bats that had not been tested for rabies, was initiated in 1998 to study the distribution, abundance and epidemiology of lyssavirus infections in bats from Germany. A total number of 5478 individuals representing 21 bat species within two families were included in this study. The Noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula and the Common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus represented the most specimens submitted. Of all investigated bats, 1.17% tested positive for lyssaviruses using the fluorescent antibody test (FAT. The vast majority of positive cases was identified as EBLV-1, predominately associated with the Serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus. However, rabies cases in other species, i.e. Nathusius' pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus nathusii, P. pipistrellus and Brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus were also characterized as EBLV-1. In contrast, EBLV-2 was isolated from three Daubenton's bats (Myotis daubentonii. These three cases contribute significantly to the understanding of EBLV-2 infections in Germany as only one case had been reported prior to this study. This enhanced passive surveillance indicated that besides known reservoir species, further bat species are affected by lyssavirus infections. Given the increasing diversity of lyssaviruses and bats as reservoir host species worldwide, lyssavirus positive specimens, i.e. both bat and virus need to be confirmed by molecular techniques.

  4. Enhanced Passive Bat Rabies Surveillance in Indigenous Bat Species from Germany - A Retrospective Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Auer, Ernst; Goharriz, Hooman; Harbusch, Christine; Johnson, Nicholas; Kaipf, Ingrid; Mettenleiter, Thomas Christoph; Mühldorfer, Kristin; Mühle, Ralf-Udo; Ohlendorf, Bernd; Pott-Dörfer, Bärbel; Prüger, Julia; Ali, Hanan Sheikh; Stiefel, Dagmar; Teubner, Jens; Ulrich, Rainer Günter; Wibbelt, Gudrun; Müller, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    In Germany, rabies in bats is a notifiable zoonotic disease, which is caused by European bat lyssaviruses type 1 and 2 (EBLV-1 and 2), and the recently discovered new lyssavirus species Bokeloh bat lyssavirus (BBLV). As the understanding of bat rabies in insectivorous bat species is limited, in addition to routine bat rabies diagnosis, an enhanced passive surveillance study, i.e. the retrospective investigation of dead bats that had not been tested for rabies, was initiated in 1998 to study the distribution, abundance and epidemiology of lyssavirus infections in bats from Germany. A total number of 5478 individuals representing 21 bat species within two families were included in this study. The Noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula) and the Common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) represented the most specimens submitted. Of all investigated bats, 1.17% tested positive for lyssaviruses using the fluorescent antibody test (FAT). The vast majority of positive cases was identified as EBLV-1, predominately associated with the Serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus). However, rabies cases in other species, i.e. Nathusius' pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus nathusii), P. pipistrellus and Brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus) were also characterized as EBLV-1. In contrast, EBLV-2 was isolated from three Daubenton's bats (Myotis daubentonii). These three cases contribute significantly to the understanding of EBLV-2 infections in Germany as only one case had been reported prior to this study. This enhanced passive surveillance indicated that besides known reservoir species, further bat species are affected by lyssavirus infections. Given the increasing diversity of lyssaviruses and bats as reservoir host species worldwide, lyssavirus positive specimens, i.e. both bat and virus need to be confirmed by molecular techniques. PMID:24784117

  5. Update of the Polar SWIFT model for polar stratospheric ozone loss (Polar SWIFT version 2

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Wohltmann

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The Polar SWIFT model is a fast scheme for calculating the chemistry of stratospheric ozone depletion in polar winter. It is intended for use in global climate models (GCMs and Earth system models (ESMs to enable the simulation of mutual interactions between the ozone layer and climate. To date, climate models often use prescribed ozone fields, since a full stratospheric chemistry scheme is computationally very expensive. Polar SWIFT is based on a set of coupled differential equations, which simulate the polar vortex-averaged mixing ratios of the key species involved in polar ozone depletion on a given vertical level. These species are O3, chemically active chlorine (ClOx, HCl, ClONO2 and HNO3. The only external input parameters that drive the model are the fraction of the polar vortex in sunlight and the fraction of the polar vortex below the temperatures necessary for the formation of polar stratospheric clouds. Here, we present an update of the Polar SWIFT model introducing several improvements over the original model formulation. In particular, the model is now trained on vortex-averaged reaction rates of the ATLAS Chemistry and Transport Model, which enables a detailed look at individual processes and an independent validation of the different parameterizations contained in the differential equations. The training of the original Polar SWIFT model was based on fitting complete model runs to satellite observations and did not allow for this. A revised formulation of the system of differential equations is developed, which closely fits vortex-averaged reaction rates from ATLAS that represent the main chemical processes influencing ozone. In addition, a parameterization for the HNO3 change by denitrification is included. The rates of change of the concentrations of the chemical species of the Polar SWIFT model are purely chemical rates of change in the new version, whereas in the original Polar SWIFT model, they included a transport effect

  6. Bat Biology, Genomes, and the Bat1K Project: To Generate Chromosome-Level Genomes for All Living Bat Species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teeling, Emma C; Vernes, Sonja C; Dávalos, Liliana M; Ray, David A; Gilbert, M Thomas P; Myers, Eugene

    2018-02-15

    Bats are unique among mammals, possessing some of the rarest mammalian adaptations, including true self-powered flight, laryngeal echolocation, exceptional longevity, unique immunity, contracted genomes, and vocal learning. They provide key ecosystem services, pollinating tropical plants, dispersing seeds, and controlling insect pest populations, thus driving healthy ecosystems. They account for more than 20% of all living mammalian diversity, and their crown-group evolutionary history dates back to the Eocene. Despite their great numbers and diversity, many species are threatened and endangered. Here we announce Bat1K, an initiative to sequence the genomes of all living bat species (n∼1,300) to chromosome-level assembly. The Bat1K genome consortium unites bat biologists (>148 members as of writing), computational scientists, conservation organizations, genome technologists, and any interested individuals committed to a better understanding of the genetic and evolutionary mechanisms that underlie the unique adaptations of bats. Our aim is to catalog the unique genetic diversity present in all living bats to better understand the molecular basis of their unique adaptations; uncover their evolutionary history; link genotype with phenotype; and ultimately better understand, promote, and conserve bats. Here we review the unique adaptations of bats and highlight how chromosome-level genome assemblies can uncover the molecular basis of these traits. We present a novel sequencing and assembly strategy and review the striking societal and scientific benefits that will result from the Bat1K initiative.

  7. Breaking Bat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguilar, Isaac-Cesar; Kagan, David

    2013-01-01

    The sight of a broken bat in Major League Baseball can produce anything from a humorous dribbler in the infield to a frightening pointed projectile headed for the stands. Bats usually break at the weakest point, typically in the handle. Breaking happens because the wood gets bent beyond the breaking point due to the wave sent down the bat created…

  8. Bats of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado: composition, reproduction, and roosting habits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Shea, Thomas J.; Cryan, Paul M.; Snider, E. Apple; Valdez, Ernest W.; Ellison, Laura E.; Neubaum, Daniel J.

    2011-01-01

    We determined the bat fauna at Mesa Verde National Park (Mesa Verde) in 2006 and 2007, characterized bat elevational distribution and reproduction, and investigated roosting habits of selected species. We captured 1996 bats of 15 species in mist nets set over water during 120 nights of sampling and recorded echolocation calls of an additional species. The bat fauna at Mesa Verde included every species of bat known west of the Great Plains in Colorado, except the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus). Some species showed skewed sex ratios, primarily due to a preponderance of males. Thirteen species of bats reproduced at Mesa Verde. Major differences in spring precipitation between the 2 years of our study were associated with differences in reproductive rates and, in some species, with numbers of juveniles captured. Reduced reproductive effort during spring drought will have a greater impact on bat populations with the forecasted increase in aridity in much of western North America by models of global climate change. We radiotracked 46 bats of 5 species to roosts and describe the first-known maternity colonies of spotted bats (Euderma maculatum) in Colorado. All 5 species that we tracked to diurnal roosts relied almost exclusively on rock crevices rather than trees or snags, despite the presence of mature forests at Mesa Verde and the use of trees for roosts in similar forests elsewhere by some of these species. Comparisons with past bat surveys at Mesa Verde and in surrounding areas suggest no dramatic evidence for effects of recent stand-replacing fires on the composition of the bat community.

  9. Bats, mines, and citizen science in the Rockies: Volunteers make a difference in Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes, Mark A.

    2012-01-01

    Biologists at the Colorado Division of Wildlife faced a big problem back in 1990. They wanted to protect important bat roosts in the state’s abandoned mines, but first they had to find the bats. Colorado’s rich mining history had left more than 23,000 old mines scattered across the landscape, few of which had ever been surveyed for bat roosts. The magnitude of the task was overwhelming. So the agency put out a call for volunteers, “citizen scientists” willing to donate their time for bat conservation. Two decades later, the results have surpassed their wildest expectations.

  10. A New Measurement of the Cosmic X-ray Background

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moretti, A.

    2009-01-01

    I present a new analytical description of the cosmic X-ray background (CXRB) spectrum in the 1.5-200 keV energy band, obtained by combining the new measurement performed by the Swift X-ray telescope (XRT) with the recently published Swift burst alert telescope (BAT) measurement. A study of the cosmic variance in the XRT band (1.5-7 keV) is also presented. I find that the expected cosmic variance (expected from LogN-LogS) scales as Ω -0.3 (where Ω is the surveyed area) in very good agreement with XRT data.

  11. Bat Rabies in Guatemala

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellison, James A.; Gilbert, Amy T.; Recuenco, Sergio; Moran, David; Alvarez, Danilo A.; Kuzmina, Natalia; Garcia, Daniel L.; Peruski, Leonard F.; Mendonça, Mary T.; Lindblade, Kim A.; Rupprecht, Charles E.

    2014-01-01

    Rabies in bats is considered enzootic throughout the New World, but few comparative data are available for most countries in the region. As part of a larger pathogen detection program, enhanced bat rabies surveillance was conducted in Guatemala, between 2009 and 2011. A total of 672 bats of 31 species were sampled and tested for rabies. The prevalence of rabies virus (RABV) detection among all collected bats was low (0.3%). Viral antigens were detected and infectious virus was isolated from the brains of two common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus). RABV was also isolated from oral swabs, lungs and kidneys of both bats, whereas viral RNA was detected in all of the tissues examined by hemi-nested RT-PCR except for the liver of one bat. Sequencing of the nucleoprotein gene showed that both viruses were 100% identical, whereas sequencing of the glycoprotein gene revealed one non-synonymous substitution (302T,S). The two vampire bat RABV isolates in this study were phylogenetically related to viruses associated with vampire bats in the eastern states of Mexico and El Salvador. Additionally, 7% of sera collected from 398 bats demonstrated RABV neutralizing antibody. The proportion of seropositive bats varied significantly across trophic guilds, suggestive of complex intraspecific compartmentalization of RABV perpetuation. PMID:25080103

  12. Bat rabies surveillance in France: first report of unusual mortality among serotine bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Picard-Meyer, Evelyne; Servat, Alexandre; Wasniewski, Marine; Gaillard, Matthieu; Borel, Christophe; Cliquet, Florence

    2017-12-13

    Rabies is a fatal viral encephalitic disease that is caused by lyssaviruses which can affect all mammals, including human and bats. In Europe, bat rabies cases are attributed to five different lyssavirus species, the majority of rabid bats being attributed to European bat 1 lyssavirus (EBLV-1), circulating mainly in serotine bats (Eptesicus serotinus). In France, rabies in bats is under surveillance since 1989, with 77 positive cases reported between 1989 and 2016. In the frame of the bat rabies surveillance, an unusual mortality of serotine bats was reported in 2009 in a village in North-East France. Six juvenile bats from an E. serotinus maternity colony counting ~200 individuals were found to be infected with EBLV-1. The active surveillance of the colony by capture sessions of bats from July to September 2009 showed a high detection rate of neutralising EBLV-1 antibodies (≈ 50%) in the colony. Moreover, one out of 111 animals tested was found to shed viable virus in saliva, while lyssavirus RNA was detected by RT-PCR for five individuals. This study demonstrated that the lyssavirus infection in the serotine maternity colony was followed by a high rate of bat rabies immunity after circulation of the virus in the colony. The ratio of seropositive bats is probably indicative of an efficient virus transmission coupled to a rapid circulation of EBLV-1 in the colony.

  13. Swift essentials

    CERN Document Server

    Blewitt, Alex

    2014-01-01

    Whether you are a seasoned Objective-C developer or new to the Xcode platform, Swift Essentials will provide you with all you need to know to get started with the language. Prior experience with iOS development is not necessary, but will be helpful to get the most out of the book.

  14. Bats and wind energy: a literature synthesis and annotated bibliography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellison, Laura E.

    2012-01-01

    Turbines have been used to harness energy from wind for hundreds of years. However, with growing concerns about climate change, wind energy has only recently entered the mainstream of global electricity production. Since early on in the development of wind-energy production, concerns have arisen about the potential impacts of turbines to wildlife; these concerns have especially focused on the mortality of birds. Despite recent improvements to turbines that have resulted in reduced mortality of birds, there is clear evidence that bat mortality at wind turbines is of far greater conservation concern. Bats of certain species are dying by the thousands at turbines across North America, and the species consistently affected tend to be those that rely on trees as roosts and most migrate long distances. Turbine-related bat mortalities are now affecting nearly a quarter of all bat species occurring in the United States and Canada. Most documented bat mortality at wind-energy facilities has occurred in late summer and early fall and has involved tree bats, with hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) being the most prevalent among fatalities. This literature synthesis and annotated bibliography focuses on refereed journal publications and theses about bats and wind-energy development in North America (United States and Canada). Thirty-six publications and eight theses were found, and their key findings were summarized. These publications date from 1996 through 2011, with the bulk of publications appearing from 2007 to present, reflecting the relatively recent conservation concerns about bats and wind energy. The idea for this Open-File Report formed while organizing a joint U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/U.S. Geological Survey "Bats and Wind Energy Workshop," on January 25-26, 2012. The purposes of the workshop were to develop a list of research priorities to support decision making concerning bats with respect to siting and operations of wind-energy facilities across the United

  15. The specificity of host-bat fly interaction networks across vegetation and seasonal variation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarazúa-Carbajal, Mariana; Saldaña-Vázquez, Romeo A; Sandoval-Ruiz, César A; Stoner, Kathryn E; Benitez-Malvido, Julieta

    2016-10-01

    Vegetation type and seasonality promote changes in the species composition and abundance of parasite hosts. However, it is poorly known how these variables affect host-parasite interaction networks. This information is important to understand the dynamics of parasite-host relationships according to biotic and abiotic changes. We compared the specialization of host-bat fly interaction networks, as well as bat fly and host species composition between upland dry forest and riparian forest and between dry and rainy seasons in a tropical dry forest in Jalisco, Mexico. Bat flies were surveyed by direct collection from bats. Our results showed that host-bat fly interaction networks were more specialized in upland dry forest compared to riparian forest. Bat fly species composition was different between the dry and rainy seasons, while host species composition was different between upland dry forest and riparian forest. The higher specialization in upland dry forest could be related to the differences in bat host species composition and their respective roosting habits. Variation in the composition of bat fly species between dry and rainy seasons coincides with the seasonal shifts in their species richness. Our study confirms the high specialization of host-bat fly interactions and shows the importance of biotic and abiotic factors to understand the dynamics of parasite-host interactions.

  16. Identifikasi Kelelawar Pemakan Buah Asal Sulawesi Berdasarkan Morfometri (THE MORPHOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION OF CELEBES FRUIT BATS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tiltje Andretha Ransaleleh

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The bat is very important for human life, because of their  role as pollinator of plants, as a producer oforganic fertilizer,  and as food.  In Northern Celebes fruit eating bats serve as exotic food, so the presenceof bats were threatened to be extinct due to uncontrolled hunting.  The changes of the forest for plantationlands, damage the habitats and the bats were forced to migrate out.   The aim of the study was to identifythe fruit eating bats of Celebes.  Morphometry of body size, skull,  and physical characteristics were usedin determining the types and distribution  of fruit eating bats in Celebes. The field survey was carried outat the hunting area, bat dealers, and bat sellers. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptivemethod and interpreted by narrating to describe the entire study. The result show that  there were fivetypes of fruit eating bats : i.e.  kalong sulawesi (Acerodon celebensis,  paniki pallas (Nyctimene cephalotes,codot wallet (Thoopterus nigrescens, nyap biasa (Rousettus amplexicaudatus, and  kalong hitam  (Pteropusalecto.

  17. Beginning Swift games development for iOS

    CERN Document Server

    Goodwill, James

    2015-01-01

    Game apps are one of the most popular categories in the Apple iTunes App Store. Well, the introduction of the new Swift programming language will make game development even more appealing and easier to existing and future iOS app developers. In response, James Goodwill, Wesley Matlock and Apress introduce you to this book, Beginning Swift Games Development for iOS. In this book, you'll learn the fundamental elements of the new Swift language as applied to game development for iOS. In part 1, you'll start with a basic 2D game idea and build the game throughout the book introducing each Sprit

  18. Bat in our environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mirjana Stantič-Pavlinič

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: All around the world exist more than thousand species of bats. In spite of some advantageous characteristics, mostly recognised in several insectivorous species, bats can transmit different kinds of microorganisms – the causes of infectious diseases. Microbial agents, recognised in connection with bats are: lyssavirus, Nipah virus, Hystoplasma capsulatum fungus, etc. In Europe there live about 28 species of bats. The most cases of European bat lyssaviruses (EBL1 and EBL2 were demonstrated in the Eptesicus serotinus species placed in Slovenia as well. We are presenting available data on rabies prevention. The rate of post-exposure treatment against rabies after the bite of bats in Slovenia is below 1% and is comparable with the remainder of Europe.Conclusions: In most European countries, including Slovenia, the bats are included in the lists of animal species protected by the law. In spite of that, the programs of investigations of bats, including the recognition and prevention of diseases transmitted by bats are implemented. We believe that such program should be prepared in Slovenia as well. We propose for that purposes the establishment of co-operation between the medical institutions, veterinarians, cave explorers associations, societies for bat protections and other interested institutions.

  19. The Lag-Luminosity Relation in the GRB Source Frame: An Investigation with Swift BAT Bursts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ukwatta, T. N.; Dhuga, K. S.; Stamatikos, M.; Dermer, C. D.; Sakamoto, T.; Sonbas, E.; Parke, W. C.; Maximon, L. C.; Linnemann, J. T.; Bhat, P. N.; hide

    2011-01-01

    Spectral lag. which is defined as the difference in time of arrival of high- and low-energy photons. is a common feature in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Previous investigations have shown a correlation between this lag and the isotropic peak luminosity for long duration bursts. However. most of the previous investigations used lags extracted in the observer frame only. In this work (based on a sample of 43 Swift long GRBs with known redshifts). we present an analysis of the lag-luminosity relation in the GRB source frame. Our analysis indicates a higher degree of correlation -0.82 +/- 0.05 (chance probability of approx. 5.5 x 10(exp -5) between the spectral lag and the isotropic peak luminosity, L(sub iso). with a best-fitting power-law index of -1.2 +/- 0.2. In addition, there is an anticorrelation between the source-frame spectral lag and the source-frame peak energy of the burst spectrum.

  20. NASA's Swift Education and Public Outreach Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cominsky, L. R.; Graves, T.; Plait, P.; Silva, S.; Simonnet, A.

    2004-08-01

    Few astronomical objects excite students more than big explosions and black holes. Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are both: powerful explosions that signal the births of black holes. NASA's Swift satellite mission, set for launch in Fall 2004, will detect hundreds of black holes over its two-year nominal mission timeline. The NASA Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) group at Sonoma State University is leading the Swift E/PO effort, using the Swift mission to engage students in science and math learning. We have partnered with the Lawrence Hall of Science to create a ``Great Explorations in Math and Science" guide entitled ``Invisible Universe: from Radio Waves to Gamma Rays," which uses GRBs to introduce students to the electromagnetic spectrum and the scale of energies in the Universe. We have also created new standards-based activities for grades 9-12 using GRBs: one activity puts the students in the place of astronomers 20 years ago, trying to sort out various types of stellar explosions that create high-energy radiation. Another mimics the use of the Interplanetary Network to let students figure out the direction to a GRB. Post-launch materials will include magazine articles about Swift and GRBs, and live updates of GRB information to the Swift E/PO website that will excite and inspire students to learn more about space science.

  1. The Swift MIDEX Education and Public Outreach Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feigelson, E. D.; Cominsky, L. R.; Whitlock, L. A.

    1999-12-01

    The Swift satellite is dedicated to an understanding of gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the Universe since the Big Bang. A multifaceted E/PO program associated with Swift is planned. Web sites will be constructed, including sophisticated interactive learning environments for combining science concepts with with exploration and critical thinking for high school students. The award-winning instructional television program "What's in the News?", produced by Penn State Public Broadcasting and reaching several million 4th-7th graders, will create a series of broadcasts on Swift and space astronomy. A teachers' curricular guide on space astronomy will be produced by UC-Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science as part of their highly successful GEMS guides promoting inquiry-based science education. Teacher workshops will be conducted in the Appalachian region and nationwide to testbed and disseminate these products. We may also assist the production of gamma-ray burst museum exhibits. All aspects of the program will be overseen by a Swift Education Committee and assessed by a professional educational evaluation firm. This effort will be supported by the NASA Swift MIDEX contract to Penn State.

  2. Novel hemotropic mycoplasmas are widespread and genetically diverse in vampire bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Volokhov, D V; Becker, D J; Bergner, L M; Camus, M S; Orton, R J; Chizhikov, V E; Altizer, S M; Streicker, D G

    2017-11-01

    Bats (Order: Chiroptera) have been widely studied as reservoir hosts for viruses of concern for human and animal health. However, whether bats are equally competent hosts of non-viral pathogens such as bacteria remains an important open question. Here, we surveyed blood and saliva samples of vampire bats from Peru and Belize for hemotropic Mycoplasma spp. (hemoplasmas), bacteria that can cause inapparent infection or anemia in hosts. 16S rRNA gene amplification of blood showed 67% (150/223) of common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) were infected by hemoplasmas. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene amplicons revealed three novel genotypes that were phylogenetically related but not identical to hemoplasmas described from other (non-vampire) bat species, rodents, humans, and non-human primates. Hemoplasma prevalence in vampire bats was highest in non-reproductive and young individuals, did not differ by country, and was relatively stable over time (i.e., endemic). Metagenomics from pooled D. rotundus saliva from Peru detected non-hemotropic Mycoplasma species and hemoplasma genotypes phylogenetically similar to those identified in blood, providing indirect evidence for potential direct transmission of hemoplasmas through biting or social contacts. This study demonstrates vampire bats host several novel hemoplasmas and sheds light on risk factors for infection and basic transmission routes. Given the high frequency of direct contacts that arise when vampire bats feed on humans, domestic animals, and wildlife, the potential of these bacteria to be transmitted between species should be investigated in future work.

  3. On the thermodynamics of the Swift-Hohenberg theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Espath, L. F. R.; Sarmiento, A. F.; Dalcin, L.; Calo, V. M.

    2017-11-01

    We present the microbalance including the microforces, the first- and second-order microstresses for the Swift-Hohenberg equation concomitantly with their constitutive equations, which are consistent with the free-energy imbalance. We provide an explicit form for the microstress structure for a free-energy functional endowed with second-order spatial derivatives. Additionally, we generalize the Swift-Hohenberg theory via a proper constitutive process. Finally, we present one highly resolved three-dimensional numerical simulation to demonstrate the particular form of the resulting microstresses and their interactions in the evolution of the Swift-Hohenberg equation.

  4. Bat Predation by Spiders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyffeler, Martin; Knörnschild, Mirjam

    2013-01-01

    In this paper more than 50 incidences of bats being captured by spiders are reviewed. Bat-catching spiders have been reported from virtually every continent with the exception of Antarctica (∼90% of the incidences occurring in the warmer areas of the globe between latitude 30° N and 30° S). Most reports refer to the Neotropics (42% of observed incidences), Asia (28.8%), and Australia-Papua New Guinea (13.5%). Bat-catching spiders belong to the mygalomorph family Theraphosidae and the araneomorph families Nephilidae, Araneidae, and Sparassidae. In addition to this, an attack attempt by a large araneomorph hunting spider of the family Pisauridae on an immature bat was witnessed. Eighty-eight percent of the reported incidences of bat catches were attributable to web-building spiders and 12% to hunting spiders. Large tropical orb-weavers of the genera Nephila and Eriophora in particular have been observed catching bats in their huge, strong orb-webs (of up to 1.5 m diameter). The majority of identifiable captured bats were small aerial insectivorous bats, belonging to the families Vespertilionidae (64%) and Emballonuridae (22%) and usually being among the most common bat species in their respective geographic area. While in some instances bats entangled in spider webs may have died of exhaustion, starvation, dehydration, and/or hyperthermia (i.e., non-predation death), there were numerous other instances where spiders were seen actively attacking, killing, and eating the captured bats (i.e., predation). This evidence suggests that spider predation on flying vertebrates is more widespread than previously assumed. PMID:23516436

  5. Bat predation by spiders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyffeler, Martin; Knörnschild, Mirjam

    2013-01-01

    In this paper more than 50 incidences of bats being captured by spiders are reviewed. Bat-catching spiders have been reported from virtually every continent with the exception of Antarctica (≈ 90% of the incidences occurring in the warmer areas of the globe between latitude 30° N and 30° S). Most reports refer to the Neotropics (42% of observed incidences), Asia (28.8%), and Australia-Papua New Guinea (13.5%). Bat-catching spiders belong to the mygalomorph family Theraphosidae and the araneomorph families Nephilidae, Araneidae, and Sparassidae. In addition to this, an attack attempt by a large araneomorph hunting spider of the family Pisauridae on an immature bat was witnessed. Eighty-eight percent of the reported incidences of bat catches were attributable to web-building spiders and 12% to hunting spiders. Large tropical orb-weavers of the genera Nephila and Eriophora in particular have been observed catching bats in their huge, strong orb-webs (of up to 1.5 m diameter). The majority of identifiable captured bats were small aerial insectivorous bats, belonging to the families Vespertilionidae (64%) and Emballonuridae (22%) and usually being among the most common bat species in their respective geographic area. While in some instances bats entangled in spider webs may have died of exhaustion, starvation, dehydration, and/or hyperthermia (i.e., non-predation death), there were numerous other instances where spiders were seen actively attacking, killing, and eating the captured bats (i.e., predation). This evidence suggests that spider predation on flying vertebrates is more widespread than previously assumed.

  6. European Bat Lyssaviruses, the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poel, van der W.H.M.; Heide, van der R.; Verstraten, E.R.A.M.; Kramps, J.A.

    2005-01-01

    To study European bat lyssavirus (EBLV) in bat reservoirs in the Netherlands, native bats have been tested for rabies since 1984. For all collected bats, data including species, age, sex, and date and location found were recorded. A total of 1,219 serotine bats, Eptesicus serotinus, were tested, and

  7. Deconstructing the Bat Skin Microbiome: Influences of the Host and the Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine V Avena

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Bats are geographically widespread and play an important role in many ecosystems, but relatively little is known about the ecology of their associated microbial communities and the role microbial taxa play in bat health, development, and evolution. Moreover, few vertebrate animal skin microbiomes have been comprehensively assessed, and thus characterizing the bat skin microbiome will yield valuable insight into the variability of vertebrate skin microbiomes as a whole. The recent emergence of the skin fungal disease white-nose syndrome highlights the potentially important role bat skin microbial communities could play in bat health. Understanding the determinant of bat skin microbial communities could provide insight into important factors allowing individuals to persist with disease. We collected skin swabs from a total of 11 bat species from the eastern United States (n=45 and Colorado (n=119, as well as environmental samples (n=38 from a subset of sites, and used 16S rRNA marker gene sequencing to observe bacterial communities. In addition, we conducted a literature survey to compare the skin microbiome across vertebrate groups, including the bats presented in this study. Host species, region, and site were all significant predictors of the variability across bat skin bacterial communities. Many bacterial taxa were found both on bats and in the environment. However, some bacterial taxa had consistently greater relative abundances on bat skin relative to their environments. Bats shared many of their abundant taxa with other vertebrates, but also hosted unique bacterial lineages such as the class Thermoleophilia (Actinobacteria. A strong effect of site on the bat skin microbiome indicates that the environment very strongly influences what bacteria are present on bat skin. Bat skin microbiomes are largely composed of site-specific microbiota, but there do appear to be important host-specific taxa. How this translates to differences in host

  8. Deconstructing the Bat Skin Microbiome: Influences of the Host and the Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avena, Christine V; Parfrey, Laura Wegener; Leff, Jonathan W; Archer, Holly M; Frick, Winifred F; Langwig, Kate E; Kilpatrick, A Marm; Powers, Karen E; Foster, Jeffrey T; McKenzie, Valerie J

    2016-01-01

    Bats are geographically widespread and play an important role in many ecosystems, but relatively little is known about the ecology of their associated microbial communities and the role microbial taxa play in bat health, development, and evolution. Moreover, few vertebrate animal skin microbiomes have been comprehensively assessed, and thus characterizing the bat skin microbiome will yield valuable insight into the variability of vertebrate skin microbiomes as a whole. The recent emergence of the skin fungal disease white-nose syndrome highlights the potentially important role bat skin microbial communities could play in bat health. Understanding the determinant of bat skin microbial communities could provide insight into important factors allowing individuals to persist with disease. We collected skin swabs from a total of 11 bat species from the eastern United States ( n = 45) and Colorado ( n = 119), as well as environmental samples ( n = 38) from a subset of sites, and used 16S rRNA marker gene sequencing to observe bacterial communities. In addition, we conducted a literature survey to compare the skin microbiome across vertebrate groups, including the bats presented in this study. Host species, region, and site were all significant predictors of the variability across bat skin bacterial communities. Many bacterial taxa were found both on bats and in the environment. However, some bacterial taxa had consistently greater relative abundances on bat skin relative to their environments. Bats shared many of their abundant taxa with other vertebrates, but also hosted unique bacterial lineages such as the class Thermoleophilia (Actinobacteria). A strong effect of site on the bat skin microbiome indicates that the environment very strongly influences what bacteria are present on bat skin. Bat skin microbiomes are largely composed of site-specific microbiota, but there do appear to be important host-specific taxa. How this translates to differences in host

  9. The North American Bats and Mines Project: a cooperative approach for integrating wildlife, ecosystem management, and mine land reclamation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Taylor, D.A.R. [Bat Conservation International, Austin, TX (United States)

    1995-06-01

    Abandoned underground mines in North America provide a habitat for bats. Closure of mines without conducting biological surveys can endanger bat species that are abundant. The North American Bats and Mines Project (NABMP) has been created by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Bat Conservation International to provide coordination among government and conservation organizations and the mining industry in order to minimize the loss of bats living in mines. NABMP provides coordination through education on the importance of mines for bat populations by providing training on mine assessment and closure methods, by assisting with protection and improvement of abandoned mine roosts, and by developing methods for creating new bat habitat. 1 tab.

  10. First encounter of European bat lyssavirus type 2 (EBLV-2) in a bat in Finland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jakava-Viljanen, M; Lilley, T; Kyheröinen, E-M; Huovilainen, A

    2010-11-01

    In Finland, rabies in bats was suspected for the first time in 1985 when a bat researcher, who had multiple bat bites, died in Helsinki. The virus isolated from the researcher proved to be antigenically related to rabies viruses previously detected in German bats. Later, the virus was typed as EBLV-2b. Despite an epidemiological study in bats 1986 and subsequent rabies surveillance, rabies in bats was not detected in Finland until the first case in a Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii) was confirmed in August 2009. The bat was paralysed, occasionally crying, and biting when approached; it subsequently tested positive for rabies. The virus was genetically typed as EBLV-2. This is the northernmost case of bat rabies ever detected in Europe. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the EBLV-2b isolate from the human case in 1985 and the isolate from the bat in 2009 were genetically closely related, demonstrating that EBLV-2 may have been circulating in Finland for many years.

  11. Insectivorous bats respond to vegetation complexity in urban green spaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suarez-Rubio, Marcela; Ille, Christina; Bruckner, Alexander

    2018-03-01

    Structural complexity is known to determine habitat quality for insectivorous bats, but how bats respond to habitat complexity in highly modified areas such as urban green spaces has been little explored. Furthermore, it is uncertain whether a recently developed measure of structural complexity is as effective as field-based surveys when applied to urban environments. We assessed whether image-derived structural complexity (MIG) was as/more effective than field-based descriptors in this environment and evaluated the response of insectivorous bats to structural complexity in urban green spaces. Bat activity and species richness were assessed with ultrasonic devices at 180 locations within green spaces in Vienna, Austria. Vegetation complexity was assessed using 17 field-based descriptors and by calculating the mean information gain (MIG) using digital images. Total bat activity and species richness decreased with increasing structural complexity of canopy cover, suggesting maneuverability and echolocation (sensorial) challenges for bat species using the canopy for flight and foraging. The negative response of functional groups to increased complexity was stronger for open-space foragers than for edge-space foragers. Nyctalus noctula , a species foraging in open space, showed a negative response to structural complexity, whereas Pipistrellus pygmaeus , an edge-space forager, was positively influenced by the number of trees. Our results show that MIG is a useful, time- and cost-effective tool to measure habitat complexity that complemented field-based descriptors. Response of insectivorous bats to structural complexity was group- and species-specific, which highlights the need for manifold management strategies (e.g., increasing or reinstating the extent of ground vegetation cover) to fulfill different species' requirements and to conserve insectivorous bats in urban green spaces.

  12. First confirmation of Pseudogymnoascus destructans in British bats and hibernacula.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barlow, A M; Worledge, L; Miller, H; Drees, K P; Wright, P; Foster, J T; Sobek, C; Borman, A M; Fraser, M

    2015-07-18

    White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fatal fungal infection of bats in North America caused by Pseudogymnoascus destructans. P. destructans has been confirmed in Continental Europe but not associated with mass mortality. Its presence in Great Britain was unknown. Opportunistic sampling of bats in GB began during the winter of 2009. Any dead bats or samples from live bats with visible fungal growths were submitted to the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency for culture. Active surveillance by targeted environmental sampling of hibernacula was carried out during the winter of 2012/2013. Six hibernacula were selected by their proximity to Continental Europe. Five samples, a combination of surface swabs or sediment samples, were collected. These were sent to the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics, Northern Arizona University, for P. destructans PCR. Forty-eight incidents were investigated between March 2009 and July 2013. They consisted of 46 bat carcases and 31 other samples. A suspected P. destructans isolate was cultured from a live Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii) sampled in February 2013. This isolate was confirmed by the Mycology Reference Laboratory, Bristol (Public Health England), as P. destructans. A variety of fungi were isolated from the rest but all were considered to be saprophytic or incidental. P. destructans was also confirmed by the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics in five of the six sites surveyed. British Veterinary Association.

  13. Lagos bat virus transmission in an Eidolon helvum bat colony, Ghana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freuling, Conrad M; Binger, Tabea; Beer, Martin; Adu-Sarkodie, Yaw; Schatz, Juliane; Fischer, Melina; Hanke, Dennis; Hoffmann, Bernd; Höper, Dirk; Mettenleiter, Thomas C; Oppong, Samual K; Drosten, Christian; Müller, Thomas

    2015-12-02

    A brain sample of a straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) from Ghana without evident signs of disease tested positive by generic Lyssavirus RT-PCR and direct antigen staining. Sequence analysis confirmed the presence of a Lagos bat virus belonging to phylogenetic lineage A. Virus neutralization tests using the isolate with sera from the same group of bats yielded neutralizing antibodies in 74% of 567 animals. No cross-neutralization was observed against a different Lagos bat virus (lineage B). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. A tripartite survey of hyperparasitic fungi associated with ectoparasitic flies on bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera in a neotropical cloud forest in Panama

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Walker Melissa J.

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The Darién province in eastern Panama is one of the most unexplored and biodiverse regions in the world. The Chucantí Nature Reserve, in Serranía de Majé, consists of a diverse tropical cloud forest ecosystem. The aim of this research was to explore and study host associations of a tripartite system of bats, ectoparasitic flies on bats (Diptera, Streblidae, and ectoparasitic fungi (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales that use bat flies as hosts. We captured bats at Chucantí, screened each bat for presence of bat flies, and screened collected bat flies for presence of Laboulbeniales. We mistnetted for 68 mistnet hours and captured 227 bats representing 17 species. We captured Micronycteris schmidtorum, a species previously unreported in Darién. In addition, we encountered the rarely collected Platyrrhinus dorsalis, representing the westernmost report for this species. Of all captured bats, 148 carried bat flies (65%. The number of sampled bat flies was 437, representing 16 species. One species represents a new country record (Trichobius anducei and five species represent first reports for Darién (Basilia anceps, Anatrichobius scorzai, Nycterophilia parnelli, T. johnsonae, T. parasiticus. All 74 bat fly species currently reported in Panama are presented in tabulated form. Of all screened bat flies, 30 bore Laboulbeniales fungi (7%. Based on both morphology and large ribosomal subunit (LSU sequence data, we delimited 7 species of Laboulbeniales: Gloeandromyces nycteribiidarum (newly reported for Panama, G. pageanus, G. streblae, Nycteromyces streblidinus, and 3 undescribed species. Of the 30 infected flies, 21 were Trichobius joblingi. This species was the only host on which we observed double infections of Laboulbeniales.

  15. A tripartite survey of hyperparasitic fungi associated with ectoparasitic flies on bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in a neotropical cloud forest in Panama.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Melissa J; Dorrestein, Annabel; Camacho, Jasmin J; Meckler, Lauren A; Silas, Kirk A; Hiller, Thomas; Haelewaters, Danny

    2018-01-01

    The Darién province in eastern Panama is one of the most unexplored and biodiverse regions in the world. The Chucantí Nature Reserve, in Serranía de Majé, consists of a diverse tropical cloud forest ecosystem. The aim of this research was to explore and study host associations of a tripartite system of bats, ectoparasitic flies on bats (Diptera, Streblidae), and ectoparasitic fungi (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) that use bat flies as hosts. We captured bats at Chucantí, screened each bat for presence of bat flies, and screened collected bat flies for presence of Laboulbeniales. We mistnetted for 68 mistnet hours and captured 227 bats representing 17 species. We captured Micronycteris schmidtorum, a species previously unreported in Darién. In addition, we encountered the rarely collected Platyrrhinus dorsalis, representing the westernmost report for this species. Of all captured bats, 148 carried bat flies (65%). The number of sampled bat flies was 437, representing 16 species. One species represents a new country record (Trichobius anducei) and five species represent first reports for Darién (Basilia anceps, Anatrichobius scorzai, Nycterophilia parnelli, T. johnsonae, T. parasiticus). All 74 bat fly species currently reported in Panama are presented in tabulated form. Of all screened bat flies, 30 bore Laboulbeniales fungi (7%). Based on both morphology and large ribosomal subunit (LSU) sequence data, we delimited 7 species of Laboulbeniales: Gloeandromyces nycteribiidarum (newly reported for Panama), G. pageanus, G. streblae, Nycteromyces streblidinus, and 3 undescribed species. Of the 30 infected flies, 21 were Trichobius joblingi. This species was the only host on which we observed double infections of Laboulbeniales. © M.J. Walker et al., published by EDP Sciences, 2018.

  16. Rabies-related knowledge and practices among persons at risk of bat exposures in Thailand.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kis Robertson

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Rabies is a fatal encephalitis caused by lyssaviruses. Evidence of lyssavirus circulation has recently emerged in Southeast Asian bats. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Thailand to assess rabies-related knowledge and practices among persons regularly exposed to bats and bat habitats. The objectives were to identify deficiencies in rabies awareness, describe the occurrence of bat exposures, and explore factors associated with transdermal bat exposures. METHODS: A survey was administered to a convenience sample of adult guano miners, bat hunters, game wardens, and residents/personnel at Buddhist temples where mass bat roosting occurs. The questionnaire elicited information on demographics, experience with bat exposures, and rabies knowledge. Participants were also asked to describe actions they would take in response to a bat bite as well as actions for a bite from a potentially rabid animal. Bivariate analysis was used to compare responses between groups and multivariable logistic regression was used to explore factors independently associated with being bitten or scratched by a bat. FINDINGS: Of 106 people interviewed, 11 (10% identified bats as a potential source of rabies. A history of a bat bite or scratch was reported by 29 (27%, and 38 (36% stated either that they would do nothing or that they did not know what they would do in response to a bat bite. Guano miners were less likely than other groups to indicate animal bites as a mechanism of rabies transmission (68% vs. 90%, p=0.03 and were less likely to say they would respond appropriately to a bat bite or scratch (61% vs. 27%, p=0.003. Guano mining, bat hunting, and being in a bat cave or roost area more than 5 times a year were associated with history of a bat bite or scratch. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate the need for educational outreach to raise awareness of bat rabies, promote exposure prevention, and ensure appropriate health-seeking behaviors for bat

  17. Species and acoustic diversity of bats in a palaeotropical wet evergreen forest in southern India

    OpenAIRE

    Raghuram, H; Jain, M; Balakrishnan, R

    2014-01-01

    The Western Ghats of India is among the top 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world. About 43% of the reported 117 bat species in India are found in this region, but few quantitative studies of bat echolocation calls and diversity have been carried out here thus far. A quantitative study of bat diversity was therefore conducted using standard techniques, including mist-netting, acoustical and roost surveys in the wet evergreen forests of Kudremukh National Park in the Western Ghats of Karnataka...

