Re: [Texascavers] NSS Membership
OK, I tried to not voice my opinion largely because people don't tend to be persuaded by facts, but apparently I lack the discipline. Typically, I think we tend to form opinions and then look for evidence that our position is correct, rather than look at data and then form our opinions. In this case, Gill is arguing for more recruitment. I suspect that much like people whose solution is to lower taxes for all economic problems, there are those for whom recruitment is the standard response to any given membership problem. Gill may be perfectly correct about issues at the Grotto lever, however I will show you why I think he couldn't be more wrong when it comes to the NSS. For many years cavers have assumed that NSS membership is down because of lower recruitment and then they go on to try to explain why recruitment is down and why recruitment is necessary. However, is the assumption true and are there data available to us to test the assumption? There are data on NSS membership recruitment: the NSS gives each new member a serial number. When I was on the NSS Board, I asked for and got the last serial number issued for each year. I also asked for and received the total number of members at the end of each year. Then I made a graph of the data. I expected that if everyone were correct that the rate of new membership would have decreased and that attrition would be fairly constant. That is not what I found. The rate of recruitment formed a positive slope throughout the existence of the NSS (I have not looked at the data since 2006, but the membership numbers were shrinking even then). That means that the NSS is gaining members faster than it ever has. The curve that changed was not recruitment, but total members. And the change in slope was in 1995. Since 1995, we have had greater attrition of our members. The question is why? That question will not get answered by those who think that we just need to recruit more members. And the problem will not be solved if the problem is not the one people think it is. Poor retention of members means that people who have experienced the supposed benefits of NSS membership and found that it was not worth it to them as much as people used to value it. Let us consider some other data. 1) What separates an NSS member from being just a NSS News subscriber. The caving community was once known for its camaraderie. The NSS Conventions attracted an average of 20% of its membership from about 1965 through 1976. Since then, the highest attendance has been 14% and is often less than 5%. It is hard to feel like one is part of a family if one never meets most of them. 2) There was a survey conducted of the membership a few years back and I will grant that its methods were quite flawed. However, there were a few solid appearing trends in the membership. One of those was that those who cannot vote for the Board of Governors (Associate Members) had the highest confidence in the Board and essentially the longer a respondent had been in the NSS, the less confidence they had in the Board's decisions. My conclusion from these data were that additional recruitment is probably counter productive for at least a couple of reasons. If people who are currently or formerly in the NSS are dissatisfied with the NSS, then there is no reason to believe new members will be any more satisfied with the organization. If recruitment is at too high a rate, then there is a relatively high ratio of new members to old members which makes it more difficult to acculturate the new members into accepting NSS values, traditions, and sense of family. It is hard to know and like too many new people at once and they are less likely to feel valued and accepted. To the extent that there is recruitment, it does not need to be to join the NSS, it is to attend NSS Conventions. And NSS Conventions need to be in places that can reasonably be expected to attract a significant number of members, they should be inexpensive as possible not seen as fundraisers for the Society, and they should be simple and fun - no drinking zoos (ask someone about the Maine convention) and no host security that thinks their job is to protect cavers from having a good time, all convention activities should be within walking distance, and convention sites should not have special laws making normal caver activity illegal (cigarette smoking in the campground was a felony offense in Washington (2006). If adults want to engage is behavior that is less risky than caving while at the convention, quit interfering. We have become quite conservative as a Society. Compare the stories from White Salmon (1973) or Decorah (1974) with what happens at conventions today and you will ask as Alexia Cochrane did at the Idaho convention (1999) after not having attended in decades: "What happened to us?" In my opinion, we have gotten to be control freaks and have largely forgotten how to have fun. I say this characterizing NSS Conv
Re: [Texascavers] NSS Membership
