Chapter 10 Abudul Gaku

Chapter 10 of the book opens up with a team of biologists climbing into caves during the winter time in Albany, in hopes to count the bat population. To their surprise there were thousands of bats lying dead on the ground, covered in a white substance. The next year, the biologists tried again and discovered the same result - the bats lying dead on the ground covered in a white substance. This continued over the years and spread to other states. The white powder was discovered to be a fungus, Geomyces destructans, which is deadly to bats. This reminded me of the Golden Frogs from chapter 1 that died of Bd, another fungus. This made me realize how deadly fungus can be. This is because they can spread rapidly and they are hard to get rid of. Fungus and bacteria that are introduced to a new environment often lead to the extinction of other life forms. This chapter has informed me of another factor that can contribute to extinction.