  18. Rabies virus infection in Eptesicus fuscus bats born in captivity (naïve bats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    April D Davis

    Full Text Available The study of rabies virus infection in bats can be challenging due to quarantine requirements, husbandry concerns, genetic differences among animals, and lack of medical history. To date, all rabies virus (RABV studies in bats have been performed in wild caught animals. Determining the RABV exposure history of a wild caught bat based on the presence or absence of viral neutralizing antibodies (VNA may be misleading. Previous studies have demonstrated that the presence of VNA following natural or experimental inoculation is often ephemeral. With this knowledge, it is difficult to determine if a seronegative, wild caught bat has been previously exposed to RABV. The influence of prior rabies exposure in healthy, wild caught bats is unknown. To investigate the pathogenesis of RABV infection in bats born in captivity (naïve bats, naïve bats were inoculated intramuscularly with one of two Eptesicus fuscus rabies virus variants, EfV1 or EfV2. To determine the host response to a heterologous RABV, a separate group of naïve bats were inoculated with a Lasionycteris noctivagans RABV (LnV1. Six months following the first inoculation, all bats were challenged with EfV2. Our results indicate that naïve bats may have some level of innate resistance to intramuscular RABV inoculation. Additionally, naïve bats inoculated with the LnV demonstrated the lowest clinical infection rate of all groups. However, primary inoculation with EfV1 or LnV did not appear to be protective against a challenge with the more pathogenic EfV2.

  19. Provenance management in Swift with implementation details.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gadelha, L. M. R; Clifford, B.; Mattoso, M.; Wilde, M.; Foster, I. (Mathematics and Computer Science); ( CLS-CI); (Federal Univ. of Rio de Janeiro); (National Lab. for Scientific Computing, Brazil); (Univ. of Chicago)

    2011-04-01

    The Swift parallel scripting language allows for the specification, execution and analysis of large-scale computations in parallel and distributed environments. It incorporates a data model for recording and querying provenance information. In this article we describe these capabilities and evaluate interoperability with other systems through the use of the Open Provenance Model. We describe Swift's provenance data model and compare it to the Open Provenance Model. We also describe and evaluate activities performed within the Third Provenance Challenge, which consisted of implementing a specific scientific workflow, capturing and recording provenance information of its execution, performing provenance queries, and exchanging provenance information with other systems. Finally, we propose improvements to both the Open Provenance Model and Swift's provenance system.

  20. Epizoic Fauna Survey on Phyllostomid Bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in a Shaded Coffee Plantation of Southeastern Chiapas, Mexico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colín-Martínez, Helisama; Morales-Malacara, Juan B; García-Estrada, Carlos

    2018-01-10

    This is the first complete assessment of the ectoparasite fauna on phyllostomid bats in a shaded coffee plantation in Mexico. The study was carried out at Finca San Carlos, in the municipality of Tapachula, southeastern Chiapas, Mexico. The bats were captured over three consecutive nights every month, from December 2005 to November 2006, using four mist nets. We captured 192 phyllostomid bats, representing 18 species, upon which 1,971 ectoparasites, belonging to 11 families and 65 species, were found. We found that 160 of the 192 captured bats were hosts to ectoparasites, giving an infestation prevalence of 83.3%. Of the 65 ectoparasitic species, 14 were classified as monoxenous and 17 as stenoxenous. More ectoparasites were recorded in the dry season (n = 1,439) than the wet season (n = 532), and we recorded some families of ectoparasite on particular areas of the bat body. An ordination of bat species, based on their ectoparasitic species community structure, formed groups at the subfamily level or lower taxonomic categories. We suggest that the close ectoparasite-host relationships could be examined as an additional tool to elucidate the taxonomic relationships between the hosts. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  1. A comparison of bats and rodents as reservoirs of zoonotic viruses: are bats special?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luis, Angela D.; Hayman, David T. S.; O'Shea, Thomas J.; Cryan, Paul M.; Gilbert, Amy T.; Pulliam, Juliet R. C.; Mills, James N.; Timonin, Mary E.; Willis, Craig K. R.; Cunningham, Andrew A.; Fooks, Anthony R.; Rupprecht, Charles E.; Wood, James L. N.; Webb, Colleen T.

    2013-01-01

    Bats are the natural reservoirs of a number of high-impact viral zoonoses. We present a quantitative analysis to address the hypothesis that bats are unique in their propensity to host zoonotic viruses based on a comparison with rodents, another important host order. We found that bats indeed host more zoonotic viruses per species than rodents, and we identified life-history and ecological factors that promote zoonotic viral richness. More zoonotic viruses are hosted by species whose distributions overlap with a greater number of other species in the same taxonomic order (sympatry). Specifically in bats, there was evidence for increased zoonotic viral richness in species with smaller litters (one young), greater longevity and more litters per year. Furthermore, our results point to a new hypothesis to explain in part why bats host more zoonotic viruses per species: the stronger effect of sympatry in bats and more viruses shared between bat species suggests that interspecific transmission is more prevalent among bats than among rodents. Although bats host more zoonotic viruses per species, the total number of zoonotic viruses identified in bats (61) was lower than in rodents (68), a result of there being approximately twice the number of rodent species as bat species. Therefore, rodents should still be a serious concern as reservoirs of emerging viruses. These findings shed light on disease emergence and perpetuation mechanisms and may help lead to a predictive framework for identifying future emerging infectious virus reservoirs. PMID:23378666

  2. A comparison of bats and rodents as reservoirs of zoonotic viruses: are bats special?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luis, Angela D.; Hayman, David T.S.; O'Shea, Thomas J.; Cryan, Paul M.; Gilbert, Amy T.; Pulliam, Juliet R.C.; Mills, James N.; Timonin, Mary E.; Willis, Craig K.R.; Cunningham, Andrew A.; Fooks, Anthony R.; Rupprecht, Charles E.; Wood, James L.N.; Webb, Colleen T.

    2013-01-01

    Bats are the natural reservoirs of a number of high-impact viral zoonoses. We present a quantitative analysis to address the hypothesis that bats are unique in their propensity to host zoonotic viruses based on a comparison with rodents, another important host order. We found that bats indeed host more zoonotic viruses per species than rodents, and we identified life-history and ecological factors that promote zoonotic viral richness. More zoonotic viruses are hosted by species whose distributions overlap with a greater number of other species in the same taxonomic order (sympatry). Specifically in bats, there was evidence for increased zoonotic viral richness in species with smaller litters (one young), greater longevity and more litters per year. Furthermore, our results point to a new hypothesis to explain in part why bats host more zoonotic viruses per species: the stronger effect of sympatry in bats and more viruses shared between bat species suggests that interspecific transmission is more prevalent among bats than among rodents. Although bats host more zoonotic viruses per species, the total number of zoonotic viruses identified in bats (61) was lower than in rodents (68), a result of there being approximately twice the number of rodent species as bat species. Therefore, rodents should still be a serious concern as reservoirs of emerging viruses. These findings shed light on disease emergence and perpetuation mechanisms and may help lead to a predictive framework for identifying future emerging infectious virus reservoirs.

  3. The Lag-Luminosity Relation in the GRB Source-Frame: An Investigation with Swift BAT Bursts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ukwatta, T. N.; Dhuga, K. S.; Stamatikos, M.; Dermer, C. D.; Sakamoto, T.; Sonbas, E.; Parke, W. C.; Maximon, L. C.; Linnemann, J. T.; Bhat, P. N.; hide

    2012-01-01

    Spectral lag, which is defined as the difference in time of arrival of high and low energy photons, is a common feature in Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs). Previous investigations have shown a correlation between this lag and the isotropic peak luminosity for long duration bursts. However, most of the previous investigations used lags extracted in the observer-frame only. In this work (based on a sample of 43 Swift long GRBs with known redshifts), we present an analysis of the lag-luminosity relation in the GRB source-frame. Our analysis indicates a higher degree of correlation -0.82+/-0.05 (chance probability of approx 5.5 X 10(exp -5) between the spectral lag and the isotropic peak luminosity, L(sub iso), with a best-fit power-law index of -1.2 +/- 0.2, such that L(sub iso) varies as lag(exp -1.2). In addition, there is an anti-correlation between the source-frame spectral lag and the source-frame peak energy of the burst spectrum, E(sub pk)(1 + z).

  4. Bat distribution size or shape as determinant of viral richness in african bats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaël D Maganga

    Full Text Available The rising incidence of emerging infectious diseases (EID is mostly linked to biodiversity loss, changes in habitat use and increasing habitat fragmentation. Bats are linked to a growing number of EID but few studies have explored the factors of viral richness in bats. These may have implications for role of bats as potential reservoirs. We investigated the determinants of viral richness in 15 species of African bats (8 Pteropodidae and 7 microchiroptera in Central and West Africa for which we provide new information on virus infection and bat phylogeny. We performed the first comparative analysis testing the correlation of the fragmented geographical distribution (defined as the perimeter to area ratio with viral richness in bats. Because of their potential effect, sampling effort, host body weight, ecological and behavioural traits such as roosting behaviour, migration and geographical range, were included into the analysis as variables. The results showed that the geographical distribution size, shape and host body weight have significant effects on viral richness in bats. Viral richness was higher in large-bodied bats which had larger and more fragmented distribution areas. Accumulation of viruses may be related to the historical expansion and contraction of bat species distribution range, with potentially strong effects of distribution edges on virus transmission. Two potential explanations may explain these results. A positive distribution edge effect on the abundance or distribution of some bat species could have facilitated host switches. Alternatively, parasitism could play a direct role in shaping the distribution range of hosts through host local extinction by virulent parasites. This study highlights the importance of considering the fragmentation of bat species geographical distribution in order to understand their role in the circulation of viruses in Africa.

  5. Automatic Analysis of Swift-XRT data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, P. A.; Tyler, L. G.; Beardmore, A. P.; Osborne, J. P.

    2008-08-01

    The Swift spacecraft detects and autonomously observes ˜100 Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) per year, ˜96% of which are detected by the X-ray telescope (XRT). GRBs are accompanied by optical transients and the field of ground-based follow-up of GRBs has expanded significantly over the last few years, with rapid response instruments capable of responding to Swift triggers on timescales of minutes. To make the most efficient use of limited telescope time, follow-up astronomers need accurate positions of GRBs as soon as possible after the trigger. Additionally, information such as the X-ray light curve, is of interest when considering observing strategy. The Swift team at Leicester University have developed techniques to improve the accuracy of the GRB positions available from the XRT, and to produce science-grade X-ray light curves of GRBs. These techniques are fully automated, and are executed as soon as data are available.

  6. Gliding Swifts Attain Laminar Flow over Rough Wings

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lentink, D.; Kat, de R.

    2014-01-01

    Swifts are among the most aerodynamically refined gliding birds. However, the overlapping vanes and protruding shafts of their primary feathers make swift wings remarkably rough for their size. Wing roughness height is 1–2% of chord length on the upper surface—10,000 times rougher than sailplane

  7. Bats and Academics: How Do Scientists Perceive Their Object of Study?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boëte, Christophe; Morand, Serge

    2016-01-01

    Bats are associated with conflicting perceptions among humans, ranging from affection to disgust. If these attitudes can be associated with various factors among the general public (e.g. social norms, lack of knowledge), it is also important to understand the attitude of scientists who study bats. Such reflexive information on the researchers community itself could indeed help designing adequate mixed communication tools aimed at protecting bats and their ecosystems, as well as humans living in their vicinity that could be exposed to their pathogens. Thus, we conducted an online survey targeting researchers who spend a part of their research activity studying bats. Our aim was to determine (1) how they perceive their object of study, (2) how they perceive the representation of bats in the media and by the general population, (3) how they protect themselves against pathogen infections during their research practices, and (4) their perceptions of the causes underlying the decline in bat populations worldwide. From the 587 completed responses (response rate of 28%) having a worldwide distribution, the heterogeneity of the scientists' perception of their own object of study was highlighted. In the majority of cases, this depended on the type of research they conducted (i.e. laboratory versus field studies) as well as their research speciality. Our study revealed a high level of personal protection equipment being utilised against pathogens during scientific practices, although the role bats play as reservoirs for a number of emerging pathogens remains poorly known. Our results also disclosed the unanimity among specialists in attributing a direct role for humans in the global decline of bat populations, mainly via environmental change, deforestation, and agriculture intensification. Overall, the present study suggests the need for better communication regarding bats and their biology, their role within the scientific community, as well as in the general public

  8. Bats and Academics: How Do Scientists Perceive Their Object of Study?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christophe Boëte

    Full Text Available Bats are associated with conflicting perceptions among humans, ranging from affection to disgust. If these attitudes can be associated with various factors among the general public (e.g. social norms, lack of knowledge, it is also important to understand the attitude of scientists who study bats. Such reflexive information on the researchers community itself could indeed help designing adequate mixed communication tools aimed at protecting bats and their ecosystems, as well as humans living in their vicinity that could be exposed to their pathogens. Thus, we conducted an online survey targeting researchers who spend a part of their research activity studying bats. Our aim was to determine (1 how they perceive their object of study, (2 how they perceive the representation of bats in the media and by the general population, (3 how they protect themselves against pathogen infections during their research practices, and (4 their perceptions of the causes underlying the decline in bat populations worldwide. From the 587 completed responses (response rate of 28% having a worldwide distribution, the heterogeneity of the scientists' perception of their own object of study was highlighted. In the majority of cases, this depended on the type of research they conducted (i.e. laboratory versus field studies as well as their research speciality. Our study revealed a high level of personal protection equipment being utilised against pathogens during scientific practices, although the role bats play as reservoirs for a number of emerging pathogens remains poorly known. Our results also disclosed the unanimity among specialists in attributing a direct role for humans in the global decline of bat populations, mainly via environmental change, deforestation, and agriculture intensification. Overall, the present study suggests the need for better communication regarding bats and their biology, their role within the scientific community, as well as in the general

  9. BATS IN SETTLEMENTS FROM AN ATLANTIC FOREST AREA IN NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CAIO GRACO ZEPPELINI

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Bats are key components of ecological networks, and studies in degraded areas are especially important to understand the impact of the human settlements on bats communities. Here, we surveyed the bat fauna in Guaribas Biological Reserve, a protected area in the Atlantic Forest in Paraiba state, northeastern Brazil, and compared it with the bat fauna that occupies the nearby villages. In the villages, we recorded 650 individuals from 14 species, while 1,127 individuals from 20 species were recorded in the Reserve. Diversity estimation pointed out 19 species for the settlements, and 22 for the Reserve. A Bray-Curtis/Sorensen similarity cluster analysis informed that the Reserve areas and the villages form two distinct groups. Additionally, a Wilcox test pointed out that both areas have significantly distinct abundances and species richnesses. Only a subset of the assemblage, mainly formed by generalist or opportunist species, occupies the villages, exploring resources that are offered by human activities.

  10. Vampire bats exhibit evolutionary reduction of bitter taste receptor genes common to other bats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Wei; Zhao, Huabin

    2014-01-01

    The bitter taste serves as an important natural defence against the ingestion of poisonous foods and is thus believed to be indispensable in animals. However, vampire bats are obligate blood feeders that show a reduced behavioural response towards bitter-tasting compounds. To test whether bitter taste receptor genes (T2Rs) have been relaxed from selective constraint in vampire bats, we sampled all three vampire bat species and 11 non-vampire bats, and sequenced nine one-to-one orthologous T2Rs that are assumed to be functionally conserved in all bats. We generated 85 T2R sequences and found that vampire bats have a significantly greater percentage of pseudogenes than other bats. These results strongly suggest a relaxation of selective constraint and a reduction of bitter taste function in vampire bats. We also found that vampire bats retain many intact T2Rs, and that the taste signalling pathway gene Calhm1 remains complete and intact with strong functional constraint. These results suggest the presence of some bitter taste function in vampire bats, although it is not likely to play a major role in food selection. Together, our study suggests that the evolutionary reduction of bitter taste function in animals is more pervasive than previously believed, and highlights the importance of extra-oral functions of taste receptor genes. PMID:24966321

  11. BGD: a database of bat genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Jianfei; Wang, Xuan; Mu, Shuo; Zhang, Shuyi; Dong, Dong

    2015-01-01

    Bats account for ~20% of mammalian species, and are the only mammals with true powered flight. For the sake of their specialized phenotypic traits, many researches have been devoted to examine the evolution of bats. Until now, some whole genome sequences of bats have been assembled and annotated, however, a uniform resource for the annotated bat genomes is still unavailable. To make the extensive data associated with the bat genomes accessible to the general biological communities, we established a Bat Genome Database (BGD). BGD is an open-access, web-available portal that integrates available data of bat genomes and genes. It hosts data from six bat species, including two megabats and four microbats. Users can query the gene annotations using efficient searching engine, and it offers browsable tracks of bat genomes. Furthermore, an easy-to-use phylogenetic analysis tool was also provided to facilitate online phylogeny study of genes. To the best of our knowledge, BGD is the first database of bat genomes. It will extend our understanding of the bat evolution and be advantageous to the bat sequences analysis. BGD is freely available at: http://donglab.ecnu.edu.cn/databases/BatGenome/.

  12. BGD: a database of bat genomes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianfei Fang

    Full Text Available Bats account for ~20% of mammalian species, and are the only mammals with true powered flight. For the sake of their specialized phenotypic traits, many researches have been devoted to examine the evolution of bats. Until now, some whole genome sequences of bats have been assembled and annotated, however, a uniform resource for the annotated bat genomes is still unavailable. To make the extensive data associated with the bat genomes accessible to the general biological communities, we established a Bat Genome Database (BGD. BGD is an open-access, web-available portal that integrates available data of bat genomes and genes. It hosts data from six bat species, including two megabats and four microbats. Users can query the gene annotations using efficient searching engine, and it offers browsable tracks of bat genomes. Furthermore, an easy-to-use phylogenetic analysis tool was also provided to facilitate online phylogeny study of genes. To the best of our knowledge, BGD is the first database of bat genomes. It will extend our understanding of the bat evolution and be advantageous to the bat sequences analysis. BGD is freely available at: http://donglab.ecnu.edu.cn/databases/BatGenome/.

  13. Bat Rabies Surveillance in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schatz, J.; Fooks, A. R.; McElhinney, L.

    2013-01-01

    Rabies is the oldest known zoonotic disease and was also the first recognized bat associated infection in humans. To date, four different lyssavirus species are the causative agents of rabies in European bats: the European Bat Lyssaviruses type 1 and 2 (EBLV-1, EBLV-2), the recently discovered...... putative new lyssavirus species Bokeloh Bat Lyssavirus (BBLV) and the West Caucasian Bat Virus (WCBV). Unlike in the new world, bat rabies cases in Europe are comparatively less frequent, possibly as a result of varying intensity of surveillance. Thus, the objective was to provide an assessment of the bat...... rabies surveillance data in Europe, taking both reported data to the WHO Rabies Bulletin Europe and published results into account. In Europe, 959 bat rabies cases were reported to the RBE in the time period 1977–2010 with the vast majority characterized as EBLV-1, frequently isolated in the Netherlands...

  14. A guide to processing bat acoustic data for the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reichert, Brian; Lausen, Cori; Loeb, Susan; Weller, Ted; Allen, Ryan; Britzke, Eric; Hohoff, Tara; Siemers, Jeremy; Burkholder, Braden; Herzog, Carl; Verant, Michelle

    2018-06-14

    The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) aims to improve the state of conservation science for all species of bats shared by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. To accomplish this goal, NABat offers guidance and standardized protocols for acoustic monitoring of bats. In this document, “A Guide to Processing Bat Acoustic Data for the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat),” we provide general recommendations and specific workflows for the process of identifying bat species from acoustic files recorded using the NABat stationary point and mobile transect acoustic monitoring protocols.

  15. Detection of European bat lyssavirus type 2 in Danish Daubenton’s bats

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Thomas Bruun; Chriél, Mariann; Baagøe, Hans J.

    European bat lyssavirus (EBLV) is considered to be endemic in the Danish bat populations, but limited information exists about the types of EBLV strains currently in circulation. EBLV type 1 (EBLV-1) is seen as the predominant type in the Serotine bats (Eptesicus serotinus) with the latest case...

  16. SWIFT: INTERA simulator for waste injection, flow and transport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hossain, S.; Arens, G.; Fein, E.

    1990-06-01

    The latest SWIFT model (SWIFT-GSF2) as available in GSF Braunschweig is described. The theoretical background has been elaborated using the SWIFT II documentation and other available internal notes of various enhancements. Thus the boundary condition implementations and source/sink considerations are now comprehensive. The computer implementation has also been extented to include the description of the matrix solution algorithms. Finally, the data input guide has been updated and when necessary illustrated with figures. The presentation begins with the basic transport equations. (orig.)

  17. Swift Multi-wavelength Observing Campaigns: Strategies and Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krimm, Hans A.

    2007-01-01

    The Swift gamma-ray burst explorer has been operating since December 2004 as both a gamma-ray burst (GRB) monitor and telescope and a multi-wavelength observatory, covering the energy range from V band and near UV to hard X rays above 150 keV. It is designed to rapidly repoint to observe newly discovered GRBs, and this maneuverability, combined with an easily changed observing program, allows Swift to also be an effective multiwavelength observatory for non-GRB targets, both as targets of opportunity and pre-planned multi-wavelength observing campaigns. Blazars are particularly attractive targets for coordinated campaigns with TeV experiments since many blazars are bright in both the hard X-ray and TeV energy ranges. Successful coordinated campaigns have included observations of 3C454.3 during its 2005 outburst. The latest Swift funding cycles allow for non- GRB related observations to be proposed. The Burst Alert Telescope on Swift also serves as a hard X-ray monitor with a public web page that includes light curves for over 400 X-ray sources and is used to alert the astronomical community about increased activity from both known and newly discovered sources. This presentation mill include Swift capabilities, strategies and policies for coordinated multi-wavelength observations as well as discussion of the potential outcomes of such campaigns.

  18. Presence of European bat lyssavirus RNas in apparently healthy Rousettus aegyptiacus bats

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wellenberg, G.J.; Audry, L.; Ronsholt, L.; Poel, van der W.H.M.; Bruschke, C.J.M.; Bourhy, H.

    2002-01-01

    Apparently healthy Rousettus aegyptiacus bats were randomly chosen from a Dutch colony naturally infected with European bat lyssavirus subgenotype 1a (EBL1a). These bats were euthanised three months after the first evidence of an EBL1a infection in the colony. EBL1a genomic and antigenomic RNAs of

  19. Bats and zoonotic viruses: can we confidently link bats with emerging deadly viruses?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moratelli, Ricardo; Calisher, Charles H

    2015-01-01

    An increasingly asked question is 'can we confidently link bats with emerging viruses?'. No, or not yet, is the qualified answer based on the evidence available. Although more than 200 viruses - some of them deadly zoonotic viruses - have been isolated from or otherwise detected in bats, the supposed connections between bats, bat viruses and human diseases have been raised more on speculation than on evidence supporting their direct or indirect roles in the epidemiology of diseases (except for rabies). However, we are convinced that the evidence points in that direction and that at some point it will be proved that bats are competent hosts for at least a few zoonotic viruses. In this review, we cover aspects of bat biology, ecology and evolution that might be relevant in medical investigations and we provide a historical synthesis of some disease outbreaks causally linked to bats. We provide evolutionary-based hypotheses to tentatively explain the viral transmission route through mammalian intermediate hosts and to explain the geographic concentration of most outbreaks, but both are no more than speculations that still require formal assessment. PMID:25742261

  20. Emerging diseases in Chiroptera: why bats?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wibbelt, Gudrun; Moore, Marianne S.; Schountz, Tony; Voigt, Christian C.

    2010-01-01

    A conference entitled ‘2nd International Berlin Bat Meeting: Bat Biology and Infectious Diseases’ was held between the 19 and 21 of February 2010 in Berlin, Germany. Researchers from two major disciplines, bat biologists and disease specialists, met for the first time in an interdisciplinary event to share their knowledge about bat-associated diseases. The focus of the meeting was to understand why in particular bats are the hosts of so many of the most virulent diseases globally. During several sessions, key note speakers and participants discussed infectious diseases associated with bats, including viral diseases caused by Henipa-, Filo-, Corona- and Lyssaviruses, the spread of white-nose syndrome in North American bats, bat immunology/immunogenetics, bat parasites, and finally, conservation and human health issues. PMID:20427329

  1. A culture-based survey of fungi in soil from bat hibernacula in the eastern United States and its implications for detection of Geomyces destructans, the causal agent of bat white-nose syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeffrey M. Lorch; Daniel L. Lindner; Andrea Gargas; Laura K Muller; Andrew M. Minnis; David S. Blehert

    2013-01-01

    The recent emergence of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease causing unprecedented mortality among hibernating bats of eastern North America, has revealed a knowledge gap regarding fungal communities associated with bats and their hibernacula. We used culture-based techniques to investigate the diversity of fungi in soil samples collected from 24 bat hibernacula...

  2. Highlights of X-Stack ExM Deliverable Swift/T

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wozniak, Justin M. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

    2016-03-31

    Swift/T is a key success from the ExM: System support for extreme-scale, many-task applications1 X-Stack project, which proposed to use concurrent dataflow as an innovative programming model to exploit extreme parallelism in exascale computers. The Swift/T component of the project reimplemented the Swift language from scratch to allow applications that compose scientific modules together to be build and run on available petascale computers (Blue Gene, Cray). Swift/T does this via a new compiler and runtime that generates and executes the application as an MPI program. We assume that mission-critical emerging exascale applications will be composed as scalable applications using existing software components, connected by data dependencies. Developers wrap native code fragments using a higherlevel language, then build composite applications to form a computational experiment. This exemplifies hierarchical concurrency: lower-level messaging libraries are used for fine-grained parallelism; highlevel control is used for inter-task coordination. These patterns are best expressed with dataflow, but static DAGs (i.e., other workflow languages) limit the applications that can be built; they do not provide the expressiveness of Swift, such as conditional execution, iteration, and recursive functions.

  3. Bat detective—Deep learning tools for bat acoustic signal detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barlow, Kate E.; Firman, Michael; Freeman, Robin; Harder, Briana; Kinsey, Libby; Mead, Gary R.; Newson, Stuart E.; Pandourski, Ivan; Russ, Jon; Szodoray-Paradi, Abigel; Tilova, Elena; Girolami, Mark; Jones, Kate E.

    2018-01-01

    Passive acoustic sensing has emerged as a powerful tool for quantifying anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity, especially for echolocating bat species. To better assess bat population trends there is a critical need for accurate, reliable, and open source tools that allow the detection and classification of bat calls in large collections of audio recordings. The majority of existing tools are commercial or have focused on the species classification task, neglecting the important problem of first localizing echolocation calls in audio which is particularly problematic in noisy recordings. We developed a convolutional neural network based open-source pipeline for detecting ultrasonic, full-spectrum, search-phase calls produced by echolocating bats. Our deep learning algorithms were trained on full-spectrum ultrasonic audio collected along road-transects across Europe and labelled by citizen scientists from www.batdetective.org. When compared to other existing algorithms and commercial systems, we show significantly higher detection performance of search-phase echolocation calls with our test sets. As an example application, we ran our detection pipeline on bat monitoring data collected over five years from Jersey (UK), and compared results to a widely-used commercial system. Our detection pipeline can be used for the automatic detection and monitoring of bat populations, and further facilitates their use as indicator species on a large scale. Our proposed pipeline makes only a small number of bat specific design decisions, and with appropriate training data it could be applied to detecting other species in audio. A crucial novelty of our work is showing that with careful, non-trivial, design and implementation considerations, state-of-the-art deep learning methods can be used for accurate and efficient monitoring in audio. PMID:29518076

  4. Bat detective-Deep learning tools for bat acoustic signal detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mac Aodha, Oisin; Gibb, Rory; Barlow, Kate E; Browning, Ella; Firman, Michael; Freeman, Robin; Harder, Briana; Kinsey, Libby; Mead, Gary R; Newson, Stuart E; Pandourski, Ivan; Parsons, Stuart; Russ, Jon; Szodoray-Paradi, Abigel; Szodoray-Paradi, Farkas; Tilova, Elena; Girolami, Mark; Brostow, Gabriel; Jones, Kate E

    2018-03-01

    Passive acoustic sensing has emerged as a powerful tool for quantifying anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity, especially for echolocating bat species. To better assess bat population trends there is a critical need for accurate, reliable, and open source tools that allow the detection and classification of bat calls in large collections of audio recordings. The majority of existing tools are commercial or have focused on the species classification task, neglecting the important problem of first localizing echolocation calls in audio which is particularly problematic in noisy recordings. We developed a convolutional neural network based open-source pipeline for detecting ultrasonic, full-spectrum, search-phase calls produced by echolocating bats. Our deep learning algorithms were trained on full-spectrum ultrasonic audio collected along road-transects across Europe and labelled by citizen scientists from www.batdetective.org. When compared to other existing algorithms and commercial systems, we show significantly higher detection performance of search-phase echolocation calls with our test sets. As an example application, we ran our detection pipeline on bat monitoring data collected over five years from Jersey (UK), and compared results to a widely-used commercial system. Our detection pipeline can be used for the automatic detection and monitoring of bat populations, and further facilitates their use as indicator species on a large scale. Our proposed pipeline makes only a small number of bat specific design decisions, and with appropriate training data it could be applied to detecting other species in audio. A crucial novelty of our work is showing that with careful, non-trivial, design and implementation considerations, state-of-the-art deep learning methods can be used for accurate and efficient monitoring in audio.

  5. BAT-BORNE RABIES IN LATIN AMERICA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis E. Escobar

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The situation of rabies in America is complex: rabies in dogs has decreased dramatically, but bats are increasingly recognized as natural reservoirs of other rabies variants. Here, bat species known to be rabies-positive with different antigenic variants, are summarized in relation to bat conservation status across Latin America. Rabies virus is widespread in Latin American bat species, 22.5%75 of bat species have been confirmed as rabies-positive. Most bat species found rabies positive are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as “Least Concern”. According to diet type, insectivorous bats had the most species known as rabies reservoirs, while in proportion hematophagous bats were the most important. Research at coarse spatial scales must strive to understand rabies ecology; basic information on distribution and population dynamics of many Latin American and Caribbean bat species is needed; and detailed information on effects of landscape change in driving bat-borne rabies outbreaks remains unassessed. Finally, integrated approaches including public health, ecology, and conservation biology are needed to understand and prevent emergent diseases in bats.

  6. Game development with Swift

    CERN Document Server

    Haney, Stephen

    2015-01-01

    If you wish to create and publish fun iOS games using Swift, then this book is for you. You should be familiar with basic programming concepts. However, no prior game development or Apple ecosystem experience is required.

  7. Novel Cryptosporidium bat genotypes III and IV in bats from the USA and Czech Republic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kváč, Martin; Hořická, Anna; Sak, Bohumil; Prediger, Jitka; Salát, Jiří; Širmarová, Jana; Bartonička, Tomáš; Clark, Mark; Chelladurai, Jeba Rose Jennifer Jesudoss; Gillam, Erin; McEvoy, John

    2015-10-01

    Bats from the families Rhinolophidae (n = 90) and Vespertilionidae (n = 191) in the USA and Czech Republic were screened for the presence of Cryptosporidium by microscopic and molecular analysis of faecal samples collected from rectum of dissected animals and from the ground beneath roosting sites. Cryptosporidium oocysts were not detected in any of the 281 faecal specimens examined using the aniline-carbol-methyl violet staining method. Nested PCR amplification, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the small ribosomal subunit rRNA and actin genes were used to identify isolates and infer evolutionary relationships. Cryptosporidium parvum was identified in a western small-footed bat (Myotis ciliolabrum) from the USA and a common pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) from the Czech Republic. Two novel genotypes were identified and named Cryptosporidium bat genotype III and IV. Bat genotype III was found in two big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) from the USA. Bat genotype IV was detected in two common pipistrelle bats from the Czech Republic.

  8. Bats as bushmeat in Madagascar

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Richard K. B. Jenkins and Paul A. Racey

    2008-12-01

    Dec 1, 2008 ... preferred, small insectivorous bats are also eaten. The national hunting season for bats is widely ignored and both unsuitable hunting practices and high offtake represent a serious threat to bat populations in some areas. Bat bushmeat may be an important source of protein for Malagasy people during ...

  9. Endemic circulation of European bat lyssavirus type 1 in serotine bats, Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vázquez-Morón, Sonia; Juste, Javier; Ibáñez, Carlos; Ruiz-Villamor, Eduardo; Avellón, Ana; Vera, Manuel; Echevarría, Juan E

    2008-08-01

    To determine the presence of European bat lyssavirus type 1 in southern Spain, we studied 19 colonies of serotine bats (Eptesicus isabellinus), its main reservoir, during 1998-2003. Viral genome and antibodies were detected in healthy bats, which suggests subclinical infection. The different temporal patterns of circulation found in each colony indicate independent endemic circulation.

  10. Leg structure explains host site preference in bat flies (Diptera: Streblidae) parasitizing neotropical bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hiller, Thomas; Honner, Benjamin; Page, Rachel A; Tschapka, Marco

    2018-03-22

    Bat flies (Streblidae) are diverse, obligate blood-feeding insects and probably the most conspicuous ectoparasites of bats. They show preferences for specific body regions on their host bat, which are reflected in behavioural characteristics. In this study, we corroborate the categorization of bat flies into three ecomorphological groups, focusing only on differences in hind leg morphology. As no detailed phylogeny of bat flies is available, it remains uncertain whether these morphological differences reflect the evolutionary history of bat flies or show convergent adaptations for the host habitat type. We show that the division of the host bat into three distinct habitats contributes to the avoidance of interspecific competition of bat fly species. Finally, we found evidence for density-dependent competition between species belonging to the same ecomorphological group.

  11. A One Health Message about Bats Increases Intentions to Follow Public Health Guidance on Bat Rabies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hang Lu

    Full Text Available Since 1960, bat rabies variants have become the greatest source of human rabies deaths in the United States. Improving rabies awareness and preventing human exposure to rabid bats remains a national public health priority today. Concurrently, conservation of bats and the ecosystem benefits they provide is of increasing importance due to declining populations of many bat species. This study used a visitor-intercept experiment (N = 521 in two U.S. national parks where human and bat interactions occur on an occasional basis to examine the relative persuasiveness of four messages differing in the provision of benefit and uncertainty information on intentions to adopt a rabies exposure prevention behavior. We found that acknowledging benefits of bats in a risk message led to greater intentions to adopt the recommended rabies exposure prevention behavior without unnecessarily stigmatizing bats. These results signify the importance of communicating benefits of bats in bat rabies prevention messages to benefit both human and wildlife health.

  12. Experimental study of European bat lyssavirus type-2 infection in Daubenton's bats (Myotis daubentonii).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Nicholas; Vos, Ad; Neubert, Larissa; Freuling, Conrad; Mansfield, Karen L; Kaipf, Ingrid; Denzinger, Annette; Hicks, Dan; Núñez, Alex; Franka, Richard; Rupprecht, Charles E; Müller, Thomas; Fooks, Anthony R

    2008-11-01

    European bat lyssavirus type 2 (EBLV-2) can be transmitted from Daubenton's bats to humans and cause rabies. EBLV-2 has been repeatedly isolated from Daubenton's bats in the UK but appears to be present at a low level within the native bat population. This has prompted us to investigate the disease in its natural host under experimental conditions, to assess its virulence, dissemination and likely means of transmission between insectivorous bats. With the exception of direct intracranial inoculation, only one of seven Daubenton's bats inoculated by subdermal inoculation became infected with EBLV-2. Both intramuscular and intranasal inoculation failed to infect the bats. No animal inoculated with EBLV-2 seroconverted during the study period. During infection, virus excretion in saliva (both viral RNA and live virus) was confirmed up to 3 days before the development of rabies. Disease was manifested as a gradual loss of weight prior to the development of paralysis and then death. The highest levels of virus were measured in the brain, with much lower levels of viral genomic RNA detected in the tongue, salivary glands, kidney, lung and heart. These observations are similar to those made in naturally infected Daubenton's bats and this is the first documented report of isolation of EBLV-2 in bat saliva. We conclude that EBLV-2 is most likely transmitted in saliva by a shallow bite.

  13. Patterns of acoustical activity of bats prior to and following White-nose Syndrome occurrence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford, W. Mark; Britzke, Eric R.; Dobony, Christopher A.; Rodrigue, Jane L.; Johnson, Joshua B.

    2011-01-01

    White-nose Syndrome (WNS), a wildlife health concern that has decimated cave-hibernating bat populations in eastern North America since 2006, began affecting source-caves for summer bat populations at Fort Drum, a U.S. Army installation in New York in the winter of 2007–2008. As regional die-offs of bats became evident, and Fort Drum's known populations began showing declines, we examined whether WNS-induced change in abundance patterns and seasonal timing of bat activity could be quantified using acoustical surveys, 2003–2010, at structurally uncluttered riparian–water habitats (i.e., streams, ponds, and wet meadows). As predicted, we observed significant declines in overall summer activity between pre-WNS and post-WNS years for little brown bats Myotis lucifugus, northern bats M. septentrionalis, and Indiana bats M. sodalis. We did not observe any significant change in activity patterns between pre-WNS and post-WNS years for big brown bats Eptesicus fuscus, eastern red bats Lasiurus borealis, or the small number of tri-colored bats Perimyotis subflavus. Activity of silver-haired bats Lasionycteris noctivagans increased from pre-WNS to post-WNS years. Activity levels of hoary bats Lasiurus cinereus significantly declined between pre- and post-WNS years. As a nonhibernating, migratory species, hoary bat declines might be correlated with wind-energy development impacts occurring in the same time frame rather than WNS. Intraseason activity patterns also were affected by WNS, though the results were highly variable among species. Little brown bats showed an overall increase in activity from early to late summer pre-WNS, presumably due to detections of newly volant young added to the local population. However, the opposite occurred post-WNS, indicating that reproduction among surviving little brown bats may be declining. Our data suggest that acoustical monitoring during the summer season can provide insights into species' relative abundance on the

  14. First isolation of a rabid bat infected with European bat lyssavirus in Luxembourg.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Servat, A; Herr, J; Picard-Meyer, E; Schley, L; Harbusch, C; Michaux, C; Pir, J; Robardet, E; Engel, E; Cliquet, F

    2015-02-01

    Rabid bats are regularly reported in Europe, especially in countries that have implemented a bat surveillance network. In May 2013, bat rabies was evidenced for the first time in Luxembourg (southern city of Differdange). The rabies virus, an EBLV-1b strain, was diagnosed in a serotine bat that bit a 29-year-old male person while he was asleep. The man received rapidly a post-exposure RABV treatment and was put under strict medical supervision. © 2013 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  15. Temperatures and locations used by hibernating bats, including Myotis sodalis (Indiana bat), in a limestone mine: implications for conservation and management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brack, Virgil

    2007-11-01

    Understanding temperatures used by hibernating bats will aid conservation and management efforts for many species. A limestone mine with 71 km of passages, used as a hibernaculum by approximately 30,000 bats, was visited four times during a 6-year period. The mine had been surveyed and mapped; therefore, bats could be precisely located and temperatures (T (s)) of the entire hibernaculum ceiling accurately mapped. It was predicted that bats should hibernate between 5 and 10 degrees C to (1) use temperatures that allow a near minimal metabolic rate, (2) maximize the duration of hibernation bouts, (3) avoid more frequent and prolonged arousal at higher temperatures, (4) avoid cold and freezing temperatures that require an increase in metabolism and a decrease in duration of hibernation bouts or that could cause death, and (5) balance benefits of a reduced metabolic rate and costs of metabolic depression. The distribution of each species was not random for location (P block walls and sheltered alcoves, which perhaps dampened air movement and temperature fluctuations. Myotis lucifugus (little brown myotis) hibernated in colder, more variable areas (X = 7.2 +/- 2.6 degrees C). Myotis septentrionalis (northern myotis), Pipistrellus subflavus (eastern pipistrelle), and Eptesicus fuscus (big brown bat) typically hibernated in warm, thermally stable areas (X = 9.1 +/- 0.2 degrees C, X = 9.6 +/- 1.9 degrees C, and X = 9.5 +/- 1.5 degrees C, respectively). These data do not indicate that hibernacula for M. sodalis, an endangered species, should be manipulated to cool below 5 degrees C.