OK, I tried to not voice my opinion largely because people don't tend to be persuaded by facts, but apparently I lack the discipline. Typically, I think we tend to form opinions and then look for evidence that our position is correct, rather than look at data and then form our opinions. In this case, Gill is arguing for more recruitment. I suspect that much like people whose solution is to lower taxes for all economic problems, there are those for whom recruitment is the standard response to any given membership problem. Gill may be perfectly correct about issues at the Grotto lever, however I will show you why I think he couldn't be more wrong when it comes to the NSS. For many years cavers have assumed that NSS membership is down because of lower recruitment and then they go on to try to explain why recruitment is down and why recruitment is necessary. However, is the assumption true and are there data available to us to test the assumption? There are data on NSS membership recruitment: the NSS gives each new member a serial number. When I was on the NSS Board, I asked for and got the last serial number issued for each year. I also asked for and received the total number of members at the end of each year. Then I made a graph of the data. I expected that if everyone were correct that the rate of new membership would have decreased and that attrition would be fairly constant. That is not what I found. The rate of recruitment formed a positive slope throughout the existence of the NSS (I have not looked at the data since 2006, but the membership numbers were shrinking even then). That means that the NSS is gaining members faster than it ever has. The curve that changed was not recruitment, but total members. And the change in slope was in 1995. Since 1995, we have had greater attrition of our members. The question is why? That question will not get answered by those who think that we just need to recruit more members. And the problem will not be solved if the problem is not the one people think it is. Poor retention of members means that people who have experienced the supposed benefits of NSS membership and found that it was not worth it to them as much as people used to value it. Let us consider some other data. 1) What separates an NSS member from being just a NSS News subscriber. The caving community was once known for its camaraderie. The NSS Conventions attracted an average of 20% of its membership from about 1965 through 1976. Since then, the highest attendance has been 14% and is often less than 5%. It is hard to feel like one is part of a family if one never meets most of them. 2) There was a survey conducted of the membership a few years back and I will grant that its methods were quite flawed. However, there were a few solid appearing trends in the membership. One of those was that those who cannot vote for the Board of Governors (Associate Members) had the highest confidence in the Board and essentially the longer a respondent had been in the NSS, the less confidence they had in the Board's decisions. My conclusion from these data were that additional recruitment is probably counter productive for at least a couple of reasons. If people who are currently or formerly in the NSS are dissatisfied with the NSS, then there is no reason to believe new members will be any more satisfied with the organization. If recruitment is at too high a rate, then there is a relatively high ratio of new members to old members which makes it more difficult to acculturate the new members into accepting NSS values, traditions, and sense of family. It is hard to know and like too many new people at once and they are less likely to feel valued and accepted. To the extent that there is recruitment, it does not need to be to join the NSS, it is to attend NSS Conventions. And NSS Conventions need to be in places that can reasonably be expected to attract a significant number of members, they should be inexpensive as possible not seen as fundraisers for the Society, and they should be simple and fun - no drinking zoos (ask someone about the Maine convention) and no host security that thinks their job is to protect cavers from having a good time, all convention activities should be within walking distance, and convention sites should not have special laws making normal caver activity illegal (cigarette smoking in the campground was a felony offense in Washington (2006). If adults want to engage is behavior that is less risky than caving while at the convention, quit interfering. We have become quite conservative as a Society. Compare the stories from White Salmon (1973) or Decorah (1974) with what happens at conventions today and you will ask as Alexia Cochrane did at the Idaho convention (1999) after not having attended in decades: "What happened to us?" In my opinion, we have gotten to be control freaks and have largely forgotten how to have fun. I say this characterizing NSS Conv
Re: [Texascavers] NSS Membership
OK, I tried to not voice my opinion largely because people don't tend to be persuaded by facts, but apparently I lack the discipline. Typically, I think we tend to form opinions and then look for evidence that our position is correct, rather than look at data and then form our opinions. In this case, Gill is arguing for more recruitment. I suspect that much like people whose solution is to lower taxes for all economic problems, there are those for whom recruitment is the standard response to any given membership problem. Gill may be perfectly correct about issues at the Grotto lever, however I will show you why I think he couldn't be more wrong when it comes to the NSS. For many years cavers have assumed that NSS membership is down because of lower recruitment and then they go on to try to explain why recruitment is down and why recruitment is necessary. However, is