  16. SWIFT self-teaching curriculum. Illustrative problems to supplement the user's manual for the Sandia Waste-Isolation Flow and Transport model (SWIFT)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finley, N.C.; Reeves, M.

    1982-03-01

    This document contains a series of sample problems and solutions for the Sandia Waste-Isolation Flow and Transport (SWIFT) model developed at Sandia National Laboratories for the Risk Methodology for Geologic Disposal of Radioactive Waste Program (A-1192). With this document and the SWIFT User's Manual, the student may familiarize himself with the code, its capabilities and limitations. When the student has completed this curriculum, he or she should be able to prepare data input for SWIFT and have some insights into interpretation of the model output. This report represents one of a series of self-teaching curricula prepared under a technology transfer contract for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

  17. The Oxford SWIFT integral field spectrograph

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thatte, Niranjan; Tecza, Matthias; Clarke, Fraser; Goodsall, Timothy; Lynn, James; Freeman, David; Davies, Roger L.

    2006-06-01

    We present the design of the Oxford SWIFT integral field spectrograph, a dedicated I and z band instrument (0.65μm micron - 1.0μm micron at R~4000), designed to be used in conjunction with the Palomar laser guide star adaptive optics system (PALAO, and its planned upgrade PALM-3000). It builds on two recent developments (i) the improved ability of second generation adaptive optics systems to correct for atmospheric turbulence at wavelengths less than or equal to 1μm micron, and (ii) the availability of CCD array detectors with high quantum efficiency at very red wavelengths (close to the silicon band edge). Combining these with a state-of-the-art integral field unit design using an all-glass image slicer, SWIFT's design provides very high throughput and low scattered light. SWIFT simultaneously provides spectra of ~4000 spatial elements, arranged in a rectangular field-of-view of 44 × 89 pixels. It has three on-the-fly selectable pixel scales of 0.24", 0.16" and 0.08'. First light is expected in spring 2008.

  18. North American Bats and Mines Project: A cooperative approach for integrating bat conservation and mine-land reclamation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ducummon, S.L. [Bat Conservation International, Austin, TX (United States)

    1997-12-31

    Inactive underground mines now provide essential habitat for more than half of North America`s 44 bat species, including some of the largest remaining populations. Thousands of abandoned mines have already been closed or are slated for safety closures, and many are destroyed during renewed mining in historic districts. The available evidence suggests that millions of bats have already been lost due to these closures. Bats are primary predators of night-flying insects that cost American farmers and foresters billions of dollars annually, therefore, threats to bat survival are cause for serious concern. Fortunately, mine closure methods exist that protect both bats and humans. Bat Conservation International (BCI) and the USDI-Bureau of Land Management founded the North American Bats and Mines Project to provide national leadership and coordination to minimize the loss of mine-roosting bats. This partnership has involved federal and state mine-land and wildlife managers and the mining industry. BCI has trained hundreds of mine-land and wildlife managers nationwide in mine assessment techniques for bats and bat-compatible closure methods, published technical information on bats and mine-land management, presented papers on bats and mines at national mining and wildlife conferences, and collaborated with numerous federal, state, and private partners to protect some of the most important mine-roosting bat populations. Our new mining industry initiative, Mining for Habitat, is designed to develop bat habitat conservation and enhancement plans for active mining operations. It includes the creation of cost-effective artificial underground bat roosts using surplus mining materials such as old mine-truck tires and culverts buried beneath waste rock.

  19. Bat Rabies and Other Lyssavirus Infections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Constantine, Denny G.; Blehert, David S.

    2009-01-01

    Bat Rabies and Other Lyssavirus Infections offers readers an overview of the virus variants that cause bat rabies, and geographical patterns in occurrence of this disease. The section Species Susceptibility describes infection rates and trends among bats, humans, and other animals. Disease Ecology considers the biological and environmental dynamics of the disease in various species of bats. Points to Ponder: Interspecies Interactions in Potential Bat Rabies Transmission Settings discusses the narrowing interface of bat colonies and human society and how humans and domestic animals play a role in transmission of bat rabies. Disease Prevention and Control outlines how to limit exposure to rabid bats and other animals. Appendixes include extensive tables of reported infections in bat species and in humans, and a glossary of technical terms is included. The author, Denny G. Constantine, helped define rabies infection in insect-eating bats and has investigated bat rabies ecology for more than half a century. He has authored more than 90 papers during the course of his career and is widely considered to be the world's foremost authority on the disease. Currently, Dr. Constantine is a public health officer emeritus and veterinary epidemiologist for the California Department of Health Services Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory. Milt Friend, first director of the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, wrote the foreword. David Blehert, a USGS microbiologist who is investigating the emergence and causes of bat white-nose syndrome, edited the volume. Bat Rabies is intended for scholars and the general public. Dr. Constantine presents the material in a simple, straightforward manner that serves both audiences. The goal of the author is to increase people's understanding of both bat and disease ecology and also provide a balanced perspective on human risks pertaining to bat rabies.

  20. Pathogenesis of bat rabies in a natural reservoir: Comparative susceptibility of the straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) to three strains of Lagos bat virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suu-Ire, Richard; Begeman, Lineke; Banyard, Ashley C; Breed, Andrew C; Drosten, Christian; Eggerbauer, Elisa; Freuling, Conrad M; Gibson, Louise; Goharriz, Hooman; Horton, Daniel L; Jennings, Daisy; Kuzmin, Ivan V; Marston, Denise; Ntiamoa-Baidu, Yaa; Riesle Sbarbaro, Silke; Selden, David; Wise, Emma L; Kuiken, Thijs; Fooks, Anthony R; Müller, Thomas; Wood, James L N; Cunningham, Andrew A

    2018-03-01

    Rabies is a fatal neurologic disease caused by lyssavirus infection. People are infected through contact with infected animals. The relative increase of human rabies acquired from bats calls for a better understanding of lyssavirus infections in their natural hosts. So far, there is no experimental model that mimics natural lyssavirus infection in the reservoir bat species. Lagos bat virus is a lyssavirus that is endemic in straw-colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) in Africa. Here we compared the susceptibility of these bats to three strains of Lagos bat virus (from Senegal, Nigeria, and Ghana) by intracranial inoculation. To allow comparison between strains, we ensured the same titer of virus was inoculated in the same location of the brain of each bat. All bats (n = 3 per strain) were infected, and developed neurological signs, and fatal meningoencephalitis with lyssavirus antigen expression in neurons. There were three main differences among the groups. First, time to death was substantially shorter in the Senegal and Ghana groups (4 to 6 days) than in the Nigeria group (8 days). Second, each virus strain produced a distinct clinical syndrome. Third, the spread of virus to peripheral tissues, tested by hemi-nested reverse transcriptase PCR, was frequent (3 of 3 bats) and widespread (8 to 10 tissues positive of 11 tissues examined) in the Ghana group, was frequent and less widespread in the Senegal group (3/3 bats, 3 to 6 tissues positive), and was rare and restricted in the Nigeria group (1/3 bats, 2 tissues positive). Centrifugal spread of virus from brain to tissue of excretion in the oral cavity is required to enable lyssavirus transmission. Therefore, the Senegal and Ghana strains seem most suitable for further pathogenesis, and for transmission, studies in the straw-colored fruit bat.

  1. MID- AND FAR-INFRARED PROPERTIES OF A COMPLETE SAMPLE OF LOCAL ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ichikawa, Kohei; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Terashima, Yuichi; Oyabu, Shinki; Gandhi, Poshak; Nakagawa, Takao; Matsuta, Keiko

    2012-01-01

    We investigate the mid- (MIR) to far-infrared (FIR) properties of a nearly complete sample of local active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detected in the Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) all-sky hard X-ray (14-195 keV) survey, based on the cross correlation with the AKARI infrared survey catalogs complemented by those with Infrared Astronomical Satellite and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Out of 135 non-blazer AGNs in the Swift/BAT nine-month catalog, we obtain the MIR photometric data for 128 sources either in the 9, 12, 18, 22, and/or 25 μm band. We find good correlation between their hard X-ray and MIR luminosities over three orders of magnitude (42 λ (9, 18 μm) < 45), which is tighter than that with the FIR luminosities at 90 μm. This suggests that thermal emission from hot dusts irradiated by the AGN emission dominate the MIR fluxes. Both X-ray unabsorbed and absorbed AGNs follow the same correlation, implying isotropic infrared emission, as expected in clumpy dust tori rather than homogeneous ones. We find excess signals around 9 μm in the averaged infrared spectral energy distribution from heavy obscured 'new type' AGNs with small scattering fractions in the X-ray spectra. This could be attributed to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission feature, suggesting that their host galaxies have strong starburst activities.

  2. Swift Trust in Distributed Ad Hoc Teams

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-10-04

    individus sont perçus. Et les abus de confiance commis pendant la mission ont nui temporairement à la réputation de leurs auteurs , mais ils n’ont...of theory and research argue that trust may emerge in teams even when the development of conventional person-based trust is challenged. 1.3.1 Swift...good deal of theory (and some research) espouses the importance of “swift trust” in environments where conventional trust would otherwise be

  3. Bat-mouse bone marrow chimera: a novel animal model for dissecting the uniqueness of the bat immune system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yong, Kylie Su Mei; Ng, Justin Han Jia; Her, Zhisheng; Hey, Ying Ying; Tan, Sue Yee; Tan, Wilson Wei Sheng; Irac, Sergio Erdal; Liu, Min; Chan, Xue Ying; Gunawan, Merry; Foo, Randy Jee Hiang; Low, Dolyce Hong Wen; Mendenhall, Ian Hewitt; Chionh, Yok Teng; Dutertre, Charles-Antoine; Chen, Qingfeng; Wang, Lin-Fa

    2018-03-16

    Bats are an important animal model with long lifespans, low incidences of tumorigenesis and an ability to asymptomatically harbour pathogens. Currently, in vivo studies of bats are hampered due to their low reproduction rates. To overcome this, we transplanted bat cells from bone marrow (BM) and spleen into an immunodeficient mouse strain NOD-scid IL-2R -/- (NSG), and have successfully established stable, long-term reconstitution of bat immune cells in mice (bat-mice). Immune functionality of our bat-mouse model was demonstrated through generation of antigen-specific antibody response by bat cells following immunization. Post-engraftment of total bat BM cells and splenocytes, bat immune cells survived, expanded and repopulated the mouse without any observable clinical abnormalities. Utilizing bat's remarkable immunological functions, this novel model has a potential to be transformed into a powerful platform for basic and translational research.

  4. The Kinetics of Swinging a Baseball Bat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crisco, Joseph J; Osvalds, Nikolas J; Rainbow, Michael J

    2018-04-13

    The purpose of this study was to compute the three-dimensional kinetics required to swing three youth baseball bats of varying moments of inertia (MOI). 306 swings by 22 male players (13-18 yrs.) were analyzed. Inverse dynamics with respect to the batter's hands were computed given the known kinematics and physical properties of the bats. We found that peak force increased with larger bat MOI and was strongly correlated with bat tip speed. In contrast, peak moments were weakly correlated with bat MOI and bat tip speed. Throughout the swing, the force applied to the bat was dominated by a component aligned with the long axis of the bat and directed away from the bat knob, while the moment applied to the bat was minimal until just prior to ball impact. These results indicate that players act to mostly "pull" the bat during their swing until just prior to ball impact, at which point they rapidly increase the moment on the bat. This kinetic analysis provides novel insight into the forces and moments used to swing baseball bats.

  5. BAT Exosomes: Metabolic Crosstalk with Other Organs and Biomarkers for BAT Activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goody, Deborah; Pfeifer, Alexander

    2018-04-10

    In the last decade, exosomes have gained interest as a new type of intercellular communication between cells and tissues. Exosomes are circulating, cell-derived lipid vesicles smaller than 200 nm that contain proteins and nucleic acids, including microRNAs (miRNAs), and are able to modify cellular targets. Exosomal miRNAs function as signalling molecules that regulate the transcription of their target genes and can cause phenotypic transformation of recipient cells. Recent studies have shown that brown fat secretes exosomes as a form of communication with other metabolic organs such as the liver. Moreover, it has been shown that levels of miRNAs in BAT-derived exosomes change after BAT activation in vitro and in vivo. Thus, BAT-derived exosomes can be used as potential biomarkers of BAT activity. Here, we review the present knowledge about BAT-derived exosomes and their role in metabolism.

  6. Research and absence of bats across habitat scales in the upper coastal plain of South Carolina

    Science.gov (United States)

    W. Mark Ford; Jennifer M. Menzel; Michael A. Menzel; John W. Edwards; John C. Kilgo

    2006-01-01

    During 2001, we used active acoustical sampling (Anabat 11) to survey foraging habitat relationships of bats on the Savannah River Site (SRS) in the upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina. Using an a priori information-theoretic approach, we conducted logistic regression analysis to examine presence of individual bat species relative to a suite of microhabitat, stand,...

  7. Ultrasonic Bat Deterrent Technology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kinzie, Kevin; Rominger, Kathryn M.

    2017-12-14

    The project objective was to advance the development and testing of an Near commercial bat-deterrent system with a goal to increase the current GE deterrent system effectiveness to over 50% with broad species applicability. Additionally, the research supported by this program has provided insights into bat behavior and ultrasonic deterrent design that had not previously been explored. Prior research and development had demonstrated the effectiveness of a commercial-grade, air-powered, ultrasonic bat deterrent to be between 30-50% depending upon the species of bat. However, the previous research provided limited insight into the behavioral responses of bats in the presence of ultrasonic deterrent sound fields that could be utilized to improve effectiveness. A unique bat flight room was utilized to observe the behavioral characteristics of bats in the presence of ultrasonic sound fields. Behavioral testing in the bat flight facility demonstrated that ultrasonic sounds similar to those produced by the GE deterrent influenced the activities and behaviors, primarily those associated with foraging, of the species exposed. The study also indicated that continuous and pulsing ultrasonic signals had a similar effect on the bats, and confirmed that as ultrasonic sounds attenuate, their influence on the bats’ activities and behavior decreases. Ground testing at Wolf Ridge Wind, LLC and Shawnee National Forest assessed both continuous and pulsing deterrent signals emitted from the GE deterrent system and further enhanced the behavioral understanding of bats in the presence of the deterrent. With these data and observations, the existing 4-nozzle continuous, or steady, emission ultrasonic system was redesigned to a 6-nozzle system that could emit a pulsing signal covering a larger air space around a turbine. Twelve GE 1.6-100 turbines were outfitted with the deterrent system and a formal three-month field study was performed using daily carcass searches beneath the 12

  8. Understanding human - bat interactions in NSW, Australia: improving risk communication for prevention of Australian bat lyssavirus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinn, Emma K; Massey, Peter D; Cox-Witton, Keren; Paterson, Beverley J; Eastwood, Keith; Durrheim, David N

    2014-07-02

    Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) infects a number of flying fox and insectivorous bats species in Australia. Human infection with ABLV is inevitably fatal unless prior vaccination and/or post-exposure treatment (PET) is given. Despite ongoing public health messaging about the risks associated with bat contact, surveillance data have revealed a four-fold increase in the number of people receiving PET for bat exposure in NSW between 2007 and 2011. Our study aimed to better understand these human - bat interactions in order to identify additional risk communication messages that could lower the risk of potential ABLV exposure. All people aged 18 years or over whom received PET for non-occupation related potential ABLV exposure in the Hunter New England Local Health District of Australia between July 2011 and July 2013 were considered eligible for the study. Eligible participants were invited to a telephone interview to explore the circumstances of their bat contact. Interviews were then transcribed and thematically analysed by two independent investigators. Of 21 eligible participants that were able to be contacted, 16 consented and participated in a telephone interview. Participants reported bats as being widespread in their environment but reported a general lack of awareness about ABLV, particularly the risk of disease from bat scratches. Participants who attempted to 'rescue' bats did so because of a deep concern for the bat's welfare. Participants reported a change in risk perception after the exposure event and provided suggestions for public health messages that could be used to raise awareness about ABLV. Reframing the current risk messages to account for the genuine concern of people for bat welfare may enhance the communication. The potential risk to the person and possible harm to the bat from an attempted 'rescue' should be promoted, along with contact details for animal rescue groups. The potential risk of ABLV from bat scratches merits greater emphasis.

  9. Mamalia, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae: Filling hibernacula distribution gaps for cave roosting bats from Iowa (U.S.A..

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dixon, J. W.

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Adequate roost sites for hibernacula are an important factor in the distribution and abundance of temperate batspecies and knowledge of specific hibernacula is necessary to make sound management decisions. Caves are recognized asone of the most important roosting sites for bats, yet surveys in caves are uncommon in North America. This paper presentsdata on the distribution and abundance of bats hibernating in Iowa (U.S.A. caves and includes new hibernacula records.These are the first published records of bats in Iowa caves in almost 25 years.

  10. [Hemoparasites of bats in Madagascar].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raharimanga, V; Ariey, F; Cardiff, S G; Goodman, S M; Tall, A; Rousset, D; Robert, V

    2003-01-01

    This study aims to evaluate the prevalence and density of haemoparasites in wild malagasy bats. Among the 440 bats, belonging to 14 species sampled in 5 localities in different bio-climatic zones of the island, 93 (21%) showed at least 1 haemoparasite with, by order of frequency, Haemoproteidae (15.7% of 440 bats), microfilariae (7.0%) and Trypanosoma (0.7%). Among these 93 bats, 92 (99%) belonged to the family Vespertilionidae. Four bat species, all endemic to the Madagascar region (Madagascar and Comoros), were found to harbour parasites: Miniopterus manavi with Haemoproteidae (38% of 129 individuals), microfilariae (23%) and Trypanosoma (2%); Myotis goudoti with Haemoproteidae (24% of 68 individuals) and microfilariae (1%); Miniopterus gleni with Haemoproteidae (23% of 13 individuals); and Triaenops furculus with Haemoproteidae (4% of 28 individuals). The sex of bats was not linked to parasite prevalence. Within Miniopterus manavi, those individuals with greater weight also had a higher prevalence of microfilariae; and within the individuals harbouring microfilariae the greatest weights corresponded to the highest density of microfilariae. Ten bat species (with 202 individuals examined) were negative for any haemoparasite. This study is the first to provide evidence of haemoparasites in Malagasy bats; it provides interesting insights, especially concerning the parasite distribution per bat species and families, the pathogenicity of this type of parasitism and the parasite transmission by arthropod vectors.

  11. Distribution of the Chuckwalla, Western Burrowing Owl, and Six Bat Species on the Nevada Test Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cathy A. Willis

    1997-05-01

    Field Surveys were conducted in 1996 to determine the current distribution of several animal species of concern on the Nevada Test Site (NTS). They included the chuckwall (Sauromalus obesus), western burrowing owl (Speotyto cunicularia), and six species of bats. Nineteen chuckwallas and 118 scat locations were found during the chuckwalla field study. Eighteen western burrowing owls were found at 12 sighting locations during the 1996 field study. Of the eleven bat species of concern which might occur on the NTS, five, and possibly six, were captured during this survey. The U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office, takes certain management actions to protect and conserve the chuckwalla, western burrowing owl, and bats on the NTS. These actions are described and include: (1) conducting surveys at sites of proposed land-disturbing activities (2) altering projects whenever possible to avoid or minimize impacts to these species (3) maintaining a geospatial database of known habitat for species of concern (4) sharing sighting and trap location data gathered on the NTS with other local land and resource managers, and (5) conducting periodic field surveys to monitor these species distribution and relative abundance on the NTS.

  12. Use and selection of bridges as day roosts by Rafinesque's Big Eared Bats.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bennett, Frances, M.; Loeb, Susan, C.; Bunch, Mary, S.; Bowerman, William, W.

    2008-03-01

    ABSTRACT.—Rafinesque’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) use bridges as day roosts in parts of their range, but information on bridge use across their range is lacking. From May to Aug. 2002 we surveyed 1129 bridges (12.5%) within all 46 counties of South Carolina to determine use and selection of bridges as day roosts by big-eared bats and to document their distribution across the state. During summer 2003, we visited 235 bridges in previously occupied areas of the state to evaluate short-term fidelity to bridge roosts. We found colonies and solitary big-eared bats beneath 38 bridges in 2002 and 54 bridges in 2003. Construction type and size of bridges strongly influenced use in both years; bats selected large, concrete girder bridges and avoided flat-bottomed slab bridges. The majority of occupied bridges (94.7%) were in the Upper and Lower Coastal Plains, but a few bridges (5.3%) were located in the Piedmont. Rafinesque’s big-eared bats were absent beneath bridges in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We established new records of occurrence for 10 counties. In the Coastal Plains, big-eared bats exhibited a high degree of short-term fidelity to roosts in highway bridges. For bridges that were occupied at least once, mean frequency of use was 65.9%. Probability of finding bats under a bridge ranged from 0.46 to 0.73 depending on whether the bridge was occupied in the previous year. Thus, bridges should be inspected three to five times in a given year to determine whether they are being used. Regional bridge roost surveys may be a good method for determining the distribution of C. rafinesquii, particularly in the Coastal Plains, and protection of suitable bridges may be a viable conservation strategy where natural roost sites are limited.

  13. Learning about Bats and Rabies

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Rabies and Kids! Rabies Learning about bats and rabies Recommend on Facebook Tweet Share Compartir Most bats ... might contact people and pets. Bats and human rabies in the United States Rabies in humans is ...

  14. Flash flood swift water rescues, Texas, 2005–2014

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vaidehi Shah

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Although rainfall patterns are complex and difficult to predict, climate models suggest precipitation in Texas will occur less frequently and with greater intensity in the future. In combination with rapid population growth and development, extreme rainfall events are likely to lead to flash floods and necessitate swift water rescues. Swift water rescues are used to retrieve person(s from swift water flowing at a rate of 1 knot or greater. Data were obtained from the Texas Fire Marshal’s Office and analyzed to describe spatial and temporal characteristics of rescues. Between 2005 and 2014, 3256 swift water rescues were reported from 136 of 254 (54% counties. Over half (54.6%, n = 1777 occurred in counties known as Flash Flood Alley, which includes Texas’ largest and fastest growing cities. Less than 1.0% (n = 18 were reported from 49 counties designated as completely rural, or with an urban population less than 2500. Increases in swift water rescues were seen between March and September and during major weather events such as tropical storms. Because county-level data was utilized and demographic data was missing in all but 2% (n = 47 of the incidents, our ability to identify populations at risk or target interventions in the future using this data is limited. Despite the frequency of flash flood events and swift water rescues in Texas, knowledge gaps persist that should be addressed through the conduct of interdisciplinary research by epidemiologists and climatologists and by disseminating evidence-based health education and safety programs, particularly in rapidly growing counties that make up Texas’ Flash Flood Alley.

  15. The role of fruit bats in the transmission of pathogenic leptospires in Australia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tulsiani, Suhella; Cobbold, R N; Graham, G C

    2011-01-01

    Although antileptospiral antibodies and leptospiral DNA have been detected in Australian fruit bats, the role of such bats as infectious hosts for the leptospires found in rodents and humans remains unconfirmed. A cohort-design, replicated survey was recently conducted in Far North Queensland, Au...... serovars), as disseminators of pathogens to rodent populations. Stringent quantitative risk analysis of the present and similar data, to explore their implications in terms of disease prevalence and wildlife population dynamics, is recommended....

  16. Experimental infection of serotine bats (Eptesicus serotinus) with European bat lyssavirus type 1a.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freuling, C; Vos, A; Johnson, N; Kaipf, I; Denzinger, A; Neubert, L; Mansfield, K; Hicks, D; Nuñez, A; Tordo, N; Rupprecht, C E; Fooks, A R; Müller, T

    2009-10-01

    The serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus) accounts for the vast majority of bat rabies cases in Europe and is considered the main reservoir for European bat lyssavirus type 1 (EBLV-1, genotype 5). However, so far the disease has not been investigated in its native host under experimental conditions. To assess viral virulence, dissemination and probable means of transmission, captive bats were infected experimentally with an EBLV-1a virus isolated from a naturally infected conspecific from Germany. Twenty-nine wild caught bats were divided into five groups and inoculated by intracranial (i.c.), intramuscular (i.m.) or subcutaneous (s.c.) injection or by intranasal (i.n.) inoculation to mimic the various potential routes of infection. One group of bats was maintained as uninfected controls. Mortality was highest in the i.c.-infected animals, followed by the s.c. and i.m. groups. Incubation periods varied from 7 to 26 days depending on the route of infection. Rabies did not develop in the i.n. group or in the negative-control group. None of the infected bats seroconverted. Viral antigen was detected in more than 50% of the taste buds of an i.c.-infected animal. Shedding of viable virus was measured by virus isolation in cell culture for one bat from the s.c. group at 13 and 14 days post-inoculation, i.e. 7 days before death. In conclusion, it is postulated that s.c. inoculation, in nature caused by bites, may be an efficient way of transmitting EBLV-1 among free-living serotine bats.

  17. Human–Bat Interactions in Rural West Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anti, Priscilla; Owusu, Michael; Agbenyega, Olivia; Annan, Augustina; Badu, Ebenezer Kofi; Nkrumah, Evans Ewald; Tschapka, Marco; Oppong, Samuel; Adu-Sarkodie, Yaw

    2015-01-01

    Because some bats host viruses with zoonotic potential, we investigated human–bat interactions in rural Ghana during 2011–2012. Nearly half (46.6%) of respondents regularly visited bat caves; 37.4% had been bitten, scratched, or exposed to bat urine; and 45.6% ate bat meat. Human–bat interactions in rural Ghana are frequent and diverse. PMID:26177344

  18. Human-Bat Interactions in Rural West Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anti, Priscilla; Owusu, Michael; Agbenyega, Olivia; Annan, Augustina; Badu, Ebenezer Kofi; Nkrumah, Evans Ewald; Tschapka, Marco; Oppong, Samuel; Adu-Sarkodie, Yaw; Drosten, Christian

    2015-08-01

    Because some bats host viruses with zoonotic potential, we investigated human-bat interactions in rural Ghana during 2011-2012. Nearly half (46.6%) of respondents regularly visited bat caves; 37.4% had been bitten, scratched, or exposed to bat urine; and 45.6% ate bat meat. Human-bat interactions in rural Ghana are frequent and diverse.

  19. Bat habitat research. Final technical report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Keller, B.L.; Bosworth, W.R.; Doering, R.W.

    1993-12-31

    This progress report describes activities over the current reporting period to characterize the habitats of bats on the INEL. Research tasks are entitled Monitoring bat habitation of caves on the INEL to determine species present, numbers, and seasons of use; Monitor bat use of man-made ponds at the INEL to determine species present and rates of use of these waters; If the Big Lost River is flowing on the INEL and/or if the Big Lost River sinks contain water, determine species present, numbers and seasons of use; Determine the habitat requirement of Townsend`s big-eared bats, including the microclimate of caves containing Townsend`s big-eared bats as compared to other caves that do not contain bats; Determine and describe an economical and efficient bat census technique to be used periodically by INEL scientists to determine the status of bats on the INEL; and Provide a suggestive management and protective plan for bat species on the INEL that might, in the future, be added to the endangered and sensitive list;

  20. Second case of European bat lyssavirus type 2 detected in a Daubenton's bat in Finland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nokireki, Tiina; Sironen, Tarja; Smura, Teemu; Karkamo, Veera; Sihvonen, Liisa; Gadd, Tuija

    2017-09-25

    European bat lyssavirus type 2 (EBLV-2) was detected in Finland in a Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii) found in the municipality of Inkoo (60°02'45″N, 024°00'20″E). The bat showed neurological signs and was later found dead. The laboratory analysis revealed the presence of lyssavirus, and the virus was characterized as EBLV-2. This isolation of EBLV-2 was the second time that the virus has been detected in a Daubenton's bat in Finland. This provides additional proof that EBLV-2 is endemic in the Finnish Daubenton's bat population.

  1. Detection of European bat lyssavirus 2 (EBLV-2) in a Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii) from Magdeburg, Germany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freuling, Conrad M; Kliemt, Jeannette; Schares, Susann; Heidecke, Dietrich; Driechciarz, René; Schatz, Juliane; Müller, Thomas

    2012-01-01

    In Europe bat rabies in Daubenton's bats (Myotisdaubentonii) and in Pond bats (Myotis dasycneme) caused by the European bat lyssavirus 2 (EBLV-2) has been confirmed in less than 20 cases to date. Here we report the second encounter of this virus species in Germany. A Daubenton's bat found grounded in the zoological garden in Magdeburg died shortly after. In the frame of a retrospective study the bat carcass was eventually transferred to the national reference laboratory for rabies at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute for rabies diagnosis. Lyssavirus was isolated and characterized as EBLV-2.

  2. Kanyawara Virus: A Novel Rhabdovirus Infecting Newly Discovered Nycteribiid Bat Flies Infesting Previously Unknown Pteropodid Bats in Uganda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldberg, Tony L; Bennett, Andrew J; Kityo, Robert; Kuhn, Jens H; Chapman, Colin A

    2017-07-13

    Bats are natural reservoir hosts of highly virulent pathogens such as Marburg virus, Nipah virus, and SARS coronavirus. However, little is known about the role of bat ectoparasites in transmitting and maintaining such viruses. The intricate relationship between bats and their ectoparasites suggests that ectoparasites might serve as viral vectors, but evidence to date is scant. Bat flies, in particular, are highly specialized obligate hematophagous ectoparasites that incidentally bite humans. Using next-generation sequencing, we discovered a novel ledantevirus (mononegaviral family Rhabdoviridae, genus Ledantevirus) in nycteribiid bat flies infesting pteropodid bats in western Uganda. Mitochondrial DNA analyses revealed that both the bat flies and their bat hosts belong to putative new species. The coding-complete genome of the new virus, named Kanyawara virus (KYAV), is only distantly related to that of its closest known relative, Mount Elgon bat virus, and was found at high titers in bat flies but not in blood or on mucosal surfaces of host bats. Viral genome analysis indicates unusually low CpG dinucleotide depletion in KYAV compared to other ledanteviruses and rhabdovirus groups, with KYAV displaying values similar to rhabdoviruses of arthropods. Our findings highlight the possibility of a yet-to-be-discovered diversity of potentially pathogenic viruses in bat ectoparasites.

  3. Use of Long-Term Opportunistic Surveys to Estimate Trends in Abundance of Hibernating Townsend's Big-Eared Bats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theodore J. Weller; Shawn C. Thomas; James A. Baldwin

    2014-01-01

    The advent of broad-scale threats to bats such as white-nose syndrome and climate change highlights the need for reliable baseline assessment of their populations. However, few long-term, rigorously designed assessments of bat populations exist, particularly in western North America. Consequently, results of informal monitoring efforts are often the only data available...

  4. Behavior of bats at wind turbines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cryan, Paul M; Gorresen, P Marcos; Hein, Cris D; Schirmacher, Michael R; Diehl, Robert H; Huso, Manuela M; Hayman, David T S; Fricker, Paul D; Bonaccorso, Frank J; Johnson, Douglas H; Heist, Kevin; Dalton, David C

    2014-10-21

    Wind turbines are causing unprecedented numbers of bat fatalities. Many fatalities involve tree-roosting bats, but reasons for this higher susceptibility remain unknown. To better understand behaviors associated with risk, we monitored bats at three experimentally manipulated wind turbines in Indiana, United States, from July 29 to October 1, 2012, using thermal cameras and other methods. We observed bats on 993 occasions and saw many behaviors, including close approaches, flight loops and dives, hovering, and chases. Most bats altered course toward turbines during observation. Based on these new observations, we tested the hypotheses that wind speed and blade rotation speed influenced the way that bats interacted with turbines. We found that bats were detected more frequently at lower wind speeds and typically approached turbines on the leeward (downwind) side. The proportion of leeward approaches increased with wind speed when blades were prevented from turning, yet decreased when blades could turn. Bats were observed more frequently at turbines on moonlit nights. Taken together, these observations suggest that bats may orient toward turbines by sensing air currents and using vision, and that air turbulence caused by fast-moving blades creates conditions that are less attractive to bats passing in close proximity. Tree bats may respond to streams of air flowing downwind from trees at night while searching for roosts, conspecifics, and nocturnal insect prey that could accumulate in such flows. Fatalities of tree bats at turbines may be the consequence of behaviors that evolved to provide selective advantages when elicited by tall trees, but are now maladaptive when elicited by wind turbines.

  5. Behavior of bats at wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cryan, Paul M.; Gorresen, P. Marcos; Hine, Cris D.; Schirmacher, Michael; Diehl, Robert H.; Huso, Manuela M.; Hayman, David T.S.; Fricker, Paul D.; Bonaccorso, Frank J.; Johnson, Douglas H.; Heist, Kevin W.; Dalton, David C.

    2014-01-01

    Wind turbines are causing unprecedented numbers of bat fatalities. Many fatalities involve tree-roosting bats, but reasons for this higher susceptibility remain unknown. To better understand behaviors associated with risk, we monitored bats at three experimentally manipulated wind turbines in Indiana, United States, from July 29 to October 1, 2012, using thermal cameras and other methods. We observed bats on 993 occasions and saw many behaviors, including close approaches, flight loops and dives, hovering, and chases. Most bats altered course toward turbines during observation. Based on these new observations, we tested the hypotheses that wind speed and blade rotation speed influenced the way that bats interacted with turbines. We found that bats were detected more frequently at lower wind speeds and typically approached turbines on the leeward (downwind) side. The proportion of leeward approaches increased with wind speed when blades were prevented from turning, yet decreased when blades could turn. Bats were observed more frequently at turbines on moonlit nights. Taken together, these observations suggest that bats may orient toward turbines by sensing air currents and using vision, and that air turbulence caused by fast-moving blades creates conditions that are less attractive to bats passing in close proximity. Tree bats may respond to streams of air flowing downwind from trees at night while searching for roosts, conspecifics, and nocturnal insect prey that could accumulate in such flows. Fatalities of tree bats at turbines may be the consequence of behaviors that evolved to provide selective advantages when elicited by tall trees, but are now maladaptive when elicited by wind turbines.

  6. Bats and SARS

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    Bats are a natural reservoir for emerging viruses, among them henipaviruses and rabies virus variants. Dr. Nina Marano, Chief, Geographic Medicine and Health Promotion Branch, Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, CDC, explains connection between horseshoe bats and SARS coronavirus transmission.

  7. Implementing cloud storage with OpenStack Swift

    CERN Document Server

    Rajana, Kris; Varma, Sreedhar

    2014-01-01

    This tutorial-based book has a step-by-step approach for each topic, ensuring it is thoroughly covered and easy to follow. If you are an IT administrator who wants to enter the world of cloud storage using OpenStack Swift, then this book is ideal for you. Whether your job is to build, manage, or use OpenStack Swift, this book is an ideal way to move your career ahead. Only basic Linux and server technology skills are expected, to take advantage of this book.

  8. Baseline capture rates and roosting habits of Myotis septentrionalis (Northern Long-Eared Bat) prior to white-nose syndrome  detection in the southern Appalachians

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanessa G. Rojas; Joy M. O' Keefe; Susan C. Loeb

    2017-01-01

    Myotis septentrionalis (Northern Long-eared Bat) is a federally threatened insectivorous bat facing devastating population declines due to white-nose syndrome (WNS). Our study provides pre-WNS (2009) capture rates and roosting-behavior data for Northern Long-eared Bats in the southern Appalachians. We conducted mist-net surveys at 37 sites and...

  9. Parasites of parasites of bats

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Haelewaters, Danny; Pfliegler, Walter P.; Szentiványi, Tamara; Földvári, Mihály; Sándor, Attila D.; Barti, Levente; Camacho, Jasmin J.; Gort, Gerrit; Estók, Péter; Hiller, Thomas; Dick, Carl W.; Pfister, Donald H.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Bat flies (Streblidae and Nycteribiidae) are among the most specialized families of the order Diptera. Members of these two related families have an obligate ectoparasitic lifestyle on bats, and they are known disease vectors for their hosts. However, bat flies have their own

  10. Group A Rotaviruses in Chinese Bats: Genetic Composition, Serology, and Evidence for Bat-to-Human Transmission and Reassortment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Biao; Huang, Xiaohong; Zhang, Fuqiang; Tan, Weilong; Matthijnssens, Jelle; Qin, Shaomin; Xu, Lin; Zhao, Zihan; Yang, Ling'en; Wang, Quanxi; Hu, Tingsong; Bao, Xiaolei; Wu, Jianmin; Tu, Changchun

    2017-06-15

    Bats are natural reservoirs for many pathogenic viruses, and increasing evidence supports the notion that bats can also harbor group A rotaviruses (RVAs), important causative agents of diarrhea in children and young animals. Currently, 8 RVA strains possessing completely novel genotype constellations or genotypes possibly originating from other mammals have been identified from African and Chinese bats. However, all the data were mainly based on detection of RVA RNA, present only during acute infections, which does not permit assessment of the true exposure of a bat population to RVA. To systematically investigate the genetic diversity of RVAs, 547 bat anal swabs or gut samples along with 448 bat sera were collected from five South Chinese provinces. Specific reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) screening found four RVA strains. Strain GLRL1 possessed a completely novel genotype constellation, whereas the other three possessed a constellation consistent with the MSLH14-like genotype, a newly characterized group of viruses widely prevalent in Chinese insectivorous bats. Among the latter, strain LZHP2 provided strong evidence of cross-species transmission of RVAs from bats to humans, whereas strains YSSK5 and BSTM70 were likely reassortants between typical MSLH14-like RVAs and human RVAs. RVA-specific antibodies were detected in 10.7% (48/448) of bat sera by an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IIFA). Bats in Guangxi and Yunnan had a higher RVA-specific antibody prevalence than those from Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. These observations provide evidence for cross-species transmission of MSLH14-like bat RVAs to humans, highlighting the impact of bats as reservoirs of RVAs on public health. IMPORTANCE Bat viruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Ebola, Hendra, and Nipah viruses, are important pathogens causing outbreaks of severe emerging infectious diseases. However, little is known about bat viruses capable

  11. Novel lyssavirus in bat, Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aréchiga Ceballos, Nidia; Vázquez Morón, Sonia; Berciano, José M; Nicolás, Olga; Aznar López, Carolina; Juste, Javier; Rodríguez Nevado, Cristina; Aguilar Setién, Alvaro; Echevarría, Juan E

    2013-05-01

    A new tentative lyssavirus, Lleida bat lyssavirus, was found in a bent-winged bat (Miniopterus schreibersii) in Spain. It does not belong to phylogroups I or II, and it seems to be more closely related to the West Causasian bat virus, and especially to the Ikoma lyssavirus.

  12. Novel Lyssavirus in Bat, Spain

    OpenAIRE

    Ceballos, Nidia Ar?chiga; Mor?n, Sonia V?zquez; Berciano, Jos? M.; Nicol?s, Olga; L?pez, Carolina Aznar; Juste, Javier; Nevado, Cristina Rodr?guez; Seti?n, ?lvaro Aguilar; Echevarr?a, Juan E.

    2013-01-01

    A new tentative lyssavirus, Lleida bat lyssavirus, was found in a bent-winged bat (Miniopterus schreibersii) in Spain. It does not belong to phylogroups I or II, and it seems to be more closely related to the West Causasian bat virus, and especially to the Ikoma lyssavirus.

  13. Bat wing biometrics: using collagen–elastin bundles in bat wings as a unique individual identifier

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hooper, Sarah E.; Womack, Kathryn M.

    2017-01-01

    Abstract The ability to recognize individuals within an animal population is fundamental to conservation and management. Identification of individual bats has relied on artificial marking techniques that may negatively affect the survival and alter the behavior of individuals. Biometric systems use biological characteristics to identify individuals. The field of animal biometrics has expanded to include recognition of individuals based upon various morphologies and phenotypic variations including pelage patterns, tail flukes, and whisker arrangement. Biometric systems use 4 biologic measurement criteria: universality, distinctiveness, permanence, and collectability. Additionally, the system should not violate assumptions of capture–recapture methods that include no increased mortality or alterations of behavior. We evaluated whether individual bats could be uniquely identified based upon the collagen–elastin bundles that are visible with gross examination of their wings. We examined little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), northern long-eared bats (M. septentrionalis), big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), and tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) to determine whether the “wing prints” from the bundle network would satisfy the biologic measurement criteria. We evaluated 1,212 photographs from 230 individual bats comparing week 0 photos with those taken at weeks 3 or 6 and were able to confirm identity of individuals over time. Two blinded evaluators were able to successfully match 170 individuals in hand to photographs taken at weeks 0, 3, and 6. This study suggests that bats can be successfully re-identified using photographs taken at previous times. We suggest further evaluation of this methodology for use in a standardized system that can be shared among bat conservationists. PMID:29674784

  14. Bat wing biometrics: using collagen-elastin bundles in bat wings as a unique individual identifier.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amelon, Sybill K; Hooper, Sarah E; Womack, Kathryn M

    2017-05-29

    The ability to recognize individuals within an animal population is fundamental to conservation and management. Identification of individual bats has relied on artificial marking techniques that may negatively affect the survival and alter the behavior of individuals. Biometric systems use biological characteristics to identify individuals. The field of animal biometrics has expanded to include recognition of individuals based upon various morphologies and phenotypic variations including pelage patterns, tail flukes, and whisker arrangement. Biometric systems use 4 biologic measurement criteria: universality, distinctiveness, permanence, and collectability. Additionally, the system should not violate assumptions of capture-recapture methods that include no increased mortality or alterations of behavior. We evaluated whether individual bats could be uniquely identified based upon the collagen-elastin bundles that are visible with gross examination of their wings. We examined little brown bats ( Myotis lucifugus ), northern long-eared bats ( M. septentrionalis ), big brown bats ( Eptesicus fuscus ), and tricolored bats ( Perimyotis subflavus ) to determine whether the "wing prints" from the bundle network would satisfy the biologic measurement criteria. We evaluated 1,212 photographs from 230 individual bats comparing week 0 photos with those taken at weeks 3 or 6 and were able to confirm identity of individuals over time. Two blinded evaluators were able to successfully match 170 individuals in hand to photographs taken at weeks 0, 3, and 6. This study suggests that bats can be successfully re-identified using photographs taken at previous times. We suggest further evaluation of this methodology for use in a standardized system that can be shared among bat conservationists.