the assumption true and are there data available to us to test the assumption? There are data on NSS membership recruitment: the NSS gives each new member a serial number. When I was on the NSS Board, I asked for and got the last serial number issued for each year. I also asked for and received the total number of members at the end of each year. Then I made a graph of the data. I expected that if everyone were correct that the rate of new membership would have decreased and that attrition would be fairly constant. That is not what I found. The rate of recruitment formed a positive slope throughout the existence of the NSS (I have not looked at the data since 2006, but the membership numbers were shrinking even then). That means that the NSS is gaining members faster than it ever has. The curve that changed was not recruitment, but total members. And the change in slope was in 1995. Since 1995, we have had greater attrition of our members. The question is why? That question will not get answered by those who think that we just need to recruit more members. And the problem will not be solved if the problem is not the one people think it is. Poor retention of members means that people who have experienced the supposed benefits of NSS membership and found that it was not worth it to them as much as people used to value it. Let us consider some other data. 1) What separates an NSS member from being just a NSS News subscriber. The caving community was once known for its camaraderie. The NSS Conventions attracted an average of 20% of its membership from about 1965 through 1976. Since then, the highest attendance has been 14% and is often less than 5%. It is hard to feel like one is part of a family if one never meets most of them. 2) There was a survey conducted of the membership a few years back and I will grant that its methods were quite flawed. However, there were a few solid appearing trends in the membership. One of those was that those who cannot vote for the Board of Governors (Associate Members) had the highest confidence in the Board and essentially the longer a respondent had been in the NSS, the less confidence they had in the Board's decisions. My conclusion from these data were that additional recruitment is probably counter productive for at least a couple of reasons. If people who are currently or formerly in the NSS are dissatisfied with the NSS, then there is no reason to believe new members will be any more satisfied with the organization. If recruitment is at too high a rate, then there is a relatively high ratio of new members to old members which makes it more difficult to acculturate the new members into accepting NSS values, traditions, and sense of family. It is hard to know and like too many new people at once and they are less likely to feel valued and accepted. To the extent that there is recruitment, it does not need to be to join the NSS, it is to attend NSS Conventions. And NSS Conventions need to be in places that can reasonably be expected to attract a significant number of members, they should be inexpensive as possible not seen as fundraisers for the Society, and they should be simple and fun - no drinking zoos (ask someone about the Maine convention) and no host security that thinks their job is to protect cavers from having a good time, all convention activities should be within walking distance, and convention sites should not have special laws making normal caver activity illegal (cigarette smoking in the campground was a felony offense in Washington (2006). If adults want to engage is behavior that is less risky than caving while at the convention, quit interfering. We have become quite conservative as a Society. Compare the stories from White Salmon (1973) or Decorah (1974) with what happens at conventions today and you will ask as Alexia Cochrane did at the Idaho convention (1999) after not having attended in decades: "What happened to us?" In my opinion, we have gotten to be control freaks and have largely forgotten how to have fun. I say this characterizing NSS Conv
[Texascavers] greener lithium ion batteries coming?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/12/rose_madder_battery_matter/ I didn't know that lithium ion batteries contain cobalt or that they were so difficult to recycle. Philip Moss philipm...@juno.com Woman is 53 But Looks 25 Mom reveals 1 simple wrinkle trick that has angered doctors... http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/50c8992dc9002192d5ed5st02vuc
[Texascavers] greener lithium ion batteries coming?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/12/rose_madder_battery_matter/ I didn't know that lithium ion batteries contain cobalt or that they were so difficult to recycle. Philip Moss philipm...@juno.com Woman is 53 But Looks 25 Mom reveals 1 simple wrinkle trick that has angered doctors... http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/50c8992dc9002192d5ed5st02vuc
[Texascavers] greener lithium ion batteries coming?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/12/rose_madder_battery_matter/ I didn't know that lithium ion batteries contain cobalt or that they were so difficult to recycle. Philip Moss philipm...@juno.com Woman is 53 But Looks 25 Mom reveals 1 simple wrinkle trick that has angered doctors... http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/50c8992dc9002192d5ed5st02vuc
Re: [Texascavers] Help - speed, tire size change