  15. Increasing incidence of Geomyces destructans fungus in bats from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natália Martínková

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: White-nose syndrome is a disease of hibernating insectivorous bats associated with the fungus Geomyces destructans. It first appeared in North America in 2006, where over a million bats died since then. In Europe, G. destructans was first identified in France in 2009. Its distribution, infection dynamics, and effects on hibernating bats in Europe are largely unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We screened hibernacula in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for the presence of the fungus during the winter seasons of 2008/2009 and 2009/2010. In winter 2009/2010, we found infected bats in 76 out of 98 surveyed sites, in which the majority had been previously negative. A photographic record of over 6000 hibernating bats, taken since 1994, revealed bats with fungal growths since 1995; however, the incidence of such bats increased in Myotis myotis from 2% in 2007 to 14% by 2010. Microscopic, cultivation and molecular genetic evaluations confirmed the identity of the recently sampled fungus as G. destructans, and demonstrated its continuous distribution in the studied area. At the end of the hibernation season we recorded pathologic changes in the skin of the affected bats, from which the fungus was isolated. We registered no mass mortality caused by the fungus, and the recorded population decline in the last two years of the most affected species, M. myotis, is within the population trend prediction interval. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: G. destructans was found to be widespread in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with an epizootic incidence in bats during the most recent years. Further development of the situation urgently requires a detailed pan-European monitoring scheme.

  16. Quantifying the bat bushmeat trade in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, with suggestions for conservation action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sheherazade

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The intense consumption of flying foxes in North Sulawesi, Indonesia has raised hunting pressure and extirpation is expected to spread into other regions. To assess local cultural attitudes towards bats for formulating a targeted conservation campaign, we conducted a survey of consumption practices of bats in 2013 at the eight major markets near Manado. Locals eat flying foxes at least once a month, but the frequency increases tenfold around Christian holidays. Approximately 500 metric tons of bats are imported from other provinces, with South Sulawesi as the main provider at 38%. No action has been taken to conserve the bats, as continued abundance in the market masks the effects of the bushmeat trade on wild populations. We suggest: (1 engaging churches as conduits for environmental education and quota enforcement; (2 legal regulation of interprovincial trade; (3 substituting bats with a sustainable option; (4 involving local students as campaigners to ensure higher receptiveness from local communities. Grassroots conservation initiatives combined with enforcement of existing laws aim to affect change on a local level, which has been successful in other conservation programs. These efforts would not only progress bat conservation, but conservation of other rare, endemic mammals common to the bushmeat trade.

  17. Bat Rabies Surveillance in Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schatz, J.; Fooks, A.R.; McElhinney, L.M.; Horton, D.; Echevarria, J.; Vázquez-Morón, S.; Kooi, E.A.; Rasmussen, T.B.; Müller, T.; Freuling, C.

    2013-01-01

    Rabies is the oldest known zoonotic disease and was also the first recognized bat associated infection in humans. To date, four different lyssavirus species are the causative agents of rabies in European bats: the European Bat Lyssaviruses type 1 and 2 (EBLV-1, EBLV-2), the recently discovered

  18. Bats from the Restinga of Praia das Neves, state of Espírito Santo, Southeastern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luz, J. L.

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Studies on bat richness and diversity in coastal sand dunes (‘restinga’ are still scarce. Therefore, the objectives of thepresent study were to estimate bat richness in the restinga of Praia das Neves (state of Espírito Santo, southeasternBrazil and to analyze species abundance. Ten sampling nights were carried out in May and July 2008, resulting in asampling effort of 21,847.5 h.m2. We captured 125 individuals from 17 bat species. In this study, Tonatia saurophilawas recorded for the first time not only in the state of Espírito Santo but also in the restinga ecosystem. The mostabundant species was Artibeus lituratus with 32% of all captures. Surveys in coastal restingas are urgently needed inorder to obtain more information about the bats living in this environment.

  19. Favourable outcome in a patient bitten by a rabid bat infected with the European bat lyssavirus-1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Gucht, S; Verlinde, R; Colyn, J; Vanderpas, J; Vanhoof, R; Roels, S; Francart, A; Brochier, B; Suin, V

    2013-01-01

    The classic rabies virus (genotype 1) has been eliminated in Western Europe, but related lyssaviruses still circulate in local bats. In August 2010, a Belgian photographer was bitten upon provocation of a disoriented Eptesicus serotinus bat in Spain. The bat was infected with European bat lyssavirus-1 (genotype 5). The isolate proved highly neurovirulent in mice. The patient had received preventive rabies immunisations years before the incident and received two boosters with the HDCV rabies vaccine afterwards. Available vaccines are based on the classic rabies virus, which is significantly divergent from the European bat lyssavirus-1. Fortunately, the patient's serological immune response demonstrated satisfactory neutralisation of the 2010 EBLV-1 isolate, using an intracerebral challenge model in mice. Most likely, the patient's life was saved thanks to vaccination with the classic rabies vaccine, which proved sufficiently protective against European bat lyssavirus-1. This case highlights the need for preventive rabies vaccination in people, who come in contact with bats and to seek medical council after a scratch or bite from a bat.

  20. Effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on ethylene–chlorotrifluoroethylene copolymer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, Lakhwant; Devgan, Kusum; Samra, Kawaljeet Singh

    2012-01-01

    The swift heavy irradiation induced changes taking place in ethylene–chlorotrifluoroethylene (E–CTFE) copolymer films were investigated in correlation with the applied doses. Samples were irradiated in vacuum at room temperature by lithium (50 MeV), carbon (85 MeV), nickel (120 MeV) and silver (120 MeV) ions with the fluence in the range of 1×10 11 –3×10 12 ions cm −2 . Structural and thermal properties of the irradiated as well as pristine E–CTFE films were studied using FTIR, UV–visible, TGA, DSC and XRD techniques. Swift heavy ion irradiation was found to induce changes in E–CTFE depending upon the applied doses. - Highlights: ► Effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on E–CTFE films has been studied. ► Different structural changes in the original structure of E–CTFE are observed after irradiation with different ions. ► Swift heavy ion irradiation has made E–CTFE more prone to thermal degradation.

  1. Inconspicuous echolocation in hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corcoran, Aaron J; Weller, Theodore J

    2018-05-16

    Echolocation allows bats to occupy diverse nocturnal niches. Bats almost always use echolocation, even when other sensory stimuli are available to guide navigation. Here, using arrays of calibrated infrared cameras and ultrasonic microphones, we demonstrate that hoary bats ( Lasiurus cinereus ) use previously unknown echolocation behaviours that challenge our current understanding of echolocation. We describe a novel call type ('micro' calls) that has three orders of magnitude less sound energy than other bat calls used in open habitats. We also document bats flying close to microphones (less than 3 m) without producing detectable echolocation calls. Acoustic modelling indicates that bats are not producing calls that exceed 70-75 dB at 0.1 m, a level that would have little or no known use for a bat flying in the open at speeds exceeding 7 m s -1 This indicates that hoary bats sometimes fly without echolocation. We speculate that bats reduce echolocation output to avoid eavesdropping by conspecifics during the mating season. These findings might partly explain why tens of thousands of hoary bats are killed by wind turbines each year. They also challenge the long-standing assumption that bats-model organisms for sensory specialization-are reliant on sonar for nocturnal navigation. © 2018 The Author(s).

  2. Swift Ultra Long Endurance (SULE) Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV), Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Swift proposes to design, fabricate, and fly a Swift Ultra Long Endurance (SULE) 30-day mission HALE UAS with flight tests including: 24-hrs, 48-hrs, and 7-days...

  3. Bats of the Savannah River Site and vicinity.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    M.A. Menzel; J.M. Menzel; J.C. Kilgo; W.M. Ford; T.C. Carter; J.W. Edwards

    2003-10-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site supports a diverse bat community. Nine species occur there regularly, including the eastern pipistrelle (Pipistrellus subflavus), southeastern myotis (Myotis austroriparius), evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis), Rafinesque's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii), silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis), Seminole bat (L. seminolus), hoary bat (L. cinereus), and big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). There are extralimital capture records for two additional species: little brown bat (M. lucifigus) and northern yellow bat (Lasiurus intermedius). Acoustical sampling has documented the presence of Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis), but none has been captured. Among those species common to the Site, the southeastern myotis and Rafinesque's big-eared bat are listed in South Carolina as threatened and endangered, respectively. The presence of those two species, and a growing concern for the conservation of forest-dwelling bats, led to extensive and focused research on the Savannah River Site between 1996 and 2002. Summarizing this and other bat research, we provide species accounts that discuss morphology and distribution, roosting and foraging behaviors, home range characteristics, habitat relations, and reproductive biology. We also present information on conservation needs and rabies issues; and, finally, identification keys that may be useful wherever the bat species we describe are found.

  4. The Swift Turbidity Marker

    Science.gov (United States)

    Omar, Ahmad Fairuz; MatJafri, Mohd Zubir

    2011-01-01

    The Swift Turbidity Marker is an optical instrument developed to measure the level of water turbidity. The components and configuration selected for the system are based on common turbidity meter design concepts but use a simplified methodology to produce rapid turbidity measurements. This work is aimed at high school physics students and is the…

  5. The Interpretation Of Metaphor Found In 20 Songs Of Taylor Swift

    OpenAIRE

    Desriani, Shella

    2015-01-01

    This paper entitled The interpretation of metaphor found in 20 of taylor swift. this paper discuss the types and meaning of metaphor in the lyrics of the song taylor swift. The purpose of this paper is to analyze types of metaphor in the form of simile, personification and hyperbole contained in the lyrics of the song taylor swift. In this paper the authors wrote the paper used the method of literature, collect some data from some books, and the internet. the lyric which contained metaphors i...

  6. Warm-up with weighted bat and adjustment of upper limb muscle activity in bat swinging under movement correction conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohta, Yoichi; Ishii, Yasumitsu; Ikudome, Sachi; Nakamoto, Hiroki

    2014-02-01

    The effects of weighted bat warm-up on adjustment of upper limb muscle activity were investigated during baseball bat swinging under dynamic conditions that require a spatial and temporal adjustment of the swinging to hit a moving target. Seven male college baseball players participated in this study. Using a batting simulator, the task was to swing the standard bat coincident with the arrival timing and position of a moving target after three warm-up swings using a standard or weighted bat. There was no significant effect of weighted bat warm-up on muscle activity before impact associated with temporal or spatial movement corrections. However, lower inhibition of the extensor carpi ulnaris muscle activity was observed in a velocity-changed condition in the weighted bat warm-up, as compared to a standard bat warm-up. It is suggested that weighted bat warm-up decreases the adjustment ability associated with inhibition of muscle activation under movement correction conditions.

  7. Ultraviolet vision may be widespread in bats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorresen, P. Marcos; Cryan, Paul; Dalton, David C.; Wolf, Sandy; Bonaccorso, Frank

    2015-01-01

    Insectivorous bats are well known for their abilities to find and pursue flying insect prey at close range using echolocation, but they also rely heavily on vision. For example, at night bats use vision to orient across landscapes, avoid large obstacles, and locate roosts. Although lacking sharp visual acuity, the eyes of bats evolved to function at very low levels of illumination. Recent evidence based on genetics, immunohistochemistry, and laboratory behavioral trials indicated that many bats can see ultraviolet light (UV), at least at illumination levels similar to or brighter than those before twilight. Despite this growing evidence for potentially widespread UV vision in bats, the prevalence of UV vision among bats remains unknown and has not been studied outside of the laboratory. We used a Y-maze to test whether wild-caught bats could see reflected UV light and whether such UV vision functions at the dim lighting conditions typically experienced by night-flying bats. Seven insectivorous species of bats, representing five genera and three families, showed a statistically significant ‘escape-toward-the-light’ behavior when placed in the Y-maze. Our results provide compelling evidence of widespread dim-light UV vision in bats.

  8. Post-construction monitoring for birds and bats : an examination of methods and issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ebner, D.; Korpijaakko, C.

    2009-01-01

    The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) stipulates that bird and bat monitoring studies should be conducted following the construction of most wind turbine projects in Canada. The objectives of the monitoring studies are to verify the accuracy of the environmental assessment; determine the effectiveness of any measures taken to mitigate the adverse environmental effects of a project; and to evaluate the cumulative effects on species diversity and numbers. This presentation discussed post-construction monitoring for birds and bats and provided an examination of methods and issues. It emphasized why post-construction monitoring is important. Environmental effects that were examined in the presentation were changes in breeding birds; changes in passage migrants or wintering birds; changes in bat activity; and mortality monitoring/carcass surveys. The key issues regarding the design and implementation of post-construction monitoring programs include variation in field and analytical methods; protocols implemented that can add uncertainty and bias to estimates of mortality; and comparisons of project-specific results with other projects. Other topics that were addressed included federal requirements; provincial requirements; post-construction surveys and carcass searches; search efficiency and analysis. The presentation concluded with a discussion regarding the need for standardization. figs.

  9. Post-construction monitoring for birds and bats : an examination of methods and issues

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ebner, D.; Korpijaakko, C. [Stantec Consulting Ltd., Surrey, BC (Canada)

    2009-07-01

    The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) stipulates that bird and bat monitoring studies should be conducted following the construction of most wind turbine projects in Canada. The objectives of the monitoring studies are to verify the accuracy of the environmental assessment; determine the effectiveness of any measures taken to mitigate the adverse environmental effects of a project; and to evaluate the cumulative effects on species diversity and numbers. This presentation discussed post-construction monitoring for birds and bats and provided an examination of methods and issues. It emphasized why post-construction monitoring is important. Environmental effects that were examined in the presentation were changes in breeding birds; changes in passage migrants or wintering birds; changes in bat activity; and mortality monitoring/carcass surveys. The key issues regarding the design and implementation of post-construction monitoring programs include variation in field and analytical methods; protocols implemented that can add uncertainty and bias to estimates of mortality; and comparisons of project-specific results with other projects. Other topics that were addressed included federal requirements; provincial requirements; post-construction surveys and carcass searches; search efficiency and analysis. The presentation concluded with a discussion regarding the need for standardization. figs.

  10. Suzaku View of the Swift/BAT Active Galactic Nuclei. V. Torus Structure of Two Luminous Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei (3C 206 and PKS 0707-35)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tazaki, Fumie; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Terashima, Yuichi; Mushotzky, Richard F.; Tombesi, Francesco

    2013-01-01

    We present the results from broadband X-ray spectral analysis of 3C 206 and PKS 0707-35 with Suzaku and Swift/BAT, two of the most luminous unobscured and obscured radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with hard X-ray luminosities of 10(sup 45.5) erg per second and 10(sup 44.9) erg per second (14-195 keV), respectively. Based on the radio core luminosity, we estimate that the X-ray spectrum of 3C 206 contains a significant (60% in the 14-195 keV band) contribution from the jet, while it is negligible in PKS 0707-35.We can successfully model the spectra with the jet component (for 3C 206), the transmitted emission, and two reflection components from the torus and the accretion disk. The reflection strengths from the torus are found to be R(sub torus)(=Omega/2pi) = 0.29 +/- 0.18 and 0.41 +/- 0.18 for 3C 206 and PKS 0707-35, respectively, which are smaller than those in typical Seyfert galaxies. Utilizing the torus model by Ikeda et al., we quantify the relation between the half-opening angle of a torus (theta(sub oa)) and the equivalent width of an iron-K line. The observed equivalent width of 3C 206, less than 71 eV, constrains the column density in the equatorial plane to N(sup eq)(sub H) lesst han 10(sup 23) per square centimeter, or the half-opening angle to theta(sub oa) greater than 80 deg. if N(sup eq)(sub H) = 10(sup 24) per square centimeter is assumed. That of PKS 0707-35, 72 +/- 36 eV, is consistent with N(sup eq)(sub H) 10(sup 23) per square centimeter. Our results suggest that the tori in luminous radio-loud AGNs are only poorly developed. The trend is similar to that seen in radio-quiet AGNs, implying that the torus structure is not different between AGNs with jets and without jets.

  11. [Bats and Viruses: complex relationships].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodhain, F

    2015-10-01

    With more than 1 200 species, bats and flying foxes (Order Chiroptera) constitute the most important and diverse order of Mammals after Rodents. Many species of bats are insectivorous while others are frugivorous and few of them are hematophagous. Some of these animals fly during the night, others are crepuscular or diurnal. Some fly long distances during seasonal migrations. Many species are colonial cave-dwelling, living in a rather small home range while others are relatively solitary. However, in spite of the importance of bats for terrestrial biotic communities and ecosystem ecology, the diversity in their biology and lifestyles remain poorly known and underappreciated. More than sixty viruses have been detected or isolated in bats; these animals are therefore involved in the natural cycles of many of them. This is the case, for instance, of rabies virus and other Lyssavirus (Family Rhabdoviridae), Nipah and Hendra viruses (Paramyxoviridae), Ebola and Marburg viruses (Filoviridae), SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV (Coronaviridae). For these zoonotic viruses, a number of bat species are considered as important reservoir hosts, efficient disseminators or even directly responsible of the transmission. Some of these bat-borne viruses cause highly pathogenic diseases while others are of potential significance for humans and domestic or wild animals; so, bats are an important risk in human and animal public health. Moreover, some groups of viruses developed through different phylogenetic mechanisms of coevolution between viruses and bats. The fact that most of these viral infections are asymptomatic in bats has been observed since a long time but the mechanisms of the viral persistence are not clearly understood. The various bioecology of the different bat populations allows exchange of virus between migrating and non-migrating conspecific species. For a better understanding of the role of bats in the circulation of these viral zoonoses, epidemiologists must pay attention to

  12. Long-term survival of an urban fruit bat seropositive for Ebola and Lagos bat viruses.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David T S Hayman

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Ebolaviruses (EBOV (family Filoviridae cause viral hemorrhagic fevers in humans and non-human primates when they spill over from their wildlife reservoir hosts with case fatality rates of up to 90%. Fruit bats may act as reservoirs of the Filoviridae. The migratory fruit bat, Eidolon helvum, is common across sub-Saharan Africa and lives in large colonies, often situated in cities. We screened sera from 262 E. helvum using indirect fluorescent tests for antibodies against EBOV subtype Zaire. We detected a seropositive bat from Accra, Ghana, and confirmed this using western blot analysis. The bat was also seropositive for Lagos bat virus, a Lyssavirus, by virus neutralization test. The bat was fitted with a radio transmitter and was last detected in Accra 13 months after release post-sampling, demonstrating long-term survival. Antibodies to filoviruses have not been previously demonstrated in E. helvum. Radio-telemetry data demonstrates long-term survival of an individual bat following exposure to viruses of families that can be highly pathogenic to other mammal species. Because E. helvum typically lives in large urban colonies and is a source of bushmeat in some regions, further studies should determine if this species forms a reservoir for EBOV from which spillover infections into the human population may occur.

  13. Session: Bat ecology related to wind development and lessons learned about impacts on bats from wind development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Johnson, Greg; Kunz, Thomas

    2004-09-01

    This session at the Wind Energy and Birds/Bats workshop consisted of two paper presentations followed by a discussion/question and answer period. It was the first of the sessions to shift the focus to the issue of wind energy development's impacts specifically to bats. The presentations discussed lessons that have been learned regarding direct and indirect impacts on bats and strategies planned to address such issues. Presenters addressed what the existing science demonstrates about land-based wind turbine impacts on bats, including: mortality, avoidance, direct habitat impacts, species and numbers killed, per turbine rates/per MW generated, and impacts on threatened and endangered species. They discussed whether there is sufficient data for wind turbines and bat impacts for projects in the eastern US, especially on ridge tops. Finally, the subject of offshore impacts on bats was briefly addressed, including what lessons have been learned in Europe and how these can be applied in the U S. Paper one, by Greg Johnson, was titled ''A Review of Bat Impacts at Wind Farms in the US''. Paper two, by Thomas Kunz, was titled ''Wind Power: Bats and Wind Turbines''.

  14. GRB 090926A AND BRIGHT LATE-TIME FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY BURST AFTERGLOWS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Swenson, C. A.; Roming, P. W. A.; Vetere, L.; Kennea, J. A.; Maxham, A.; Zhang, B. B.; Zhang, B.; Schady, P.; Holland, S. T.; Kuin, N. P. M.; Oates, S. R.; De Pasquale, M.; Page, K. L.

    2010-01-01

    GRB 090926A was detected by both the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and Large Area Telescope (LAT) instruments on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Swift follow-up observations began ∼13 hr after the initial trigger. The optical afterglow was detected for nearly 23 days post trigger, placing it in the long-lived category. The afterglow is of particular interest due to its brightness at late times, as well as the presence of optical flares at T0+10 5 s and later, which may indicate late-time central engine activity. The LAT has detected a total of 16 gamma-ray bursts; nine of these bursts, including GRB 090926A, also have been observed by Swift. Of the nine Swift-observed LAT bursts, six were detected by UVOT, with five of the bursts having bright, long-lived optical afterglows. In comparison, Swift has been operating for five years and has detected nearly 500 bursts, but has only seen ∼30% of bursts with optical afterglows that live longer than 10 5 s. We have calculated the predicted gamma-ray fluence, as would have been seen by the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on board Swift, of the LAT bursts to determine whether this high percentage of long-lived optical afterglows is unique, when compared to BAT-triggered bursts. We find that, with the exception of the short burst GRB 090510A, the predicted BAT fluences indicate that the LAT bursts are more energetic than 88% of all Swift bursts and also have brighter than average X-ray and optical afterglows.

  15. Bat guilds, a concept to classify the highly diverse foraging and echolocation behaviors of microchiropteran bats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annette eDenzinger

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Throughout evolution the foraging and echolocation behaviors as well as the motor systems of bats have been adapted to the tasks they have to perform while searching and acquiring food. When bats exploit the same class of environmental resources in a similar way, they perform comparable tasks and thus share similar adaptations independent of their phylogeny. Species with similar adaptations are assigned to guilds or functional groups. Habitat type and foraging mode mainly determine the foraging tasks and thus the adaptations of bats. Therefore we use habitat type and foraging mode to define seven guilds. The habitat types open, edge and narrow space are defined according to the bats’ echolocation behavior in relation to the distance between bat and background or food item and background. Bats foraging in the aerial, trawling, flutter detecting, or active gleaning mode use only echolocation to acquire their food. When foraging in the passive gleaning mode bats do not use echolocation but rely on sensory cues from the food item to find it. Bat communities often comprise large numbers of species with a high diversity in foraging areas, foraging modes, and diets. The assignment of species living under similar constraints into guilds identifies pattern of community structure and helps to understand the factors that underlie the organization of highly diverse bat communities. Bat species from different guilds do not compete for food as they differ in their foraging behavior and in the environmental resources they use. However, sympatric living species belonging to the same guild often exploit the same class of resources. To avoid competition they should differ in their niche dimensions. The fine grain structure of bat communities below the rather coarse classification into guilds is determined by mechanisms that result in niche partitioning.

  16. The leading-edge vortex of swift-wing shaped delta wings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muir, Rowan; Arredondo-Galeana, Abel; Viola, Ignazio Maria

    2017-11-01

    Recent investigations on the aerodynamics of natural fliers have illuminated the significance of the Leading-Edge Vortex (LEV) for lift generation in a variety of flight conditions. In this investigation, a model non-slender delta shaped wing with a sharp leading-edge is tested at low Reynolds Number, along with a delta wing of the same design, but with a modified trailing edge inspired by the wing of a common swift Apus apus. The effect of the tapering swift wing on LEV development and stability is compared with the flow structure over the un-modified delta wing model through particle image velocimetry. For the first time, a leading-edge vortex system consisting of a dual or triple LEV is recorded on a swift-wing shaped delta wing, where such a system is found across all tested conditions. It is shown that the spanwise location of LEV breakdown is governed by the local chord rather than Reynolds Number or angle of attack. These findings suggest that the trailing-edge geometry of the swift wing alone does not prevent the common swift from generating an LEV system comparable with that of a delta shaped wing. This work received funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/M506515/1] and the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT).

  17. Neotropical bats: estimating species diversity with DNA barcodes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth L Clare

    Full Text Available DNA barcoding using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (COI is frequently employed as an efficient method of species identification in animal life and may also be used to estimate species richness, particularly in understudied faunas. Despite numerous past demonstrations of the efficiency of this technique, few studies have attempted to employ DNA barcoding methodologies on a large geographic scale, particularly within tropical regions. In this study we survey current and potential species diversity using DNA barcodes with a collection of more than 9000 individuals from 163 species of Neotropical bats (order Chiroptera. This represents one of the largest surveys to employ this strategy on any animal group and is certainly the largest to date for land vertebrates. Our analysis documents the utility of this tool over great geographic distances and across extraordinarily diverse habitats. Among the 163 included species 98.8% possessed distinct sets of COI haplotypes making them easily recognizable at this locus. We detected only a single case of shared haplotypes. Intraspecific diversity in the region was high among currently recognized species (mean of 1.38%, range 0-11.79% with respect to birds, though comparable to other bat assemblages. In 44 of 163 cases, well-supported, distinct intraspecific lineages were identified which may suggest the presence of cryptic species though mean and maximum intraspecific divergence were not good predictors of their presence. In all cases, intraspecific lineages require additional investigation using complementary molecular techniques and additional characters such as morphology and acoustic data. Our analysis provides strong support for the continued assembly of DNA barcoding libraries and ongoing taxonomic investigation of bats.

  18. Bats host diverse parvoviruses as possible origin of mammalian dependoparvoviruses and source for bat-swine interspecies transmission.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, Susanna K P; Ahmed, Syed Shakeel; Tsoi, Hoi-Wah; Yeung, Hazel C; Li, Kenneth S M; Fan, Rachel Y Y; Zhao, Pyrear S H; Lau, Candy C C; Lam, Carol S F; Choi, Kelvin K F; Chan, Ben C H; Cai, Jian-Piao; Wong, Samson S Y; Chen, Honglin; Zhang, Hai-Lin; Zhang, Libiao; Wang, Ming; Woo, Patrick C Y; Yuen, Kwok-Yung

    2017-11-06

    Compared to the enormous species diversity of bats, relatively few parvoviruses have been reported. We detected diverse and potentially novel parvoviruses from bats in Hong Kong and mainland China. Parvoviruses belonging to Amdoparvovirus, Bocaparvovirus and Dependoparvovirus were detected in alimentary, liver and spleen samples from 16 different chiropteran species of five families by PCR. Phylogenetic analysis of partial helicase sequences showed that they potentially belonged to 25 bocaparvovirus, three dependoparvovirus and one amdoparvovirus species. Nearly complete genome sequencing confirmed the existence of at least four novel bat bocaparvovirus species (Rp-BtBoV1 and Rp-BtBoV2 from Rhinolophus pusillus, Rs-BtBoV2 from Rhinolophus sinicus and Rol-BtBoV1 from Rousettus leschenaultii) and two novel bat dependoparvovirus species (Rp-BtAAV1 from Rhinolophus pusillus and Rs-BtAAV1 from Rhinolophus sinicus). Rs-BtBoV2 was closely related to Ungulate bocaparvovirus 5 with 93, 72.1 and 78.7 % amino acid identities in the NS1, NP1 and VP1/VP2 genes, respectively. The detection of bat bocaparvoviruses, including Rs-BtBoV2, closely related to porcine bocaparvoviruses, suggests recent interspecies transmission of bocaparvoviruses between bats and swine. Moreover, Rp-BtAAV1 and Rs-BtAAV1 were most closely related to human AAV1 with 48.7 and 57.5 % amino acid identities in the rep gene. The phylogenetic relationship between BtAAVs and other mammalian AAVs suggests bats as the ancestral origin of mammalian AAVs. Furthermore, parvoviruses of the same species were detected from multiple bat species or families, supporting the ability of bat parvoviruses to cross species barriers. The results extend our knowledge on the diversity of bat parvoviruses and the role of bats in parvovirus evolution and emergence in humans and animals.

  19. Saccharomyces cerevisiae Bat1 and Bat2 aminotransferases have functionally diverged from the ancestral-like Kluyveromyces lactis orthologous enzyme.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maritrini Colón

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Gene duplication is a key evolutionary mechanism providing material for the generation of genes with new or modified functions. The fate of duplicated gene copies has been amply discussed and several models have been put forward to account for duplicate conservation. The specialization model considers that duplication of a bifunctional ancestral gene could result in the preservation of both copies through subfunctionalization, resulting in the distribution of the two ancestral functions between the gene duplicates. Here we investigate whether the presumed bifunctional character displayed by the single branched chain amino acid aminotransferase present in K. lactis has been distributed in the two paralogous genes present in S. cerevisiae, and whether this conservation has impacted S. cerevisiae metabolism. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our results show that the KlBat1 orthologous BCAT is a bifunctional enzyme, which participates in the biosynthesis and catabolism of branched chain aminoacids (BCAAs. This dual role has been distributed in S. cerevisiae Bat1 and Bat2 paralogous proteins, supporting the specialization model posed to explain the evolution of gene duplications. BAT1 is highly expressed under biosynthetic conditions, while BAT2 expression is highest under catabolic conditions. Bat1 and Bat2 differential relocalization has favored their physiological function, since biosynthetic precursors are generated in the mitochondria (Bat1, while catabolic substrates are accumulated in the cytosol (Bat2. Under respiratory conditions, in the presence of ammonium and BCAAs the batbat2Δ double mutant shows impaired growth, indicating that Bat1 and Bat2 could play redundant roles. In K. lactis wild type growth is independent of BCAA degradation, since a Klbat1Δ mutant grows under this condition. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that BAT1 and BAT2 differential expression and subcellular relocalization has resulted in the distribution of the

  20. A quantitative method to analyze the quality of EIA information in wind energy development and avian/bat assessments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, Tony; Nielsen, Erik; Auberle, William; Solop, Frederic I.

    2013-01-01

    The environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been a tool for decision makers since the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Since that time, few analyses have been performed to verify the quality of information and content within EIAs. High quality information within assessments is vital in order for decision makers, stake holders, and the public to understand the potential impact of proposed actions on the ecosystem and wildlife species. Low quality information has been a major cause for litigation and economic loss. Since 1999, wind energy development has seen an exponential growth with unknown levels of impact on wildlife species, in particular bird and bat species. The purpose of this article is to: (1) develop, validate, and apply a quantitative index to review avian/bat assessment quality for wind energy EIAs; and (2) assess the trends and status of avian/bat assessment quality in a sample of wind energy EIAs. This research presents the development and testing of the Avian and Bat Assessment Quality Index (ABAQI), a new approach to quantify information quality of ecological assessments within wind energy development EIAs in relation to avian and bat species based on review areas and factors derived from 23 state wind/wildlife siting guidance documents. The ABAQI was tested through a review of 49 publicly available EIA documents and validated by identifying high variation in avian and bat assessments quality for wind energy developments. Of all the reviewed EIAs, 66% failed to provide high levels of preconstruction avian and bat survey information, compared to recommended factors from state guidelines. This suggests the need for greater consistency from recommended guidelines by state, and mandatory compliance by EIA preparers to avoid possible habitat and species loss, wind energy development shut down, and future lawsuits. - Highlights: ► We developed, validated, and applied a quantitative index to review avian/bat assessment quality

  1. A quantitative method to analyze the quality of EIA information in wind energy development and avian/bat assessments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chang, Tony, E-mail: tc282@nau.edu [Environmental Science and Policy Program, School of Earth Science and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, 602 S Humphreys P.O. Box 5694, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011 (United States); Nielsen, Erik, E-mail: erik.nielsen@nau.edu [Environmental Science and Policy Program, School of Earth Science and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, 602 S Humphreys P.O. Box 5694, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011 (United States); Auberle, William, E-mail: william.auberle@nau.edu [Civil and Environmental Engineering Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northern Arizona University, 2112 S Huffer Ln P.O. Box 15600, Flagstaff, AZ, 860011 (United States); Solop, Frederic I., E-mail: fred.solop@nau.edu [Political Science Program, Department of Politics and International Affairs, Northern Arizona University, P.O. Box 15036, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (United States)

    2013-01-15

    The environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been a tool for decision makers since the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Since that time, few analyses have been performed to verify the quality of information and content within EIAs. High quality information within assessments is vital in order for decision makers, stake holders, and the public to understand the potential impact of proposed actions on the ecosystem and wildlife species. Low quality information has been a major cause for litigation and economic loss. Since 1999, wind energy development has seen an exponential growth with unknown levels of impact on wildlife species, in particular bird and bat species. The purpose of this article is to: (1) develop, validate, and apply a quantitative index to review avian/bat assessment quality for wind energy EIAs; and (2) assess the trends and status of avian/bat assessment quality in a sample of wind energy EIAs. This research presents the development and testing of the Avian and Bat Assessment Quality Index (ABAQI), a new approach to quantify information quality of ecological assessments within wind energy development EIAs in relation to avian and bat species based on review areas and factors derived from 23 state wind/wildlife siting guidance documents. The ABAQI was tested through a review of 49 publicly available EIA documents and validated by identifying high variation in avian and bat assessments quality for wind energy developments. Of all the reviewed EIAs, 66% failed to provide high levels of preconstruction avian and bat survey information, compared to recommended factors from state guidelines. This suggests the need for greater consistency from recommended guidelines by state, and mandatory compliance by EIA preparers to avoid possible habitat and species loss, wind energy development shut down, and future lawsuits. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We developed, validated, and applied a quantitative index to review

  2. A review of fire effects on bats and bat habitat in the eastern oaks region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roger W. Perry

    2012-01-01

    Fire is increasingly being used in oak forests to promote oak regeneration, improve wildlife habitat, and reduce hazardous fuel loads. Although recent research has begun to shed light on the relationships among fire, bats, and bat habitat, these interactions are not yet fully understood. Fire may affect bats directly through heat and smoke during the burning process or...

  3. A review of fire effects on bats and bat habitat in the eastern oak region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roger W. Perry

    2012-01-01

    Fire is increasingly being used in oak forests to promote oak regeneration, improve wildlife habitat, and reduce hazardous fuel loads. Although recent research has begun to shed light on the relationships among fire, bats, and bat habitat, these interactions are not yet fully understood. Fire may affect bats directly through heat and smoke during the burning process or...

  4. Education to Action: Improving Public Perception of Bats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric Hoffmaster

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Public perception of bats has historically been largely negative with bats often portrayed as carriers of disease. Bats are commonly associated with vampire lore and thus elicit largely fearful reactions despite the fact that they are a vital and valuable part of the ecosystem. Bats provide a variety of essential services from pest control to plant pollination. Despite the benefits of bats to the environment and the economy, bats are suffering at the hands of humans. They are victims of turbines, human encroachment, pesticides, and, most recently, white nose syndrome. Because of their critical importance to the environment, humans should do what they can to help protect bats. We propose that humans will be more likely to do so if their perceptions and attitudes toward bats can be significantly improved. In a preliminary study we found some support for the idea that people can be educated about bats through bat oriented events and exhibits, and that this greater knowledge can inspire humans to act to save bats.

  5. Lyssavirus-reactive antibodies in Swedish bats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna-Lena Hammarin

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: To study the presence of European bat lyssavirus (EBLV infections in bat reservoirs in Sweden, active surveillance was performed during the summers from 2008 to 2013. Material and methods: Bat specimens were collected at >20 bat colonies in the central, southeastern, and southern parts of Sweden. In total, blood and saliva of 452 bats were examined by a virus neutralization test and by reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCRs. Results and discussion: EBLV neutralizing antibodies were detected in 14 Daubenton's bats (Myotis daubentonii, all trapped in Skåne or Småland (south and southeast of Sweden. The result was not unexpected since EBLV has been shown to be present in many neighboring countries, for example, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Norway. However, Sweden has been regarded free of rabies in terrestrial mammals since 1896. Although very rare, spillover of EBLV into other animals and humans have occurred, and the risk of EBLV infection to other species including humans should not be ignored. This is the first report of lyssavirus infection in Swedish bats.

  6. Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathews, Fiona; Roche, Niamh; Aughney, Tina; Jones, Nicholas; Day, Julie; Baker, James; Langton, Steve

    2015-01-01

    Artificial lighting is a particular problem for animals active at night. Approximately 69% of mammal species are nocturnal, and one-third of these are bats. Due to their extensive movements—both on a nightly basis to exploit ephemeral food supplies, and during migration between roosts—bats have an unusually high probability of encountering artificial light in the landscape. This paper reviews the impacts of lighting on bats and their prey, exploring the direct and indirect consequences of lighting intensity and spectral composition. In addition, new data from large-scale surveys involving more than 265 000 bat calls at more than 600 locations in two countries are presented, showing that prevalent street-lighting types are not generally linked with increased activity of common and widespread bat species. Such bats, which are important to ecosystem function, are generally considered ‘light-attracted’ and likely to benefit from the insect congregations that form at lights. Leisler's bat (Nyctalus leisleri) may be an exception, being more frequent in lit than dark transects. For common pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus), lighting is negatively associated with their distribution on a landscape scale, but there may be local increases in habitats with good tree cover. Research is now needed on the impacts of sky glow and glare for bat navigation, and to explore the implications of lighting for habitat matrix permeability. PMID:25780236

  7. Bats and SARS

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    2006-11-08

    Bats are a natural reservoir for emerging viruses, among them henipaviruses and rabies virus variants. Dr. Nina Marano, Chief, Geographic Medicine and Health Promotion Branch, Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, CDC, explains connection between horseshoe bats and SARS coronavirus transmission.  Created: 11/8/2006 by Emerging Infectious Diseases.   Date Released: 11/17/2006.

  8. Dengue Virus in Bats from Southeastern Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sotomayor-Bonilla, Jesús; Chaves, Andrea; Rico-Chávez, Oscar; Rostal, Melinda K.; Ojeda-Flores, Rafael; Salas-Rojas, Mónica; Aguilar-Setien, Álvaro; Ibáñez-Bernal, Sergio; Barbachano-Guerrero, Arturo; Gutiérrez-Espeleta, Gustavo; Aguilar-Faisal, J. Leopoldo; Aguirre, A. Alonso; Daszak, Peter; Suzán, Gerardo

    2014-01-01

    To identify the relationship between landscape use and dengue virus (DENV) occurrence in bats, we investigated the presence of DENV from anthropogenically changed and unaltered landscapes in two Biosphere Reserves: Calakmul (Campeche) and Montes Azules (Chiapas) in southern Mexico. Spleen samples of 146 bats, belonging to 16 species, were tested for four DENV serotypes with standard reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) protocols. Six bats (4.1%) tested positive for DENV-2: four bats in Calakmul (two Glossophaga soricina, one Artibeus jamaicensis, and one A. lituratus) and two bats in Montes Azules (both A. lituratus). No effect of anthropogenic disturbance on the occurrence of DENV was detected; however, all three RT-PCR–positive bat species are considered abundant species in the Neotropics and well-adapted to disturbed habitats. To our knowledge, this study is the first study conducted in southeastern Mexico to identify DENV-2 in bats by a widely accepted RT-PCR protocol. The role that bats play on DENV's ecology remains undetermined. PMID:24752688

  9. Temporal variation in bat wing damage in the absence of white-nose syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powers, Lisa E; Hofmann, Joyce E; Mengelkoch, Jean; Francis, B Magnus

    2013-10-01

    White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging infectious wildlife disease that has killed more than 5 million bats in the eastern United States since its discovery in winter 2006. The disease is associated with a cold-adapted fungus that infects bats during winter hibernation. Wing damage has been documented in bats with WNS and could become a useful screening tool for determining whether samples should be submitted for testing. However, because there are no historic records, to our knowledge, of wing damage before the emergence of WNS, it is unknown what types of grossly observable wing damage, if any, are specific to WNS. To address this knowledge gap, we inspected the wings of 1,327 bat carcasses collected in Illinois from 2005 and 2008-2010, then used Akaike information criterion to evaluate generalized linear models of the frequencies of different categories of wing damage using age, sex, year, and season as predictors in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Wing discoloration was best predicted by year and season. There were no clear predictors for other categories of wing damage. We found that about one-fourth of big brown bats surveyed from this presumptive WNS-negative sample had moderate or severe wing damage. We encourage further studies of the relationship between WNS and wing damage to better understand which categories of damage are to be expected in the absence of WNS in susceptible species.