Mimi, While most everything said is accurate enough, one important factor has been left out. Your current mileage is better than you think; your odometer and speedometer are different measurements by the same instrument. Since your speedometer is under-reporting your speed, your odometer is also under-reporting your mileage. Some of your "mileage loss" is not lost and is merely appearing to be lost just because you are traveling more miles than your odometer records. If you have an electronic speedometer, like almost all vehicles do these days like my 2001 Dodge, you can have the speedometer recalibrated for not much. I had mine done last month for $16 and it just takes a few minutes. Recalibration helps check your mileage accurately because your nominal or even measured tire diameter is not the rolling diameter and it helps avoid speeding tickets. An example of rolling diameter vs. manufacturer's stated diameter: My tire diameter is 36.3 inches, but according to my GPS and my calculations, my rolling diameter is only 34.75 inches (580 revolutions per mile vs. 555 revolutions per mile). Tires are not steel wheels and have considerable deformation while driving. Philip Moss philipm...@juno.com Woman is 57 But Looks 27 Mom publishes simple facelift trick that angered doctors... http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/501921e481b2d21e4584dst51vuc - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [Texascavers] Help - speed, tire size change
Mimi, While most everything said is accurate enough, one important factor has been left out. Your current mileage is better than you think; your odometer and speedometer are different measurements by the same instrument. Since your speedometer is under-reporting your speed, your odometer is also under-reporting your mileage. Some of your "mileage loss" is not lost and is merely appearing to be lost just because you are traveling more miles than your odometer records. If you have an electronic speedometer, like almost all vehicles do these days like my 2001 Dodge, you can have the speedometer recalibrated for not much. I had mine done last month for $16 and it just takes a few minutes. Recalibration helps check your mileage accurately because your nominal or even measured tire diameter is not the rolling diameter and it helps avoid speeding tickets. An example of rolling diameter vs. manufacturer's stated diameter: My tire diameter is 36.3 inches, but according to my GPS and my calculations, my rolling diameter is only 34.75 inches (580 revolutions per mile vs. 555 revolutions per mile). Tires are not steel wheels and have considerable deformation while driving. Philip Moss philipm...@juno.com Woman is 57 But Looks 27 Mom publishes simple facelift trick that angered doctors... http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/501921e481b2d21e4584dst51vuc - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [Texascavers] Help - speed, tire size change
Mimi, While most everything said is accurate enough, one important factor has been left out. Your current mileage is better than you think; your odometer and speedometer are different measurements by the same instrument. Since your speedometer is under-reporting your speed, your odometer is also under-reporting your mileage. Some of your "mileage loss" is not lost and is merely appearing to be lost just because you are traveling more miles than your odometer records. If you have an electronic speedometer, like almost all vehicles do these days like my 2001 Dodge, you can have the speedometer recalibrated for not much. I had mine done last month for $16 and it just takes a few minutes. Recalibration helps check your mileage accurately because your nominal or even measured tire diameter is not the rolling diameter and it helps avoid speeding tickets. An example of rolling diameter vs. manufacturer's stated diameter: My tire diameter is 36.3 inches, but according to my GPS and my calculations, my rolling diameter is only 34.75 inches (580 revolutions per mile vs. 555 revolutions per mile). Tires are not steel wheels and have considerable deformation while driving. Philip Moss philipm...@juno.com Woman is 57 But Looks 27 Mom publishes simple facelift trick that angered doctors... http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/501921e481b2d21e4584dst51vuc - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [Texascavers] Study "confirms" Geomyces destructans responsible for WNS
>From what I read below, I don't see that the study confirmed G. destructans as entirely responsible for WNS. First two caveats: I am not a bat biologist and I did not read the article in Nature2. That being said, WNS has at least two symptoms, the white fungal growth on and the death of bats. Syndromes typically are thought to have multiple causes. It was my understanding that the white fungal growth had already been identified as G. destructans. This study does confirm bat to bat transmission of the fungus. There have been a number of bats found by mist netting with lesions from the fungus that did not die. However, it is my understanding that in North America, there is a difference between the dead bats and the bats that survive infection from the fungus and that is that the dead bats have no chitinase producing bacteria in their guts and that bats that survive the fungus do. If that is the case, then there may well be multiple causes of WNS, the fungus as an irritant that wakes the bats from torpor, and whatever is killing off the chitinase producing bacteria. If there were not the low body weight from insufficient protein digestion, is that enough to cause death? According to this study, in 102 days it resulted in no mortality. That seems like a long time without any mortality. I think it is unfortunate that the study was not run as long as the northeastern hibernation season. It seems to me that saying that the culprit has been found without being able to attribute all of the symptoms is overconfident, premature, and smacks of assuming one's conclusions. This study only accounted for one of the symptoms of WNS and not the one I think most of us think is the most important. Philip Moss http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111026/full/news.2011.613.html Culprit behind bat scourge confirmed A cold-loving fungus is behind an epidemic decimating bat populations in North America. By: Susan Young Researchers have confirmed that a recently identified fungus is responsible for white-nose syndrome, a deadly disease that is sweeping through bat colonies in eastern North America. The fungus, Geomyces destructans, infects the skin of hibernating bats, causing lesions on the animals' wings and a fluffy white outgrowth on the muzzle. When white-nose syndrome takes hold of a hibernating colony, more than 90% of the bats can die (see Disease epidemic killing only US bats). The disease was first documented in February 2006 in a cave in New York, and has spread to at least 16 other US states and four Canadian provinces. The culpability of G. destructans for this sudden outbreak was thrown into question when the fungus was found on healthy bats in Europe, where it is not associated with the grim mortality levels seen in North America1. Some proposed that the fungus was not the primary cause of the catastrophic die offs, and that another factor � such as an undetected virus � must be to blame. But a study published today in Nature2 reveals that G. destructans is indeed guilty. "The fungus alone is sufficient to recreate all the pathology diagnostic for the disease," says David Blehert, a microbiologist at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, and senior author on the report. Bat-to-bat spread Blehert and his colleagues collected healthy little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) from Wisconsin, which is well beyond the known range of white-nose syndrome. They infected the bats by direct administration of G. destructans spores to the skin or by contact with infected bats from New York. By the end of the 102-day experiment, the tell-tale white fungus was growing on the muzzles and wings of all of the directly infected Wisconsin bats and 16 of the 18 exposed to sick bats. This is the first experimental evidence that white-nose syndrome can be passed from bat to bat, and is very worrying from a conservation point of view because bats huddle together in large numbers in caves and mate in large swarms, says Emma Teeling, a bat biologist at University College Dublin in Ireland. "If a bat has this fungus on them, it's going to spread quickly throughout the population," says Teeling, who was not involved with the study. "It's like a perfect storm." The infected Wisconsin bats did not die during the experiment, which may be due to the limited timeline of infection, the authors suggest. Although the study does not directly show that a healthy bat will die from infection with G. destructans, the results did show that the fungus alone was sufficient to cause lesions diagnostic of white-nose syndrome to form on previously healthy bats, indicating that the fungus is the cause of the deaths so often associated with white-nose syndrome in the wild. To stop a scourge Since it first appeared, white-nose syndrome has behaved like a novel pathogen spreading from a single origin through a naive population, says Jonathan Sleeman, director of the National Wildlife Health Center, who was not involved in t
Re: [Texascavers] Study "confirms" Geomyces destructans responsible for WNS
>From what I read below, I don't see that the study confirmed G. destructans as entirely responsible for WNS. First two caveats: I am not a bat biologist and I did not read the article in Nature2. That being said, WNS has at least two symptoms, the white fungal growth on and the death of bats. Syndromes typically are thought to have multiple causes. It was my understanding that the white fungal growth had already been identified as G. destructans. This study does confirm bat to bat transmission of the fungus. There have been a number of bats found by mist netting with lesions from the fungus that did not die. However, it is my understanding that in North America, there is a difference between the dead bats and the bats that survive infection from the fungus and that is that the dead bats have no chitinase producing bacteria in their guts and that bats that survive the fungus do. If that is the case, then there may well be multiple causes of WNS, the fungus as an irritant that wakes the bats from torpor, and whatever is killing off the chitinase producing bacteria. If there were not the low body weight from insufficient protein digestion, is that enough to cause death? According to this study, in 102 days it resulted in no mortality. That seems like a long time without any mortality. I