  10. Large-scale climate variation modifies the winter grouping behavior of endangered Indiana bats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thogmartin, Wayne E.; McKann, Patrick C.

    2014-01-01

    Power laws describe the functional relationship between 2 quantities, such as the frequency of a group as the multiplicative power of group size. We examined whether the annual size of well-surveyed wintering populations of endangered Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) followed a power law, and then leveraged this relationship to predict whether the aggregation of Indiana bats in winter was influenced by global climate processes. We determined that Indiana bat wintering populations were distributed according to a power law (mean scaling coefficient α = −0.44 [95% confidence interval {95% CI} = −0.61, −0.28). The antilog of these annual scaling coefficients ranged between 0.67 and 0.81, coincident with the three-fourths power found in many other biological phenomena. We associated temporal patterns in the annual (1983–2011) scaling coefficient with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index in August (βNAOAugust = −0.017 [90% CI = −0.032, −0.002]), when Indiana bats are deciding when and where to hibernate. After accounting for the strong effect of philopatry to habitual wintering locations, Indiana bats aggregated in larger wintering populations during periods of severe winter and in smaller populations in milder winters. The association with August values of the NAO indicates that bats anticipate future winter weather conditions when deciding where to roost, a heretofore unrecognized role for prehibernation swarming behavior. Future research is needed to understand whether the three-fourths–scaling patterns we observed are related to scaling in metabolism.

  11. Tools to study pathogen-host interactions in bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banerjee, Arinjay; Misra, Vikram; Schountz, Tony; Baker, Michelle L

    2018-03-15

    Bats are natural reservoirs for a variety of emerging viruses that cause significant disease in humans and domestic animals yet rarely cause clinical disease in bats. The co-evolutionary history of bats with viruses has been hypothesized to have shaped the bat-virus relationship, allowing both to exist in equilibrium. Progress in understanding bat-virus interactions and the isolation of bat-borne viruses has been accelerated in recent years by the development of susceptible bat cell lines. Viral sequences similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus (SARS-CoV) have been detected in bats, and filoviruses such as Marburg virus have been isolated from bats, providing definitive evidence for the role of bats as the natural host reservoir. Although viruses can be readily detected in bats using molecular approaches, virus isolation is far more challenging. One of the limitations in using traditional culture systems from non-reservoir species is that cell types and culture conditions may not be compatible for isolation of bat-borne viruses. There is, therefore, a need to develop additional bat cell lines that correspond to different cell types, including less represented cell types such as immune cells, and culture them under more physiologically relevant conditions to study virus host interactions and for virus isolation. In this review, we highlight the current progress in understanding bat-virus interactions in bat cell line systems and some of the challenges and limitations associated with cell lines. Future directions to address some of these challenges to better understand host-pathogen interactions in these intriguing mammals are also discussed, not only in relation to viruses but also other pathogens carried by bats including bacteria and fungi. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Intensity and directionality of bat echolocation signals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsen, Lasse; Brinkløv, Signe; Surlykke, Annemarie

    2013-01-01

    will increase signal directionality in the field along with intensity thus increasing sonar range. During the last phase of prey pursuit, vespertilionid bats broaden their echolocation beam considerably, probably to counter evasive maneuvers of eared prey. We highlight how multiple call parameters (frequency......The paper reviews current knowledge of intensity and directionality of bat echolocation signals. Recent studies have revealed that echolocating bats can be much louder than previously believed. Bats previously dubbed "whispering" can emit calls with source levels up to 110 dB SPL at 10 cm......, duration, intensity, and directionality of echolocation signals) in unison define the search volume probed by bats and in turn how bats perceive their surroundings. Small changes to individual parameters can, in combination, drastically change the bat's perception, facilitating successful navigation...

  13. Molecular Epidemiology of Bat Lyssaviruses in Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    McElhinney, L.M.; Marston, D.A.; Leech, S.; Freuling, C.; Poel, van der W.H.M.; Echevarria, J.; Vazquez-Moron, S.; Horton, D.L.; Müller, T.; Fooks, A.R.

    2013-01-01

    Bat rabies cases in Europe are principally attributed to two lyssaviruses, namely European bat lyssavirus type 1 (EBLV-1) and European bat lyssavirus type 2 (EBLV-2). Between 1977 and 2011, 961 cases of bat rabies were reported to Rabies Bulletin Europe, with the vast majority (>97%) being

  14. Bat and bird diversity along independent gradients of latitude and tree composition in European forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charbonnier, Yohan M; Barbaro, Luc; Barnagaud, Jean-Yves; Ampoorter, Evy; Nezan, Julien; Verheyen, Kris; Jactel, Hervé

    2016-10-01

    Species assemblages are shaped by local and continental-scale processes that are seldom investigated together, due to the lack of surveys along independent gradients of latitude and habitat types. Our study investigated changes in the effects of forest composition and structure on bat and bird diversity across Europe. We compared the taxonomic and functional diversity of bat and bird assemblages in 209 mature forest plots spread along gradients of forest composition and vertical structure, replicated in 6 regions spanning from the Mediterranean to the boreal biomes. Species richness and functional evenness of both bat and bird communities were affected by the interactions between latitude and forest composition and structure. Bat and bird species richness increased with broadleaved tree cover in temperate and especially in boreal regions but not in the Mediterranean where they increased with conifer abundance. Bat species richness was lower in forests with smaller trees and denser understorey only in northern regions. Bird species richness was not affected by forest structure. Bird functional evenness increased in younger and denser forests. Bat functional evenness was also influenced by interactions between latitude and understorey structure, increasing in temperate forests but decreasing in the Mediterranean. Covariation between bat and bird abundances also shifted across Europe, from negative in southern forests to positive in northern forests. Our results suggest that community assembly processes in bats and birds of European forests are predominantly driven by abundance and accessibility of feeding resources, i.e., insect prey, and their changes across both forest types and latitudes.

  15. BAT2 and BAT3 polymorphisms as novel genetic risk factors for rejection after HLA-related SCT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piras, Ignazio Stefano; Angius, Andrea; Andreani, Marco; Testi, Manuela; Lucarelli, Guido; Floris, Matteo; Marktel, Sarah; Ciceri, Fabio; La Nasa, Giorgio; Fleischhauer, Katharina; Roncarolo, Maria Grazia; Bulfone, Alessandro; Gregori, Silvia; Bacchetta, Rosa

    2014-11-01

    The genetic background of donor and recipient is an important factor determining the outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic SCT (allo-HSCT). We applied whole-genome analysis to investigate genetic variants-other than HLA class I and II-associated with negative outcome after HLA-identical sibling allo-HSCT in a cohort of 110 β-Thalassemic patients. We identified two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in BAT2 (A/G) and BAT3 (T/C) genes, SNP rs11538264 and SNP rs10484558, both located in the HLA class III region, in strong linkage disequilibrium between each other (R(2)=0.92). When considered as single SNP, none of them reached a significant association with graft rejection (nominal P<0.00001 for BAT2 SNP rs11538264, and P<0.0001 for BAT3 SNP rs10484558), whereas the BAT2/BAT3 A/C haplotype was present at significantly higher frequency in patients who rejected as compared to those with functional graft (30.0% vs 2.6%, nominal P=1.15 × 10(-8); and adjusted P=0.0071). The BAT2/BAT3 polymorphisms and specifically the A/C haplotype may represent a novel immunogenetic factor associated with graft rejection in patients undergoing allo-HSCT.

  16. Skin and fur bacterial diversity and community structure on American southwestern bats: effects of habitat, geography and bat traits

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ara S. Winter

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Microorganisms that reside on and in mammals, such as bats, have the potential to influence their host’s health and to provide defenses against invading pathogens. However, we have little understanding of the skin and fur bacterial microbiota on bats, or factors that influence the structure of these communities. The southwestern United States offers excellent sites for the study of external bat bacterial microbiota due to the diversity of bat species, the variety of abiotic and biotic factors that may govern bat bacterial microbiota communities, and the lack of the newly emergent fungal disease in bats, white-nose syndrome (WNS, in the southwest. To test these variables, we used 16S rRNA gene 454 pyrosequencing from swabs of external skin and fur surfaces from 163 bats from 13 species sampled from southeastern New Mexico to northwestern Arizona. Community similarity patterns, random forest models, and generalized linear mixed-effects models show that factors such as location (e.g., cave-caught versus surface-netted and ecoregion are major contributors to the structure of bacterial communities on bats. Bats caught in caves had a distinct microbial community compared to those that were netted on the surface. Our results provide a first insight into the distribution of skin and fur bat bacteria in the WNS-free environment of New Mexico and Arizona. More importantly, it provides a baseline of bat external microbiota that can be explored for potential natural defenses against pathogens.

  17. Skin and fur bacterial diversity and community structure on American southwestern bats: effects of habitat, geography and bat traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winter, Ara S; Hathaway, Jennifer J M; Kimble, Jason C; Buecher, Debbie C; Valdez, Ernest W; Porras-Alfaro, Andrea; Young, Jesse M; Read, Kaitlyn J H; Northup, Diana E

    2017-01-01

    Microorganisms that reside on and in mammals, such as bats, have the potential to influence their host's health and to provide defenses against invading pathogens. However, we have little understanding of the skin and fur bacterial microbiota on bats, or factors that influence the structure of these communities. The southwestern United States offers excellent sites for the study of external bat bacterial microbiota due to the diversity of bat species, the variety of abiotic and biotic factors that may govern bat bacterial microbiota communities, and the lack of the newly emergent fungal disease in bats, white-nose syndrome (WNS), in the southwest. To test these variables, we used 16S rRNA gene 454 pyrosequencing from swabs of external skin and fur surfaces from 163 bats from 13 species sampled from southeastern New Mexico to northwestern Arizona. Community similarity patterns, random forest models, and generalized linear mixed-effects models show that factors such as location (e.g., cave-caught versus surface-netted) and ecoregion are major contributors to the structure of bacterial communities on bats. Bats caught in caves had a distinct microbial community compared to those that were netted on the surface. Our results provide a first insight into the distribution of skin and fur bat bacteria in the WNS-free environment of New Mexico and Arizona. More importantly, it provides a baseline of bat external microbiota that can be explored for potential natural defenses against pathogens.

  18. Iron storage disease (hemochromatosis) and hepcidin response to iron load in two species of pteropodid fruit bats relative to the common vampire bat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stasiak, Iga M; Smith, Dale A; Ganz, Tomas; Crawshaw, Graham J; Hammermueller, Jutta D; Bienzle, Dorothee; Lillie, Brandon N

    2018-07-01

    Hepcidin is the key regulator of iron homeostasis in the body. Iron storage disease (hemochromatosis) is a frequent cause of liver disease and mortality in captive Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus), but reasons underlying this condition are unknown. Hereditary hemochromatosis in humans is due to deficiency of hepcidin or resistance to the action of hepcidin. Here, we investigated the role of hepcidin in iron metabolism in one species of pteropodid bat that is prone to iron storage disease [Egyptian fruit bat (with and without hemochromatosis)], one species of pteropodid bat where iron storage disease is rare [straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum)], and one species of bat with a natural diet very high in iron, in which iron storage disease is not reported [common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus)]. Iron challenge via intramuscular injection of iron dextran resulted in significantly increased liver iron content and histologic iron scores in all three species, and increased plasma iron in Egyptian fruit bats and straw-colored fruit bats. Hepcidin mRNA expression increased in response to iron administration in healthy Egyptian fruit bats and common vampire bats, but not in straw-colored fruit bats or Egyptian fruit bats with hemochromatosis. Hepcidin gene expression significantly correlated with liver iron content in Egyptian fruit bats and common vampire bats, and with transferrin saturation and plasma ferritin concentration in Egyptian fruit bats. Induction of hepcidin gene expression in response to iron challenge is absent in straw-colored fruit bats and in Egyptian fruit bats with hemochromatosis and, relative to common vampire bats and healthy humans, is low in Egyptain fruit bats without hemochromatosis. Limited hepcidin response to iron challenge may contribute to the increased susceptibility of Egyptian fruit bats to iron storage disease.

  19. Phylogeny of European bat Lyssavirus 1 in Eptesicus isabellinus bats, Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vázquez-Moron, Sonia; Juste, Javier; Ibáñez, Carlos; Berciano, José M; Echevarria, Juan E

    2011-03-01

    To better understand the epidemiology of European bat lyssavirus 1 (EBLV-1) in Europe, we phylogenetically characterized Lyssavirus from Eptesicus isabellinus bats in Spain. An independent cluster of EBLV-1 possibly resulted from geographic isolation and association with a different reservoir from other European strains. EBLV-1 phylogeny is complex and probably associated with host evolutionary history.

  20. Phylogeny of European Bat Lyssavirus 1 in Eptesicus isabellinus Bats, Spain

    OpenAIRE

    Vázquez-Morón, Sonia; Juste, Javier; Ibáñez, Carlos; Berciano, José M.; Echevarría, Juan E.

    2011-01-01

    To better understand the epidemiology of European bat lyssavirus 1 (EBLV-1) in Europe, we phylogenetically characterized Lyssavirus from Eptesicus isabellinus bats in Spain. An independent cluster of EBLV-1 possibly resulted from geographic isolation and association with a different reservoir from other European strains. EBLV-1 phylogeny is complex and probably associated with host evolutionary history.

  1. Bats Increase the Number of Cultivable Airborne Fungi in the "Nietoperek" Bat Reserve in Western Poland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kokurewicz, Tomasz; Ogórek, Rafał; Pusz, Wojciech; Matkowski, Krzysztof

    2016-07-01

    The "Nietoperek" bat reserve located in Western Poland is one of the largest bat hibernation sites in the European Union with nearly 38,000 bats from 12 species. Nietoperek is part of a built underground fortification system from WWII. The aims of the study were (1) to determine the fungal species composition and changes during hibernation season in relation to bat number and microclimatic conditions and (2) evaluate the potential threat of fungi for bat assemblages and humans visiting the complex. Airborne fungi were collected in the beginning, middle and end of hibernation period (9 November 2013 and 17 January and 15 March 2014) in 12 study sites, one outside and 11 inside the complex. Ambient temperature (T a) and relative humidity (RH) were measured by the use of data loggers, and species composition of bats was recorded from the study sites. The collision method (Air Ideal 3P) sampler was used to detect 34 species of airborne fungi including Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd). The density of airborne fungi isolated from the outdoor air samples varied from 102 to 242 CFU/1 m(3) of air and from 12 to 1198 CFU in the underground air samples. There was a positive relationship between number of bats and the concentration of fungi. The concentration of airborne fungi increased with the increase of bats number. Analysis of other possible ways of spore transport to the underground indicated that the number of bats was the primary factor determining the number of fungal spores in that hibernation site. Microclimatic conditions where Pd was found (median 8.7 °C, min-max 6.1-9.9 °C and 100 %, min-max 77.5-100.0 %) were preferred by hibernating Myotis myotis and Myotis daubentonii; therefore, these species are most probably especially prone to infection by this fungi species. The spores of fungi found in the underground can be pathogenic for humans and animals, especially for immunocompromised persons, even though their concentrations did not exceed limits and

  2. Swift-XRT detects X-ray burst from Circinus X-1

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Linares, M.; Soleri, P.; Altamirano, D.; Armas-Padilla, M.; Cavecchi, Y.; Degenaar, N.; Kalamkar, M.; Kaur, R.; van der Klis, M.; Patruno, A.; Watts, A.; Wijnands, R.; Yang, Y.; Casella, P.; Rea, N.; Chakrabarty, D.; Homan, J.

    Following the recent re-brightening (ATel #2608) and RXTE-PCA detection of X-ray bursts from the peculiar X-ray binary Cir X-1 between May 15 and 25 (ATel #2643), we obtained a series of Swift-XRT observations of the field (see also ATel #2650). Swift-XRT detected an X-ray burst on 2010-05-28 at

  3. Acoustic surveys of Hawaiian Hoary Bats in Kahikinui Forest Reserve and Nakula Natural Area Reserve on the Island of Maui

    Science.gov (United States)

    Todd, Christopher M.; Pinzari, Corinna A.; Bonaccorso, Frank

    2016-01-01

    The Kahikinui Forest Reserve and the adjoining Nakula Natural Area Reserve (KFR-NNAR) was established in 2011 as a conservation area on the leeward slope of Haleakalā Volcano on the island of Maui to protect unique natural features and endangered species including the Hawaiian hoary bat, Lasiurus cinereus semotus. We recorded bat vocalizations from July 2012 to November 2014 using automated echolocation detectors at 14 point locations in the KFRNNAR. Our study area included remnants of recovering mesic montane forest with interspersed grasses (1,250‒1,850 m elevation, hereafter called “forest”) and xeric subalpine shrubland plant communities (1,860‒2,800 m, hereafter called “shrubland”). Monthly detections of Hawaiian hoary bats, Lasiurus cinereus semotus, within the KFR-NNAR identified areas of high and low detection probability as well as foraging activity. Sixty per cent of all detector-nights had confirmed bat vocalizations and included detections in every month of the study. Monthly detection probability values were highest from July to November 2012; these values were significantly greater than values measured in any month thereafter. Pooled values of detection probabilities, mean pulses/night, percentage of nights with feeding activity, and acoustic detections all were greater in the recovering forest zone than corresponding values from the shrublands. Our data provide baseline levels of hoary bat echolocation activity that may be compared with future studies in the KFR-NNAR relative to success criteria for Hawaiian hoary bat habitat restoration.

  4. Bartonella, bats and bugs: A review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stuckey, Matthew J; Chomel, Bruno B; de Fleurieu, Eloi Claret; Aguilar-Setién, Alvaro; Boulouis, Henri-Jean; Chang, Chao-Chin

    2017-12-01

    Ecological, immunological, and epidemiological factors enable bats to transmit an increasingly recognized spectrum of zoonotic agents, and bartonellae are among those emerging pathogens identified in bats and their arthropod ectoparasites. Current data reveal a multifaceted disease ecology where diverse host species distributed around the world interact with a number of Bartonella spp. and several potential vectors. This review summarizes the methods and findings of studies conducted since 2005 to illustrate that Bartonella bacteremia varies by bat species, location, and other potential variables, such as diet with a very high prevalence in hematophagous bats. Among bat families, Bartonella prevalence ranged from 7.3% among Nycteridae to 54.4% in Miniopteridae. Further research can build on these current data to better determine risk factors associated with Bartonella infection in bat populations and the role of their ectoparasites in transmission. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  5. Potential exposure to Australian bat lyssavirus is unlikely to prevent future bat handling among adults in South East Queensland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, M K; Banu, S; McCall, B J; Vlack, S; Carroll, H; Bennett, S; Davison, R; Francis, D

    2018-02-01

    Despite ongoing public health messages about the risks associated with bat contact, the number of potential exposures to Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) due to intentional handling by members of the general public in Queensland has remained high. We sought to better understand the reasons for intentional handling among these members of the public who reported their potential exposure to inform future public health messages. We interviewed adults who resided in a defined geographic area in South East Queensland and notified potential exposure to ABLV due to intentional handling of bats by telephone between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2013. The participation rate was 54%. Adults who reported they had intentionally handled bats in South East Queensland indicated high levels of knowledge and perception of a moderately high risk associated with bats with overall low intentions to handle bats in the future. However, substantial proportions of people would attempt to handle bats again in some circumstances, particularly to protect their children or pets. Fifty-two percent indicated that they would handle a bat if a child was about to pick up or touch a live bat, and 49% would intervene if a pet was interacting with a bat. Future public health communications should recognize the situations in which even people with highrisk perceptions of bats will attempt to handle them. Public health messages currently focus on avoidance of bats in all circumstances and recommend calling in a trained vaccinated handler, but messaging directed at adults for circumstances where children or pets may be potentially exposed should provide safe immediate management options. © 2017 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  6. Seroprevalence Dynamics of European Bat Lyssavirus Type 1 in a Multispecies Bat Colony

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marc López-Roig

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available We report an active surveillance study of the occurrence of specific antibodies to European Bat Lyssavirus Type 1 (EBLV-1 in bat species, scarcely studied hitherto, that share the same refuge. From 2004 to 2012, 406 sera were obtained from nine bat species. Blood samples were subjected to a modified fluorescent antibody virus neutralization test to determine the antibody titer. EBLV-1-neutralizing antibodies were detected in six of the nine species analyzed (Pipistrellus pipistrellus, P. kuhlii, Hypsugo savii, Plecotus austriacus, Eptesicus serotinus and Tadarida teniotis. Among all bats sampled, female seroprevalence (20.21%, 95% CI: 14.78%–26.57% was not significantly higher than the seroprevalence in males (15.02%, 95% CI: 10.51%–20.54%. The results showed that the inter-annual variation in the number of seropositive bats in T. teniotis and P. austriacus showed a peak in 2007 (>70% of EBLV-1 prevalence. However, significant differences were observed in the temporal patterns of the seroprevalence modeling of T. teniotis and P. austriacus. The behavioral ecology of these species involved could explain the different annual fluctuations in EBLV-1 seroprevalence.

  7. Seroprevalence dynamics of European bat lyssavirus type 1 in a multispecies bat colony.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López-Roig, Marc; Bourhy, Hervé; Lavenir, Rachel; Serra-Cobo, Jordi

    2014-09-04

    We report an active surveillance study of the occurrence of specific antibodies to European Bat Lyssavirus Type 1 (EBLV-1) in bat species, scarcely studied hitherto, that share the same refuge. From 2004 to 2012, 406 sera were obtained from nine bat species. Blood samples were subjected to a modified fluorescent antibody virus neutralization test to determine the antibody titer. EBLV-1-neutralizing antibodies were detected in six of the nine species analyzed (Pipistrellus pipistrellus, P. kuhlii, Hypsugo savii, Plecotus austriacus, Eptesicus serotinus and Tadarida teniotis). Among all bats sampled, female seroprevalence (20.21%, 95% CI: 14.78%-26.57%) was not significantly higher than the seroprevalence in males (15.02%, 95% CI: 10.51%-20.54%). The results showed that the inter-annual variation in the number of seropositive bats in T. teniotis and P. austriacus showed a peak in 2007 (>70% of EBLV-1 prevalence). However, significant differences were observed in the temporal patterns of the seroprevalence modeling of T. teniotis and P. austriacus. The behavioral ecology of these species involved could explain the different annual fluctuations in EBLV-1 seroprevalence.

  8. Social communication in bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaverri, Gloriana; Ancillotto, Leonardo; Russo, Danilo

    2018-05-15

    Bats represent one of the most diverse mammalian orders, not only in terms of species numbers, but also in their ecology and life histories. Many species are known to use ephemeral and/or unpredictable resources that require substantial investment to find and defend, and also engage in social interactions, thus requiring significant levels of social coordination. To accomplish these tasks, bats must be able to communicate; there is now substantial evidence that demonstrates the complexity of bat communication and the varied ways in which bats solve some of the problems associated with their unique life histories. However, while the study of communication in bats is rapidly growing, it still lags behind other taxa. Here we provide a comprehensive overview of communication in bats, from the reasons why they communicate to the diversity and application of different signal modalities. The most widespread form of communication is the transmission of a signaller's characteristics, such as species identity, sex, individual identity, group membership, social status and body condition, and because many species of bats can rely little on vision due to their nocturnal lifestyles, it is assumed that sound and olfaction are particularly important signalling modes. For example, research suggests that secretions from specialized glands, often in combination with urine and saliva, are responsible for species recognition in several species. These olfactory signals may also convey information about sex and colony membership. Olfaction may be used in combination with sound, particularly in species that emit constant frequency (CF) echolocation calls, to recognize conspecifics from heterospecifics, yet their simple structure and high frequency do not allow much information of individual identity to be conveyed over long distances. By contrast, social calls may encode a larger number of cues of individual identity, and their lower frequencies increase their range of detection. Social

  9. 76 FR 67238 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; BATS Exchange, Inc.; Order Approving Proposed Rule Change by BATS...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-31

    ... SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [Release No. 34-65619, File No. SR-BATS-2011-032] Self-Regulatory Organizations; BATS Exchange, Inc.; Order Approving Proposed Rule Change by BATS Exchange, Inc. To Adopt Rules Applicable to Auctions Conducted by the Exchange for Exchange-Listed Securities October 25, 2011. I. Introduction On August 22, 2011,...

  10. Bats as reservoirs of severe emerging infectious diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Hui-Ju; Wen, Hong-ling; Zhou, Chuan-Min; Chen, Fang-Fang; Luo, Li-Mei; Liu, Jian-wei; Yu, Xue-Jie

    2015-07-02

    In recent years severe infectious diseases have been constantly emerging, causing panic in the world. Now we know that many of these terrible diseases are caused by viruses originated from bats (Table 1), such as Ebola virus, Marburg, SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV), Nipah virus (NiV) and Hendra virus (HeV). These viruses have co-evolved with bats due to bats' special social, biological and immunological features. Although bats are not in close contact with humans, spillover of viruses from bats to intermediate animal hosts, such as horses, pigs, civets, or non-human primates, is thought to be the most likely mode to cause human infection. Humans may also become infected with viruses through aerosol by intruding into bat roosting caves or via direct contact with bats, such as catching bats or been bitten by bats. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Bat activity following restoration prescribed burning in the central Appalachian Upland and riparian habitats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Austin, Lauren V.; Silvis, Alexander; Ford, W. Mark; Muthersbaugh, Michael; Powers, Karen E.

    2018-01-01

    After decades of fire suppression in eastern North America, land managers now are prioritizing prescribed fire as a management tool to restore or maintain fire-adapted vegetation communities. However, in long—fire-suppressed landscapes, such as the central and southern Appalachians, it is unknown how bats will respond to prescribed fire in both riparian and upland forest habitats. To address these concerns, we conducted zero-crossing acoustic surveys of bat activity in burned, unburned, riparian, and non-riparian areas in the central Appalachians, Virginia, USA. Burn and riparian variables had model support (ΔAICc fire differently between upland and riparian forest habitats, but overall, large landscape-level prescribed fire has a slightly positive to neutral impact on all bats species identified at our study site post—fire application.

  12. Susceptibility of North American big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) to infection with European bat lyssavirus type 1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franka, R; Johnson, N; Müller, T; Vos, A; Neubert, L; Freuling, C; Rupprecht, C E; Fooks, A R

    2008-08-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the susceptibility of insectivorous bats (using the big brown bat as a model) to infection with European bat lyssavirus type 1a (EBLV-1a), to assess the dynamics of host immune responses and to evaluate the opportunity for horizontal viral transmission within colonies. Two isolates of EBLV-1a, originating from Slovakia (EBLV-1aSK) and Germany (EBLV-1aGE), were tested. Four different routes of inoculation were used with isolate EBLV-1aSK [10(4.8) mouse intracerebral median lethal dose (MICLD(50)) in 50 mul]: intramuscular (i.m.) in the deltoid area or masseter region, per os (p.o.) and intradermal (i.d.) scratches. Isolate EBLV-1aGE (10(3.2) and 10(2.2) MICLD(50) in 20 mul) was inoculated via the intranasal (i.n.), i.m. (low- and high-dose groups, into pectoral muscles); p.o. and intracerebral (i.c.) routes. None of the bats infected by the i.n., p.o. or i.d. route with either virus isolate developed disease during the experiments (91 or 120 days, respectively). Incubation periods were 9-12 days for i.c.-inoculated bats (66 % mortality), 12-33 days for bats inoculated i.m. with the higher dose (23-50 % mortality) and 21-58 days in bats inoculated i.m. with the lower dose of virus (57 % mortality). Virus or viral RNA in bat saliva was detected occasionally, as early as 37 days before death. All i.d.-inoculated and the majority of i.m.-inoculated bats seroconverted within 7-10 days of inoculation. These observations suggest that exposure of bats to varying doses of EBLV-1 from rabid conspecifics via natural (i.d.) routes could lead to an abortive infection and serve as a natural mode of immunization resulting in the presence of virus-neutralizing antibodies in free-ranging bats.

  13. Understanding human – bat interactions in NSW, Australia: improving risk communication for prevention of Australian bat lyssavirus

    OpenAIRE

    Quinn, Emma K; Massey, Peter D; Cox-Witton, Keren; Paterson, Beverley J; Eastwood, Keith; Durrheim, David N

    2014-01-01

    Background Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) infects a number of flying fox and insectivorous bats species in Australia. Human infection with ABLV is inevitably fatal unless prior vaccination and/or post-exposure treatment (PET) is given. Despite ongoing public health messaging about the risks associated with bat contact, surveillance data have revealed a four-fold increase in the number of people receiving PET for bat exposure in NSW between 2007 and 2011. Our study aimed to better understand...

  14. Migration of bats past a remote island offers clues toward the problem of bat fatalities at wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cryan, P.M.; Brown, A.C.

    2007-01-01

    Wind energy is rapidly becoming a viable source of alternative energy, but wind turbines are killing bats in many areas of North America. Most of the bats killed by turbines thus far have been migratory species that roost in trees throughout the year, and the highest fatality events appear to coincide with autumn migration. Hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) are highly migratory and one of the most frequently killed species at wind turbines. We analyzed a long-term data set to investigate how weather and moonlight influenced the occurrence of hoary bats at an island stopover point along their migration route. We then related our results to the problem of bat fatalities at wind turbines. We found that relatively low wind speeds, low moon illumination, and relatively high degrees of cloud cover were important predictors of bat arrivals and departures, and that low barometric pressure was an additional variable that helped predict arrivals. Slight differences in the conditions under which bats arrived and departed from the island suggest that hoary bats may be more likely to arrive on the island with passing storm fronts in autumn. These results also indicate that fatalities of hoary bats at wind turbines may be predictable events, that the species may be drawn to prominent landmarks that they see during migration, and that they regularly migrate over the ocean. Additional observations from this and other studies suggest that the problem of bat fatalities at wind turbines may be associated with flocking and autumn mating behaviors.

  15. Group A rotavirus in Brazilian bats: description of novel T15 and H15 genotypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asano, Karen Miyuki; Gregori, Fabio; Hora, Aline Santana; Scheffer, Karin Corrêa; Fahl, Willian Oliveira; Iamamoto, Keila; Mori, Enio; Silva, Fernanda Dornelas Florentino; Taniwaki, Sueli Akemi; Brandão, Paulo Eduardo

    2016-11-01

    This study aimed to survey for group A rotaviruses (RVA) in bats from Brazil and to perform phylogenetic inferences for VP4, VP7, NSP3, NSP4 and NSP5 genes. RVA was found in 9.18 % (28/305) of tested samples. The partial genotype constellation of a Molossus molossus RVA strain was G3-P[3]-Ix-Rx-Cx-Mx-Ax-Nx-T3-E3-H6, and that of a Glossophaga soricina RVA strain was G20-P[x]-Ix-Rx-Cx-Mx-Ax-Nx-T15-Ex-H15. These findings demonstrate an important role of bats in RVA epidemiology and provide evidence of participation of bat RVA strains in interspecies transmission and reassortment events.

  16. Coccidioides posadasii infection in bats, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordeiro, Rossana de Aguiar; e Silva, Kylvia Rocha de Castro; Brilhante, Raimunda Sâmia Nogueira; Moura, Francisco Bergson Pinheiro; Duarte, Naylê Francelino Holanda; Marques, Francisca Jakelyne de Farias; Cordeiro, Rebecca de Aguiar; Filho, Renato Evando Moreira; de Araújo, Roberto Wagner Bezerra; Bandeira, Tereza de Jesus Pinheiro Gomes; Rocha, Marcos Fábio Gadelha; Sidrim, José Júlio Costa

    2012-04-01

    To analyze the eco-epidemiologic aspects of Histoplasma capsulatum in Brazil, we tested 83 bats for this fungus. Although H. capsulatum was not isolated, Coccidioides posadasii was recovered from Carollia perspicillata bat lungs. Immunologic studies detected coccidioidal antibodies and antigens in Glossophaga soricina and Desmodus rotundus bats.

  17. Coccidioides posadasii Infection in Bats, Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    Cordeiro, Rossana de Aguiar; Rocha de Castro e Silva, Kylvia; Brilhante, Raimunda Sâmia Nogueira; Moura, Francisco Bergson Pinheiro; Duarte, Naylê Francelino Holanda; Marques, Francisca Jakelyne de Farias; Cordeiro, Rebecca de Aguiar; Filho, Renato Evando Moreira; Bezerra de Araújo, Roberto Wagner; Bandeira, Tereza de Jesus Pinheiro Gomes; Rocha, Marcos Fábio Gadelha; Sidrim, José Júlio Costa

    2012-01-01

    To analyze the eco-epidemiologic aspects of Histoplasma capsulatum in Brazil, we tested 83 bats for this fungus. Although H. capsulatum was not isolated, Coccidioides posadasii was recovered from Carollia perspicillata bat lungs. Immunologic studies detected coccidioidal antibodies and antigens in Glossophaga soricina and Desmodus rotundus bats.

  18. Ecosystem services provided by bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunz, Thomas H; Braun de Torrez, Elizabeth; Bauer, Dana; Lobova, Tatyana; Fleming, Theodore H

    2011-03-01

    Ecosystem services are the benefits obtained from the environment that increase human well-being. Economic valuation is conducted by measuring the human welfare gains or losses that result from changes in the provision of ecosystem services. Bats have long been postulated to play important roles in arthropod suppression, seed dispersal, and pollination; however, only recently have these ecosystem services begun to be thoroughly evaluated. Here, we review the available literature on the ecological and economic impact of ecosystem services provided by bats. We describe dietary preferences, foraging behaviors, adaptations, and phylogenetic histories of insectivorous, frugivorous, and nectarivorous bats worldwide in the context of their respective ecosystem services. For each trophic ensemble, we discuss the consequences of these ecological interactions on both natural and agricultural systems. Throughout this review, we highlight the research needed to fully determine the ecosystem services in question. Finally, we provide a comprehensive overview of economic valuation of ecosystem services. Unfortunately, few studies estimating the economic value of ecosystem services provided by bats have been conducted to date; however, we outline a framework that could be used in future studies to more fully address this question. Consumptive goods provided by bats, such as food and guano, are often exchanged in markets where the market price indicates an economic value. Nonmarket valuation methods can be used to estimate the economic value of nonconsumptive services, including inputs to agricultural production and recreational activities. Information on the ecological and economic value of ecosystem services provided by bats can be used to inform decisions regarding where and when to protect or restore bat populations and associated habitats, as well as to improve public perception of bats. © 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.

  19. The effect of call libraries and acoustic filters on the identification of bat echolocation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clement, Matthew; Murray, Kevin L; Solick, Donald I; Gruver, Jeffrey C

    2014-01-01

    Quantitative methods for species identification are commonly used in acoustic surveys for animals. While various identification models have been studied extensively, there has been little study of methods for selecting calls prior to modeling or methods for validating results after modeling. We obtained two call libraries with a combined 1556 pulse sequences from 11 North American bat species. We used four acoustic filters to automatically select and quantify bat calls from the combined library. For each filter, we trained a species identification model (a quadratic discriminant function analysis) and compared the classification ability of the models. In a separate analysis, we trained a classification model using just one call library. We then compared a conventional model assessment that used the training library against an alternative approach that used the second library. We found that filters differed in the share of known pulse sequences that were selected (68 to 96%), the share of non-bat noises that were excluded (37 to 100%), their measurement of various pulse parameters, and their overall correct classification rate (41% to 85%). Although the top two filters did not differ significantly in overall correct classification rate (85% and 83%), rates differed significantly for some bat species. In our assessment of call libraries, overall correct classification rates were significantly lower (15% to 23% lower) when tested on the second call library instead of the training library. Well-designed filters obviated the need for subjective and time-consuming manual selection of pulses. Accordingly, researchers should carefully design and test filters and include adequate descriptions in publications. Our results also indicate that it may not be possible to extend inferences about model accuracy beyond the training library. If so, the accuracy of acoustic-only surveys may be lower than commonly reported, which could affect ecological understanding or management

  20. Rapid ex vivo imaging of PAIII prostate to bone tumor with SWIFT-MRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luhach, Ihor; Idiyatullin, Djaudat; Lynch, Conor C; Corum, Curt; Martinez, Gary V; Garwood, Michael; Gillies, Robert J

    2014-09-01

    The limiting factor for MRI of skeletal/mineralized tissue is fast transverse relaxation. A recent advancement in MRI technology, SWIFT (Sweep Imaging with Fourier Transform), is emerging as a new approach to overcome this difficulty. Among other techniques like UTE, ZTE, and WASPI, the application of SWIFT technology has the strong potential to impact preclinical and clinical imaging, particularly in the context of primary or metastatic bone cancers because it has the added advantage of imaging water in mineralized tissues of bone allowing MRI images to be obtained of tissues previously visible only with modalities such as computed tomography (CT). The goal of the current study is to examine the feasibility of SWIFT for the assessment of the prostate cancer induced changes in bone formation (osteogenesis) and destruction (osteolysis) in ex vivo specimens. A luciferase expressing prostate cancer cell line (PAIII) or saline control was inoculated directly into the tibia of 6-week-old immunocompromised male mice. Tumor growth was assessed weekly for 3 weeks before euthanasia and dissection of the tumor bearing and sham tibias. The ex vivo mouse tibia specimens were imaged with a 9.4 Tesla (T) and 7T MRI systems. SWIFT images are compared with traditional gradient-echo and spin-echo MRI images as well as CT and histological sections. SWIFT images with nominal resolution of 78 μm are obtained with the tumor and different bone structures identified. Prostate cancer induced changes in the bone microstructure are visible in SWIFT images, which is supported by spin-echo, high resolution CT and histological analysis. SWIFT MRI is capable of high-quality high-resolution ex vivo imaging of bone tumor and surrounding bone and soft tissues. Furthermore, SWIFT MRI shows promise for in vivo bone tumor imaging, with the added benefits of nonexposure to ionizing radiation, quietness, and speed. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. DARK BURSTS IN THE SWIFT ERA: THE PALOMAR 60 INCH-SWIFT EARLY OPTICAL AFTERGLOW CATALOG

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cenko, S. B.; Harrison, F. A.; Kelemen, J.; Fox, D. B.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Ofek, E. O.; Rau, A.; Gal-Yam, A.; Frail, D. A.; Moon, D.-S.

    2009-01-01

    We present multicolor optical observations of long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs) made over a three-year period with the robotic Palomar 60 inch telescope (P60). Our sample consists of all 29 events discovered by Swift for which P60 began observations less than 1 hr after the burst trigger. We were able to recover 80% of the optical afterglows from this prompt sample, and we attribute this high efficiency to our red coverage. Like Melandri et al. (2008), we find that a significant fraction (∼50%) of Swift events show a suppression of the optical flux with regard to the X-ray emission (the so-called 'dark' bursts). Our multicolor photometry demonstrates this is likely due in large part to extinction in the host galaxy. We argue that previous studies, by selecting only the brightest and best-sampled optical afterglows, have significantly underestimated the amount of dust present in typical GRB environments.

  2. How the bat got its buzz

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ratcliffe, John M; Elemans, Coen P H; Jakobsen, Lasse

    2013-01-01

    Since the discovery of echolocation in bats, the final phase of an attack on a flying insect, the 'terminal buzz', has proved enigmatic. During the buzz, bats increase information update rates by producing vocalizations up to 220 times s(-1). The buzz's ubiquity in hawking and trawling bats impli...

  3. Economic importance of bats in agriculture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyles, Justin G.; Cryan, Paul M.; McCracken, Gary F.; Kunz, Thomas H.

    2011-01-01

    White-nose syndrome (WNS) and the increased development of wind-power facilities are threatening populations of insectivorous bats in North America. Bats are voracious predators of nocturnal insects, including many crop and forest pests. We present here analyses suggesting that loss of bats in North America could lead to agricultural losses estimated at more than $3.7 billion/year. Urgent efforts are needed to educate the public and policy-makers about the ecological and economic importance of insectivorous bats and to provide practical conservation solutions.

  4. Full vehicle ABS braking using the SWIFT rigid ring tyre model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pauwelussen, J.P.; Gootjes, L.; Schröder, C.; Köhne, K.-U.; Jansen, S.T.H.; Schmeitz, A.J.C.