think it is unfortunate that the study was not run as long as the northeastern hibernation season. It seems to me that saying that the culprit has been found without being able to attribute all of the symptoms is overconfident, premature, and smacks of assuming one's conclusions. This study only accounted for one of the symptoms of WNS and not the one I think most of us think is the most important. Philip Moss http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111026/full/news.2011.613.html Culprit behind bat scourge confirmed A cold-loving fungus is behind an epidemic decimating bat populations in North America. By: Susan Young Researchers have confirmed that a recently identified fungus is responsible for white-nose syndrome, a deadly disease that is sweeping through bat colonies in eastern North America. The fungus, Geomyces destructans, infects the skin of hibernating bats, causing lesions on the animals' wings and a fluffy white outgrowth on the muzzle. When white-nose syndrome takes hold of a hibernating colony, more than 90% of the bats can die (see Disease epidemic killing only US bats). The disease was first documented in February 2006 in a cave in New York, and has spread to at least 16 other US states and four Canadian provinces. The culpability of G. destructans for this sudden outbreak was thrown into question when the fungus was found on healthy bats in Europe, where it is not associated with the grim mortality levels seen in North America1. Some proposed that the fungus was not the primary cause of the catastrophic die offs, and that another factor � such as an undetected virus � must be to blame. But a study published today in Nature2 reveals that G. destructans is indeed guilty. "The fungus alone is sufficient to recreate all the pathology diagnostic for the disease," says David Blehert, a microbiologist at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, and senior author on the report. Bat-to-bat spread Blehert and his colleagues collected healthy little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) from Wisconsin, which is well beyond the known range of white-nose syndrome. They infected the bats by direct administration of G. destructans spores to the skin or by contact with infected bats from New York. By the end of the 102-day experiment, the tell-tale white fungus was growing on the muzzles and wings of all of the directly infected Wisconsin bats and 16 of the 18 exposed to sick bats. This is the first experimental evidence that white-nose syndrome can be passed from bat to bat, and is very worrying from a conservation point of view because bats huddle together in large numbers in caves and mate in large swarms, says Emma Teeling, a bat biologist at University College Dublin in Ireland. "If a bat has this fungus on them, it's going to spread quickly throughout the population," says Teeling, who was not involved with the study. "It's like a perfect storm." The infected Wisconsin bats did not die during the experiment, which may be due to the limited timeline of infection, the authors suggest. Although the study does not directly show that a healthy bat will die from infection with G. destructans, the results did show that the fungus alone was sufficient to cause lesions diagnostic of white-nose syndrome to form on previously healthy bats, indicating that the fungus is the cause of the deaths so often associated with white-nose syndrome in the wild. To stop a scourge Since it first appeared, white-nose syndrome has behaved like a novel pathogen spreading from a single origin through a naive population, says Jonathan Sleeman, director of the National Wildlife Health Center, who was not involved in t
Re: [Texascavers] Study "confirms" Geomyces destructans responsible for WNS
>From what I read below, I don't see that the study confirmed G. destructans as entirely responsible for WNS. First two caveats: I am not a bat biologist and I did not read the article in Nature2. That being said, WNS has at least two symptoms, the white fungal growth on and the death of bats. Syndromes typically are thought to have multiple causes. It was my understanding that the white fungal growth had already been identified as G. destructans. This study does confirm bat to bat transmission of the fungus. There have been a number of bats found by mist netting with lesions from the fungus that did not die. However, it is my understanding that in North America, there is a difference between the dead bats and the bats that survive infection from the fungus and that is that the dead bats have no chitinase producing bacteria in their guts and that bats that survive the fungus do. If that is the case, then there may well be multiple causes of WNS, the fungus as an irritant that wakes the bats from torpor, and whatever is killing off the chitinase producing bacteria. If there were not the low body weight from insufficient protein digestion, is that enough to cause death? According to this study, in 102 days it resulted in no mortality. That seems like a long time without any mortality. I think it is unfortunate that the study was not run as long as the northeastern hibernation season. It seems to me that saying that the culprit has been found without being able to attribute all of the symptoms is overconfident, premature, and smacks of assuming one's conclusions. This study only accounted for one of the symptoms of WNS and not the one I think most of us think is the most important. Philip Moss http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111026/full/news.2011.613.html Culprit behind bat scourge confirmed A cold-loving fungus is behind an epidemic decimating bat populations in North America. By: Susan Young Researchers have confirmed that a recently identified fungus is responsible for white-nose syndrome, a deadly disease that is sweeping through bat colonies in eastern North America. The fungus, Geomyces destructans, infects the skin of hibernating bats, causing lesions on the animals' wings and a fluffy white outgrowth on the muzzle. When white-nose syndrome takes hold of a hibernating colony, more than 90% of the bats can die (see Disease epidemic killing only US bats). The disease was first documented in February 2006 in a cave in New York, and has spread to at least 16 other US states and four Canadian provinces. The culpability of G. destructans for this sudden outbreak was thrown into question when the fungus was found on healthy bats in Europe, where it is not associated with the grim mortality levels seen in North America1. Some proposed that the fungus was not the primary cause of the catastrophic die offs, and that another factor � such as an undetected virus � must be to blame. But a study published today in Nature2 reveals that G. destructans is indeed guilty. "The fungus alone is sufficient to recreate all the pathology diagnostic for the disease," says David Blehert, a microbiologist at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, and senior author on the report. Bat-to-bat spread Blehert and his colleagues collected healthy little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) from Wisconsin, which is well beyond the known range of white-nose syndrome. They infected the bats by direct administration of G. destructans spores to the skin or by contact with infected bats from New York. By the end of the 102-day experiment, the tell-tale white fungus was growing on the muzzles and wings of all of the directly infected Wisconsin bats and 16 of the 18 exposed to sick bats. This is the first experimental evidence that white-nose syndrome can be passed from bat to bat, and is very worrying from a conservation point of view because bats huddle together in large numbers in caves and mate in large swarms, says Emma Teeling, a bat biologist at University College Dublin in Ireland. "If a bat has this fungus on them, it's going to spread quickly throughout the population," says Teeling, who was not involved with the study. "It's like a perfect storm." The infected Wisconsin bats did not die during the experiment, which may be due to the limited timeline of infection, the authors suggest. Although the study does not directly show that a healthy bat will die from infection with G. destructans, the results did show that the fungus alone was sufficient to cause lesions diagnostic of white-nose syndrome to form on previously healthy bats, indicating that the fungus is the cause of the deaths so often associated with white-nose syndrome in the wild. To stop a scourge Since it first appeared, white-nose syndrome has behaved like a novel pathogen spreading from a single origin through a naive population, says Jonathan Sleeman, director of the National Wildlife Health Center, who was not involved in t
[Texascavers] ICS session photos
I am putting together a slide show to show to my grotto (Meramec Valley) of the ICS. Unfortunately, no one that travelled with me took good photos of the sessions. The program, as it stands now, makes it look like a party, rather than the serious event that it was by day and I would like to balance that image. If anyone has a half dozen or so clear, digital photos of sessions that they would be willing to let me use, please reply off-line. Thank you. Philip L. Moss philipm...@juno.com Criminal Justice Degrees Start your criminal justice career. Earn your degree 100% online! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/c?cp=WE2Y8z64hmnbx2lsvQDMbwAAJ1DVBztsEY32apQvj1KtvBv_AAQFAMUgID8AAANSAAAQKAA= - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [Texascavers] ICS volunteers
On Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:00:31 -0500 Simon Newton writes: I believe the mileage is tax deductible, since they have non-profit designation. Doesn't help you much if you don't do itemized taxes though. (BTW - you can probably recover mileage on your taxes from some of your volunteer cave projects) I agree with others though - it would have been good to offer discounts or a free pass to the volunteers. Heck, at all the big music festivals you can volunteer a few hours a day in return for a free ticket (bonnaroo, glastonbury, coachella). Simon I am not sure what the UIS rules are about discounts and free admission. However, the NSS has very clear rules that the NSS does not permit volunteers free access to the NSS convention. I say this only to make it clear that this was not something that the ICS organizing committee decided for themselves. For better or worse, the NSS expects its volunteers to give both time and money. And if you deduct your mileage, you generally have to deduct it at the volunteer rate. Philip L. Moss philipm...@juno.com Click to reduce wrinkles & lines. Anti-aging that works, try now. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTJYtBvGAQot0szUyec7MS2FvhWXJHCfTmZDED919NO4qzUg3D9RFe/