    2003-01-01

    In recent years, at the Delft University of Technology and TNO-Automotive and in conjunction with an industrial consortium, a pragmatic tyre model has been developed going by the name SWIFT, which is geared to the analysis of tyre oscillations and its effects on vehicle behaviour. The SWIFT tyre

  5. An empirical study on the usage of the swift programming language

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reboucas, M.; Pinto, G.; Ebert, F.; Torres, W.; Serebrenik, A.; Castor, F.

    2016-01-01

    Recently, Apple released Swift, a modern programming language built to be the successor of Objective-C. In less than a year and a half after its first release, Swift became one of the most popular programming languages in the world, considering different popularity measures. A significant part of

  6. Beyond FMEA: the structured what-if technique (SWIFT).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Card, Alan J; Ward, James R; Clarkson, P John

    2012-01-01

    Although it is probably the best-known prospective hazard analysis (PHA) tool, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is far from the only option available. This article introduces one of the alternatives: The structured what-if technique (SWIFT). SWIFT is a flexible, high-level risk identification technique that can be used on a stand-alone basis, or as part of a staged approach to make more efficient use of bottom-up methods like FMEA. In this article we describe the method, assess the evidence related to its use in healthcare with the use of a systematic literature review, and suggest ways in which it could be better adapted for use in the healthcare industry. Based on the limited evidence available, it appears that healthcare workers find it easy to learn, easy to use, and credible. Especially when used as part of a staged approach, SWIFT appears capable of playing a useful role as component of the PHA armamentarium. © 2012 American Society for Healthcare Risk Management of the American Hospital Association.

  7. Electrolyte depletion in white-nose syndrome bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cryan, Paul M; Meteyer, Carol Uphoff; Blehert, David S; Lorch, Jeffrey M; Reeder, DeeAnn M; Turner, Gregory G; Webb, Julie; Behr, Melissa; Verant, Michelle; Russell, Robin E; Castle, Kevin T

    2013-04-01

    The emerging wildlife disease white-nose syndrome is causing widespread mortality in hibernating North American bats. White-nose syndrome occurs when the fungus Geomyces destructans infects the living skin of bats during hibernation, but links between infection and mortality are underexplored. We analyzed blood from hibernating bats and compared blood electrolyte levels to wing damage caused by the fungus. Sodium and chloride tended to decrease as wing damage increased in severity. Depletion of these electrolytes suggests that infected bats may become hypotonically dehydrated during winter. Although bats regularly arouse from hibernation to drink during winter, water available in hibernacula may not contain sufficient electrolytes to offset winter losses caused by disease. Damage to bat wings from G. destructans may cause life-threatening electrolyte imbalances.

  8. Electrolyte depletion in white-nose syndrome bats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cryan, Paul M.; Meteyer, Carol Uphoff; Blehert, David S.; Lorch, Jeffrey M.; Reeder, DeeAnn M.; Turner, Gregory G.; Webb, Julie; Behr, Melissa; Verant, Michelle L.; Russell, Robin E.; Castle, Kevin T.

    2013-01-01

    The emerging wildlife disease white-nose syndrome is causing widespread mortality in hibernating North American bats. White-nose syndrome occurs when the fungus Geomyces destructans infects the living skin of bats during hibernation, but links between infection and mortality are underexplored. We analyzed blood from hibernating bats and compared blood electrolyte levels to wing damage caused by the fungus. Sodium and chloride tended to decrease as wing damage increased in severity. Depletion of these electrolytes suggests that infected bats may become hypotonically dehydrated during winter. Although bats regularly arouse from hibernation to drink during winter, water available in hibernacula may not contain sufficient electrolytes to offset winter losses caused by disease. Damage to bat wings from G. destructans may cause life-threatening electrolyte imbalances.

  9. RADIO PROPERTIES OF THE BAT AGNs: THE FIR–RADIO RELATION, THE FUNDAMENTAL PLANE, AND THE MAIN SEQUENCE OF STAR FORMATION

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, Krista Lynne; Mushotzky, Richard F.; Vogel, Stuart; Shimizu, Thomas T. [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Miller, Neal, E-mail: klsmith@astro.umd.edu [Department of Mathematics and Physics, Stevenson University, Stevenson, MD 21117 (United States)

    2016-12-01

    We conducted 22 GHz 1″ JVLA imaging of 70 radio-quiet active galactic nuclei (AGNs) from the Swift -BAT survey. We find radio cores in all but three objects. The radio morphologies of the sample fall into three groups: compact and core-dominated, extended, and jet-like. We spatially decompose each image into core flux and extended flux, and compare the extended radio emission with that predicted from previous Herschel observations using the canonical FIR–radio relation. After removing the AGN contribution to the FIR and radio flux densities, we find that the relation holds remarkably well despite the potentially different star formation physics in the circumnuclear environment. We also compare our core radio flux densities with predictions of coronal models and scale-invariant jet models for the origin of radio emission in radio-quiet AGNs, and find general consistency with both models. However, we find that the L {sub R}/ L {sub X} relation does not distinguish between star formation and non-relativistic AGN-driven outflows as the origin of radio emission in radio-quiet AGNs. Finally, we examine where objects with different radio morphologies fall in relation to the main sequence (MS) of star formation, and conclude that those AGNs that fall below the MS, as X-ray selected AGNs have been found to do, have core-dominated or jet-like 22 GHz morphologies.

  10. Wind turbines and bat mortality: Doppler shift profiles and ultrasonic bat-like pulse reflection from moving turbine blades.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Chloe V; Flint, James A; Lepper, Paul A

    2010-10-01

    Bat mortality resulting from actual or near-collision with operational wind turbine rotors is a phenomenon that is widespread but not well understood. Because bats rely on information contained in high-frequency echoes to determine the nature and movement of a target, it is important to consider how ultrasonic pulses similar to those used by bats for echolocation may be interacting with operational turbine rotor blades. By assessing the characteristics of reflected ultrasonic echoes, moving turbine blades operating under low wind speed conditions (<6 m s(-1)) were found to produce distinct Doppler shift profiles at different angles to the rotor. Frequency shifts of up to ±700-800 Hz were produced, which may not be perceptible by some bat species. Monte Carlo simulation of bat-like sampling by echolocation revealed that over 50 rotor echoes could be required by species such as Pipistrellus pipistrellus for accurate interpretation of blade movement, which may not be achieved in the bat's approach time-window. In summary, it was found that echoes returned from moving blades had features which could render them attractive to bats or which might make it difficult for the bat to accurately detect and locate blades in sufficient time to avoid a collision.

  11. Classification of Birds and Bats Using Flight Tracks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cullinan, Valerie I.; Matzner, Shari; Duberstein, Corey A.

    2015-05-01

    Classification of birds and bats that use areas targeted for offshore wind farm development and the inference of their behavior is essential to evaluating the potential effects of development. The current approach to assessing the number and distribution of birds at sea involves transect surveys using trained individuals in boats or airplanes or using high-resolution imagery. These approaches are costly and have safety concerns. Based on a limited annotated library extracted from a single-camera thermal video, we provide a framework for building models that classify birds and bats and their associated behaviors. As an example, we developed a discriminant model for theoretical flight paths and applied it to data (N = 64 tracks) extracted from 5-min video clips. The agreement between model- and observer-classified path types was initially only 41%, but it increased to 73% when small-scale jitter was censored and path types were combined. Classification of 46 tracks of bats, swallows, gulls, and terns on average was 82% accurate, based on a jackknife cross-validation. Model classification of bats and terns (N = 4 and 2, respectively) was 94% and 91% correct, respectively; however, the variance associated with the tracks from these targets is poorly estimated. Model classification of gulls and swallows (N ≥ 18) was on average 73% and 85% correct, respectively. The models developed here should be considered preliminary because they are based on a small data set both in terms of the numbers of species and the identified flight tracks. Future classification models would be greatly improved by including a measure of distance between the camera and the target.

  12. Effect of passive acoustic sampling methodology on detecting bats after declines from white nose syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coleman, Laci S.; Ford, W. Mark; Dobony, Christopher A.; Britzke, Eric R.

    2014-01-01

    Concomitant with the emergence and spread of white-nose syndrome (WNS) and precipitous decline of many bat species in North America, natural resource managers need modified and/or new techniques for bat inventory and monitoring that provide robust occupancy estimates. We used Anabat acoustic detectors to determine the most efficient passive acoustic sampling design for optimizing detection probabilities of multiple bat species in a WNS-impacted environment in New York, USA. Our sampling protocol included: six acoustic stations deployed for the entire duration of monitoring as well as a 4 x 4 grid and five transects of 5-10 acoustic units that were deployed for 6-8 night sample durations surveyed during the summers of 2011-2012. We used Program PRESENCE to determine detection probability and site occupancy estimates. Overall, the grid produced the highest detection probabilities for most species because it contained the most detectors and intercepted the greatest spatial area. However, big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) and species not impacted by WNS were detected easily regardless of sampling array. Endangered Indiana (Myotis sodalis) and little brown (Myotis lucifugus) and tri-colored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) showed declines in detection probabilities over our study, potentially indicative of continued WNS-associated declines. Identification of species presence through efficient methodologies is vital for future conservation efforts as bat populations decline further due to WNS and other factors.   

  13. Vampire Bat Rabies: Ecology, Epidemiology and Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Nicholas; Aréchiga-Ceballos, Nidia; Aguilar-Setien, Alvaro

    2014-01-01

    Extensive surveillance in bat populations in response to recent emerging diseases has revealed that this group of mammals acts as a reservoir for a large range of viruses. However, the oldest known association between a zoonotic virus and a bat is that between rabies virus and the vampire bat. Vampire bats are only found in Latin America and their unique method of obtaining nutrition, blood-feeding or haematophagy, has only evolved in the New World. The adaptations that enable blood-feeding also make the vampire bat highly effective at transmitting rabies virus. Whether the virus was present in pre-Columbian America or was introduced is much disputed, however, the introduction of Old World livestock and associated landscape modification, which continues to the present day, has enabled vampire bat populations to increase. This in turn has provided the conditions for rabies re-emergence to threaten both livestock and human populations as vampire bats target large mammals. This review considers the ecology of the vampire bat that make it such an efficient vector for rabies, the current status of vampire-transmitted rabies and the future prospects for spread by this virus and its control. PMID:24784570

  14. Vampire Bat Rabies: Ecology, Epidemiology and Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas Johnson

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Extensive surveillance in bat populations in response to recent emerging diseases has revealed that this group of mammals acts as a reservoir for a large range of viruses. However, the oldest known association between a zoonotic virus and a bat is that between rabies virus and the vampire bat. Vampire bats are only found in Latin America and their unique method of obtaining nutrition, blood-feeding or haematophagy, has only evolved in the New World. The adaptations that enable blood-feeding also make the vampire bat highly effective at transmitting rabies virus. Whether the virus was present in pre-Columbian America or was introduced is much disputed, however, the introduction of Old World livestock and associated landscape modification, which continues to the present day, has enabled vampire bat populations to increase. This in turn has provided the conditions for rabies re-emergence to threaten both livestock and human populations as vampire bats target large mammals. This review considers the ecology of the vampire bat that make it such an efficient vector for rabies, the current status of vampire-transmitted rabies and the future prospects for spread by this virus and its control.

  15. Random sampling of the Central European bat fauna reveals the existence of numerous hitherto unknown adenoviruses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vidovszky, Márton; Kohl, Claudia; Boldogh, Sándor; Görföl, Tamás; Wibbelt, Gudrun; Kurth, Andreas; Harrach, Balázs

    2015-12-01

    From over 1250 extant species of the order Chiroptera, 25 and 28 are known to occur in Germany and Hungary, respectively. Close to 350 samples originating from 28 bat species (17 from Germany, 27 from Hungary) were screened for the presence of adenoviruses (AdVs) using a nested PCR that targets the DNA polymerase gene of AdVs. An additional PCR was designed and applied to amplify a fragment from the gene encoding the IVa2 protein of mastadenoviruses. All German samples originated from organs of bats found moribund or dead. The Hungarian samples were excrements collected from colonies of known bat species, throat or rectal swab samples, taken from live individuals that had been captured for faunistic surveys and migration studies, as well as internal organs of dead specimens. Overall, 51 samples (14.73%) were found positive. We detected 28 seemingly novel and six previously described bat AdVs by sequencing the PCR products. The positivity rate was the highest among the guano samples of bat colonies. In phylogeny reconstructions, the AdVs detected in bats clustered roughly, but not perfectly, according to the hosts' families (Vespertilionidae, Rhinolophidae, Hipposideridae, Phyllostomidae and Pteropodidae). In a few cases, identical sequences were derived from animals of closely related species. On the other hand, some bat species proved to harbour more than one type of AdV. The high prevalence of infection and the large number of chiropteran species worldwide make us hypothesise that hundreds of different yet unknown AdV types might circulate in bats.

  16. Bat flight: aerodynamics, kinematics and flight morphology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedenström, Anders; Johansson, L Christoffer

    2015-03-01

    Bats evolved the ability of powered flight more than 50 million years ago. The modern bat is an efficient flyer and recent research on bat flight has revealed many intriguing facts. By using particle image velocimetry to visualize wake vortices, both the magnitude and time-history of aerodynamic forces can be estimated. At most speeds the downstroke generates both lift and thrust, whereas the function of the upstroke changes with forward flight speed. At hovering and slow speed bats use a leading edge vortex to enhance the lift beyond that allowed by steady aerodynamics and an inverted wing during the upstroke to further aid weight support. The bat wing and its skeleton exhibit many features and control mechanisms that are presumed to improve flight performance. Whereas bats appear aerodynamically less efficient than birds when it comes to cruising flight, they have the edge over birds when it comes to manoeuvring. There is a direct relationship between kinematics and the aerodynamic performance, but there is still a lack of knowledge about how (and if) the bat controls the movements and shape (planform and camber) of the wing. Considering the relatively few bat species whose aerodynamic tracks have been characterized, there is scope for new discoveries and a need to study species representing more extreme positions in the bat morphospace. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  17. The leading-edge vortex of swift wing-shaped delta wings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muir, Rowan Eveline; Arredondo-Galeana, Abel; Viola, Ignazio Maria

    2017-08-01

    Recent investigations on the aerodynamics of natural fliers have illuminated the significance of the leading-edge vortex (LEV) for lift generation in a variety of flight conditions. A well-documented example of an LEV is that generated by aircraft with highly swept, delta-shaped wings. While the wing aerodynamics of a manoeuvring aircraft, a bird gliding and a bird in flapping flight vary significantly, it is believed that this existing knowledge can serve to add understanding to the complex aerodynamics of natural fliers. In this investigation, a model non-slender delta-shaped wing with a sharp leading edge is tested at low Reynolds number, along with a delta wing of the same design, but with a modified trailing edge inspired by the wing of a common swift Apus apus . The effect of the tapering swift wing on LEV development and stability is compared with the flow structure over the unmodified delta wing model through particle image velocimetry. For the first time, a leading-edge vortex system consisting of a dual or triple LEV is recorded on a swift wing-shaped delta wing, where such a system is found across all tested conditions. It is shown that the spanwise location of LEV breakdown is governed by the local chord rather than Reynolds number or angle of attack. These findings suggest that the trailing-edge geometry of the swift wing alone does not prevent the common swift from generating an LEV system comparable with that of a delta-shaped wing.

  18. Novel paramyxoviruses in free-ranging European bats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Kurth

    Full Text Available The zoonotic potential of paramyxoviruses is particularly demonstrated by their broad host range like the highly pathogenic Hendra and Nipah viruses originating from bats. But while so far all bat-borne paramyxoviruses have been identified in fruit bats across Africa, Australia, South America, and Asia, we describe the detection and characterization of the first paramyxoviruses in free-ranging European bats. Moreover, we examined the possible impact of paramyxovirus infection on individual animals by comparing histo-pathological findings and virological results. Organs from deceased insectivorous bats of various species were sampled in Germany and tested for paramyxovirus RNA in parallel to a histo-pathological examination. Nucleic acids of three novel paramyxoviruses were detected, two viruses in phylogenetic relationship to the recently proposed genus Jeilongvirus and one closely related to the genus Rubulavirus. Two infected animals revealed subclinical pathological changes within their kidneys, suggestive of a similar pathogenesis as the one described in fruit bats experimentally infected with Hendra virus.Our findings indicate the presence of bat-born paramyxoviruses in geographic areas free of fruit bat species and therefore emphasize a possible virus-host co-evolution in European bats. Since these novel viruses are related to the very distinct genera Rubulavirus and Jeilongvirus, a similarly broad genetic diversity among paramyxoviruses in other Microchiroptera compared to Megachiroptera can be assumed. Given that the infected bats were either found in close proximity to heavily populated human habitation or areas of intensive agricultural use, a potential risk of the emergence of zoonotic paramyxoviruses in Europe needs to be considered.

  19. Novel Bartonella Species in Insectivorous Bats, Northern China.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hui-Ju Han

    Full Text Available Bartonella species are emerging human pathogens. Bats are known to carry diverse Bartonella species, some of which are capable of infecting humans. However, as the second largest mammalian group by a number of species, the role of bats as the reservoirs of Bartonella species is not fully explored, in term of their species diversity and worldwide distribution. China, especially Northern China, harbors a number of endemic insectivorous bat species; however, to our knowledge, there are not yet studies about Bartonella in bats in China. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and genetic diversity of Bartonella species in bats in Northern China. Bartonella species were detected by PCR amplification of gltA gene in 25.2% (27/107 bats in Mengyin County, Shandong Province of China, including 1/3 Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, 2/10 Rhinolophus pusillus, 9/16 Myotis fimbriatus, 1/5 Myotis ricketti, 14/58 Myotis pequinius. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Bartonella species detected in bats in this study clustered into ten groups, and some might be novel Bartonella species. An association between Bartonella species and bat species was demonstrated and co-infection with different Bartonella species in a single bat was also observed. Our findings expanded our knowledge on the genetic diversity of Bartonella in bats, and shed light on the ecology of bat-borne Bartonella species.

  20. Swing Weights of Baseball and Softball Bats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russell, Dan

    2010-01-01

    Baseball and softball bats are sold according to length in inches and weight in ounces. Much to the consternation of players buying new bats, however, not all bats that weigh the same swing the same. The reason for this has to do with moment of inertia of the bat about a pivot point on the handle, or what the sporting goods industry refers to as…

  1. Gamma-ray burst theory after Swift.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piran, Tsvi; Fan, Yi-Zhong

    2007-05-15

    Afterglow observations in the pre-Swift era confirmed to a large extend the relativistic blast wave model for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Together with the observations of properties of host galaxies and the association with (type Ic) SNe, this has led to the generally accepted collapsar origin of long GRBs. However, most of the afterglow data was collected hours after the burst. The X-ray telescope and the UV/optical telescope onboard Swift are able to slew to the direction of a burst in real time and record the early broadband afterglow light curves. These observations, and in particular the X-ray observations, resulted in many surprises. While we have anticipated a smooth transition from the prompt emission to the afterglow, many observed that early light curves are drastically different. We review here how these observations are changing our understanding of GRBs.

  2. Space-time models for a panzootic in bats, with a focus on the endangered Indiana bat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thogmartin, Wayne E.; King, R. Andrew; Szymanski, Jennifer A.; Pruitt, Lori

    2012-01-01

    Knowledge of current trends of quickly spreading infectious wildlife diseases is vital to efficient and effective management. We developed space-time mixed-effects logistic regressions to characterize a disease, white-nose syndrome (WNS), quickly spreading among endangered Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) in eastern North America. Our goal was to calculate and map the risk probability faced by uninfected colonies of hibernating Indiana bats. Model covariates included annual distance from and direction to nearest sources of infection, geolocational information, size of the Indiana bat populations within each wintering population, and total annual size of populations known or suspected to be affected by WNS. We considered temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal formulae through the use of random effects for year, complex (a collection of interacting hibernacula), and yearxcomplex. Since first documented in 2006, WNS has spread across much of the range of the Indiana bat. No sizeable wintering population now occurs outside of the migrational distance of an infected source. Annual rates of newly affected wintering Indiana bat populations between winter 2007 to 2008 and 2010 to 2011 were 4, 6, 8, and 12%; this rate increased each year at a rate of 3%. If this increasing rate of newly affected populations continues, all wintering populations may be affected by 2016. Our models indicated the probability of a wintering population exhibiting infection was a linear function of proximity to affected Indiana bat populations and size of the at-risk population. Geographic location was also important, suggesting broad-scale influences. For every 50-km increase in distance from a WNS-affected population, risk of disease declined by 6% (95% CI=5.2-5.7%); for every increase of 1,000 Indiana bats, there was an 8% (95% CI = 1-21%) increase in disease risk. The increasing rate of infection seems to be associated with the movement of this disease into the core of the Indiana bat range. Our

  3. Leading-Edge Vortex lifts swifts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Videler, JJ; Stamhuis, EJ; Povel, GDE

    2004-01-01

    The current understanding of how birds fly must be revised, because birds use their hand-wings in an unconventional way to generate lift and drag. Physical models of a common swift wing in gliding posture with a 60degrees sweep of the sharp hand-wing leading edge were tested in a water tunnel.

  4. Bat Accelerated Regions Identify a Bat Forelimb Specific Enhancer in the HoxD Locus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Betty M Booker

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The molecular events leading to the development of the bat wing remain largely unknown, and are thought to be caused, in part, by changes in gene expression during limb development. These expression changes could be instigated by variations in gene regulatory enhancers. Here, we used a comparative genomics approach to identify regions that evolved rapidly in the bat ancestor, but are highly conserved in other vertebrates. We discovered 166 bat accelerated regions (BARs that overlap H3K27ac and p300 ChIP-seq peaks in developing mouse limbs. Using a mouse enhancer assay, we show that five Myotis lucifugus BARs drive gene expression in the developing mouse limb, with the majority showing differential enhancer activity compared to the mouse orthologous BAR sequences. These include BAR116, which is located telomeric to the HoxD cluster and had robust forelimb expression for the M. lucifugus sequence and no activity for the mouse sequence at embryonic day 12.5. Developing limb expression analysis of Hoxd10-Hoxd13 in Miniopterus natalensis bats showed a high-forelimb weak-hindlimb expression for Hoxd10-Hoxd11, similar to the expression trend observed for M. lucifugus BAR116 in mice, suggesting that it could be involved in the regulation of the bat HoxD complex. Combined, our results highlight novel regulatory regions that could be instrumental for the morphological differences leading to the development of the bat wing.

  5. Comparative inner ear transcriptome analysis between the Rickett's big-footed bats (Myotis ricketti) and the greater short-nosed fruit bats (Cynopterus sphinx).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Dong; Lei, Ming; Liu, Yang; Zhang, Shuyi

    2013-12-23

    Bats have aroused great interests of researchers for the sake of their advanced echolocation system. However, this highly specialized trait is not characteristic of Old World fruit bats. To comprehensively explore the underlying molecular basis between echolocating and non-echolocating bats, we employed a sequence-based approach to compare the inner ear expression difference between the Rickett's big-footed bat (Myotis ricketti, echolocating bat) and the Greater short-nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx, non-echolocating bat). De novo sequence assemblies were developed for both species. The results showed that the biological implications of up-regulated genes in M. ricketti were significantly over-represented in biological process categories such as 'cochlea morphogenesis', 'inner ear morphogenesis' and 'sensory perception of sound', which are consistent with the inner ear morphological and physiological differentiation between the two bat species. Moreover, the expression of TMC1 gene confirmed its important function in echolocating bats. Our work presents the first transcriptome comparison between echolocating and non-echolocating bats, and provides information about the genetic basis of their distinct hearing traits.

  6. Bat distribution size or shape as determinant of viral richness in African bats

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Maganga, G. D.; Bourgarel, M.; Vallo, Peter; Dallo, T. D.; Ngoagouni, C.; Drexler, J. F.; Drosten, C.; Nakouné, E. R.; Leroy, E. M.; Morand, S.

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 9, č. 6 (2014), e100172 E-ISSN 1932-6203 Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : cytochrome-b gene * fruit bats * Rousettus aegyptiacus * Eidolon helvum * species richness * Marburg virus * molecular phylogeny * infectious diseases * geographical range * neotropical bats Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 3.234, year: 2014

  7. Antioxidant Defenses in the Brains of Bats during Hibernation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiuyuan Yin

    Full Text Available Hibernation is a strategy used by some mammals to survive a cold winter. Small hibernating mammals, such as squirrels and hamsters, use species- and tissue-specific antioxidant defenses to cope with oxidative insults during hibernation. Little is known about antioxidant responses and their regulatory mechanisms in hibernating bats. We found that the total level of reactive oxygen species (ROS and reactive nitrogen species (RNS in the brain of each of the two distantly related hibernating bats M. ricketti and R. ferrumequinum at arousal was lower than that at torpid or active state. We also found that the levels of malondialdehyde (product of lipid peroxidation of the two hibernating species of bats were significantly lower than those of non-hibernating bats R. leschenaultia and C. sphinx. This observation suggests that bats maintain a basal level of ROS/RNS that does no harm to the brain during hibernation. Results of Western blotting showed that hibernating bats expressed higher amounts of antioxidant proteins than non-hibernating bats and that M. ricketti bats upregulated the expression of some enzymes to overcome oxidative stresses, such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, and catalase. In contrast, R. ferrumequinum bats maintained a relatively high level of superoxide dismutase 2, glutathione reductase, and thioredoxin-2 throughout the three different states of hibernation cycles. The levels of glutathione (GSH were higher in M. ricketti bats than in R. ferrumequinum bats and were significantly elevated in R. ferrumequinum bats after torpor. These data suggest that M. ricketti bats use mainly antioxidant enzymes and R. ferrumequinum bats rely on both enzymes and low molecular weight antioxidants (e.g., glutathione to avoid oxidative stresses during arousal. Furthermore, Nrf2 and FOXOs play major roles in the regulation of antioxidant defenses in the brains of bats during hibernation. Our study revealed strategies used by bats

  8. Green roofs provide habitat for urban bats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K.L. Parkins

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Understanding bat use of human-altered habitat is critical for developing effective conservation plans for this ecologically important taxon. Green roofs, building rooftops covered in growing medium and vegetation, are increasingly important conservation tools that make use of underutilized space to provide breeding and foraging grounds for urban wildlife. Green roofs are especially important in highly urbanized areas such as New York City (NYC, which has more rooftops (34% than green space (13%. To date, no studies have examined the extent to which North American bats utilize urban green roofs. To investigate the role of green roofs in supporting urban bats, we monitored bat activity using ultrasonic recorders on four green and four conventional roofs located in highly developed areas of NYC, which were paired to control for location, height, and local variability in surrounding habitat and species diversity. We then identified bat vocalizations on these recordings to the species level. We documented the presence of five of nine possible bat species over both roof types: Lasiurus borealis, L. cinereus, L. noctivagans, P. subflavus,andE. fuscus. Of the bat calls that could be identified to the species level, 66% were from L. borealis. Overall levels of bat activity were higher over green roofs than over conventional roofs. This study provides evidence that, in addition to well documented ecosystem benefits, urban green roofs contribute to urban habitat availability for several North American bat species.

  9. Serologic Evidence of Lyssavirus Infections among Bats, the Philippines

    OpenAIRE

    Arguin, Paul M.; Murray-Lillibridge, Kristy; Miranda, Mary E.G.; Smith, Jean S.; Calaor, Alan B.; Rupprecht, Charles E.

    2002-01-01

    Active surveillance for lyssaviruses was conducted among populations of bats in the Philippines. The presence of past or current Lyssavirus infection was determined by use of direct fluorescent antibody assays on bat brains and virus neutralization assays on bat sera. Although no bats were found to have active infection with a Lyssavirus, 22 had evidence of neutralizing antibody against the Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV). Seropositivity was statistically associated with one species of bat, ...

  10. Screening of bat faeces for arthropod-borne apicomplexan protozoa: Babesia canis and Besnoitia besnoiti-like sequences from Chiroptera.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hornok, Sándor; Estók, Péter; Kováts, Dávid; Flaisz, Barbara; Takács, Nóra; Szőke, Krisztina; Krawczyk, Aleksandra; Kontschán, Jenő; Gyuranecz, Miklós; Fedák, András; Farkas, Róbert; Haarsma, Anne-Jifke; Sprong, Hein

    2015-08-28

    Bats are among the most eco-epidemiologically important mammals, owing to their presence in human settlements and animal keeping facilities. Roosting of bats in buildings may bring pathogens of veterinary-medical importance into the environment of domestic animals and humans. In this context bats have long been studied as carriers of various pathogen groups. However, despite their close association with arthropods (both in their food and as their ectoparasites), only a few molecular surveys have been published on their role as carriers of vector-borne protozoa. The aim of the present study was to compensate for this scarcity of information. Altogether 221 (mostly individual) bat faecal samples were collected in Hungary and the Netherlands. The DNA was extracted, and analysed with PCR and sequencing for the presence of arthropod-borne apicomplexan protozoa. Babesia canis canis (with 99-100% homology) was identified in five samples, all from Hungary. Because it was excluded with an Ixodidae-specific PCR that the relevant bats consumed ticks, these sequences derive either from insect carriers of Ba. canis, or from the infection of bats. In one bat faecal sample from the Netherlands a sequence having the highest (99%) homology to Besnoitia besnoiti was amplified. These findings suggest that some aspects of the epidemiology of canine babesiosis are underestimated or unknown, i.e. the potential role of insect-borne mechanical transmission and/or the susceptibility of bats to Ba. canis. In addition, bats need to be added to future studies in the quest for the final host of Be. besnoiti.

  11. Habitat use by bats in two Indiana forests prior to silvicultural treatments for oak regeneration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeremy J. Sheets; Joseph E. Duchamp; Megan K. Caylor; Laura D' Acunto; John O. Whitaker; Virgil Jr. Brack; Dale W. Sparks

    2013-01-01

    As part of a study examining the effects of silvicultural treatments for oak regeneration on habitat use by bats, we surveyed forest stands prior to the implementation of treatments in two state forests in Indiana. Interior forest sites corresponding to areas designated for silvicultural treatments were surveyed for 2 nights each during the summers of 2007 and 2008....

  12. Assessing the impacts of wind energy development on bats

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arnett, E.B. [Bat Conservation International, Austin, TX (United States)

    2008-07-01

    Research conducted by the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative in West Virginia was presented. Bats are key pollinators, seed dispersers, and insect predators. Bats also help to protect crops and play an important role in helping to reduce pesticide use. However, bats reproduce slowly and are susceptible to mortality factors. In 2003, between 1398 and 4031 bats were killed at the Mountaineer Wind Energy Facility in West Virginia. Possible explanations why bats are killed by wind turbines include the fact that wind farms form a linear corridor. Acoustics, echolocation failure, and electromagnetic-disorientation may also play a role in bat mortalities. Unifying patterns of bat fatalities at wind facilities include the fact that fatalities are heavily skewed toward migratory bats. Peak turbine collision fatalities occur in mid-summer. Bat fatalities are highest during periods of low wind speed and seem to be related to climate variables associated with the passage of weather fronts. Studies have also shown that the changing cut-in speeds of turbines may also reduce bat fatalities. It was concluded that pre-construction assessments should be conducted to determine high risk areas. tabs., figs.

  13. SWIFTS: on-chip very high spectral resolution spectrometer

    Science.gov (United States)

    le Coarer, E.; Venancio, L. G.; Kern, P.; Ferrand, J.; Puget, P.; Ayraud, M.; Bonneville, C.; Demonte, B.; Morand, A.; Boussey, J.; Barbier, D.; Blaize, S.; Gonthiez, T.

    2017-11-01

    The size and the weight of state of the art spectrometers is a serious issue regarding space applications. SWIFTS (Stationary Wave Integrated Fourier Transform Spectrometer) is a new FTS family without any moving part. This very promising technology is an original way to fully sample the Fourier interferogram obtained in a waveguide by either a reflection (SWIFTS Lippmann) or counter-propagative (SWIFTS Gabor) interference phenomenon. The sampling is simultaneously performed the optical path thanks to "nano-detectors" located in the evanescent field of the waveguide. For instance a 1.7cm long waveguide properly associated to the detector achieves directly a resolution of 0.13cm-1 on a few centimetre long instruments. Here, firstly we present the development status of this new kind of spectrometers and the first results obtained with on going development of spectrometer covering simultaneously the visible domain from 400 to 1000 nm like an Echelle spectrometer. Valuable technologies allows one to extend the concept to various wavelength domains. Secondly, we present the results obtained in the frame of an activity funded by the European Space Agency where several potential applications in space missions have been identified and studied.

  14. The distribution of the bats of South Carolina

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Menzel, Jennifer M. [USDA Forest Service, Parsons, WV (United States); Menzel, Michael A. [West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States); Ford, W. Mark [USDA Forest Service, Parsons, WV (United States); Edwards, John W. [West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States); Sheffield, Steven R. [George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA (United States); Kilgo, John C. [USDA Forest Service, New Ellenton, SC (United States); Bunch, Mary S. [South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources, Pendleton, SC (United States)

    2003-03-01

    Menzel. J.M., M.A. Menzel, W.M. Ford, J.W. Edwards, S.R. Sheffield, J.C. Kilgo, and M.S. Bunch. 2003. The distribution of the bats of South Carolina. Southeastern Nat. 2(1): 121-152. There is a paucity of information available about the distribution of bats in the southeastern United States. We synthesized records from museums, bat captures, and bats submitted for rabies testing to provide a more accurate and useful distribution for natural resource managers and those planning to research bats in South Carolina. Distributional information, including maps, collection localities within counties, and literature references, for all 14 species of bats that occur in South Carolina, has never been synthesized. To provide better information on the state's bat fauna, we have updated distributions for all species that occur in South Carolina.

  15. Swift Data Products in GCN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barthelmy, Scott D.

    2006-09-01

    The Swift mission produces a much larger range of data products for the GRB Coordinates Distribution (GCN) system than any previous mission. Beyond the normal position-containing notices, the extra products are lightcurves, spectra, and images. We will present examples of these new data products and how they can be used to guide GRB follow-up observation campaigns.

  16. [Viruses and bats: rabies and Lyssavirus].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tordo, N; Marianneau, M Ph

    2009-01-01

    Recent emerging zoonoses (hemorrhagic fevers due to Ebola or Marburg virus, encephalitis due to Nipah virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome due to SRAS virus...) outline the potential of bats as vectors for transmission of infectious disease to humans. Such a potential is already known for rabies encephalitis since seven out of the eight genotypes of Lyssavirus are transmitted by bats. In addition, phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that Lyssavirus have evolved in chiropters before their emergence in carnivores. Nevertheless, carnivores remain the most critical vectors for public health, in particular dogs that are originating 55.000 rabies deaths per year, essentially in developing countries. Rabies control in carnivores by parenteral (dog) or oral (wild carnivores) vaccination is efficacious and campaigns start to be more widely applied. On the other hand, rabies control in bat still remains non realistic, particularly as the pathogenicity of bat Lyssavirus for bats is still under debate, suggesting that a "diplomatic relationship" between partners would have arisen from a long term cohabitation. While comparing the interactions that humans and bats establish with Lyssavirus, scientists try to understand the molecular basis ofpathogenicity in man, a indispensable prerequisite to identify antiviral targets in a perspective of therapy.

  17. Bat flies on phyllostomid hosts in the Cerrado region: component community, prevalence and intensity of parasitism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan Eriksson

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Streblidae flies are specialised parasites of bat hosts, mainly phyllostomids. There is a high richness of streblids in the savannah-like Cerrado region; however, there is little quantitative data available in parasitological indices. Here, we describe the component community, prevalence and intensity of a streblid infestation on a phyllostomid bat assemblage in Serra da Bodoquena, a Cerrado region in Southwest Brazil. We conducted surveys by capturing and inspecting bat hosts during the seven-month period between October 2004-December 2005. All the ectoparasites found on the bats were collected in the field and then counted and identified in the laboratory. We captured 327 bats belonging to 13 species, of which eight species were parasitized by 17 species of streblids. Carollia perspicillata and Glossophaga soricina were infested with seven streblid species, whereas the other bat species were infested with four or fewer streblid species. Megistopoda proxima and Aspidoptera falcata flies were found on Sturnira lilium, and Trichobius joblingi was the most prevalent fly on C. perspicillata. Megistopoda aranea and Aspidoptera phyllostomatis were highly prevalent and had a high intensity of infestation on Artibeus planirostris. Overall comparisons of the available data suggest that the component communities of streblids vary more between the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest phytogeographical regions than between localities within the same phytogeographical region.

  18. Bats - findings and knowledge gaps in the field of bat behaviour; Perspektive Fledermaeuse - Erkenntnisse und Wissensluecken zum Verhalten

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bergen, F. [ecoda Umweltgutachten GbR, Dortmund (Germany)

    2005-07-01

    There may be conflicts between wind power utilisation and the behaviour patterns of bats resp. the need for bat protection. The subject should be discussed free of emotions. Research is still required as there is still a lack of knowledge concerning the effects of wind power systems on bats. (orig.)

  19. DETAILED CLASSIFICATION OF SWIFT 'S GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horvath, I.; Veres, P.; Bagoly, Z.; Balazs, L. G.; De Ugarte Postigo, A.; Meszaros, A.

    2010-01-01

    Earlier classification analyses found three types of gamma-ray bursts (short, long, and intermediate in duration) in the BATSE sample. Recent works have shown that these three groups are also present in the RHESSI and BeppoSAX databases. The duration distribution analysis of the bursts observed by the Swift satellite also favors the three-component model. In this paper, we extend the analysis of the Swift data with spectral information. We show, using the spectral hardness and duration simultaneously, that the maximum likelihood method favors the three-component against the two-component model. The likelihood also shows that a fourth component is not needed.

  20. Pliocene bats (Chiroptera) from Kanapoi, Turkana Basin, Kenya.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunnell, Gregg F; Manthi, Fredrick K

    2018-04-05

    Fossil bats from the Pliocene of Africa are extremely rare, especially in East Africa where meager records have been reported only from two localities in the Omo River Basin Shungura Formation and from a scattering of localities in the Afar Depression, both in Ethiopia. Here we report on a diverse assemblage of bats from Kanapoi in the Turkana Basin that date to approximately 4.19 million years ago. The Kanapoi bat community consists of four different species of fruit bats including a new genus and two new species as well as five species of echolocating bats, the most common of which are two new species of the molossid genus Mops. Additionally, among the echolocating bats, a new species of the emballonurid Saccolaimus is documented at Kanapoi along with an additional Saccolaimus species and a potentially new species of the nycterid Nycteris. Compared to other East African Pliocene bat assemblages, the Kanapoi bat community is unique in preserving molossids and curiously lacks any evidence of cave dwelling bats like rhinolophids or hipposiderids, which are both common at other East African sites. The bats making up the Kanapoi community all typically roost in trees, with some preferring deeper forests and larger trees (molossids), while the others (pteropodids, nycterids and emballonurids) roost in trees near open areas. Living fruit bats that are related to Kanapoi species typically forage for fruits along the margins of forests and in open savannah. The echolocating forms from Kanapoi consist of groups that aerially hawk for insects in open areas between patches of forest and along water courses. The habitats preferred by living relatives of the Kanapoi bats are in agreement with those constructed for Kanapoi based on other lines of evidence. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  1. Models of Eucalypt phenology predict bat population flux.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giles, John R; Plowright, Raina K; Eby, Peggy; Peel, Alison J; McCallum, Hamish

    2016-10-01

    Fruit bats (Pteropodidae) have received increased attention after the recent emergence of notable viral pathogens of bat origin. Their vagility hinders data collection on abundance and distribution, which constrains modeling efforts and our understanding of bat ecology, viral dynamics, and spillover. We addressed this knowledge gap with models and data on the occurrence and abundance of nectarivorous fruit bat populations at 3 day roosts in southeast Queensland. We used environmental drivers of nectar production as predictors and explored relationships between bat abundance and virus spillover. Specifically, we developed several novel modeling tools motivated by complexities of fruit bat foraging ecology, including: (1) a dataset of spatial variables comprising Eucalypt-focused vegetation indices, cumulative precipitation, and temperature anomaly; (2) an algorithm that associated bat population response with spatial covariates in a spatially and temporally relevant way given our current understanding of bat foraging behavior; and (3) a thorough statistical learning approach to finding optimal covariate combinations. We identified covariates that classify fruit bat occupancy at each of our three study roosts with 86-93% accuracy. Negative binomial models explained 43-53% of the variation in observed abundance across roosts. Our models suggest that spatiotemporal heterogeneity in Eucalypt-based food resources could drive at least 50% of bat population behavior at the landscape scale. We found that 13 spillover events were observed within the foraging range of our study roosts, and they occurred during times when models predicted low population abundance. Our results suggest that, in southeast Queensland, spillover may not be driven by large aggregations of fruit bats attracted by nectar-based resources, but rather by behavior of smaller resident subpopulations. Our models and data integrated remote sensing and statistical learning to make inferences on bat ecology

  2. Win(d)-Win(d) Solutions for wind developers and bats

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hein, Cris; Schirmacher, Michael; Arnett, Ed; Huso, Manuela

    2011-10-31

    Bat Conservation International initiated a multi-year, pre-construction study in mid-summer 2009 to investigate patterns of bat activity and evaluate the use of acoustic monitoring to predict mortality of bats at the proposed Resolute Wind Energy Project (RWEP) in east-central Wyoming. The primary objectives of this study were to: (1) determine levels and patterns of activity for three phonic groups of bats (high-frequency emitting bats, low-frequency emitting bats, and hoary bats) using the proposed wind facility prior to construction of turbines; (2) determine if bat activity can be predicted based on weather patterns; correlate bat activity with weather variables; and (3) combine results from this study with those from similar efforts to determine if indices of pre-construction bat activity can be used to predict post-construction bat fatalities at proposed wind facilities. We report results from two years of pre-construction data collection.

  3. Hepatozoon parasites (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina) in bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinto, C Miguel; Helgen, Kristofer M; Fleischer, Robert C; Perkins, Susan L

    2013-08-01

    We provide the first evidence of Hepatozoon parasites infecting bats. We sequenced a short fragment of the 18S rRNA gene (~600 base pairs) of Hepatozoon parasites from 3 Hipposideros cervinus bats from Borneo. Phylogenies inferred by model-based methods place these Hepatozoon within a clade formed by parasites of reptiles, rodents, and marsupials. We discuss the scenario that bats might be common hosts of Hepatozoon.

  4. DNA-based detection of the fungal pathogen Geomyces destructans in soil from bat hibernacula

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindner, Daniel L.; Gargas, Andrea; Lorch, Jeffrey M.; Banik, Mark T.; Glaeser, Jessie; Kunz, Thomas H.; Blehert, David S.

    2011-01-01

    White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging disease causing unprecedented morbidity and mortality among bats in eastern North America. The disease is characterized by cutaneous infection of hibernating bats by the psychrophilic fungus Geomyces destructans. Detection of G. destructans in environments occupied by bats will be critical for WNS surveillance, management and characterization of the fungal lifecycle. We initiated an rRNA gene region-based molecular survey to characterize the distribution of G. destructans in soil samples collected from bat hibernacula in the eastern United States with an existing PCR test. Although this test did not specifically detect G. destructans in soil samples based on a presence/absence metric, it did favor amplification of DNA from putative Geomyces species. Cloning and sequencing of PCR products amplified from 24 soil samples revealed 74 unique sequence variants representing 12 clades. Clones with exact sequence matches to G. destructans were identified in three of 19 soil samples from hibernacula in states where WNS is known to occur. Geomyces destructans was not identified in an additional five samples collected outside the region where WNS has been documented. This study highlights the diversity of putative Geomyces spp. in soil from bat hibernacula and indicates that further research is needed to better define the taxonomy of this genus and to develop enhanced diagnostic tests for rapid and specific detection of G. destructans in environmental samples.

  5. OpenStack Object Storage (Swift) essentials

    CERN Document Server

    Kapadia, Amar; Varma, Sreedhar

    2015-01-01

    If you are an IT administrator and you want to enter the world of cloud storage using OpenStack Swift, then this book is ideal for you. Basic knowledge of Linux and server technology is beneficial to get the most out of the book.

  6. Power Performance Test Report for the SWIFT Wind Turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mendoza, I.; Hur, J.

    2012-12-01

    This report summarizes the results of a power performance test that NREL conducted on the SWIFT wind turbine. This test was conducted in accordance with the International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) standard, Wind Turbine Generator Systems Part 12: Power Performance Measurements of Electricity Producing Wind Turbines, IEC 61400-12-1 Ed.1.0, 2005-12. However, because the SWIFT is a small turbine as defined by IEC, NREL also followed Annex H that applies to small wind turbines. In these summary results, wind speed is normalized to sea-level air density.

  7. Monitoring Sensitive Bat Species at Los Alamos National Laboratory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schoenberg, Kari M. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2014-01-15

    Bats play a critical role in ecosystems and are vulnerable to disturbance and disruption by human activities. In recent decades, bat populations in the United States and elsewhere have decreased tremendously. There are 47 different species of bat in the United States and 28 of these occur in New Mexico with 15 different species documented at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and surrounding areas. Euderma maculatum(the spotted bat) is listed as “threatened” by the state of New Mexico and is known to occur at LANL. Four other species of bats are listed as “sensitive” and also occur here. In 1995, a four year study was initiated at LANL to assess the status of bat species of concern, elucidate distribution and relative abundance, and obtain information on roosting sites. There have been no definitive studies since then. Biologists in the Environmental Protection Division at LANL initiated a multi-year monitoring program for bats in May 2013 to implement the Biological Resources Management Plan. The objective of this ongoing study is to monitor bat species diversity and seasonal activity over time at LANL. Bat species diversity and seasonal activity were measured using an acoustic bat detector, the Pettersson D500X. This ultrasound recording unit is intended for long-term, unattended recording of bat and other high frequency animal calls. During 2013, the detector was deployed at two locations around LANL. Study sites were selected based on proximity to water where bats may be foraging. Recorded bat calls were analyzed using Sonobat, software that can help determine specific species of bat through their calls. A list of bat species at the two sites was developed and compared to lists from previous studies. Species diversity and seasonal activity, measured as the number of call sequences recorded each month, were compared between sites and among months. A total of 17,923 bat calls were recorded representing 15 species. Results indicate that there is a

  8. Social place-cells in the bat hippocampus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Omer, David B; Maimon, Shir R; Las, Liora; Ulanovsky, Nachum

    2018-01-12

    Social animals have to know the spatial positions of conspecifics. However, it is unknown how the position of others is represented in the brain. We designed a spatial observational-learning task, in which an observer bat mimicked a demonstrator bat while we recorded hippocampal dorsal-CA1 neurons from the observer bat. A neuronal subpopulation represented the position of the other bat, in allocentric coordinates. About half of these "social place-cells" represented also the observer's own position-that is, were place cells. The representation of the demonstrator bat did not reflect self-movement or trajectory planning by the observer. Some neurons represented also the position of inanimate moving objects; however, their representation differed from the representation of the demonstrator bat. This suggests a role for hippocampal CA1 neurons in social-spatial cognition. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

  9. Poxviruses in Bats … so What?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kate S. Baker

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Poxviruses are important pathogens of man and numerous domestic and wild animal species. Cross species (including zoonotic poxvirus infections can have drastic consequences for the recipient host. Bats are a diverse order of mammals known to carry lethal viral zoonoses such as Rabies, Hendra, Nipah, and SARS. Consequent targeted research is revealing bats to be infected with a rich diversity of novel viruses. Poxviruses were recently identified in bats and the settings in which they were found were dramatically different. Here, we review the natural history of poxviruses in bats and highlight the relationship of the viruses to each other and their context in the Poxviridae family. In addition to considering the zoonotic potential of these viruses, we reflect on the broader implications of these findings. Specifically, the potential to explore and exploit this newfound relationship to study coevolution and cross species transmission together with fundamental aspects of poxvirus host tropism as well as bat virology and immunology.

  10. Detection of Highly-Absorbed X-rays from Nova Mus 2018 with Swift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Thomas; Kuin, Paul; Mukai, Koji; Page, Kim; Chomiuk, Laura; Kawash, Adam; Sokoloski, J. L.; Linford, Justin; Rupen, Michael P.; Mioduszewski, Amy

    2018-03-01

    We report the detection of X-rays from Nova Mus 2018 with the Swift XRT instrument. We have been carrying out weekly monitoring of the nova with Swift since its discovery on 2018 Jan 15 (see ATel #11220), and observations up to 2018 Feb 24 yielded X-ray non-detections.

  11. BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey. VIII. Type 1 AGN with Massive Absorbing Columns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, T. Taro; Davies, Richard I.; Koss, Michael; Ricci, Claudio; Lamperti, Isabella; Oh, Kyuseok; Schawinski, Kevin; Trakhtenbrot, Benny; Burtscher, Leonard; Genzel, Reinhard; Lin, Ming-yi; Lutz, Dieter; Rosario, David; Sturm, Eckhard; Tacconi, Linda

    2018-04-01

    We explore the relationship between X-ray absorption and optical obscuration within the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS), which has been collecting and analyzing the optical and X-ray spectra for 641 hard X-ray selected (E > 14 keV) active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We use the deviation from a linear broad Hα-to-X-ray relationship as an estimate of the maximum optical obscuration toward the broad line region (BLR) and compare the A V to the hydrogen column densities ({N}{{H}}) found through systematic modeling of their X-ray spectra. We find that the inferred columns implied by A V toward the BLR are often orders of magnitude less than the columns measured toward the X-ray emitting region, indicating a small-scale origin for the X-ray absorbing gas. After removing 30% of Sy 1.9s that potentially have been misclassified due to outflows, we find that 86% (164/190) of the Type 1 population (Sy 1–1.9) are X-ray unabsorbed as expected based on a single obscuring structure. However, 14% (26/190), of which 70% (18/26) are classified as Sy 1.9, are X-ray absorbed, suggesting that the BLR itself is providing extra obscuration toward the X-ray corona. The fraction of X-ray absorbed Type 1 AGNs remains relatively constant with AGN luminosity and Eddington ratio, indicating a stable BLR covering fraction.

  12. Wind turbines and bats: towards a peaceful coexistence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heitz, P.

    2013-01-01

    The most important hazard for a bat is the collision with a rotating blade. The risk of collision depends on the wrong positioning of a wind turbine in the hunting area of a local population of bats and on the complex behaviour of bats. All the 34 species of bats living in France are protected species. Recommendations issued by the ministry of ecology include to perform preliminary impact studies on bat population before the installation of a wind turbine farm, to perform impact studies during wind turbine operations and to take measures to have the least impact as possible. The number of wind farms being on the rise, the knowledge of the behaviour of bats is getting more accurate through the use of dedicated instruments. (A.C.)

  13. Landscape responses of bats to habitat fragmentation in Atlantic forest of paraguay

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorresen, P.M.; Willig, M.R.

    2004-01-01

    Understanding effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on populations or communities is critical to effective conservation and restoration. This is particularly important for bats because they provide vital services to ecosystems via pollination and seed dispersal, especially in tropical and subtropical habitats. Based on more than 1,000 h of survey during a 15-month period, we quantified species abundances and community structure of phyllostomid bats at 14 sites in a 3,000-km2 region of eastern Paraguay. Abundance was highest for Artibeus lituratus in deforested landscapes and for Chrotopterus auritus in forested habitats. In contrast, Artibeus fimbriatus, Carollia perspicillata, Glossophaga soricina, Platyrrhinus lineatus, Pygoderma bilabiatum, and Sturnira lilium attained highest abundance in moderately fragmented forest landscapes. Forest cover, patch size, and patch density frequently were associated with abundance of species. At the community level, species richness was highest in partly deforested landscapes, whereas evenness was greatest in forested habitat. In general, the highest diversity of bats occurred in landscapes comprising moderately fragmented forest habitat. This underscores the importance of remnant habitat patches to conservation strategies.

  14. Detection and Characterization of Homologues of Human Hepatitis Viruses and Pegiviruses in Rodents and Bats in Vietnam.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Nguyen, Dung; Van Nguyen, Cuong; Bonsall, David; Ngo, Tue Tri; Carrique-Mas, Juan; Pham, Anh Hong; Bryant, Juliet E; Thwaites, Guy; Baker, Stephen; Woolhouse, Mark; Simmonds, Peter

    2018-02-28

    Rodents and bats are now widely recognised as important sources of zoonotic virus infections in other mammals, including humans. Numerous surveys have expanded our knowledge of diverse viruses in a range of rodent and bat species, including their origins, evolution, and range of hosts. In this study of pegivirus and human hepatitis-related viruses, liver and serum samples from Vietnamese rodents and bats were examined by PCR and sequencing. Nucleic acids homologous to human hepatitis B, C, E viruses were detected in liver samples of 2 (1.3%) of 157 bats, 38 (8.1%), and 14 (3%) of 470 rodents, respectively. Hepacivirus-like viruses were frequently detected (42.7%) in the bamboo rat, Rhizomys pruinosus , while pegivirus RNA was only evident in 2 (0.3%) of 638 rodent serum samples. Complete or near-complete genome sequences of HBV, HEV and pegivirus homologues closely resembled those previously reported from rodents and bats. However, complete coding region sequences of the rodent hepacivirus-like viruses substantially diverged from all of the currently classified variants and potentially represent a new species in the Hepacivirus genus. Of the viruses identified, their routes of transmission and potential to establish zoonoses remain to be determined.

  15. The Importance of Landscape Elements for Bat Activity and Species Richness in Agricultural Areas.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga Heim

    Full Text Available Landscape heterogeneity is regarded as a key factor for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function in production landscapes. We investigated whether grassland sites at close vicinity to forested areas are more frequently used by bats. Considering that bats are important consumers of herbivorous insects, including agricultural pest, this is important for sustainable land management. Bat activity and species richness were assessed using repeated monitoring from May to September in 2010 with acoustic monitoring surveys on 50 grassland sites in the Biosphere Reserve Schorfheide-Chorin (North-East Germany. Using spatial analysis (GIS, we measured the closest distance of each grassland site to potentially connecting landscape elements (e.g., trees, linear vegetation, groves, running and standing water. In addition, we assessed the distance to and the percent land cover of forest remnants and urban areas in a 200 m buffer around the recording sites to address differences in the local landscape setting. Species richness and bat activity increased significantly with higher forest land cover in the 200 m buffer and at smaller distance to forested areas. Moreover, species richness increased in proximity to tree groves. Larger amount of forest land cover and smaller distance to forest also resulted in a higher activity of bats on grassland sites in the beginning of the year during May, June and July. Landscape elements near grassland sites also influenced species composition of bats and species richness of functional groups (open, edge and narrow space foragers. Our results highlight the importance of forested areas, and suggest that agricultural grasslands that are closer to forest remnants might be better buffered against outbreaks of agricultural pest insects due to higher species richness and higher bat activity. Furthermore, our data reveals that even for highly mobile species such as bats, a very dense network of connecting elements within the

  16. A decade of U.S. Air Force bat strikes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peurach, Suzanne C.; Dove, Carla J.; Stepko, Laura

    2009-01-01

    From 1997 through 2007, 821 bat strikes were reported to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Safety Center by aircraft personnel or ground crew and sent to the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, for identification. Many samples were identified by macroscopic and or microscopic comparisons with bat specimens housed in the museum and augmented during the last 2 years by DNA analysis. Bat remains from USAF strikes during this period were received at the museum from 40 states in the United States and from 20 countries. We confirmed that 46% of the strikes were caused by bats, but we did not identify them further; we identified 5% only to the family or genus level, and 49% to the species level. Fifty-five of the 101 bat-strike samples submitted for DNA analysis have been identified to the species level. Twenty-five bat species have been recorded striking USAF planes worldwide. The Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis; n = 173) is the species most commonly identified in USAF strike impacts, followed by the red bat (Lasiurus borealis; n = 83). Bat strikes peak during the spring and fall, with >57% occurring from August through October; 82% of the reports that included time of strike were recorded between 2100 and 0900 hours. More than 12% of the bat strikes were reported at >300 m above ground level (AGL). Although $825,000 and >50% of this sum was attributable to 5 bat-strike incidents. Only 5 bats from the 10 most damaging bat strikes were identified to the species level, either because we did not receive remains with the reports or the sample was insufficient for identification.

  17. Surveillance for White-Nose Syndrome in the bat community at El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico, 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdez, Ernest W.

    2012-01-01

    From late winter to summer 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey Arid Lands Field Station conducted mist-netting efforts at El Malpais National Monument and on adjacent lands belonging to Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to detect the occurrence of white-nose syndrome or causal fungal agent (Geomyces destructans). During this assessment, 421 bats belonging to 8 species were documented at El Malpais National Monument and adjacent lands. None of these captures showed evidence for the presence of white-nose syndrome or G. destructans, but it is possible that the subtle signs of some infections may not have been observed. Throughout the field efforts, Laguna de Juan Garcia was the only water source located on El Malpais National Monument and was netted on June 20 and 27, July 25, and August 2, 2011. During these dates, a total of 155 bats were captured, belonging to eight species including: Corynorhinus townsendii (Townsend's Big-Eared Bat), Eptesicus fuscus (Big Brown Bat), Lasionycterics noctivagans (Silver-Haired Bat), Myotis ciliolabrum (Small-Footed Myotis), M. evotis (Long-eared myotis), M. thysanodes (Fringed Myotis), M. volans (Long-Legged Myotis), and Tadarida brasiliensis (Brazilian Free-Tailed Bat). Overall, Laguna de Juan Garcia had the greatest number of captures (79 bats) during one night compared to the other sites netted on adjacent lands and had the greatest species diversity of 8 species netted, not including Euderma maculatum (Spotted Bat) that was detected by its audible calls as it flew overhead. Laguna de Juan Garcia is an important site to bats because of its accessibility by all known occurring species, including the less-maneuverable T. brasiliensis that is known to form large colonies in the park. Laguna de Juan Garcia is also important as a more permanent water source during drought conditions in the earlier part of the spring and summer, as observed in 2011.

  18. Hard X-ray Variations in the Crab Nebula

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson-Hodge, Colleen A.; Cherry, M. L.; Case, G. L.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Beklen, E.; Bhat, P. N.; Briggs, M. S.; Camero-Arranz, A.; Connaughton, V.; Finger, M. H.; hide

    2013-01-01

    In the first two years of science operations of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), August 2008 to August 2010, approximately 7% (70 mcrab) decline was discovered in the overall Crab Nebula flux in the 15 - 50 keV band, measured with the Earth occultation technique. This decline was independently confirmed with four other instruments: the RXTE/PCA, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL/IBIS, and INTEGRAL/SPI. The pulsed flux measured with RXTE/PCA from 1999-2010 was consistent with the pulsar spin-down, indicating that the observed changes were nebular. From 2001 to 2010, the Crab nebula flux measured with RXTE/ PCA was particularly variable, changing by up to approximately 3.5% per year in the 15-50 keV band. These variations were confirmed with INTEGRAL/SPI starting in 2003, Swift/BAT starting in 2005, and Fermi GBM starting in 2008. Before 2001 and since 2010, the Crab nebula flux has appeared more stable, varying by less than 2% per year. I will present updated light curves in multiple energy bands for the Crab Nebula, including recent data from Fermi GBM, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL and MAXI, and a 16-year long light curve from RXTE/PCA.

  19. Identification of a novel bat papillomavirus by metagenomics.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Herman Tse

    Full Text Available The discovery of novel viruses in animals expands our knowledge of viral diversity and potentially emerging zoonoses. High-throughput sequencing (HTS technology gives millions or even billions of sequence reads per run, allowing a comprehensive survey of the genetic content within a sample without prior nucleic acid amplification. In this study, we screened 156 rectal swab samples from apparently healthy bats (n = 96, pigs (n = 9, cattles (n = 9, stray dogs (n = 11, stray cats (n = 11 and monkeys (n = 20 using a HTS metagenomics approach. The complete genome of a novel papillomavirus (PV, Miniopterus schreibersii papillomavirus type 1 (MscPV1, with L1 of 60% nucleotide identity to Canine papillomavirus (CPV6, was identified in a specimen from a Common Bent-wing Bat (M. schreibersii. It is about 7.5kb in length, with a G+C content of 45.8% and a genomic organization similar to that of other PVs. Despite the higher nucleotide identity between the genomes of MscPV1 and CPV6, maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis of the L1 gene sequence showed that MscPV1 and Erethizon dorsatum papillomavirus (EdPV1 are most closely related. Estimated divergence time of MscPV1 from the EdPV1/MscPV1 common ancestor was approximately 60.2-91.9 millions of years ago, inferred under strict clocks using the L1 and E1 genes. The estimates were limited by the lack of reliable calibration points from co-divergence because of possible host shifts. As the nucleotide sequence of this virus only showed limited similarity with that of related animal PVs, the conventional approach of PCR using consensus primers would be unlikely to have detected the novel virus in the sample. Unlike the first bat papillomavirus RaPV1, MscPV1 was found in an asymptomatic bat with no apparent mucosal or skin lesions whereas RaPV1 was detected in the basosquamous carcinoma of a fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus. We propose MscPV1 as the first member of the novel Dyolambda-papillomavirus genus.

  20. The Simpsons: Public Choice in the Tradition of Swift and Orwell

    Science.gov (United States)

    Considine, John

    2006-01-01

    The author disagrees with Homer Simpson who claims that "...cartoons don't have any deep meaning. They're just stupid drawings that give you a cheap laugh." He argues that The Simpsons have a deep meaning in the same way as the works of Jonathan Swift and George Orwell. The message in The Simpsons, Swift, and Orwell is that those in charge do not…

  1. Detection of bat hepatitis E virus RNA in microbats in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Tomoya; Murakami, Shin; Yamamoto, Terumasa; Mineshita, Ko; Sakuyama, Muneki; Sasaki, Reiko; Maeda, Ken; Horimoto, Taisuke

    2018-05-29

    Several recent studies have reported that various bat species harbor bat hepatitis E viruses (BatHEV) belonging to the family Hepeviridae, which also contains human hepatitis E virus (HEV). The distribution and ecology of BatHEV are not well known. Here, we collected and screened 81 bat fecal samples from nine bat species in Japan to detect BatHEV RNA by RT-PCR using HEV-specific primers, and detected three positive samples. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses indicated that these three viruses were BatHEVs belonging to genus Orthohepevirus D like other BatHEV strains reported earlier in various countries. These data support the first detection of BatHEVs in Japanese microbats, indicating their wide geographical distribution among multiple bat species.

  2. Tentative novel lyssavirus in a bat in Finland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nokireki, T; Tammiranta, N; Kokkonen, U-M; Kantala, T; Gadd, T

    2018-06-01

    A tentative novel member of the genus Lyssavirus, designated as Kotalahti bat lyssavirus, was detected in a Brandt's bat (Myotis brandtii) in Finland. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the virus differs from other known lyssaviruses, being closely related to Khujand virus, Aravan virus, Bokeloh bat lyssavirus and European bat lyssavirus 2. © 2018 The Authors. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases Published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  3. Genetic Characteristics of Coronaviruses from Korean Bats in 2016.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Saemi; Jo, Seong-Deok; Son, Kidong; An, Injung; Jeong, Jipseol; Wang, Seung-Jun; Kim, Yongkwan; Jheong, Weonhwa; Oem, Jae-Ku

    2018-01-01

    Bats have increasingly been recognized as the natural reservoir of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), coronavirus, and other coronaviruses found in mammals. However, little research has been conducted on bat coronaviruses in South Korea. In this study, bat samples (332 oral swabs, 245 fecal samples, 38 urine samples, and 57 bat carcasses) were collected at 33 natural bat habitat sites in South Korea. RT-PCR and sequencing were performed for specific coronavirus genes to identify the bat coronaviruses in different bat samples. Coronaviruses were detected in 2.7% (18/672) of the samples: 13 oral swabs from one species of the family Rhinolophidae, and four fecal samples and one carcass (intestine) from three species of the family Vespertiliodae. To determine the genetic relationships of the 18 sequences obtained in this study and previously known coronaviruses, the nucleotide sequences of a 392-nt region of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene were analyzed phylogenetically. Thirteen sequences belonging to SARS-like betacoronaviruses showed the highest nucleotide identity (97.1-99.7%) with Bat-CoV-JTMC15 reported in China. The other five sequences were most similar to MERS-like betacoronaviruses. Four nucleotide sequences displayed the highest identity (94.1-95.1%) with Bat-CoV-HKU5 from Hong Kong. The one sequence from a carcass showed the highest nucleotide identity (99%) with Bat-CoV-SC2013 from China. These results suggest that careful surveillance of coronaviruses from bats should be continued, because animal and human infections may result from the genetic variants present in bat coronavirus reservoirs.

  4. Harmonic-hopping in Wallacea's bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kingston, Tigga; Rossiter, Stephen J

    2004-06-10

    Evolutionary divergence between species is facilitated by ecological shifts, and divergence is particularly rapid when such shifts also promote assortative mating. Horseshoe bats are a diverse Old World family (Rhinolophidae) that have undergone a rapid radiation in the past 5 million years. These insectivorous bats use a predominantly pure-tone echolocation call matched to an auditory fovea (an over-representation of the pure-tone frequency in the cochlea and inferior colliculus) to detect the minute changes in echo amplitude and frequency generated when an insect flutters its wings. The emitted signal is the accentuated second harmonic of a series in which the fundamental and remaining harmonics are filtered out. Here we show that three distinct, sympatric size morphs of the large-eared horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus philippinensis) echolocate at different harmonics of the same fundamental frequency. These morphs have undergone recent genetic divergence, and this process has occurred in parallel more than once. We suggest that switching harmonics creates a discontinuity in the bats' perception of available prey that can initiate disruptive selection. Moreover, because call frequency in horseshoe bats has a dual function in resource acquisition and communication, ecological selection on frequency might lead to assortative mating and ultimately reproductive isolation and speciation, regardless of external barriers to gene flow.

  5. Immobilization of swift foxes with ketamine hydrochloride-xylazine hydrochloride

    Science.gov (United States)

    Telesco, R.L.; Sovada, Marsha A.

    2002-01-01

    There is an increasing need to develop field immobilization techniques that allow researchers to handle safely swift foxes (Vulpes velox) with minimal risk of stress or injury. We immobilized captive swift foxes to determine the safety and effectiveness of ketamine hydrochloride and xylazine hydrochloride at different dosages. We attempted to determine appropriate dosages to immobilize swift foxes for an adequate field-handling period based on three anesthesia intervals (induction period, immobilization period, and recovery period) and physiologic responses (rectal temperature, respiration rate, and heart rate). Between October 1998–July 1999, we conducted four trials, evaluating three different dosage ratios of ketamine and xylazine (2.27:1.2, 5.68:1.2, and 11.4:1.2 mg/kg ketamine:mg/kg xylazine, respectively), followed by a fourth trial with a higher dosage at the median ratio (11.4 mg/kg ketamine:2.4 mg/kg xylazine). We found little difference in induction and recovery periods among trials 1–3, but immobilization time increased with increasing dosage (Pimmobilization period and recovery period increased in trial 4 compared with trials 1–3 (P≤0.03). There was a high variation in responses of individual foxes across trials, making it difficult to identify an appropriate dosage for field handling. Heart rate and respiration rates were depressed but all physiologic measures remained within normal parameters established for domestic canids. We recommend a dosage ratio of 10 mg/kg ketamine to 1 mg/kg xylazine to immobilize swift foxes for field handling.

  6. The X-ray Telescope for the SWIFT Gamma-Ray Burst Mission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wells, A.; Abbey, A.F.; Beardmore, A.; Mukerjee, K.; Osborne, J.P.; Watson, D.J.; Willingale, R.; Burrows, D. N.; Hill, J. E.; Nousek, J.A.; Miles, B.J.; Mori, K.; Morris, D.C.; Zugger, M.; Chincarini, G.; Campana, S.; Citterio, O.; Moretti, A.; Tagliaferri, G.; Bosworth, J.

    2004-01-01

    The X-ray Telescope (XRT) for the SWIFT mission, built by the international consortium from Pennsylvania State University (United States), University of Leicester (UK) and Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (Italy), is already installed on the SWIFT spacecraft. The XRT has two key functions on SWIFT; to determine locations of GRBs to better than 5 arc seconds within 100 seconds of initial detection of a burst and to measure spectra and light curves of the X-ray afterglow over around four orders of magnitude of decay in the afterglow intensity. This paper summarises the XRT performance, operating modes and sensitivity for the detection of prompt and extended X-ray afterglows from gamma-ray bursts. The performance characteristics have been determined from data taken during the ground calibration campaign at MPE's Panter facility in September 2002

  7. Genetic approaches to the conservation of migratory bats: a study of the eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maarten J. Vonhof

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Documented fatalities of bats at wind turbines have raised serious concerns about the future impacts of increased wind power development on populations of migratory bat species. However, for most bat species we have no knowledge of the size of populations and their demographic trends, the degree of structuring into discrete subpopulations, and whether different subpopulations use spatially segregated migratory routes. Here, we utilize genetic data from eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis, one of the species most highly affected by wind power development in North America, to (1 evaluate patterns of population structure across the landscape, (2 estimate effective population size (Ne, and (3 assess signals of growth or decline in population size. Using data on both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA variation, we demonstrate that this species forms a single, panmictic population across their range with no evidence for the historical use of divergent migratory pathways by any portion of the population. Further, using coalescent estimates we estimate that the effective size of this population is in the hundreds of thousands to millions of individuals. The high levels of gene flow and connectivity across the population of eastern red bats indicate that monitoring and management of eastern red bats must integrate information across the range of this species.

  8. Heavy metal contamination in bats in Britain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Walker, L.A. [NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 2LS (United Kingdom); Simpson, V.R. [Wildlife Veterinary Investigation Centre, Jollys Bottom Farm, Chacewater, Truro, Cornwall TR4 8PB (United Kingdom); Rockett, L. [NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 2LS (United Kingdom); Wienburg, C.L. [NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 2LS (United Kingdom); Shore, R.F. [NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 2LS (United Kingdom)]. E-mail: rfs@ceh.ac.uk

    2007-07-15

    Toxic metals are bioaccumulated by insectivorous mammals but few studies (none from Britain) have quantified residues in bats. We measured renal mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) concentrations in bats from south-west England to determine how they varied with species, sex, age, and over time, and if they were likely to cause adverse effects. Residues were generally highest in whiskered bats (Myotis mystacinus). Compared with other species, pipistrelle (Pipistrellus spp) and Natterer's bats (Myotis nattereri) had significantly lower kidney Hg and Pb concentrations, respectively. Renal Hg increased over time in pipistrelles but the contributory sources are unknown. Kidney Pb did not decrease over time despite concurrent declines in atmospheric Pb. Overall, median renal metal concentrations were similar to those in bats from mainland Europe and 6- to 10-fold below those associated with clinical effect, although 5% of pipistrelles had kidney Pb residues diagnostic of acute lead poisoning. - Heavy metal contamination has been quantified in bats from Britain for the first time and indicates increased accumulation of Hg and no reduction in Pb.

  9. Heavy metal contamination in bats in Britain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walker, L.A.; Simpson, V.R.; Rockett, L.; Wienburg, C.L.; Shore, R.F.

    2007-01-01

    Toxic metals are bioaccumulated by insectivorous mammals but few studies (none from Britain) have quantified residues in bats. We measured renal mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) concentrations in bats from south-west England to determine how they varied with species, sex, age, and over time, and if they were likely to cause adverse effects. Residues were generally highest in whiskered bats (Myotis mystacinus). Compared with other species, pipistrelle (Pipistrellus spp) and Natterer's bats (Myotis nattereri) had significantly lower kidney Hg and Pb concentrations, respectively. Renal Hg increased over time in pipistrelles but the contributory sources are unknown. Kidney Pb did not decrease over time despite concurrent declines in atmospheric Pb. Overall, median renal metal concentrations were similar to those in bats from mainland Europe and 6- to 10-fold below those associated with clinical effect, although 5% of pipistrelles had kidney Pb residues diagnostic of acute lead poisoning. - Heavy metal contamination has been quantified in bats from Britain for the first time and indicates increased accumulation of Hg and no reduction in Pb

  10. Henipavirus RNA in African bats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Felix Drexler

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Henipaviruses (Hendra and Nipah virus are highly pathogenic members of the family Paramyxoviridae. Fruit-eating bats of the Pteropus genus have been suggested as their natural reservoir. Human Henipavirus infections have been reported in a region extending from Australia via Malaysia into Bangladesh, compatible with the geographic range of Pteropus. These bats do not occur in continental Africa, but a whole range of other fruit bats is encountered. One of the most abundant is Eidolon helvum, the African Straw-coloured fruit bat. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Feces from E. helvum roosting in an urban setting in Kumasi/Ghana were tested for Henipavirus RNA. Sequences of three novel viruses in phylogenetic relationship to known Henipaviruses were detected. Virus RNA concentrations in feces were low. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The finding of novel putative Henipaviruses outside Australia and Asia contributes a significant extension of the region of potential endemicity of one of the most pathogenic virus genera known in humans.

  11. Presence and absence of bats across habitat scales in the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ford, W.Mark; Menzel, Jennifer M.; Menzel, Michael A.: Edwards, John W.; Kilgo, John C.

    2006-10-01

    Abstract During 2001, we used active acoustical sampling (Anabat II) to survey foraging habitat relationships of bats on the Savannah River Site (SRS) in the upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina. Using an a priori information-theoretic approach, we conducted logistic regression analysis to examine presence of individual bat species relative to a suite of microhabitat, stand, and landscape-level features such as forest structural metrics, forest type, proximity to riparian zones and Carolina bay wetlands, insect abundance, and weather. There was considerable empirical support to suggest that the majority of the activity of bats across most of the 6 species occurred at smaller, stand-level habitat scales that combine measures of habitat clutter (e.g., declining forest canopy cover and basal area), proximity to riparian zones, and insect abundance. Accordingly, we hypothesized that most foraging habitat relationships were more local than landscape across this relatively large area for generalist species of bats. The southeastern myotis (Myotis austroriparius) was the partial exception, as its presence was linked to proximity of Carolina bays (best approximating model) and bottomland hardwood communities (other models with empirical support). Efforts at SRS to promote open longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and loblolly pine (P. taeda) savanna conditions and to actively restore degraded Carolina bay wetlands will be beneficial to bats. Accordingly, our results should provide managers better insight for crafting guidelines for bat habitat conservation that could be linked to widely accepted land management and environmental restoration practices for the region.

  12. Molecular detection of the causative agent of white-nose syndrome on Rafinesque's big-eared bats (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) and two species of migratory bats in the southeastern USA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernard, Riley F; Foster, Jeffrey T; Willcox, Emma V; Parise, Katy L; McCracken, Gary F

    2015-04-01

    Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causal agent of white-nose syndrome (WNS), is responsible for widespread mortality of hibernating bats across eastern North America. To document P. destructans exposure and infections on bats active during winter in the southeastern US, we collected epidermal swabs from bats captured during winters 2012-13 and 2013-14 in mist nets set outside of hibernacula in Tennessee. Epidermal swab samples were collected from eight Rafinesque's big-eared bats (Corynorhinus rafinesquii), six eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis), and three silver-hair bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans). Using real-time PCR methods, we identified DNA sequences of P. destructans from skin swabs of two Rafinesque's big-eared bats, two eastern red bats, and one silver-haired bat. This is the first detection of the WNS fungus on Rafinesque's big-eared bats and eastern red bats and the second record of the presence of the fungus on silver-haired bats.

  13. The Oxford SWIFT Spectrograph: first commissioning and on-sky results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thatte, Niranjan; Tecza, Mathias; Clarke, Fraser; Goodsall, Timothy; Fogarty, Lisa; Houghton, Ryan; Salter, Graeme; Scott, Nicholas; Davies, Roger L.; Bouchez, Antonin; Dekany, Richard

    2010-07-01

    The Oxford SWIFT spectrograph, an I & z band (6500-10500 A) integral field spectrograph, is designed to operate as a facility instrument at the 200 inch Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain, in conjunction with the Palomar laser guide star adaptive optics system PALAO (and its upgrade to PALM3000). SWIFT provides spectra at R(≡λ/▵λ)~4000 of a contiguous two-dimensional field, 44 x 89 spatial pixels (spaxels) in size, at spatial scales of 0.235", 0.16", and 0.08" per spaxel. It employs two 250μm thick, fully depleted, extremely red sensitive 4k X 2k CCD detector arrays (manufactured by LBNL) that provide excellent quantum efficiency out to 1000 nm. We describe the commissioning observations and present the measured values of a number of instrument parameters. We also present some first science results that give a taste of the range of science programs where SWIFT can have a substantial impact.

  14. Continued INTEGRAL observations of Swift J1658.2-4242: brighter and softer?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grinberg, V.; Eikmann, W.; Kreykenbohm, I.; Wilms, J.

    2018-02-01

    INTEGRAL continued its observations of the new X-ray transient Swift J1658.2-4242 (GCN #22416 and #22417). The source was originally interpreted as a black hole X-ray binary due to its spectral shape (ATel #11306) but the detection of a pulsation with Swift (ATel #11311) points towards an accreting X-ray pulsar interpretation.

  15. Bats of Ouray National Wildlife Refuge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellison, Laura E.

    2011-01-01

    Ouray National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is located in the northeast corner of Utah along the Green River and is part of the Upper Colorado River System and the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is home to 19 species of bats, some of which are quite rare. Of those 19 species, a few have a more southern range and would not be expected to be found at Ouray NWR, but it is unknown what species occur at Ouray NWR or their relative abundance. The assumption is that Ouray NWR provides excellent habitat for bats, since the riparian habitat consists of a healthy population of cottonwoods with plenty of older, large trees and snags that would provide foraging and roosting habitat for bats. The more than 4,000 acres of wetland habitat, along with the associated insect population resulting from the wetland habitat, would provide ideal foraging habitat for bats. The overall objective of this project is to conduct a baseline inventory of bat species occurring on the refuge using mist nets and passive acoustic monitoring.

  16. Proceedings of the Wind Energy and Birds/Bats Workshop: Understanding and Resolving Bird and Bat Impacts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schwartz, Susan Savitt (ed.)

    2004-09-01

    Most conservation groups support the development of wind energy in the US as an alternative to fossil and nuclear-fueled power plants to meet growing demand for electrical energy. However, concerns have surfaced over the potential threat to birds, bats, and other wildlife from the construction and operation of wind turbine facilities. Co-sponsored by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the Wind Energy and Birds/Bats Workshop was convened to examine current research on the impacts of wind energy development on avian and bat species and to discuss the most effective ways to mitigate such impacts. On 18-19 May 2004, 82 representatives from government, non-government organizations, private business, and academia met to (1) review the status of the wind industry and current project development practices, including pre-development risk assessment and post-construction monitoring; (2) learn what is known about direct, indirect (habitat), and cumulative impacts on birds and bats from existing wind projects; about relevant aspects of bat and bird migration ecology; about offshore wind development experience in Europe; and about preventing, minimizing, and mitigating avian and bat impacts; (3) review wind development guidelines developed by the USFWS and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife; and (4) identify topics needing further research and to discuss what can be done to ensure that research is both credible and accessible. These Workshop Proceedings include detailed summaries of the presentations made and the discussions that followed.

  17. Convergences in the diversification of bats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Brock FENTON

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Twenty-five characters or suites of characters from bats are considered in light of changes in bat classification. The characters include some associated with flower-visiting (two, echolocation (12, roosting (six, reproduction (two and three are of unknown adaptive function. In both the 1998 and 2006 classifications of bats into suborders (Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera versus Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera, respectively, some convergences between suborders are the same (e.g., foliage roosting, tent building, but others associated with echolocation differ substantially. In the 1998 phylogeny convergences associated with echolocation (high duty cycle echolocation, nasal emission of echolocation calls occurred among the Microchiroptera. In the 2006 phylogeny, they occur between Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera. While some traits apparently arose independently in two suborders (e.g., foliage-roosting, tent building, low intensity echolocation calls, noseleafs, nasal emission of echolocation calls, high duty cycle echolocation behaviour, others appear to have been ancestral (roosting in narrow spaces, laryngeal echolocation, stylohyal-tympanic contact, oral emission of echolocation calls, and small litter size. A narrow profile through the chest is typical of bats reflecting the thoracic skeleton. This feature suggests that the ancestors of bats spent the day in small crevices. Features associated with laryngeal echolocation appear to be ancestral, suggesting that echolocation evolved early in bats but was subsequently lost in one yinpterochiropteran lineage [Current Zoology 56 (4: 454–468, 2010].

  18. Ecobat: An online resource to facilitate transparent, evidence-based interpretation of bat activity data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lintott, Paul R; Davison, Sophie; van Breda, John; Kubasiewicz, Laura; Dowse, David; Daisley, Jonathan; Haddy, Emily; Mathews, Fiona

    2018-01-01

    Acoustic surveys of bats are one of the techniques most commonly used by ecological practitioners. The results are used in Ecological Impact Assessments to assess the likely impacts of future developments on species that are widely protected in law, and to monitor developments' postconstruction. However, there is no standardized methodology for analyzing or interpreting these data, which can make the assessment of the ecological value of a site very subjective. Comparisons of sites and projects are therefore difficult for ecologists and decision-makers, for example, when trying to identify the best location for a new road based on relative bat activity levels along alternative routes. Here, we present a new web-based, data-driven tool, Ecobat, which addresses the need for a more robust way of interpreting ecological data. Ecobat offers users an easy, standardized, and objective method for analyzing bat activity data. It allows ecological practitioners to compare bat activity data at regional and national scales and to generate a numerical indicator of the relative importance of a night's worth of bat activity. The tool is free and open-source; because the underlying algorithms are already developed, it could easily be expanded to new geographical regions and species. Data donation is required to ensure the robustness of the analyses; we use a positive feedback mechanism to encourage ecological practitioners to share data by providing in return high quality, contextualized data analysis, and graphical visualizations for direct use in ecological reports.

  19. Adaptive vocal behavior drives perception by echolocation in bats

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moss, Cynthia F; Chiu, Chen; Surlykke, Annemarie

    2011-01-01

    Echolocation operates through adaptive sensorimotor systems that collectively enable the bat to localize and track sonar objects as it flies. The features of sonar signals used by a bat to probe its surroundings determine the information available to its acoustic imaging system. In turn, the bat......'s perception of a complex scene guides its active adjustments in the features of subsequent sonar vocalizations. Here, we propose that the bat's active vocal-motor behaviors play directly into its representation of a dynamic auditory scene....

  20. The aural anatomy of bats

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pye, Ade

    1970-01-01

    The fine structure of the ears of 62 species of bats from 13 families has been studied by means of serial sections. The bats were caught alive in Britain, West Indies, Panama, Central and North Africa and were intra-vitally perfused with fixative in order to obtain perfect preservation of the

  1. Joint Spectral Analysis for Early Bright X-ray Flares of γ-Ray Bursts ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Abstract. A joint spectral analysis for early bright X-ray flares that were simultaneously observed with Swift BAT and XRT are present. Both BAT and XRT lightcurves of these flares are correlated. Our joint spectral anal- ysis shows that the radiations in the two energy bands are from the same spectral component, which can ...

  2. Keeping bats cool in the winter: hibernating bats and their exposure to 'hot' incandescent lamplight

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Haarsma, A.J.; Hullu, de E.

    2012-01-01

    In order to monitor bat population trends, an annual census is performed of all known underground hibernacula in Europe. During these censuses, bats are sometimes found to show signs of arousal, presumably from non-tactile stimuli caused by the observer, e.g. air currents, sound, light or an

  3. Seven years with the Swift Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romano, P.

    2015-09-01

    Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXTs) are HMXBs with OB supergiant companions. I review the results of the Swift SFXT project, which since 2007 has been exploiting Swift's capabilities in a systematic study of SFXTs and supergiant X-ray binaries (SGXBs) by combining follow-ups of outbursts, when detailed broad-band spectroscopy is possible, with long-term monitoring campaigns, when the out-of-outburst fainter states can be observed. This strategy has led us to measure their duty cycles as a function of luminosity, to extract their differential luminosity distributions in the soft X-ray domain, and to compare, with unprecedented detail, the X-ray variability in these different classes of sources. I also discuss the ;seventh year crisis;, the challenges that the recent Swift observations are making to the prevailing models attempting to explain the SFXT behavior.

  4. Multiple mortality events in bats: a global review

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Shea, Thomas J.; Cryan, Paul; Hayman, David TH; Plowright, Raina K.; Streicker, Daniel G.

    2016-01-01

    Despite conservation concerns for many species of bats, factors causing mortality in bats have not been reviewed since 1970. Here, we review and qualitatively describe trends in the occurrence and apparent causes of multiple mortality events (MMEs) in bats around the world.

  5. European Bats as Carriers of Viruses with Zoonotic Potential

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Kohl

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Bats are being increasingly recognized as reservoir hosts of highly pathogenic and zoonotic emerging viruses (Marburg virus, Nipah virus, Hendra virus, Rabies virus, and coronaviruses. While numerous studies have focused on the mentioned highly human-pathogenic bat viruses in tropical regions, little is known on similar human-pathogenic viruses that may be present in European bats. Although novel viruses are being detected, their zoonotic potential remains unclear unless further studies are conducted. At present, it is assumed that the risk posed by bats to the general public is rather low. In this review, selected viruses detected and isolated in Europe are discussed from our point of view in regard to their human-pathogenic potential. All European bat species and their roosts are legally protected and some European species are even endangered. Nevertheless, the increasing public fear of bats and their viruses is an obstacle to their protection. Educating the public regarding bat lyssaviruses might result in reduced threats to both the public and the bats.

  6. Nonlinear effects in interactions of swift ions with solids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crawford, O.H.; Dorado, J.J.; Flores, F.

    1994-01-01

    The passage of a swift charged particle through a solid gives rise to a wake of induced electron density behind the particle. It is calculated for a proton penetrating an electron gas having the density of the valence electrons in gold, assuming linear response of the medium. The induced potential associated with the wake is responsible for the energy loss of the particle, and for many effects that have captured recent interest. These include, among others, vicinage effects on swift ion clusters, emission of electrons from bombarded solids, forces on swift ions near a surface, and energy shifts in electronic states of channeled ions. Furthermore, the wake has a determining influence on the spatial distribution, and character, of energy deposition in the medium. Previous theoretical studies of these phenomena have employed a linear wake, i.e., one that is proportional to the charge of the projectile, eZ. However, in most experiments that measure these effects, the conditions are such that the wake must include higher-order terms in Z. The purpose of this study is to analyze the nonlinear wake, to understand how the linear results must be revised

  7. A culture-based survey of fungi in soil from bat hibernacula in the eastern United States and its implications for detection of Geomyces destructans, the causal agent of bat white-nose syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorch, Jeffrey M.; Lindner, Daniel L.; Gargas, Andrea; Muller, Laura K.; Minnis, Andrew M.; Blehert, David S.

    2013-01-01

    The recent emergence of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease causing unprecedented mortality among hibernating bats of eastern North America, has revealed a knowledge gap regarding fungal communities associated with bats and their hibernacula. We used culture-based techniques to investigate the diversity of fungi in soil samples collected from 24 bat hibernacula in the eastern United States. Ribosomal RNA regions (internal transcribed spacer and partial intergenic spacer) were sequenced to preliminarily characterize isolates. Geomyces species were one of the most abundant and diverse groups cultured, representing approximately 33% of all isolates. Geomyces destructans was isolated from soil samples from three hibernacula in states where WNS is known to occur, and many of the other cultured Geomyces isolates likely represent undescribed taxa. Further characterization of the diversity of fungi that occur in hibernacula will both facilitate an improved understanding of the ecology of G. destructans within this complex fungal community and provide an opportunity to identify characteristics that differentiate G. destructans from non-pathogenic relatives.

  8. The relationships between impact location and post-impact ball speed, bat torsion, and ball direction in cricket batting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peploe, C; McErlain-Naylor, S A; Harland, A R; King, M A

    2018-06-01

    Three-dimensional kinematic data of bat and ball were recorded for 239 individual shots performed by twenty batsmen ranging from club to international standard. The impact location of the ball on the bat face was determined and assessed against the resultant instantaneous post-impact ball speed and measures of post-impact bat torsion and ball direction. Significant negative linear relationships were found between post-impact ball speed and the absolute distance of impact from the midline medio-laterally and sweetspot longitudinally. Significant cubic relationships were found between the distance of impact from the midline of the bat medio-laterally and both a measure of bat torsion and the post-impact ball direction. A "sweet region" on the bat face was identified whereby impacts within 2 cm of the sweetspot in the medio-lateral direction, and 4.5 cm in the longitudinal direction, caused reductions in ball speed of less than 6% from the optimal value, and deviations in ball direction of less than 10° from the intended target. This study provides a greater understanding of the margin for error afforded to batsmen, allowing researchers to assess shot success in more detail, and highlights the importance of players generating consistently central impact locations when hitting for optimal performance.

  9. Heard but not seen: Comparing bat assemblages and study methods in a mosaic landscape in the Western Ghats of India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wordley, Claire F R; Sankaran, Mahesh; Mudappa, Divya; Altringham, John D

    2018-04-01

    We used capture (mist-netting) and acoustic methods to compare the species richness, abundance, and composition of a bat assemblage in different habitats in the Western Ghats of India. In the tropics, catching bats has been more commonly used as a survey method than acoustic recordings. In our study, acoustic methods based on recording echolocation calls detected greater bat activity and more species than mist-netting. However, some species were detected more frequently or exclusively by capture. Ideally, the two methods should be used together to compensate for the biases in each. Using combined capture and acoustic data, we found that protected forests, forest fragments, and shade coffee plantations hosted similar and diverse species assemblages, although some species were recorded more frequently in protected forests. Tea plantations contained very few species from the overall bat assemblage. In riparian habitats, a strip of forested habitat on the river bank improved the habitat for bats compared to rivers with tea planted up to each bank. Our results show that shade coffee plantations are better bat habitat than tea plantations in biodiversity hotspots. However, if tea is to be the dominant land use, forest fragments and riparian corridors can improve the landscape considerably for bats. We encourage coffee growers to retain traditional plantations with mature native trees, rather than reverting to sun grown coffee or coffee shaded by a few species of timber trees.

  10. Finding AGN in Deep X-ray Flux States with Swift

    OpenAIRE

    Grupe, Dirk; Komossa, S.; Bush, Mason; Pruett, Chelsea; Ernst, Sonny; Barber, Taylor; Carter, Jen; Schartel, Norbert; Rodriguez, Pedro; Santos-Lleó, Maria

    2015-01-01

    We report on our ongoing project of finding Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) that go into deep X-ray flux states detected by Swift. Swift is performing an extensive study on the flux and spectral variability of AGN using Guest Investigator and team fill-in programs followed by triggering XMM_Newton for deeper follow-up observations. So far this program has been very successful and has led to a number of XMM-Newton follow up observations, including Mkn 335, PG 0844+349, and RX J2340.8-5329. Recent...

  11. The Oxford SWIFT Spectrograph: first commissioning and on-sky results

    OpenAIRE

    Thatte, Niranjan; Tecza, Mathias; Clarke, Fraser; Goodsall, Timothy; Fogarty, Lisa; Houghton, Ryan; Salter, Graeme; Scott, Nicholas; Davies, Roger L.; Bouchez, Antonin; Dekany, Richard

    2010-01-01

    The Oxford SWIFT spectrograph, an I & z band (6500-10500 A) integral field spectrograph, is designed to operate as a facility instrument at the 200 inch Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain, in conjunction with the Palomar laser guide star adaptive optics system PALAO (and its upgrade to PALM3000). SWIFT provides spectra at R(≡λ/▵λ)~4000 of a contiguous two-dimensional field, 44 x 89 spatial pixels (spaxels) in size, at spatial scales of 0.235";, 0.16", and 0.08" per spaxel. It employs two 250μ...

  12. Innate recognition of water bodies in echolocating bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greif, Stefan; Siemers, Björn M

    2010-11-02

    In the course of their lives, most animals must find different specific habitat and microhabitat types for survival and reproduction. Yet, in vertebrates, little is known about the sensory cues that mediate habitat recognition. In free flying bats the echolocation of insect-sized point targets is well understood, whereas how they recognize and classify spatially extended echo targets is currently unknown. In this study, we show how echolocating bats recognize ponds or other water bodies that are crucial for foraging, drinking and orientation. With wild bats of 15 different species (seven genera from three phylogenetically distant, large bat families), we found that bats perceived any extended, echo-acoustically smooth surface to be water, even in the presence of conflicting information from other sensory modalities. In addition, naive juvenile bats that had never before encountered a water body showed spontaneous drinking responses from smooth plates. This provides the first evidence for innate recognition of a habitat cue in a mammal.

  13. [Hematophagous bats as reservoirs of rabies].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheffer, Karin Corrêa; Iamamoto, Keila; Asano, Karen Miyuki; Mori, Enio; Estevez Garcia, Andrea Isabel; Achkar, Samira M; Fahl, Williande Oliveira

    2014-04-01

    Rabies continues to be a challenge for public health authorities and a constraint to the livestock industry in Latin America. Wild and domestic canines and vampire bats are the main transmitter species and reservoirs of the disease. Currently, variations observed in the epidemiological profile of rabies, where the species of hematophagous bat Desmodus rotundus constitutes the main transmitting species. Over the years, knowledge has accumulated about the ecology, biology and behavior of this species and the natural history of rabies, which should lead to continuous development of methods of population control of d. Rotundus as well as prevention and diagnostic tools for rabies. Ecological relationships of this species with other hematophagous and non-hematophagous bats is unknown, and there is much room for improvement in reporting systems and surveillance, as well as creating greater awareness among the farming community. Understanding the impact of human-induced environmental changes on the rabies virus in bats should be cause for further investigation. This will require a combination of field studies with mathematical models and new diagnostic tools. This review aims to present the most relevant issues on the role of hematophagous bats as reservoirs and transmitters of the rabies virus.

  14. Investigating white-nose syndrome in bats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blehert, David S.

    2009-01-01

    A devastating, emergent disease afflicting hibernating bats has pread from the northeast to the mid-Atlantic region of the United States at an alarming rate. Since the winter of 2006-2007, hundreds of thousands of insect-eating bats from at least nine states have died from this new disease, named White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). The disease is named for the white fungus often seen on the muzzles, ears, and wings of bats. This disease poses a threat to cave hibernating bats of the United States and potentially all temperate regions of the world. USGS scientists from the National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) and the Fort Collins Science Center (FORT), in collaboration with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and others have linked a newly described, cold-loving fungus to WNS.

  15. A perspective on bats (Chiroptera

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Brock Fenton

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available With over 130 species, bats are the most diverse group of mammals almost everywhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2000, two books (Monadjem et al. 2010; Taylor 2000 have made it much easier to appreciate this reality. Species previously unrecognised are frequent discoveries (e.g. Taylor et al. 2012. Whilst most species are mainly insectivorous, some rely more directly on plants, taking fruit and visiting flowers to obtain nectar and pollen. The combination of mobility, long lifespan and diversity of trophic roles makes bats potentially valuable as indicators of ecosystem health (Cumming & Spiesman 2006. Lack of detailed information, however, makes it easy to overlook bats when focusing on issues of conservation.

  16. A perspective on bats (Chiroptera

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Brock Fenton

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available With over 130 species, bats are the most diverse group of mammals almost everywhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2000, two books (Monadjem et al. 2010; Taylor 2000 have made it much easier to appreciate this reality. Species previously unrecognised are frequent discoveries (e.g. Taylor et al. 2012. Whilst most species are mainly insectivorous, some rely more directly on plants, taking fruit and visiting flowers to obtain nectar and pollen. The combination of mobility, long lifespan and diversity of trophic roles makes bats potentially valuable as indicators of ecosystem health (Cumming & Spiesman 2006. Lack of detailed information, however, makes it easy to overlook bats when focusing on issues of conservation.

  17. Gamma Ray Burst Discoveries by the Swift Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gehrels, Neil

    2006-01-01

    Gamma-ray bursts are among the most fascinating occurrences in the cosmos. They are thought to be the birth cries of black holes throughout the universe. The NASA swift mission is an innovative new multiwavelength observatory designed to determine the origin of bursts and use them to probe the early Universe. Swift is now in orbit since November 20, 2004 and all hardware is performing well. A new-technology wide-field gamma-ray camera is detecting a hundred bursts per year. sensitive narrow-field X-ray and uv/optical telescopes, built in collaboration with UK and Italian partners, are pointed at the burst location in 50-100 sec by an autonomously controlled "swift" spacecraft. For each burst, arcsec positions are determined and optical/UV/X-ray/gamma-ray spectrophotometry performed. Information is also rapidly sent to the ground to a team of more than 50 observers at telescopes around the world. The first year of findings from the mission will be presented. There has been a break-through in the longstanding mystery of short GRBs; they appear to be caused by merging neutron stars. High redshift bursts have been detected leading to a better understanding of star formation rates and distant galaxy environments. GRBs have been found with giant X-ray flares occurring in their afterglow.

  18. Gamma Ray Burst Discoveries by the Swift Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gehrels, Neil

    2006-04-01

    Gamma-ray bursts are among the most fascinating occurrences in the cosmos. They are thought to be the birth cries of black holes throughout the universe. The NASA Swift mission is an innovative new multiwavelength observatory designed to determine the origin of bursts and use them to probe the early Universe. Swift is now in orbit since November 20, 2004 and all hardware is performing well. A new-technology wide-field gamma-ray camera is detecting a hundred bursts per year. Sensitive narrow-field X-ray and UV/optical telescopes, built in collaboration with UK and Italian partners, are pointed at the burst location in 50-100 sec by an autonomously controlled ``swift'' spacecraft. For each burst, arcsec positions are determined and optical/UV/X-ray/gamma-ray spectrophotometry performed. Information is also rapidly sent to the ground to a team of more than 50 observers at telescopes around the world. The first year of findings from the mission will be presented. There has been a break-through in the long-standing mystery of short GRBs; they appear to be caused by merging neutron stars. High redshift bursts have been detected leading to a better understanding of star formation rates and distant galaxy environments. GRBs have been found with giant X-ray flares occurring in their afterglow.

  19. [Trematodes (Trematoda) of bats (Chiroptera) from the Middle Volga Region].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirillov, A A; Kirillova, N Iu; Vekhnik, V P

    2012-01-01

    The data on species diversity of trematodes from bats collected in the Middle Volga Region are summarized. According to original and literary data, 20 trematode species were recorded in bats of the region examined. Plagiorchis elegans, Lecithodendrium skrjabini, L. rysavyi, Prosthodendrium hurkovaae, and Pycnoporus megacotyle are specified for the bat fauna of Russia for the first time. For 11 species of parasites, new hosts are recorded. The analysis of bat helminthes demonstrated that the fauna of trematodes of the northern bat (12 species of trematodes), of the pond, and of the Brandt's bats is the most diverse, constituting more than 10 parasite species per bat species. The largest number of final hosts in the Middle Volga Region is characteristic of Plagiorchis koreanus and Prosthodendrium chilostomum; the latter species were revealed in 8 and 7 bat species, respectively. Trematodes of bats possess a high degree of host specificity. 17 species parasitize exclusively in bats out of 20 parasite species registered for the order Chiroptera. Only 3 species (Plagiorchis elegans, P. vespertilionis, and Prosthodendrium chilostomum) show wide degree of specificity, being found in other animals. Taxonomic position, the circle of hosts, collecting sites, and brief data in biology and geographical distribution for each helminth species are specified. Morphological descriptions and original figures for all the trematode species revealed in bats of the Middle Volga Region are given.

  20. White-nose syndrome fungus (Geomyces destructans) in bats, Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wibbelt, G.; Kurth, A.; Hellmann, D.; Weishaar, M.; Barlow, A.; Veith, M.; Pruger, J.; Gorfol, T.; Grosche, T.; Bontadina, F.; Zophel, U.; Seidl, Hans-Peter; Cryan, P.M.; Blehert, D.S.

    2010-01-01

    White-nose syndrome is an emerging disease in North America that has caused substantial declines in hibernating bats. A recently identified fungus (Geomyces destructans) causes skin lesions that are characteristic of this disease. Typical signs of this infection were not observed in bats in North America before white-nose syndrome was detected. However, unconfirmed reports from Europe indicated white fungal growth on hibernating bats without associated deaths. To investigate these differences, hibernating bats were sampled in Germany, Switzerland, and Hungary to determine whether G. destructans is present in Europe. Microscopic observations, fungal culture, and genetic analyses of 43 samples from 23 bats indicated that 21 bats of 5 species in 3 countries were colonized by G. destructans. We hypothesize that G. destructans is present throughout Europe and that bats in Europe may be more immunologically or behaviorally resistant to G. destructans than their congeners in North America because they potentially coevolved with the fungus.

  1. White-nose syndrome fungus (Geomyces destructans) in bats, Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wibbelt, Gudrun; Kurth, Andreas; Hellmann, David; Weishaar, Manfred; Barlow, Alex; Veith, Michael; Prüger, Julia; Görföl, Tamás; Grosche, Lena; Bontadina, Fabio; Zöphel, Ulrich; Seidl, Hans Peter; Seidl, Hans Peter; Blehert, David S

    2010-08-01

    White-nose syndrome is an emerging disease in North America that has caused substantial declines in hibernating bats. A recently identified fungus (Geomyces destructans) causes skin lesions that are characteristic of this disease. Typical signs of this infection were not observed in bats in North America before white-nose syndrome was detected. However, unconfirmed reports from Europe indicated white fungal growth on hibernating bats without associated deaths. To investigate these differences, hibernating bats were sampled in Germany, Switzerland, and Hungary to determine whether G. destructans is present in Europe. Microscopic observations, fungal culture, and genetic analyses of 43 samples from 23 bats indicated that 21 bats of 5 species in 3 countries were colonized by G. destructans. We hypothesize that G. destructans is present throughout Europe and that bats in Europe may be more immunologically or behaviorally resistant to G. destructans than their congeners in North America because they potentially coevolved with the fungus.

  2. Negative regulators of brown adipose tissue (BAT)-mediated thermogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Bal Krishan; Patil, Mallikarjun; Satyanarayana, Ande

    2014-12-01

    Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is specialized for energy expenditure, a process called adaptive thermogenesis. PET-CT scans recently demonstrated the existence of metabolically active BAT in adult humans, which revitalized our interest in BAT. Increasing the amount and/or activity of BAT holds tremendous promise for the treatment of obesity and its associated diseases. PGC1α is the master regulator of UCP1-mediated thermogenesis in BAT. A number of proteins have been identified to influence thermogenesis either positively or negatively through regulating the expression or transcriptional activity of PGC1α. Therefore, BAT activation can be achieved by either inducing the expression of positive regulators of PGC1α or by inhibiting the repressors of the PGC1α/UCP1 pathway. Here, we review the most important negative regulators of PGC1α/UCP1 signaling and their mechanism of action in BAT-mediated thermogenesis. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Automated Acoustic Identification of Bats

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-01

    long-nosed bat, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae Maca California leaf-nosed bat, Macrotus californicus Myca California myotis, M. californicus Myci western...californicus ( Maca ) Nyctinomops femorosaccus (Nyfe) Leptonycteris yerbabuenae (Leye) N. macrotis (Nyma) Lasiurus blossevillii (Labl) / L. borealis (Labo...Myve Myar Chme Maca Maca Maca Leye Leye Pahe Pahe Pahe Pahe Labl Labl Labl Labl Laxa Laxa Laxa Myev Myev Anpa

  4. A checklist of the bats of Peninsular Malaysia and progress towards a DNA barcode reference library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Voon-Ching; Ramli, Rosli; Bhassu, Subha; Wilson, John-James

    2017-01-01

    Several published checklists of bat species have covered Peninsular Malaysia as part of a broader region and/or in combination with other mammal groups. Other researchers have produced comprehensive checklists for specific localities within the peninsula. To our knowledge, a comprehensive checklist of bats specifically for the entire geopolitical region of Peninsular Malaysia has never been published, yet knowing which species are present in Peninsular Malaysia and their distributions across the region are crucial in developing suitable conservation plans. Our literature search revealed that 110 bat species have been documented in Peninsular Malaysia; 105 species have precise locality records while five species lack recent and/or precise locality records. We retrieved 18 species from records dated before the year 2000 and seven species have only ever been recorded once. Our search of Barcode of Life Datasystems (BOLD) found that 86 (of the 110) species have public records of which 48 species have public DNA barcodes available from bats sampled in Peninsular Malaysia. Based on Neighbour-Joining tree analyses and the allocation of DNA barcodes to Barcode Index Number system (BINs) by BOLD, several DNA barcodes recorded under the same species name are likely to represent distinct taxa. We discuss these cases in detail and highlight the importance of further surveys to determine the occurences and resolve the taxonomy of particular bat species in Peninsular Malaysia, with implications for conservation priorities.

  5. Dampened STING-Dependent Interferon Activation in Bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Jiazheng; Li, Yang; Shen, Xurui; Goh, Geraldine; Zhu, Yan; Cui, Jie; Wang, Lin-Fa; Shi, Zheng-Li; Zhou, Peng

    2018-03-14

    Compared with terrestrial mammals, bats have a longer lifespan and greater capacity to co-exist with a variety of viruses. In addition to cytosolic DNA generated by these viral infections, the metabolic demands of flight cause DNA damage and the release of self-DNA into the cytoplasm. However, whether bats have an altered DNA sensing/defense system to balance high cytosolic DNA levels remains an open question. We demonstrate that bats have a dampened interferon response due to the replacement of the highly conserved serine residue (S358) in STING, an essential adaptor protein in multiple DNA sensing pathways. Reversing this mutation by introducing S358 restored STING functionality, resulting in interferon activation and virus inhibition. Combined with previous reports on bat-specific changes of other DNA sensors such as TLR9, IFI16, and AIM2, our findings shed light on bat adaptation to flight, their long lifespan, and their unique capacity to serve as a virus reservoir. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. BATS, the readout control of UA1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Botlo, M.; Dorenbosch, J.; Jimack, M.; Szoncso, F.; Taurok, A.; Walzel, G. (European Organization for Nuclear Research, Geneva (Switzerland))

    1991-04-15

    A steadily rising luminosity and different readout architectures for the various detector systems of UA1 required a new data flow control to minimize the dead time. BATS, a finite state machine conceived around two microprocessors in a single VME crate, improved flexibility and reliability. Compatibility with BATS streamlined all readout branches. BATS also proved to be a valuable asset in spotting readout problems and previously undetected data flow bottlenecks. (orig.).

  7. Assessing bat droppings and predatory bird pellets for vector-borne bacteria: molecular evidence of bat-associated Neorickettsia sp. in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hornok, Sándor; Szőke, Krisztina; Estók, Péter; Krawczyk, Aleksandra; Haarsma, Anne-Jifke; Kováts, Dávid; Boldogh, Sándor A; Morandini, Pál; Szekeres, Sándor; Takács, Nóra; Kontschán, Jenő; Meli, Marina L; Fernández de Mera, Isabel G; de la Fuente, José; Gyuranecz, Miklós; Sulyok, Kinga M; Weibel, Beatrice; Gönczi, Enikő; de Bruin, Arnout; Sprong, Hein; Hofmann-Lehmann, Regina

    2018-02-28

    In Europe, several species of bats, owls and kestrels exemplify highly urbanised, flying vertebrates, which may get close to humans or domestic animals. Bat droppings and bird pellets may have epidemiological, as well as diagnostic significance from the point of view of pathogens. In this work 221 bat faecal and 118 bird pellet samples were screened for a broad range of vector-borne bacteria using PCR-based methods. Rickettsia DNA was detected in 13 bat faecal DNA extracts, including the sequence of a rickettsial insect endosymbiont, a novel Rickettsia genotype and Rickettsia helvetica. Faecal samples of the pond bat (Myotis dasycneme) were positive for a Neorickettsia sp. and for haemoplasmas of the haemofelis group. In addition, two bird pellets (collected from a Long-eared Owl, Asio otus, and from a Common Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus) contained the DNA of a Rickettsia sp. and Anaplasma phagocytophilum, respectively. In both of these bird pellets the bones of Microtus arvalis were identified. All samples were negative for Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., Francisella tularensis, Coxiella burnetii and Chlamydiales. In conclusion, bats were shown to pass rickettsia and haemoplasma DNA in their faeces. Molecular evidence is provided for the presence of Neorickettsia sp. in bat faeces in Europe. In the evaluated regions bat faeces and owl/kestrel pellets do not appear to pose epidemiological risk from the point of view of F. tularensis, C. burnetii and Chlamydiales. Testing of bird pellets may provide an alternative approach to trapping for assessing the local occurrence of vector-borne bacteria in small mammals.

  8. Sperm competition in bats.

    OpenAIRE

    Hosken, D J

    1997-01-01

    Sperm competition is a widespread phenomenon influencing the evolution of male anatomy, physiology and behaviour. Bats are an ideal group for studying sperm competition. Females store fertile sperm for up to 200 days and the size of social groups varies from single animals to groups of hundreds of thousands. This study examines the relationship between social group size and investment in spermatogenesis across 31 species of microchiropteran bat using new and published data on testis mass and ...

  9. VizieR Online Data Catalog: Swift-UVOT obs. analysis of 29 SNe Ia (Brown+, 2017)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, P. J.; Landez, N. J.; Milne, P. A.; Stritzinger, M. D.

    2017-10-01

    Swift/UVOT has observed over 500 SNe of all types in its 12 years of operation (see Brown+ 2015JHEAp...7..111B for a review of the first 10yrs). Most of the observations use six UV and optical filters. All photometry comes from the Swift Optical/Ultraviolet Supernova Archive (SOUSA; Brown+ 2014Ap&SS.354...89B) and is available at the Swift SN website and the Open Supernova Archive (Guillochon+ 2017ApJ...835...64G). (1 data file).

  10. Monitoring the status of Gray Bats (Myotis grisescens) in Virginia, 2009-2014, and potential impacts of White-nose Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powers, Karen E.; Reynolds, Richard J.; Orndorff, Wil; Hyzy, Brenna A.; Hobson, Christopher S.; Ford, W. Mark

    2016-01-01

    Myotis grisescens (Gray Bat) is a federally endangered species distributed over the mid-South with a summer range that extends across the upper Tennessee River Basin, including southwest Virginia. Given the onset of White-nose Syndrome (WNS) in the Commonwealth in the winter of 2009, we initiated yearly surveys in late summer 2009 to monitor the status of known summer populations. Our objectives were to examine the relative health of these bats using body mass index (BMI), and determine any changes in juvenile recruitment across sites and years. We did not find any marked changes in BMI across years after WNS for Gray Bats. This finding suggests that surviving bats are either not negatively impacted by WNS or have recovered sufficiently by late summer as to not document obvious differences across years. After limiting our analyses of juvenile recruitment to only the individuals that we had definitively aged via backlit photos (2010–2014), we found a non-significant declining trend in juvenile recruitment; a trend that merits continued monitoring in the years to come. As Gray Bats have only recently shown to be susceptible to WNS infection, it is possible that observable population declines are forthcoming.

  11. Repeated detection of European bat lyssavirus type 2 in dead bats found at a single roost site in the UK.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banyard, Ashley C; Johnson, N; Voller, K; Hicks, D; Nunez, A; Hartley, M; Fooks, A R

    2009-01-01

    In August 2007, European bat lyssavirus type 2 (EBLV-2) was isolated from a Daubenton's bat found at Stokesay Castle. In September 2008, another bat from the same vicinity of Stokesay Castle also tested positive for EBLV-2. This is the first occurrence of repeated detection of EBLV-2 from a single site. Here, we report the detection of low levels of viral RNA in various bat organs by qRT-PCR and detection of viral antigen by immunohistochemistry. We also report sequence data from both cases and compare data with those derived from other EBLV-2 isolations in the UK.

  12. Echolocating bats cry out loud to detect their prey.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annemarie Surlykke

    Full Text Available Echolocating bats have successfully exploited a broad range of habitats and prey. Much research has demonstrated how time-frequency structure of echolocation calls of different species is adapted to acoustic constraints of habitats and foraging behaviors. However, the intensity of bat calls has been largely neglected although intensity is a key factor determining echolocation range and interactions with other bats and prey. Differences in detection range, in turn, are thought to constitute a mechanism promoting resource partitioning among bats, which might be particularly important for the species-rich bat assemblages in the tropics. Here we present data on emitted intensities for 11 species from 5 families of insectivorous bats from Panamá hunting in open or background cluttered space or over water. We recorded all bats in their natural habitat in the field using a multi-microphone array coupled with photographic methods to assess the bats' position in space to estimate emitted call intensities. All species emitted intense search signals. Output intensity was reduced when closing in on background by 4-7 dB per halving of distance. Source levels of open space and edge space foragers (Emballonuridae, Mormoopidae, Molossidae, and Vespertilionidae ranged between 122-134 dB SPL. The two Noctilionidae species hunting over water emitted the loudest signals recorded so far for any bat with average source levels of ca. 137 dB SPL and maximum levels above 140 dB SPL. In spite of this ten-fold variation in emitted intensity, estimates indicated, surprisingly, that detection distances for prey varied far less; bats emitting the highest intensities also emitted the highest frequencies, which are severely attenuated in air. Thus, our results suggest that bats within a local assemblage compensate for frequency dependent attenuation by adjusting the emitted intensity to achieve comparable detection distances for prey across species. We conclude that for bats

  13. Indiana bats, northern long-eared bats, and prescribed fire in the Appalachians: challenges and considerations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Susan Loeb; Joy O' Keefe

    2014-01-01

    The Indiana bat (Myotis sodalist) is an endangered species and the northern long-eared bat (M. septentrionalis) has been proposed for listing as endangered. Both species are found throughout the Appalachians, and they commonly inhabit fire-dependent ecosystems such as pine and pine-oak forests. Due to their legal status, prescribed burns in areas where these species...

  14. Biological correlates of extinction risk in bats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Kate E; Purvis, Andy; Gittleman, John L

    2003-04-01

    We investigated patterns and processes of extinction and threat in bats using a multivariate phylogenetic comparative approach. Of nearly 1,000 species worldwide, 239 are considered threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and 12 are extinct. Small geographic ranges and low wing aspect ratios are independently found to predict extinction risk in bats, which explains 48% of the total variance in IUCN assessments of threat. The pattern and correlates of extinction risk in the two bat suborders are significantly different. A higher proportion (4%) of megachiropteran species have gone extinct in the last 500 years than microchiropteran bats (0.3%), and a higher proportion is currently at risk of extinction (Megachiroptera: 34%; Microchiroptera: 22%). While correlates of microchiropteran extinction risk are the same as in the order as a whole, megachiropteran extinction is correlated more with reproductive rate and less with wing morphology. Bat extinction risk is not randomly distributed phylogenetically: closely related species have more similar levels of threat than would be expected if extinction risk were random. Given the unbalanced nature of the evolutionary diversification of bats, it is probable that the amount of phylogenetic diversity lost if currently threatened taxa disappear may be greater than in other clades with numerically more threatened species.

  15. Mineral Licks Attract Neotropical Seed-Dispersing Bats

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voigt, Ch.C.; Dechmann, D.K.N.; Dechmann, D.K.N.; Kunz, Th.H.; Bender, J.; Rinehart, B.J.; Michener, R.H.

    2007-01-01

    Unlike most terrestrial mammals, female bats must supply their offspring with all required nutrients until pups achieve virtually adult size, at which time they are able to fly and become independent. Access to nutrients may be especially challenging for reproductively active females in mineral-poor landscapes such as tropical rain forests. We hypothesized that pregnant and lactating females from tropical landscapes acquire essential nutrients from locally-available mineral licks. We captured ten times as many bats at mineral licks than at control sites in a lowland rain forest in eastern Ecuador. Among bats captured at mineral licks, the sex ratio was heavily biased toward females, and a significantly higher portion of females captured at these sites, compared to control sites, were reproductively active (pregnant and lactating). Enrichment of N 15 in relation to N 14 in wing tissue indicated that bats captured at mineral licks were mostly fruit-eating species. Given the high visitation rates of reproductive active females at mineral licks, it is likely that mineral licks are important for fruit-eating female bats as a mineral source during late pregnancy and lactation. By sustaining high population densities of fruit-eating bats that disperse seeds, mineral licks may have an indirect influence on local plant species richness.

  16. On the Nature of the Hard X-Ray Sources SWIFT J1907.3-2050, IGR J12123-5802 and IGR J19552+0044

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernardini, F.; deMartino, D; Mukai, K.; Falanga, M.; Andruchow, I.; Bonnet-Bidaud, J.-M.; Masetti, N.; GonzalezBuitrago, D. H.; Mouchet, M.; Tovmassian, G.

    2014-01-01

    The INTEGRAL and Swift hard X-ray surveys have identified a large number of new sources, among which many are proposed as Cataclysmic Variables (CVs). Here we present the first detailed study of three X-ray selected CVs, Swift J1907.3-2050, IGRJ12123-5802, and IGRJ19552+0044 based on XMM-Newton, Suzaku, Swift observations and ground based optical and archival nIR/IR data. Swift J1907.3-2050 is highly variable from hours to monthsyears at all wavelengths. No coherent X-ray pulses are detected but rather transient features. The X-ray spectrum reveals a multi-temperature optically thin plasma absorbed by complex neutral material and a soft black body component arising from a small area. These characteristics are remarkably similar to those observed in magnetic CVs. A supra-solar abundance of nitrogen could arise from nuclear processed material from the donor star. Swift J1907.3-2050 could be a peculiar magnetic CV with the second longest (20.82 h) binary period. IGRJ12123-5802 is variable in the X-rays on a timescale of approximately or greater than 7.6 h. No coherent pulsations are detected, but its spectral characteristics suggest that it could be a magnetic CV of the Intermediate Polar (IP) type. IGRJ19552+0044 shows two X-ray periods, approximately 1.38 h and approximately 1.69 h and a X-ray spectrum characterized by a multi-temperature plasma with little absorption.We derive a low accretion rate, consistent with a CV below the orbital period gap. Its peculiar nIR/IR spectrum suggests a contribution from cyclotron emission. It could either be a pre-polar or an IP with the lowest degree of asynchronism.

  17. iOS game development : Mobile game development with Swift programming language and SceneKit framework

    OpenAIRE

    Koskenseppä, Juuso

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of the thesis was to create an iOS game that could be deemed complete enough, so it could be published in Apple’s App Store. This meant fulfilling different guide-lines specified by Apple. The project was carried out by using Apple’s new Swift programming language and SceneKit framework, with an intention to see how they work for iOS game development. The immaturity of Swift programming language led to several code rewrites, every time a newer Swift version was released. T...

  18. Causes of bat fatalities at wind turbines: Hypotheses and predictions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cryan, P.M.; Barclay, R.M.R.

    2009-01-01

    Thousands of industrial-scale wind turbines are being built across the world each year to meet the growing demand for sustainable energy. Bats of certain species are dying at wind turbines in unprecedented numbers. Species of bats consistently affected by turbines tend to be those that rely on trees as roosts and most migrate long distances. Although considerable progress has been made in recent years toward better understanding the problem, the causes of bat fatalities at turbines remain unclear. In this synthesis, we review hypothesized causes of bat fatalities at turbines. Hypotheses of cause fall into 2 general categoriesproximate and ultimate. Proximate causes explain the direct means by which bats die at turbines and include collision with towers and rotating blades, and barotrauma. Ultimate causes explain why bats come close to turbines and include 3 general types: random collisions, coincidental collisions, and collisions that result from attraction of bats to turbines. The random collision hypothesis posits that interactions between bats and turbines are random events and that fatalities are representative of the bats present at a site. Coincidental hypotheses posit that certain aspects of bat distribution or behavior put them at risk of collision and include aggregation during migration and seasonal increases in flight activity associated with feeding or mating. A surprising number of attraction hypotheses suggest that bats might be attracted to turbines out of curiosity, misperception, or as potential feeding, roosting, flocking, and mating opportunities. Identifying, prioritizing, and testing hypothesized causes of bat collisions with wind turbines are vital steps toward developing practical solutions to the problem. ?? 2009 American Society of Mammalogists.

  19. Active Listening in a Bat Cocktail Party: Adaptive Echolocation and Flight Behaviors of Big Brown Bats, Eptesicus fuscus, Foraging in a Cluttered Acoustic Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warnecke, Michaela; Chiu, Chen; Engelberg, Jonathan; Moss, Cynthia F

    2015-09-01

    In their natural environment, big brown bats forage for small insects in open spaces, as well as in vegetation and in the presence of acoustic clutter. While searching and hunting for prey, bats experience sonar interference, not only from densely cluttered environments, but also from calls of conspecifics foraging in close proximity. Previous work has shown that when two bats compete for a single prey item in a relatively open environment, one of the bats may go silent for extended periods of time, which can serve to minimize sonar interference between conspecifics. Additionally, pairs of big brown bats have been shown to adjust frequency characteristics of their vocalizations to avoid acoustic interference in echo processing. In this study, we extended previous work by examining how the presence of conspecifics and environmental clutter influence the bat's echolocation behavior. By recording multichannel audio and video data of bats engaged in insect capture in open and cluttered spaces, we quantified the bats' vocal and flight behaviors. Big brown bats flew individually and in pairs in an open and cluttered room, and the results of this study shed light on the different strategies that this species employs to negotiate a complex and dynamic environment. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  20. Convergent acoustic field of view in echolocating bats

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsen, Lasse; Ratcliffe, John M; Surlykke, Annemarie

    2013-01-01

    Most echolocating bats exhibit a strong correlation between body size and the frequency of maximum energy in their echolocation calls (peak frequency), with smaller species using signals of higher frequency than larger ones. Size-signal allometry or acoustic detection constraints imposed on wavel......Most echolocating bats exhibit a strong correlation between body size and the frequency of maximum energy in their echolocation calls (peak frequency), with smaller species using signals of higher frequency than larger ones. Size-signal allometry or acoustic detection constraints imposed...... on wavelength by preferred prey size have been used to explain this relationship. Here we propose the hypothesis that smaller bats emit higher frequencies to achieve directional sonar beams, and that variable beam width is critical for bats. Shorter wavelengths relative to the size of the emitter translate...... into more directional sound beams. Therefore, bats that emit their calls through their mouths should show a relationship between mouth size and wavelength, driving smaller bats to signals of higher frequency. We found that in a flight room mimicking a closed habitat, six aerial hawking vespertilionid...